Friday, September 27th, 2013

Time	Event
12:00p	The Happiest Place on Earth: Data Center World in Orlando Tom Roberts is President of AFCOM, the leading association supporting the educational and professional development needs of data center professionals around the globe. TOM ROBERTS AFCOM As I write this article, I’m on my way to Data Center World in Orlando, FL, where I’ll be meeting and greeting data center and facilities management professionals from around the world. I’m especially excited about this event—Sept. 30-Oct. 2—because it focuses on an issue many of you in the IT industry are being challenged with in the face of today’s business-driven demands. You don’t need me to tell you that pressure to perform has increased exponentially. It used to be enough to know your way around the data center. Today, the melding of business and technology requires that your skills stretch much further than they did even a few months ago. . .when we held our last Data Center World event. We specifically designed our fall program to ensure that when attendees return to their data centers, they will have the knowledge and insight to stay ahead of the curve in these new roles. Because a day-to-day operation is as important as long-term strategic planning, our educational program has the perfect balance of both. That way you can get better at what you do now, and prepare for anything that might fall on your plate in the near future. Thinking With The End-User in Mind For example, as the massive growth of information technology services places increasing demand on the data center, managers must create an infrastructure that allows companies and end-users to benefit from an increasingly services-oriented, mobile world. As more mobile devices connect to the Internet, cloud-based software and applications get smarter by learning from the billions of people and machines using it, thus resulting in a new era of context-rich experiences and services. It also results in a massive amount of network connections and a continuous stream of real-time, unstructured data. Looking at Challenges Ahead New challenges for networks, computing and storage are emerging as the growing volume of data is transported, collected, aggregated and analyzed in data centers. As a result, data centers must be more agile and service-driven than ever before, and easier to manage and operate. That’s why we’re very excited to have Shannon Poulin, VP of Intel’s Data Center and Connected Systems Group, as our keynote speaker. He will address “Transforming the Data Center for a Services-Oriented World” on Monday, Sept. 30 at 8 a.m. Attendees will also have nine full hours to meet with the more than 100 exhibitors at our trade show, giving them the opportunity to spend quality time reviewing all of the latest technology and services from top international vendors. If you can’t make it to Data Center World in Orlando, Data Center Knowledge will fill you in on the details as the week progresses. Hope to see you there! 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)
12:02p	Rogers Communications Acquires Pivot Data Centers Rogers continues its data center portfolio build-out with the acquisition of Pivot data centers, PEER 1 launches its enterprise-class cloud solution, and TelecityGroup opens Hansa, its Helsinki, Finland data center. Pivot Data Centers Acquired by Rogers Private equity firm Svertica International announced the sale of its portfolio company Pivot Data Centers to Rogers Communications for $155 million. Pivot is a West Canada colocation and data center services provider, which began a new 80,000 square foot data center last spring in Calgary. Headquartered in Calgary, the company also maintains a data center in Edmonton. Last April Rogers Communications acquired Blackiron data center, which owned and operated eight data centers in five major cities in Canada. “Sverica identified the growth opportunities available in colocation and the Western Canadian market specifically, and the vision we shared with management for Care Factor in 2009 is embodied in Pivot’s accomplishments since and its momentum today,” said Frank Young, Managing Director at Sverica. “Pivot has emerged as a leader in Alberta due to its steadfast focus on delivering flexible and reliable colocation services to its clients, and this commitment to client service and support from a strong partner like Rogers will position Pivot for continued growth. This transaction represents a great outcome for Sverica’s investors and Pivot’s management and employees.” PEER 1 launches Enterprise-class cloud PEER 1 Hosting announced that it is launching its recently released enterprise-class VMware public cloud solution, Mission Critical Cloud, in New York City, Seattle, Chicago and Salt Lake City. These new locations add to existing Mission Critical Cloud availability in Canada, the UK and Germany. The company is also introducing Magento-Optimized Build Blueprints for Mission Critical Cloud eCommerce customers. The new optimized build blueprints allow Mission Critical Cloud customers to deploy the same optimized solution that PEER 1 Hosting offers on managed hosting, but in a completely automated fashion in the public cloud. “We saw an existing gap in the market for a true enterprise-class solution, and believe the expansion of this offering to four additional datacenters is indicative of the strong interest in Mission Critical Cloud,” said Robert Miggins, SVP business development at PEER 1 Hosting. “This product isn’t just useful for our existing private cloud VMware customers that want to move to a public cloud, but also new SMB and enterprise customers that have been waiting for an enterprise-level public cloud environment. In fact, a majority of Mission Critical Cloud users are new to PEER 1 Hosting. By bringing Mission Critical Cloud to four additional datacenter locations, we hope to further the promise of choice for our customers, which, in the end, means a better result for them.” (Comment on this)
12:22p	The Growing Importance of the Modern Cloud API How do cloud connections happen? Bill Kleyman looks at the power of APIs. Let’s face facts: the concepts around cloud computing are here to stay. We’re evolving the way we utilize the cloud by creating segmentations like corporate and personal cloud environments. We have to remember that a cloud isn’t just one platform, but rather an intricate web of interconnected global services all working together to bring you data. To the user, the process must be transparent. So what is happening behind the scenes? First, you have the data center, which is the home of the cloud. But on top of these physical resources sit applications, data processing services, and end-user information that must all correlate for specific cloud-based services. So how does that cloud connection happen? How do we seamlessly interweave applications, services and the cloud component? This is where the power of the modern API (Appplication Programming Interface) comes in. Here’s a look at the areas where APIs are making a diffference: Networking. Think of this as a combination of SDN and cloud connectivity technologies. One of the core components of a cloud is the networking piece. We are now able to create logical networks which span numerous data centers all with a software-defined network configuration. Take the Cisco Open Network Environment, for example. This cloud-ready approach creates a truly customizable framework to deliver powerful networking, programmability and abstraction policies. Powered by a variety of mechanisms, including APIs, agents, and controllers – this type of platform creates capabilities to truly enable intelligent cloud networks. Storage. Cloud storage has come a long way. We now have distributed environments where storage is shared, cached and optimized all via intelligent storage controls. Data within the cloud continues to grow. Because of this, storage is becoming even more important within the cloud. So, to create more robust storage platform, APIs revolving around cloud-ready storage are great ways to enhance your environment. For example, Google Cloud Storage enables your cloud by allowing you to build applications using the Google App Engine. Then, within that same environment, you are able to directly store, serve and analyze your services with ready APIs.  Another great example is the interconnectivity between cloud-ready hypervisors and their storage component. NetApp’s Virtual Storage Console for VMware vSphere does this precisely. This combination of technologies is specifically designed to simplify the management of your storage infrastructure. VMware’s vStorage API extends functionality with additional interfaces and services that enable advanced storage capabilities. The great piece about this API is that it allows for NetApp as well as other vendors to be integrated with VMware vSphere workflows. Application and Services. As more workloads are delivered via the cloud, various models for delivery are being adopted. These “as-a-Service” models are allowing cloud providers to interconnect numerous services together and delivery them as one logical package. The idea is Everything-as-a-Service. Service-based APIs and connectivity tools allow you to bridge the communication gap between core data center services. For example, you’re able to insert a complete security infrastructure at the hypervisor level by integrating with the hypervisor API. This allows you to create a client-less security environment capable of faster delivery and better resource utilization. Or, you’re able to use the earlier mentioned Google API model to connect applications built directly on that platform. The bottom line is that service-level APIs are helping connect services which directly deliver core cloud components. Cloud. As more organizations move towards a cloud platform – there will need to be a mechanism to control and unite various cloud resources. This is where powerful cloud-ready stacks can really help out. For example, the Eucalyptus environment creates direct API services around numerous Amazon services. Now, you’re able to bring the power of the public cloud directly to your organization. With features like auto-scaling and elastic load-balancing, the Euca cloud allows for truly robust cloud infrastructure control. Another great example is the Apache CloudStack platform. With the latest release and even more upgrades coming – this stack model allows for API controls like load-balancing, auto-scaling, VM deployment, network control and much more. Why is this so great? Because platforms like CloudStack are able to integrate all of the core components to allow for true cloud-ready workflow automation and orchestration. Furthermore, this platform creates a true unification of cloud resources into a logical management portal. It will certainly be interesting to see how many new services around cloud computing will continue to evolve. Already we have cloud models which extend data directly to the edge. Furthermore, demand around cloud professionals is seemingly continuing to increase as well. The cloud will continue to allow the organization, data center and end-user to consume information at a rapidly growing pace. Driven by IT consumerization, the “on-demand” generation continuously wants their services delivered to them on any device, anytime and anywhere. The trick is to do all of this seamlessly. Cloud connectivity and the cloud API will unify various cloud platforms and allow for even greater elasticity. By creating robust platforms capable of vast interconnectivity – the cloud will transform the way we compute and allow us to truly consume everything, via the cloud. (Comment on this)
2:30p	Oracle Updates Big Data Appliance Oracle updates its Big Data Appliance for big data in the enterprise, YarcData launches a new Urika analytics software version, MapR turbocharges HBase applications, and Hortonworks and WANdisco make Hadoop non-stop. Oracle Big Data Appliance During Oracle’s (ORCL) OpenWorld conference this week in San Francisco the company announced enhancements for its Big Data Appliance, as well as new versions of Big Data Connectors and Oracle NoSQL Database. The new Big Data Appliance now offers integrated enterprise security with pre-configured Kerberos authentication, LDAP based authorization, and robust centralized auditing with Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall. The Big Data appliance also includes updates to Hadoop, Oracle Big Data Connectors, and NoSQL Database. Additionally it offers XQuery processing in Hadoop, enhanced predictive modeling, faster hadoop processing, and improved NoSQL performance and scalability. “Hadoop systems and NoSQL databases have proven to be ground-breaking technology for Big Data management. However, most solutions on the market cannot withstand the stringent demands of the enterprise where security is absolutely essential and can’t be compromised,” said Çetin Özbütün senior vice president, Data Warehousing and Big Data Technologies, Oracle. “With the latest enhancements to Oracle Big Data Appliance, Oracle is addressing the enterprise-grade security and performance needs customers require in Big Data solutions.” Cray’s YarcData launches new Urika software YarcData, a Cray company, announced a new software release for the Urika big data analytics appliance that delivers easier and simplified integration with Business Intelligence (BI) and visualization tools, as well as several key performance and productivity optimizations. Urika now integrates with a broad array of enterprise interfaces, including W3C industry standards SPARQL and RDF, JDBC (Java DataBase Connectivity), JSON (Java Script Object Notation), and Apache Jena. Additionally, analysts and data scientists can now easily interact with Urika using a wide variety of current and emerging third-party visualization and BI tools including Centrifuge Visual Network Analytics, and TIBCO Spotfire. Urika includes graph-optimized hardware that provides up to 512 terabytes of global shared memory; massively-multithreaded graph processors supporting 128 threads/processor; highly scalable I/O with data ingest rates of up to 350 terabytes per hour. “We have seen an explosion in front-end tools for data discovery, and YarcData’s mission is to be the server back-end for data discovery, similar to how MPP appliances were the server back-end for traditional business intelligence,” said Arvind Parthasarathi, President of YarcData. “With our new software release, the Urika appliance further accelerates the uncovering of valuable insight in disparate enterprise data by combining scalable performance and industry-standard interfaces with the existing analytic ecosystem. Urika also eliminates the need for extensive data preparation, modeling and knowing all of the questions to be asked upfront.” MapR turbocharges HBase applications MapR announced that it has updated its M7 edition to dramatically improve HBase application performance with throughput that is 4-10 times faster while eliminating latency spikes. Consistent read latencies in the less than 20 millisecond range across varying workloads with HBase applications running on M7. “Our customers are moving Hadoop from pilot adoption and project use to mainstream enterprise deployments,” said John Schroeder, CEO and cofounder, MapR Technologies. “MapR customers are experiencing the same reliability and enterprise-level performance with our distribution as they have seen with the Oracle platform at a fraction of the cost.” Hortonworks and WANdisco make Hadoop non-stop Apache Hadoop contributor and provider Hortonworks and WANdisco, a leading provider of continuous availability software, announced that the Hortonworks Data Platform (HDP) will support WANdisco’s Non-Stop Hadoop technology. The two companies will jointly go to market to provide integrated, high performance Big Data solutions built on HDP with full integration of WANdisco’s Non-Stop Hadoop software. “Enterprises are increasingly adopting Apache Hadoop as a core element of their IT infrastructure,” said David Richards, Chairman and CEO, WANdisco.  “Working with Hortonworks is a natural fit given their leadership in the Apache Hadoop community.   A major enterprise requirement is continuous data availability and WANdisco’s Non-Stop Hadoop Technology is the only technology available that addresses it. The combination of WANdisco, Hortonworks and SAP will provide a reference architecture for Hadoop in the Enterprise.” (Comment on this)
3:29p	Friday Funny: What’s the Best Caption for our DCW Cartoon? It’s Friday and time for some chuckles! What better way to end the work week than our cartoon caption contest? Please take a moment to vote on the caption suggestions for our latest cartoon, Kip and Gary Visit Data Center World. Come see the DCK Team in person at Data Center World in Orlando, starting Monday in the Exhibit Hall. For more Kip and Gary cartoons, visit their website. Take Our Poll New to the caption contest? Here’s how it works: We provide the cartoon and you, our readers, submit the captions. We then choose finalists and the readers vote for their favorite funniest suggestion. The winner receives a hard copy print, with his or her caption included in the cartoon! For the previous cartoons on DCK, see our Humor Channel. (Comment on this)
3:30p	Acatel-Lucent Aids Major Asia America Submarine Cable System Alcatel-Lucent aids Asia America in upgrading a major submarine link, Level 3 helps connect the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Edgecast expands into London and adds new key executives. Alcatel-Lucent upgrades Asia America submarine data link Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) and Asia America Gateway, the cable system owned by a consortium of operators, have reaffirmed their cooperation with the signature of a contract to upgrade the Asia America Gateway (AAG) submarine cable system, covering the route from Philippines to the United States. Using 20,000km-long AAG system will add multi-terabit data capacity to cope with the rapid expansion of data traffic in countries along its route, while rapidly increasing its capability to meet cloud service requirements. “This new investment in additional capacity on the AAG system will further help to address the persistent demand for anywhere, anytime broadband access,” said Mr. Vito Pavone, Chairman of the AAG Management Committee. ”Alcatel-Lucent’s technology offers an adaptable solution to continue implementing our staged upgrade strategy to meet significant bandwidth increments over time, while protecting our investments in the subsea plant.” Level 3 Serves Tampa Bay Buccaneers Level 3 Communications (LVLT) announced it has signed a multi-year agreement with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Level 3 will serve as the team’s global business-to-business internet network service provider at both Raymond James Stadium and the club’s headquarters,One Buccaneer Place. ”Level 3 is proud to work with the Buccaneers to provide a secure network solution that not only provides the network to interconnect their key locations, but also is a critical component of improving the customer experience at the stadium,” said Karl Strohmeyer, Group Vice President of North America Enterprise at Level 3. “The Buccaneers will only have to look to one provider to deliver more bandwidth than they had before, which simplifies their operations and gives them the speed they need to conduct their business and deliver a great experience.” Level 3 also announced a proposed refinancing of its $1.2 billion senior secured Tranche B-II 2019 term loan. EdgeCast adds London office Following a recent $54 million financing, EdgeCast Networks announced two new executive appointments and the opening of a London office to serve its growing global customer base. The European office will include sales professionals as well as local engineering support dedicated to EMEA customers. Additionally, EdgeCast announced that Phil Goldsmith, the company’s co-founder and chief revenue officer, has relocated to London to launch and manage the company’s new European office. the company recruited and hired John Powers – who formerly served as the top finance executive at eHarmony.com – as its new CFO. Mike Kleiman, EdgeCast’s longtime chief financial officer, was named the company’s COO. “EdgeCast continues to experience profitability and explosive growth worldwide, and we’re pleased to have strategic business leaders in John, Mike and Phil make ongoing contributions to our team,” said Alex Kazerani, chairman and CEO of EdgeCast Networks. “We are also excited to establish our new office as our European base of operations given the demand for our network and services in the region.” (Comment on this)

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