Wednesday, September 18th, 2013

Time	Event
10:00a	IO Launches AsiaPac Operations With Singapore Data Center A row of IO Anywhere data center modules. IO has launched its Asia Pacific operations with Singapore as regional headquarters. The company is looking to capitalize on the demand for software-defined data center technology in the region, and believes its Intelligent Control Platform is a perfect fit for APAC. IO will deliver Data Centre as a Service (DCaaS) from Singapore using its IO.OS software to track and manage IT assets housed within its IO.Anywhere data center modules. Goldman Sachs was named as a flagship IO Singapore customer, a continuation of a long-term strategic technology partnership between the two companies. Goldman Sachs is utilizing the IO Intelligent Control platform at IO Singapore, the company’s first modular software-defined data center outside of North America. IO announced it was building in Singapore when the partnership was initially founded. The company’s increased push into AsiaPac has been hinted at throughout the year. Earlier this year, IO established a distribution partnership with Tractors Machinery International (TMI) in Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei. It helped IO provide some of the local presence needed to further enter the market. At the Singapore Innovation Forum in June, IO announced an engineering partnership with McLaren Applied Technology. Singapore Emerging as AsiaPac Data Hub Singapore is increasingly a beachhead for companies looking to set up an initial AsiaPac presence in a business-friendly, neutral location. It is one of the region’s leading financial and business centers, with many customers looking to deploy critical business applications there. However, there has historically been a limited supply of enterprise data center quality supply, which has led many major providers looking to set up shop in Singapore to address growing demand. According to the Singapore Economic Development Board, Singapore is currently home to approximately 50 percent of South East Asia’s data center capacity. “The incredible growth of Singapore and the region is awe-inspiring and we are proud to be a part of this extraordinary opportunity and community,” said George Slessman, IO Chief Executive Officer and Product Architect.  ”In preparation for our launch, IO has developed a world-class team of people, critical regional ecosystem partnerships, a center of excellence for innovation in sustainability and most significantly, the deployment of the IO Singapore software-defined data center.” “We warmly welcome IO’s decision to expand its software-defined modular data centre business in Singapore,” said Jayson Goh, Executive Director of Infocomms and Media at the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB). “IO’s data centre and technology will add to the vibrancy of the infocomms ecosystem here, and reinforce Singapore’s position as a data management hub. We are confident that IO will be able to leverage Singapore’s market connectivity, global talent and business-friendly environment to enhance the delivery of technology to its clients.” Forrester: AsiaPac Primed for Third Party Providers According to Forrester Research, clients in Asia Pacific face increased pressure to build and run their IT systems in a sustainable and green manner. Forrester has forecasted that data centre services growth in the region would more than double GDP growth from 2010 to 2015, at 23% CAGR, with demand fueled by a need for reliable and cleaner power, escalating real estate costs, and a desire to move from fixed to circulating capital operating models. Forrester’s research shows that more than half of Asia Pacific firms want to move from capital expenditures (capex) to an operational expenses model (opex), and that third-party data centre providers are able to provide cost savings to both the CIO (in terms of immediate savings in the IT budget) and the CEO/CFO of the business (in terms of decreased risk of downtime).       (Comment on this)
11:30a	IBM Gives $1 Billion Boost To Linux on Power Systems A new IBM Power Systems Linux Center for developers, clients and partners opened in Montpellier, France today, part of a larger initiative by IBM to commit $1 billion towards Linux ecosystem growth on IBM’s Power Systems line of servers. (Photo: IBM) IBM continues to reinvigorate its line of Power Systems servers, with plans for a $1 billion investment in new Linux and open source technologies for Power Systems. This marks the second time in history that IBM has committed $1 billion in funds for Linux. Two immediate initiatives were announced: a new client center in Europe and a Linux on Power development cloud. These will focus on rapidly expanding IBM’s growing ecosystem supporting Linux on Power Systems, which today represents thousands of independent software vendor and open source applications worldwide. IBM Fellow and Vice President of Power Development Brad McCredie revealed the new investment in front of more than 1,400 Linux industry leaders, developers and end-users at the Linux Foundation’s LinuxCon conference in New Orleans. “Many companies are struggling to manage big data and cloud computing using commodity servers based on decades-old, PC era technology,” McCredie explained. “These servers are quickly overrun by data which triggers the purchase of more servers, creating un-sustainable server sprawl. The era of big data calls for a new approach to IT systems; one that is open, customizable, and designed from the ground up to handle big data and cloud workloads.” Variety of New Programs The $1 billion investment will be directed at various product research, design, development, ecosystem skills, and go-to-market programs for IBM’s clients, developers and partners, as well as academics, and students. A client center in Montpellier France will enable software developers to build and deploy new applications for big data, cloud, mobile and social business computing on open technology building blocks, using Linux and the latest POWER7+ processor technology. IBM also announced that it is expanding its Power Systems cloud for development.  The no-charge cloud service is ramping up its infrastructure to provide more businesses the ability to prototype, build, port, and test Linux applications on the Power platform as well as applications built for AIX and IBM i. “The last time IBM committed $1 billion to Linux, it helped start a flurry of innovation that has never slowed,” said Jim Zemlin, Executive Director of the Linux Foundation. ”IBM’s continued investments in Linux for Power Systems is welcomed by the Linux community.  We look forward to seeing how the Power platform can bring about further innovation on Linux, and how companies and developers can work together to get the most out of this open architecture.” (Comment on this)
12:20p	A Data Center Build: Site Development, Permits & Zoning Shawn Mills is a technology entrepreneur, founding member and president of Green House Data. You can find him on Twitter at @tshawnmills. SHAWN MILLS Greenhouse Data This article series follows the development process of a new data center, focusing on how smaller operators can build highly energy efficient facilities without the resources of larger companies. Previous entries included planning for expansion, selecting a site, finding incentives, and deciding whether a realty and/or design partner is right for you and designing your new facility. Once the design wheels are turning, it’s time to work with state and local governments on site development, permits and zoning. Many people groan at the thought of the politics involved, but this can actually be a rewarding chance to engage your community—and also improve business relationships. Check Under Every Rock for Incentives After selecting a site, you should contact the local government to see if any additional development incentives exist. In Green House Data’s case, the City of Cheyenne Building and Development Office has been very good to work with. We’ve all heard stories about the permit process and jumping through hoops to get there. In the Compass Data Center build series here on Data Center Knowledge, the meetings sound awfully boring. They definitely can be. Mr. Curtis also makes a great point when he describes the process as not decided on technical merits, but a subjective basis. Technical aspects of the building are definitely discussed, but often times this process is as much about forging relationships as it is tackling nuts and bolts. Choosing a location that has “incentivized” data centers can once again work on your side here. These areas want your business and they will go out of their way to establish a partnership. To start with, Cheyenne’s economic development entities like Cheyenne LEADS and the Wyoming Business Council helped us with things like acquiring the land at a very competitive price. Because we are aligned in our business goals (we want a new facility, they want more jobs and industry), local officials can actually help everything go more smoothly when working though both state and city permitting. This strong working relationship has helped us negotiate the challenges of timing, and has been invaluable in helping us sort out documentation, making sure meetings are productive, and track many of the details of this large project. Stay on Top of Scheduling Whether you have a sympathetic local government or an indifferent one, you’ll still need to be prepared to tackle a lengthy documents and meetings. Missing deadlines can set you back weeks because everything is on a timetable. Every municipality will have different processes, but there are frequently overall similarities. In Cheyenne, it more or less goes as follows, including anticipated timeframes: Annexation: If necessary, land adjacent to existing cities may need to be annexed (up to 5 months) Platting: Platting is the subdivision of plots. The process may be split into Preliminary and Final stages (3 – 5 months) Zoning: Different areas of cities are zoned for different purposes, like residential, industrial, etc. If the zone must be changed for your use, it requires public notice, application, multiple commissions/board approval (3 months) Site plan: Site plan reviews are generally required for new construction and analyze access, parking, landscaping, drainage report, traffic study, setbacks, and more. If you request a variance, additional time applies (10 days – 6 weeks) Building plan review: Building plans are submitted to a specific department and require a fee. They can be reviewed at any point during the development process and must include a “Plot Plan,” an expanded Site Plan (3 week minimum) Construction plan review: Engineering drawings for the development site are checked by a separate office (2 weeks minimum) Grading permit: If the site requires grading, a separate permit must be obtained and plans must be reviewed. This involves an application and fees (2 weeks minimum) Right-of-way-permit: For development within the City’s Right of Way, a separate permit is required, with its own application and fees Building permit: This must be obtained prior to starting any construction, can only be issued to a licensed contractor, and requires an application and fees and approval of the Building Plan and Site Plan Sign permit: If you plan on erecting signage a separate application and permit are required. Site plan Certificate of Compliance: Once the Site Plan has been approved you can obtain this certificate, which allows you to get a Certificate of Occupancy Phew! It’s a long list, and even though many of the steps can overlap, it takes a long time. With almost every step requiring its own application, permit and review process, there are a lot of dates to keep track of. Many of the review sessions involved take place on specific dates due to public notice or other factors, meaning it is vital that you stay on top of your calendar. Codes: the Key to Approval For Building and Site plans, local building codes will be essential to your success. The required codes are probably listed on your municipality website, and most cities adhere to International Building Codes (including Residential/Mechanical/Plumbing/Electrical and so on). As you designed your facility with your development partners, you should have gotten a good overview of building code requirements, which often times clash with your infrastructure needs. Building inspectors and permit approvers are more focused on the safety of individuals than the efficiency of your building. Be sure to talk through many of your features with your designers so you can explain your rationale to the permitting and inspection crews. Now that you’ve conquered the permit process, it’s finally time to start building! Our next entry will wrap things up as we break ground and start construction. 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. (Comment on this)
1:00p	RagingWire Secures $230 Million for Expansion The RagingWire data center in Ashburn, Virginia. The company has lined up $230 million to support facilities (Photo: RagingWire) Money continues to flow into the data center industry to fund new facilities. RagingWire said today that it has lined up a $230 million credit facility to fund its strategic growth plan and ongoing expansions in Sacramento, California and Ashburn, Virginia. “We now have a fully funded strategic growth plan,” said Mark Morrow, the Chief Financial Office of RagingWire. “The second aspect of this credit facility is that it’s a really solid bank syndicate, a strong endorsement.” The lending syndicate was led by Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Comerica Bank, and included eight financial institutions in total. “Our experience with RagingWire and knowledge of the data center industry drove us to arrange the bank group to fund RagingWire’s growth,” said Alicia Madsen, senior vice president, senior client manager of Bank of America Merrill Lynch.  ”RagingWire’s innovation, product excellence, and world-class customer experience puts them at the top of the data center industry and positions them for continued success.” Favorable Terms for Growth Capital The credit line gives RagingWire the financial backing to continue to expand its data center facilities to support existing customers and add new customers. It’s also likes the terms on the borrowing. The term of the financing is five years, and the company has 18 months before the principal has to be put down. The interest rate varies from 200 to 350 basis points over LIBOR depending on leverage. “We are pleased that our company is attracting significant investments from top financial institutions,” said Morrow.  “The credit facility is structured to give us the ability to execute our strategy to grow the company rapidly and responsibly at favorable rates and terms.“ The company has decided to be transparent about the terms, which indicates they believe are attractive. “We’re raising very inexpensive capital,” said Douglas Adams, RagingWire’s Senior Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer, who said RagingWire likes operating as a private company. “One of our strengths is being able to move quickly. Right now the way the markets are, it’s more attractive to borrow money (than sell stock). We feel very fortunate to raise these kinds of proceeds. The data center industry is definitely strong and growing, but there are some differences between how money is being raised that is going to affect flexibility and profitability over time.” Raging Growth, Raging Expansion Morrow says RagingWire’s growth plans are driven by its existing customer base. “We’re in an unprecedented area, with growth over 20 percent this year over last year,” said Morrow. “The space we’re building, it’s already booked. The sales have been so robust that we expect 20 to 30 percent growth next year. I’ve never seen us be able to sell so much capacity in advance before.” RagingWire’s 500,000 square foot data center campus in Sacramento is almost entirely full and plans are underway for an additional facility in the area. “In Sacramento, we sold 40 megawatts of IT load, and there’s 80 megawatts of generation,” said Adams.  “We sold this much in California alone.” In Ashburn, Virginia, the company acquired 78 acres of land in the heart of “Data Center Alley”, in the fiber ring. RagingWire has five data center vaults in Ashburn within a 150,000 square foot facility and plans to build a 1,500,000 square foot campus on its new property. Promotions Adams was recently promoted to Senior Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer, while Jason Weckworth was promoted to Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. “Promoting Doug Adams and Jason Weckworth recognizes their significant contributions to RagingWire and the considerable growth opportunity that lies ahead for the company,” said George Macricostas, CEO and founder of RagingWire. “Doug was one of the founding executives of the company and has built an industry-leading sales and marketing team with exceptional go-to-market programs. Jason and his team have been building and running world- class data centers for RagingWire since the company was formed in 2000. I am pleased that Doug and Jason will take on these expanded executive roles and lead RagingWire’s next growth phase.” (Comment on this)
2:00p	VCE Rolls Out New Innovations to Vblock Enabling continued benefits in converged infrastructure for its customers, VCE unveiled a series of new products, services and partner programs. VCE, whose investor companies are VMWare, Cisco and EMC, released new Vblock Systems, newVblock Specialized Systems, enhanced VCE Vision Intelligent Operations software, new VCE Cloud Accelerator Services, and an enhanced VCE Partner Program. Enhancing and expanding product portfolio The new Vblock System 340 incorporates the latest compute, network, storage, and virtualization technologies from VCE investor companies. The 340 system offers up to four times the performance and twice the capacity as previous Vblock systems 300. A new Vblock Specialized System for High Performance Databases is for environments that require millions of IOPS and need to scale to hundreds of terabytes, all with maximum availability. Unlike dedicated database appliances, this system offers the flexibility to support mixed workloads and multiple database versions. “VCE has set the pace in true converged infrastructure, delivering innovative products and services to customers that enable transformative results by reducing costs, increasing reliability, and accelerating time-to-market,” said Praveen Akkiraju, Chief Executive Officer, VCE. “The solutions announced today, along with our increased investment in our partners, reinforces our commitment to help customers simplify and accelerate the deployment of next generation data center and cloud infrastructures. With VCE, IT organizations are able to more effectively support and – for the first time – get ahead of end-user requirements in today’s dynamic business environment.” Created to meet the requirements of the most latency-sensitive environments such as virtual desktop infrastructures (VDI), a new Vblock Specialized System for Extreme Applications features all-flash technology with inline de-duplication.The new VCE Cloud Accelerator Services help customers rapidly and efficiently plan, build and implement scalable “as a service” cloud infrastructure environments. These services combine business process, operations, and organization transformation expertise with pre-integrated service catalog capabilities for self-service portals and chargeback on the Vblock Systems. The enhanced VCE Partner Program increases opportunities and enables partners to develop and expand their businesses around VCE’s converged infrastructure solutions. On average, customers with VCE Vblock systems realized four times faster deployments for new infrastructure with 79 percent less effort, five times faster deployment for new services, 96 percent reduction in downtime and reduction of annual data center costs by 50 percent, according to a VCE-commissioned white paper by IDC. “IDC’s in-depth conversations with organizations deploying converged systems consistently found dramatic improvements in time to deployment, availability, operational simplicity, and cost compared to traditional IT environments, ” said Richard Villars, Vice President, Datacenter & Cloud, IDC. “Business and IT benefits like these are driving the rapid adoption of converged infrastructure.” (Comment on this)
3:00p	Joyent and Riverbed Partner on Cloud Service Joyent and Riverbed (RVBD) announced an alliance to launch the Riverbed Stingray and Joyent Content Delivery Cloud (CDC), a fast and efficient content delivery platform that will improve performance and flexibility of content delivery. The service combines Joyent’s public cloud infrastructure and the Riverbed Stingray Application Delivery Controller (ADC) software. “Building on our partnership with Riverbed, the Riverbed Stingray and Joyent CDC is a prime example of helping customers come up with more cost effective cloud solutions through innovation,” said Henry Wasik, chief executive officer,  Joyent. “Better performance and lower costs can only come through insight and controls traditional CDN infrastructures can’t deliver.” The combined solution uses public or private infrastructure to offer a private, CDN-like experience for the delivery of a customer’s content. It offers control features such as auto-scaling, content caching, bandwidth management, performance monitoring, and content compression – and uses custom-built infrastructure centrally administered by the customer . The Stingray Traffic Manager (STM) routes the user request to the most appropriate location based on the parameters set by the application owner such as geographic proximity and required response time. In addition to routing user requests, Stingray’s additional capabilities enhance the performance and security of the Riverbed Stingray and Joyent CDC with Stingray Application Firewall for deeper application level threat identification and mitigation and Stingray Aptimizer for end-user content optimization. “Riverbed and Joyent share a passion of innovation to deliver customers an unparalleled experience,” said Jeff Pancottine, senior vice president and general manager of Stingray at Riverbed. “Running the Riverbed Stingray software ADC in the Joyent cloud provides the flexibility and control content owners require. Content demands can vary widely, and now for the first time these peaks and valleys can be addressed in a cost effective way.” (Comment on this)
3:00p	LightEdge Opens Underground Data Center at SubTropolis An illustration of the plans for the entry area of the new LightEdge data center within SubTropolis, an underground business park in Kansas City (Photo: LightEdge) A new data center in Kansas City is going underground, with support from two high-profile investors. Colocation and cloud computing specialist LightEdge Solutions will add a regional data center at the underground SubTropolis Technology Center (STC) in Kansas City. LightEdge will be the anchor tenant in the first phase of STC, a mission critical data center campus owned and operated by Hunt Midwest Real Estate Development. LightEdge is owned by Qwest founder Phil Anschutz, and Hunt Midwest is one of multiple entities owned by the Lamar Hunt family. “The relationship between LightEdge and Hunt Midwest translates into the convergence of financial strength, best-in-class hosted IT services, experience with hybrid cloud environments, a highly secure and protected location, and low kW power costs compared to other areas of the U.S.,” said Jim Masterson, chief executive officer of LightEdge Solutions. Underground Business Park, With Room to Grow SubTropolis is an underground facility built in a former limestone mine near Kansas City, offering more than 5 million square feet of space. The facility’s tenant mix is focused in the warehouse and distribution sector and record storage. But Hunt Midwest believes the natural cooling provied by SubTropolis will be attractive to data center operators as well. LightEdge will be the first tenant, and plans to open the first phase of its 60,000-square foot underground operation, built to Tier III Standards, within STC during the first quarter of 2014. LightEdge will be STC’s first provide colocation and managed services provider for small and mid-sized companies looking for cage, rack and suite floor space. In addition, LightEdge will use a portion of STC’s six-acre equipment yard located on the exterior surface of the property. LightEdge Chief Security Officer Travis Thompson said the company will put two 600 kW and two 1.5 MW generators in the six acre yard space, with expansion capability as the LightEdge data center grows. LightEdge will also be placing two chillers initially. First Tenant as Launchpad With LightEdge’s “proof of concept,” Hunt Midwest will market STC to government agencies and larger enterprise users who want to operate their own data centers. SubTropolis features evenly spaced pillars with 40-foot clearance and 16-foot high ceilings. Millions of square feet are available for  expansion. “In the more than 20 years I’ve been involved in data center development and operations, I’ve never seen a property more appropriate for a data center,” said James deVenny, a data center consultant who previously was co-founder, president and chief executive officer of Dataside. “This is an ideal partnership,” said Ora Reynolds, president of Hunt Midwest. “Together, Hunt Midwest and LightEdge have all of the pieces needed to create a world-class data center.” STC is served by KCP&L, with two diverse substations and 161 kV transmission lines on the property. The raised-floor facility will use Liebert CRAH and UPS and diesel generators providing support for 1.5 megawatts of critical power. “Hunt Midwest and LightEdge are creating a best-in-class data center infrastructure that will offer a great combination of redundancy and capacity,” said Chuck Caisley, vice president of marketing and public affairs for KCP&L. “The robust electric transmission and distribution network – with multiple substations in the area and proximity to our generating station – directly supports the needs of the technology industry.” Here’s an illustration of what LightEdge and Hunt Midwest expect the finished space to look like: (Comment on this)

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