[Most Recent Entries] [Calendar View]
Wednesday, September 4th, 2013
- DCIS (Data Center Infrastructure Specialist) Certification, September 23-24, 2013
- DCOS (Data Center Operations Specialist) Certification, September 25, 26, & 27, 2013
- Joe Higgins PE, VP, Engineering and Corporate Sustainability, Fidelity Investments
- Ray Parpart, IT Director, University of Chicago
- Joe Weinman, SVP, Cloud Services & Strategy, Telx
- Peter Gross, Bloom Energy, Vice President of Mission Critical Systems
- Ed Laczynski, Datapipe, Senior Vice President, Cloud Services
- Mark Monroe, DLB Associates, CTO & VP
| Time | Event |
| 12:00p | LinkedIn Raising $1 Billion, Will Invest in Infrastructure  LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner in front of the New York Stock Exchange for the company’s 2011 IPO. LinkedIn plans to raise $1 billion in a secondary stock offering. (Photo: LinkedIn) The business-focused social network LinkedIn plans to raise an additional $1 billion, and will use some of the funding to expand its infrastructure. That’s bound to be good news for one or more data center providers. LinkedIn’s secondary stock offering could give the company an investment warchest of up to $1.8 billion. That can help the company expand its infrastructure to keep pace with its robust growth, which has seen the monthly unique visitors to its web site increase to 143 million, up 34 percent year over year. The computing horsepower to store and analyze information for 238 million users requires data center space. In an era of excitement about the future of “big data” and user analytics, LinkedIn’s data scientists have access to a rich trove of data about trends in hiring and careers. The company has developed extensive software and tools to process and analyze its data (see the LinkedIn Data blog for details). Large Data Center Lease in VirginiaEarlier this year LinkedIn secured a new data center in northern Virginia, leasing a large chunk of space from data center developer Digital Realty Trust. The $109 million, 11-year deal marked LinkedIn’s first use of wholesale data center space, in which it leases a finished “turn-key” data hall from a third-party provider. The new data center in northern Virginia will provide up to 6 megawatts of critical power for IT equipment. LinkedIn also rents space in data center facilities operated by Equinix, which offers colocation space, in which servers are housed in dedicated cages within a data hall that may also house other tenants. So what’s on LinkedIn’s data center shopping list? Additional data center space could help LinkedIn address a need in its business continuity and disaster recovery planning – the lack of a real-time backup data center. Boost DR Capabilities“We have implemented a disaster recovery program, which allows us to move production to a back-up data center in the event of a catastrophe,” LinkedIn says in a recent SEC filing from February. “Although this program is functional, it does not yet provide a real-time back-up data center, so if our primary data center shuts down, there will be a period of time that our services will remain shut down while the transition to the back-up data center takes place.” LinkedIn said it expects to spent $137.5 million in the first six months of 2013 on property and equipment, compared to $59.7 million in the first six months of 2012. For the full year 2013, LinkedIn expects to invest $215 million on property and equipment. “Our primary investing activities have consisted of purchases of property and equipment specifically related to the build out of our data centers,” the company said in a recent 10Q filing. With a lease of that size in a single market, LinkedIn would join a select group of “super-wholesale” customers, which are hotly pursued by data center developers for their ability to lease large footprints and serve as anchor tenants in new buildings. |
| 12:30p | Getting the Most Out of Commissioning Through Best Practices Michael Donato is a Supervising Engineer, Emerson Network Power, Electrical Reliability Services. He previously wrote Understanding the Value and Scope of Data Center Commissioning.  MICHAEL DONATOEmerson Network Power In my previous two articles, I defined commissioning in terms of its scope and value in the data center industry, but the real value is achieved by working with an experienced Commissioning Authority (CxA) to navigate all phases of a data center new build in order to create greater availability, safety and efficiency. However, not all authorities offer a scope of services broad enough to encompass all owner requirements, so it’s important to understand or adhere to the following best practices, thus ensuring the highest return on your commissioning investment. Hire an Independent CxAHiring an independent CxA allows owners to acquire the most comprehensive and well-balanced approach possible while avoiding potential conflicts of interest that would filter or limit commissioning communications to the owner. The commissioning industry recognizes that potential conflicts of interest may be difficult to avoid entirely, considering the possibility of relationships on past projects, connections to other companies involved on the project, and other factors. It is recommended that, regardless of affiliation, the CxA have a direct line of communication to the owner. Choose a CxA with the Right CredentialsIn addition to being an independent third party, the chosen CxA should have experience commissioning critical spaces or mission-critical facilities. The CxA should have specific expertise in project documentation as well as field commissioning of the equipment in the project scope. Ideally, the CxA should participate in major industry associations and be staffed with individuals with the appropriate credentials such as Certified Qualified Commissioning Provider (QCxP). Start EarlyIdeally, the commissioning process should begin during the pre-design or design phase of a project. Beginning the process well before construction starts — or better yet, before an engineering firm has been hired or design specifications determined — allows the CxA to help determine the Owner’s Project Requirements (OPR) first and foremost, and provide detailed guidance to all project teams, beginning with the design team. Aligning the design with the OPR gets the project off to the right start and reduces re-work and schedule delays later in the process. Additionally, involving the CxA early ensures better collaboration and can motivate the teams to fully participate in commissioning activities. Invest in an OPRThe importance of the OPR document cannot be overstated. It represents the true purpose of commissioning — meeting the owner’s needs — and serves as the foundation upon which all commissioning activities are based. The document also provides a way to measure project success. Ultimately, system design, construction, and operation schemes should all map back to the OPR. Despite the critical nature of this document, only a small percentage of projects actually utilize one. Owners may generalize their expectations and desires for the new data center process or assembly such as needing increased availability or the use of a specific type of equipment, but often, they fail to invest the time and effort to generate a comprehensive OPR document. Typically, a quality OPR document will include the project schedule and budget, commissioning scope and owner directives. In addition, the owner may stipulate requirements based on the priorities of the project such as energy efficiency goals, system integration, benchmarking or future expandability needs. A good CxA will be an expert at helping owners articulate their requirements for the data center and should be able to provide insight and recommendations, including lessons learned from previous projects. Involve the Right PeopleCommissioning efforts are the most successful when they have full “buy-in” from all critical parties, beginning with the owner and including the design team, general contractor, subcontractors, and equipment vendors. When owners are truly invested in the commissioning initiative, their support will filter down and help ensure everyone’s involvement. If both the owners and the CxA promote a team approach, where all parties are working toward the common goal of accomplishing objectives successfully the first time, it greatly increases the chances for collaboration and a successful project. Establish Priorities for the Commissioning BudgetIndustry experts agree that the ideal commissioning budget for a complex data center should be about 1.5 percent of total construction costs. In reality, however, budgets are rarely this liberal making it nearly impossible to commission all building systems, equipment and assemblies. It falls to the owner — with help from the CxA — to prioritize the budget to determine which commissioning activities will deliver the greatest return on investment. In typical office buildings, owners are most concerned with the comfort, health and productivity of employees and will, therefore, commission related systems. However, in data centers, where downtime can cost literally millions of dollars per second, availability is almost always priority one, followed closely by safety, efficiency, and cost cutting. Once the top priorities have been addressed, a number of other commissioning activities can add significant value to a data center project including development of systems manual and operating procedures, training, and warranty review. These activities are requirements for projects seeking LEED certification, but even if a project is not attempting this designation, data center owners may want to strongly consider including them in the budget. Dedicate Enough Time to the Occupancy PhaseData center owners sometimes make the mistake of shortchanging the occupancy phase. However, this phase is critical to the commissioning process. The commissioning team cannot verify that systems are actually operating in accordance with the owners’ requirements until those systems are fully operational, which doesn’t occur until this phase of the project. The occupancy phase provides the final opportunity to perfect all commissioned systems and assemblies. The CxA will help identify problems that must be fixed under the warranty agreement, and will fine-tune and optimize system performance. It’s clear that commissioning the design and build of a new data center facility, system or addition ensures that the owner’s goals for the project are met. However, deciding on a CxA is not always as clear. To get the most out of your commissioning investment, be certain to partner with an organization like Electrical Reliability Services which has a broad scope of services, is abreast of commissioning best practices, and understands how to implement them based on years of experience. Industry Perspectives is a content channel at Data Center Knowledge highlighting thought leadership in the data center arena. See our guidelines and submission process for information on participating. View previously published Industry Perspectives in our Knowledge Library. |
| 1:00p | Telx Adds Capacity In Chicago’s Digital Fortress at 350 East Cermak  An aerial view of 350 East Cermak, the huge Chicago data hub operated by Digital Realty Trust. Telx has expanded its presence in the building with two new data suites. Colocation and interconnection specialist Telx is adding 1.2 megawatts of capacity in its primary Chicago facility, located in Digital Realty’s huge data hub at at 350 East Cermak. It’s additional space in market where it’s scarce and dear, and within the city’s primary internet hub, the 1.1 million square foot digital fortress that is 350 East Cermak. The 1.2 megawatts will be spread across two new suites developed by Digital Realty. Telx signed new leases and took possession of these spaces when previous tenants moved out, retrofitting the space to meet its design standards. Telx now operates 8 suites in the building, exceeding 3.7 megawatts of high density colocation space, making it one of the biggest multi-tenant providers the building. Connectivity is CriticalExpanding in such a hub plays right into Telx’s connectivity-centric strategy. The expansion enables new and existing clients to grow amidst a bustling ecosystem of cloud services, digital media, financial markets and enterprises of various size that call the hub home. “Chicago is a critical marketplace for not only financial services, but content and digital media as well,” said Ron Sterbenz, senior vice president of product and marketing for Telx. “The power and capacity expansion in such a globally important location for enterprises to deploy and connect key edge applications is further proof of Telx’s commitment to provide best-in class services for the continued growth of our clients. CHI1 offers a high degree of interconnectivity between enterprises as well as an ideal facility for businesses ecosystems across the economic spectrum.” 350 E Cermak in downtown Chicago is a storied and very recognizable building. At a staggering 1.1 million square feet, it’s critical to the global business community. Telx operates the Meet Me Room (MMR) there, the critical interconnection area that’s arguably the heart of the building. Connection has always been a large part of how Telx differentiates. Telx facilities are well connected facilities, with this one providing access to more than 40 leading domestic and international carriers. Located in the South Loop of the Chicago Central Business District, the CH1 facility offers access to the CME/LNET Exchanges, direct access to SFTI Network and other carriers via fiber to the other suites within the building. “Telx’s expansion strategy as well as their ability to foster new business connections for our company via their robust ecosystem was a big factor in our decision to nearly triple our suite space in Telx’s Cermak CH1 facility,” said Tom Guinan, executive vice president & chief technology officer for Advantage Futures, a futures clearing firm. |
| 1:52p | Ericsson Plans For 3 Global High Tech Centers
It’s been a busy time for the data center industry in Sweden, as Ericsson plans for three high tech global ICT centers, with two in Sweden, and DigiPlex reveals plans for a wholesale data center development in Stockhold. EricssonSwedish global networking giant Ericsson (ERIC) announced plans to invest approximately SEK 7 billion (~$1.05 billion) in the next five years to build three global ICT centers. The high tech, sustainable ICT centers will support research and development and services organizations for Ericsson, and will be located in Stockholm and Linköping, with a third in Montreal, Canada. The centers will be located close to Ericsson’s main R&D hubs and will be the new platform for more than 24,000 Ericsson R&D engineers around the world. “The new ICT Centers are examples of Ericsson’s passion for driving the development of the industry,” said Hans Vestberg, President and CEO at Ericsson. ”Great ideas come from collaboration, and at these centers we will push the boundaries of possibility on next generation technology and services. Flexibility enabled by new ways of working will realize innovation faster to the market and to our customers.” The global ICT center will be modular and scalable, and make efficient use of resources and space, being adaptable to business needs. Ericsson estimates that the combination of architecture, design and locations will reduce energy consumption up to 40 percent. The two ICT Centers in Sweden will begin initial operations from end of 2013 and from end of 2014 respectively and the North American ICT Center from early 2015. DigiPlex expands in StockholmDigiPlex announced that it has purchased a 10 acre site that previously housed a former factory building outside of Stockholm. The building is 12,785 square meters, and there is planning approval for further development within the site. The three story building will provide for over 6,000 square meters of data center space. It will house conditioned modules at ground and third floor levels, have air to air cooling, and infrastructure service areas. It will also contain office space and disaster recovery areas. |
| 2:02p | Venyu Eyes Expansion After EATEL Acquisition  Baton Rouge-based data center service provider Venyu has been acquired by EATEL, the companies said today. Louisiana-based data center service provider Venyu has been acquired by regional telco EATEL, the companies said today. Venyu, which operates data centers in Baton Rouge and Shreveport-Bossier, will become a wholly owned subsidiary of EATEL and maintain its headquarters, existing service offerings, staff and senior management team. The deal is the latest in a series of transactions in which telecom firms have acquired regional data center companies to boost their service offerings for cloud computing or disaster recovery. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. “The acquisition of Venyu positions EATEL within the rapidly growing cloud-based business services, data center, and hosting markets,” said John Scanlan, President and Vice Chairman at EATEL. “Venyu’s success in the Gulf South coupled with our expanding fiber network and corporate footprint will provide both entities with new growth opportunities.” Venyu, founded in 1989, has approximately 75 employees and offers managed hosting, cloud, virtualization, and data protection solutions. The acquisition provides new growth opportunities for EATEL, including geographic expansion. “The EATEL partnership provides Venyu with the additional financial resources needed to capitalize on new growth opportunities and expand our market share beyond our current service area,” said Scott Thompson, Founder and CEO at Venyu. Venyu says it has been a pioneer in offsite backup and was one of the earliest service providers in the U.S. to leverage virtualization for disaster recovery. |
| 3:00p | RiverMeadow Closes $12 Million to Fuel Growth RiverMeadow closes on $12 million from Cisco and Violin Memory to help grow its server migration cloud offering, and HP is selected by HoneyBaked Ham of Georgia and Rhode Island for IT services. RiverMeadow Nets $12 MillionServer migration automation provider RiverMeadow announced it has closed a $12 million Series B financing round including Cisco, Violin Memory and others. The new funding will continue to fuel RiverMeadow’s growth as it drives deployments of the RiverMeadow Cloud Migration SaaS with carriers and service providers on a global scale. Cisco uses the RiverMeadow Cloud Migration SaaS tool in its Cloud On-Boarding Service offerings to help customers easily move entire server workloads to public, private and hybrid cloud environments. The solution automates the migration of live physical, virtual and cloud-based servers “as-is” into public, private and hybrid cloud environments. ”This is a significant milestone for RiverMeadow which validates the enormous potential we see for our cloud migration solution,” said Mark Shirman, CEO, RiverMeadow. “The RiverMeadow Cloud Migration SaaS has already gained tremendous traction and acceptance with many of the world’s largest cloud infrastructure manufacturers and service providers. This latest funding round will allow us to continue to scale the company for future growth by expanding our engineering team and supporting our OEM’s in meeting the growing market demands for cloud migration.” HP Helps HoneyBaked Ham of GeorgiaHP (HPQ) announced that the HoneyBaked Ham Company of Georgia selected HP Converged Storage to increase data center capacity and performance, enabling improvements in the intelligent real-time decision making that is critical to meeting seasonal business demands. The company’s legacy infrastructure lacked the capacity and performance needed to deliver real-time point-of-sale (POS) and inventory data imperative for managing seasonal demand. Upgrading to HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage improved HoneyBaked’s decision-making accuracy and speed by eliminating delays of mission-critical data, even during peak sales times. Real-time visibility into sales and inventory data have improved HoneyBaked’s forecasting and fulfillment capabilities, enabling it to more precisely meet customer demand. “We couldn’t make it through another holiday season experiencing mission-critical data delays caused by our legacy infrastructure,” said Kevin Madsen, senior infrastructure director, HoneyBaked Ham of Georgia. “HP Converged Storage centralized and improved the reliability of our data while eliminating performance delays to help stores maximize the customer experience by offering the right product mix and availability.” HP also announced that it was awarded a $89.9 Medicaid contract extension with Rhode Island. Under the terms of the extension, HP will implement a number of enhancements to existing state systems, including migration of Rhode Island’s Medicaid data center operations to a state-of-the-art HP data center. |
| 4:21p | Data Center Operations Management Training IDCA Training Seminars will present a training series on Data Center Operations Management in Washington DC on September 23 – 27. IDCA Training Seminars are designed for Executives, CIOs, CTOs, ICT & Data Center Managers, Consultants, Senior Operators, Project Managers, Engineers, Designers & Planners, focusing on the fundamentals as well as essentials in order to evaluate, design, build, and manage advanced data centers. Three certifications are available: Additionally, upon successful completion of the two courses, automatically a third certificate for DCOM (Data Center Operations Management), will be issued. The DCOM certification, is a major stepping stone for becoming a DCA (Data Center Authority), as a distinguished data center specialist through learning advanced fundamentals and expertise. All courses include examination and certification, while the materials cover building Architecture, Construction, Power & Cooling Infrastructure, Security, Telecom, EMS/BMS, IT/ICT, Policies, Procedures, Standardization, Operations Management, and much more based on TIA, ISO, UN and EU standards and latest best practices. The foundation of courses are based on principal international standards such as ANSI/TIA-942, ANSI/TIA-606, ITIL, NFPA 75-2001, American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning (ASHRAE), IDCA Principles & Guidelines (IDCAPG), the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE), the Building Services Research and Information Association (BSRIA), Building Industry Consulting Service International (BICSI) and many other latest industry standards and best practices, enhanced with hands-on proficiency of industry experts. For more information or to register, visit www.techxact.com or contact training@techxact.com. Venue |
| 4:35p | National Data Center Summit Cap-Rate Events’ National Data Center Summit Series, will host a one-day event in the greater Washington, D.C. and Mid-Atlantic area for the first time this year. The summit is scheduled for Monday, October 21 at the Westwood Country Club in Vienna, Va. More than 350 senior-level data center real estate and technology infrastructure executives are expected to attend for important discussion, debate and networking on the myriad of opportunities and challenges in today’s market. Speakers and advisers include: [Error: Irreparable invalid markup ('<li <strong>') in entry. Owner must fix manually. Raw contents below.] <p>Cap-Rate Events’ <strong>National Data Center Summit Series</strong>, will host a one-day event in the greater Washington, D.C. and Mid-Atlantic area for the first time this year.</p>
<p>The summit is scheduled for Monday, October 21 at the Westwood Country Club in Vienna, Va. </p>
<p>More than 350 senior-level data center real estate and technology infrastructure executives are expected to attend for important discussion, debate and networking on the myriad of opportunities and challenges in today’s market.</p>
<p>Speakers and advisers include:</p>
<ul>
<li <strong>Daniel Golding, Vice President of Operations, Iron Mountain</li>
<li><strong>Tim Huffman</strong>, Executive VP & Global Director – Technology Solutions Group, Colliers International</li>
<li><strong>Jim Kerrigan</strong>, Principal and Director – Data Centres, Avison Young</li>
<li><strong>Miles Loo, Jr.</strong>, Executive Director for Valuation & Advisory | National Specialty Practice Leader for the Mission Critical Facilities Group, Cushman & Wakefield</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Venue</strong><br />
Westwood Country Club<br />
800 Maple Ave E Vienna, VA 22180<br />
(703) 938-2593</p> |
| 4:46p | National Data Center Summit Cap-Rate Events’ National Data Center Summit Series is coming to Texas, with a one-day event on October 10 at the Renaissance Dallas Hotel. More than 350 senior-level executives are expected to attend for important discussion, debate and networking on the myriad of opportunities and challenges in today’s market. The featured speaker, in addition to other industry experts, is: Bo Bond, Managing Director, Jones Lang LaSalle Brokerage, Inc. For more information and registration, visit Cap-Rate Events website. Venue |
| 5:00p | Datacenter Dynamics Converged, Chicago Datacenter Dynamics Converged, Chicago examines the unique opportunities that the Midwest region offers, and provides you with the tools and strategies to succeed in a world-class data center market. Event organizers say that Chicago deserves its reputation as a major player in the data center industry, given the maturity of the region’s market and its robust fiber optic capacity. The Midwest is poised for a resurgence of data center growth, as operators and enterprise customers look for safer alternatives to the coasts for their backup facilities in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy. Featured speakers will include: Sessions will cover topics such as as the software-defined data center, risk management planning, insourcing vs. outsourcing, DCIM, the business value of cloud computing, reducing data center complexity. For more information and registration, visit DatacenterDynamics website. Venue Hyatt Regency McCormick Place |
| 5:15p | Datacenter Dynamics Converged, Phoenix Datacenter Dynamics Converged, Phoenix will present an in-depth look at how you can benefit from new Arizona tax breaks, in one of the best data center markets in the United States. The event will be held on October 29, at the Hyatt Regency Phoenix in Phoenix, AZ. Event organizers describe the Phoenix data center market as rapidly growing evolving from a second-tier data market into one of the top 10 in the United States. There are a number of reasons, including proximity to major west coast markets, low risk of natural disasters, availability of large parcels of reasonably priced land, and abundant and inexpensive power. In addition, Phoenix is considered one of the safest U.S. cities, with a low risk of terrorism. All of these factors have contributed to solid growth in the Phoenix data center market in recent years. Featured speakers include: Venue Hyatt Regency Phoenix |
| 5:25p | Intel Targets Cloud Data Centers with New Atom C2000 Chips  Wafers for the new Intel Atom C2000 processor, which was launched today and is available in 13 different configurations for specialized computing tasks. (Photo: Intel) Intel is bringing its low-power Atom chips to the cloud. Today the chipmaker unveiled products based on the new Atom C2000, a low-power chip previously known by the codename Avoton. The new chip is designed to bring the power efficiency of mobile phones into the hyperscale environments of cloud data centers. Intel said the new 22nm chip will also allow it to expand into areas such as cold storage and entry-level networking, which loom as growth markets as data center operators look beyond servers to improve power efficiency across their entire infrastructure. “As the world becomes more and more mobile, the pressure to support billions of devices and users is changing the very composition of data centers,” said Diane Bryant, senior vice president and general manager of the Datacenter and Connected Systems Group at Intel. “With the Atom C2000, we are signaling Intel’s shift from general-purpose solution delivery to optimized, targeted products that address a range of specialized workloads to delvier greater efficiency to the data center.” Intel also announced the commercialavailability of technology enabling a “disaggregated rack” combining Intel’s servers and silicon photonics technology with new cabling products from Corning to create a high-speed networking architecture. Microsoft said it intends to integrate the silicon photonics technology into its future data centers. The technology has also been tested with Facebook, Rackspace and Baidu. Bryant said Intel is driving “a fundamental transformation of the rack” in which high-speed networking provides data center designers with new options to distribute components and workloads. New Applications, New Frontiers for IntelThe Atom C2000, formerly code named Avoton, is positioned as low power, and application optimized for data centers and communications. It is Intel’s second generation 64-bit server SoC, manufactured using a 22nm process, and is the first processor based on the next generation Silvermont architecture. With a focus on high density and high performance, this Atom processor will continue Intel’s drive into the micro server markets and cloud service provider architecture, and extend it into new segments. As a scalable building block, Intel is looking to fit the Atom into new markets such as cold storage, routers and switches, network security appliances, and many other areas. “What we have seen is the emergence of new applications at the low end of compute,” said Bryant, citing use cases like memcached and cold storage that require a combination of high density and low compute power. Intel is delivering 13 specific models with customized features and accelerators optimized for particular lightweight workloads such as dedicated hosting, distributed memory caching, static web serving and content delivery to ensure greater efficiency. Within the Atom Series-C processor family the configurations are highly optimized for the target workload – ranging from 2 cores and 6 watts for entry level web hosting, 4 cores and 9 or 14 watts for cold storage, and 8 cores and 12 or 20 watts for front end web tier (scale-out workloads). With the Silvermont modular design, the AtomC2000 can have 2 to 8 Silvermont cores, with shared 1MB L2 per module, or 4MB. Avoton supports up to 2 channels of DDR3/DDr3L memory, with 25.6GB/s of peak bandwidth. Not just a typical iteration above last year’s Centerton, the new Avoton with additional SoC functionality takes a large leap forward in power efficiency – with as much as a 65 percent improvement over the previous generation. It also adds jumps from 8GB of memory to 32GB, and includes integrated NIC, SATA and USB. Here’s a look at Intel’s slide summarizing the capabilities of the Atom C2000:  Click graphic for a larger version of this image. Next: The Disaggregated Rack < !nextpage--> The Disaggregated RackIntel also demonstrated the first operational Intel Rack Scale Architecture (RSA)-based rack with Intel Silicon Photonics Technology in combination with the disclosure of a new MXC connector and ClearCurve optical fiber developed by Corning. With changes in technologies binge incorporated into the chip, and platform enhancements to ensure high density and low power, the data center rack itself is a final area for Intel to address. Intel has visions for replacing the traditional data center rack, as evidenced by the Scorpio rack scale architecture, and Intel’s involvement in the Open Compute rack design. Intel’s disaggregated rack environment includes Intel processors and SoCs, distributed switching with Intel switch silicon, and interconnects based on Intel silicon photonics technlogies. At the Intel Re-architect the data center event this past summer Rackspace was noted as one of the first commercial deployments of the OpenCompute rack scale implementations.The micro server and disaggregated rack have also been featured in Intel partnerships with HP’s Moonshot, which is expected to have the new Atom C2000 processor, and with Quanta Computer in building out the new Intel photonic rack architecture. The Atom C2000 chips (Avoton and Rangeley) are available now. They will be followed in 2014 with code name Denverton processors, using Intel’s 14nm process and further build upon the performance and efficiency gains ihn the 22nm Avoton. The Intel Atom C2000 product family is shipping to customers now with more than 50 designs for microservers, cold storage and networking. The products are expected to be available in the coming months from vendors including Advantech, Dell, Ericsson, H*, NEC, Newisys, Penguin Computing, Portwell, Quanta, Supermicro, WiWynn, Tyan, ZNYX Networks. Here’s a look at some of the areas these vendors are targeting with their new C2000-based offerings:  Click graphic for a larger version of this image. |
| 6:02p | 7X4 Exchange Conference, Fall 2013 The 7X24 Exchange Fall Conference will be held November 17-20, 2013 at the JW Marriot San Antonio Hill Country Resort and Spa, San Antonio, TX. This year’s theme is “Turning Vision into Action.” This conference is designed for anyone involved with 7×24 infrastructures, such as IT, data center, disaster recovery and network/telecommunication managers; computer technologists; facility or building managers, supervisors and engineers. 7X24 is a group aimed at knowledge exchange for those who design, build, operate and maintain mission-critical enterprise information infrastructures. The goal of 7×24 Exchange is to improve end-to-end reliability by promoting dialogue among these groups. For more information and registration, visit 7X24 Exchange website. Venue |
| 7:21p | Inside 1&1′s New Hosting Services and Approach Brought to you by The WHIR. Web hosts have had to expand their portfolios in order to meet not only the hosting needs of their customers, but also provide tools to address other business needs as well, such as managing social media or keeping track of budgets. This evolution from hosting provider to services provider is something that 1&1 Internet has a vested interest in as the majority of its small and medium-sized business customers look to the company as a one-stop shop for services beyond web hosting. “The major change we will make as a company, but also as a market, is changing from a hosting company to an eBusiness company,” 1&1 CEO Robert Hoffmann said at a press event in Kansas City, Missouri, last week. SMBs, according to Hoffmann, are a huge opportunity 1&1 because they are willing to spend on applications (the average 1&1 MyWebsite user, for example, spends €15 per month). The opportunity in Europe, where 1&1 has the most market share, is based on the disconnect between the US and Europe in terms of social media and search engine marketing adoption, a gap that means 1&1 is in a solid position to provide SMBs with the tools to be successful in the areas that their American counterparts have already become familiar with. Celebrating its 10 year anniversary in the United States, 1&1 relies on brand recognition from its marketing campaigns, and its easy-to-use tools (its MyWebsite builder, launched two years ago, already has 500,000 customers) to gain customers in the competitive SMB hosting market. 1&1 competes with GoDaddy, Endurance International and Web.com in the US. In Europe 1&1 has a stronger foothold, with a presence in several different markets including Spain, where it recently acquired Arsys. Its biggest competitor in the U.S. market, GoDaddy, has taken a different approach to SMB hosting market and integrating apps into its portfolio, acquiring SaaS providers and tools to be used with its hosting packages. Most recently, GoDaddy acquired Locu. Though its M&A strategy differs from GoDaddy, Hoffmann said that its acquisitions will be increasing as it sees the demand for consolidation and acquisitions in the eBusiness space. “Human resources is a critical factor in our business,” Hoffmann said, indicating that one of the major selling points for the Arsys acquisition was a strong executive team was already in place. However, Hoffmann said 1&1 will only acquire companies if the value is also reflected in the price, and it will not necessarily acquire a whole company as GoDaddy tends to do. He said the transactions could look more like its investment in Open-Xchange, where it acquired a minority stake. On Friday, 1&1 launched a new web hosting range which promises customers a complete “end-to-end experience”, combining design tools, an application center, and support, an area where 1&1 has struggled with in the past and is determined to improve, Hoffmann said. “In the past we were very much focused on product innovation, and I think there is a big opportunity to become better at customer service,” he said. To that end, 1&1 released new promises on all products, including a free 30 day trial, the ability to downgrade a hosting package, monthly payments, a 24×7 line in all markets and data redundancy in two locations. Users of its new Advanced package are guaranteed 2GB of RAM for free. Included with its web hosting packages from $1.99 per month, the 1&1 App Center offers 40 apps, with two options for installation: free or safe mode. Safe mode provides a managed platform so customers don’t have to worry about performing security updates or ensuring apps are up to date. Free mode gives the user a bit more flexibility, giving them access to the code. “Why is now a good time to update web hosting portfolio? Web hosting is a growing market, but it also needs innovation. And this innovation is based on applications,” Hoffmann said. “Web hosting is growing because there are so many great open source applications,” including Joomla, Drupal and Magento. The app store includes measures for 1&1 to ensure quality, a feature that Hoffmann said can make or break an app store. “For us it’s about establishing a standard,” Hoffmann said. There is a SDK open to the market, and 1&1 is currently creating a developer’s platform. For now the apps in the store are free; Hoffmann said the initial focus of the app store is to leverage its reach in the professional segment to reach its goal of 1000 apps, and then look at offering paying apps. In addition to updating its hosting packages, 1&1 also made some improvements to its cloud server, launching Dynamic Cloud Server Flex. It added the option to be billed hourly and introduced a new free sleep mode. 1&1 launched its pre-order portal for customers to reserve new TLDs for free after signing its Registrar Accreditation Agreement with ICANN on Tuesday. Hoffmann said that though price will be a challenging factor, SMBs will adopt new TLDs for many reasons, including making it easier to be found in search engines and securing their identity from competitors. By the end of the year, Hoffmann expects 5 million reservations to be made through its portal. Original article published at: http://www.thewhir.com/web-hosting-news/i |
| 8:22p | Data Foundry Plans 50MW Houston Data Center Campus  The interior of a data hall in Texas 1, the Data Foundry facility in Austin. Data Foundry has announced plans for a 50-megawatt campus in Houston. (Photo: Data Foundry) The Houston data center market is booming, and the growth is being driven by home-grown providers. Data Foundry has purchased 18 acres of land for a new Houston data center campus, which will feature 250,000 square feet of data center space with 50 megawatts of power capability, the company said today. The campus will be located at Greens Crossing Blvd, conveniently located near I45 and the Sam Houston Parkway. Data Foundry is a colocation and managed services provider that began operations in 1994 as Texas.net, and recently opened a major campus in Austin. But the company also has a long history in Houston as well. “Data Foundry established its first Internet and data center facility in Houston in 1996, and we’ve continuously expanded our presence and capabilities to meet the demands of our Houston customers,” said Carolyn Yokubaitis, co-CEO of Data Foundry. “We’re very excited to be further expanding our commitment to Houston and continuing to offer a real choice in premium data center and managed services.” The new Houston data center will be carrier-neutral and offer both retail and wholesale colocation to support customers from a single cabinet up to multi-megawatt deployments. The Austin campus for Data Foundry, known as Texas 1, has experienced strong success, highlighting the demand for premium data center space backed by a full suite of managed services. “Data Foundry’s Texas 1 data center in Austin has served us well with its combination of colocation, disaster recovery and managed services,” said Danny Grant, Director of IT Infrastructure for Rockwater Energy Solutions. “As a Houston based company it is great to see the addition of this type of premium data center in our own backyard.” Ground breaking of the first data center on the Houston campus is planned for the first quarter of 2014 with completion targeted in the fourth quarter. Houston has seen strong demand for data center space in recent years, driven by the data processing needs of the energy industry. The Data Foundry announcement follows continued growth by Cyrus One, another provider that started operations in Houston. The company recently announced plans for an addition to its West Houston campus. Meanwhile, Stream Data Centers says it just secured a tenant for its new wholesale project in Houston. |
| << Previous Day |
2013/09/04 [Calendar] |
Next Day >> |