Monday, March 17th, 2014

Time	Event
11:30a	Customer Wins for Latisys, NYI and Carpathia Latisys, NYI and Carpathia all designed custom infrastructure solutions for recently announced customer wins. Latisys selected by MarketBridge. Latisys announced an IT infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) agreement with MarketBridge, a leading global provider of digital marketing, sales enablement, and customer analytics solutions. Latisys was selected for its high touch approach and willingness to tailor an IaaS solution to its specific business needs and optimize MarketBridge’s customer facing services and analytics infrastructure. Under terms of a multi-year IT infrastructure services agreement, MarketBridge and Latisys worked closely together to design and develop a comprehensive Managed Hosting solution to support all of MarketBridge’s services over Latisys’ cloud-enabled systems infrastructure. “Latisys’ Ashburn data center is a highly secure environment and a natural location to deploy a comprehensive, high performance cloud-enabled managed hosting solution,” said Eric Cooper, Principal at MarketBridge. “We are getting smarter about core business functions ourselves, but we need experts to ensure infrastructure availability and security. We chose Latisys as a critical extension of our team for their ability to provide a wide range of technical expertise, rapid provisioning and the specialized, high touch support that our SMART infrastructure requires.” NYI selected by Porta 80. NYI announced that Brazilian web hosting and Internet company Porta 80 has selected NYI to provide secure infrastructure services to support its business critical operations. NYI’s data center in New York serves as a major platform for Porta 80 in the U.S. and a reliable back-up for their Brazilian operations. “Choosing NYI was a great decision for Porta 80 as time and time again we have seen their team go far beyond what vendors normally do,” states Rogerio Pereira, Chief Operating Officer and Operations Manager for Porta 80. “Because of the distance between Brazil and New York, we need a partner that is a true extension of our team, always ready to help and with the knowledge and willingness to do whatever it takes. We have found that type of partner in NYI.” Carpathia selected by Mocean Mobile. Carpathia announced that Mocean Mobile, a leading mobile technology ad-serving platform company, turned to Carpathia to custom-design, deploy and manage the infrastructure and network that powers the Mocean Mobile global ad-serving platform. After rapid growth and outgrowing its hosting provider, Mocean Mobile sought a new partner that could design and support a solution to meet the company’s unique needs including dedicated and private network infrastructure, custom server and ongoing support requirements. Carpathia leveraged its cloud operator expertise and worked alongside Mocean Mobile to build a customized, technology-agnostic managed Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) solution. “Every organization has different needs and is at a variable stage along their IT journey, but they all want the reassurance that their infrastructure can scale along with their business,” said Jon Greaves, Chief Scientist and Chief Information Security Officer at Carpathia. “Our custom solution and partnership with Mocean Mobile has allowed them to expand into new geographic markets and avoid significant capital expenditures, while maintaining the highest level of infrastructure support.” (Comment on this)
12:53p	ClustrixDB, Joyent Partner For Real-Time Cloud Analytics Clustrix partners with Joyent to make its scale-out SQL and real-time analytics avaiable to Joyent customers, PernixData has been added to the  VMware  Partner  Verified  and  Supported  Product Program, and Exablox launches a new channel partner program. Joyent partners with Clustrix for analytics in the cloud. Scale-out SQL database company Clustrix announced a partnership with Joyent, making ClustrixDB available to Joyent customers who need scale-out SQL and real-time analytics. ClustrixDB allows enterprises to perform complex analytics within seconds, while at the same time track and measure performance. Using multiple cores on a single node and multiple nodes in parallel to make analytic queries and reports go faster, ClustrixDB provides the durability and speed necessary for data ingestion and analytics. With the introduction of ClustrixDB, Joyent’s high-performance computing platform will further increase and maintain application performance in cloud computing environments. The Joyent Cloud has always offered true data reliability and a high performance cloud architecture,” said Henry Wasik, President and CEO of Joyent Inc. “This integration with ClustrixDB will further enable our customers to enjoy the utmost performance now combined with the ability to run real-time analytics to deliver greater business insight.” “Many applications deployed in the cloud today have fundamentally different characteristics than traditional back office applications and require massive workload support,” said Robin Purohit, CEO at Clustrix. “ClustrixDB combined with Joyent’s application performance management capabilities will enable companies of any size to build innovative applications at unprecedented speed and agility.” PernixData added as VMware Partner. PernixData announced that its FVP software has has  been  added  to  the  VMware  Partner  Verified  and  Supported  Product Program. With inclusion  in  this  program, PernixData’s software is ready for deployment in vSphere environments 5.0  and  greater.FVP virtualizes all server side flash into a clustered acceleration tier that enables IT administrators to quickly, easily and cost-­effectively scale‐out storage performance completely independent of storage capacity.  FVP offers robust vSphere support, seamless management via vSphere web client, deployment compatible with VMware vSphere, and patent-pending Flash Cluster technology to enable any host to remotely access the flash devices on any other host in the cluster. Exablox announces new partner program. Storage company Exablox launched its channel partner program, making its OneBlox, a scale-out storage appliance, and its secure, multi-tenant, cloud-based OneSystem management service immediately available for purchase by qualified channel partners. The program formalizes Exablox’s 100-percent-channel go-to-market strategy. The new channel program is dedicated to supporting and enabling partners that focus on the mid-market across vertical industries. The company is investing heavily in the channel and is committed to helping its partners through joint marketing efforts, co-branding, sales and support. Exablox is eliminating licensing complexity by offering only a handful of stock keeping units (SKUs) for the channel to transact. “I’ve been working with VARs and end users for the past 20 years and recognize the struggle many mid-size enterprises are experiencing as they attempt to keep up with their applications and storage demands,” said Ezra Hookano, vice president of sales at Exablox. “Currently, companies have to choose between very expensive storage that requires forklift upgrades and complex installation and management, or inexpensive storage solutions without the software features they require. We look forward to partnering with VARs, MSPs, resellers and distributors that are passionate about storage and to helping to fill the void in the storage market with our scale-out enterprise-class storage that’s affordable to the mid-market.” (Comment on this)
1:10p	By the Numbers: Estimate Your Data Center’s DCIM ROI K.G. Anand is director, Global Solutions and Product Marketing, Avocent Products and Services, Emerson Network Power. He leads these efforts globally for the company’s data center hardware, software and services offerings. K.G. Anand Avocent The term data center infrastructure management (DCIM) has been a buzzword in the data center industry for a couple of years, but a lack of information regarding the barriers to DCIM adoption and implementation among organizations has made many hesitant to purchase and deploy a DCIM solution. One of the primary reasons is the inability of IT and facilities management to prove the value of the tool to their executive management. Go to any trade show and you will see a number of DCIM products and a like number of claims promising efficiency and manageability. But how do you know if the solution will improve your bottom line and meet your needs? What’s needed is a tool to help develop specific estimates for justifying an investment in DCIM. Emerson Network Power has created such a tool, but these calculators have no significance unless we can agree on what to value in a DCIM solution. To that end, Forrester Consulting came up with a calculation: The Total Economic Impact (TEI). The framework helps identify the fundamental elements of TEI, including costs, benefits to the entire organization, flexibility and risk factors that affect the investment decision. It’s also numbers-driven and highly specific to each user’s environment since the tool measures benefits by specific DCIM categories, enabling data center managers to understand where they receive the most value. This framework is a bottom-line approach to something that’s been honored more in theory than in practice. The factors include: Configuration management Capacity management Process management Alarm and monitoring Integration management Remote management The ROI analysis has already been tested and proven successful. Forrester determined that by using Emerson’s ROI tool and implementing a DCIM solution, a major global bank with 160 racks across three data centers would be able to realize more than $1.6 million dollars in specific benefits over a three-year period. The bank cited the following benefits in determining their positive DCIM ROI: Increased system availability. A main bank goal in implementing DCIM was to increase system availability for critical systems.  The bank estimates that the DCIM solution has contributed to increased availability of up to 20 hours and a contribution of more than $1.2 million in value over three years. Improved productivity with remote management. The bank is now able to save more than five hours per day by accessing its three data centers using remote access, saving almost $39,000 a year and allowing it to build out a new data center while saving time and expenses of nearly $95,000. Better capacity management and planning.  The company was able to save 45 minutes a day or $11,000 per year in productivity, in managing data center layout and planning for multiple requests that occur each day. This resulted in the bank being able to identify 19 servers that it could virtualize and save on power and maintenance costs. The bank was also able to reduce power consumption and cut related energy costs by $10,600 annually. Improved team communication. The data center staff is now making more intelligent and faster decisions which result in reduced meeting time, better coordination and streamlining of processes. Reduced server EMAC-related costs. The bank saved $50,000 yearly by being able to quickly and efficiently handle equipment move/add/change requests. In addition to the above five benefits, the bank attributed a delay in constructing a new data center to their DCIM solution and its better management of its existing data centers. A Wholistic View is Needed At the center of today’s business, the data center is under intense pressure to deliver 24/7. Dissimilar internal teams, management tools and performance metrics are all adding to this operational challenge. Without a holistic view of power consumption, asset utilization and service levels, data center managers and their departments are struggling to deliver the availability, capacity and efficiency that their businesses demand. DCIM solutions enable organizations to provide a more interconnected and practical approach to managing their data centers. Now that data center managers have the ability to measure the value of their chosen DCIM tool, they can more effectively safeguard availability, capitalize on resource utilization and achieve improved sustainability. With data center performance increasingly related to business success, these significant enhancements will all help to deliver competitive advantages, while ensuring a positive return on a long-term DCIM investment. 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)
2:20p	Data Center Knowledge to Launch Web Site Refresh A new DCK is coming soon to a desktop or tablet near you! Tomorrow, Data Center Knowledge will roll out a new Web site design. We are excited to let you, our readers and advertisers, know that this new fresh and relevant look has been developed behind the “screens.” Beyond the updating of the color and layout of the site, we hope to make the content more useable, accessible and shareable for our dedicated readers in the data center industry. For our advertisers, we plan to include your ads in the same great manner (no changes to your creative!) to reach the Data Center Knowledge reader with your message. A screen grab of the new look for Data Center Knowledge. Since its humble beginnings in 2005, Data Center Knowledge has focused relentlessly on bringing news and analysis on the newest data center technology and infrastructure developments. And we remain committed to bringing you this information with the highest standards of journalistic excellence in ethics and objectivity. For those of you who are new to the industry or our site, Data Center Knowledge is a leading online source of daily news, trends, and thought leadership about the data center industry. We cover the moves in the marketplace, the cutting-edge trends driving the powerful growth in demand for mission-critical facilities, the challenges and opportunities presented by high-density computing and its impact on power and cooling, and the evolution of the industry to include cloud computing and modular data centers. The Data Center Knowledge team is comprised of a dedicated group of experienced, professional reporters and editors as well as technologists who work continually to cover the ever-changing landscape of the industry. Each month more than 225,000 data center professionals including everyone from the C-suite to the IT and operations professionals who build and manage data centers turn to Data Center Knowledge for industry information and know-how. Thanks for your patience as we bring you more information about our fresh, new look for DCK. (Comment on this)
2:48p	Equinix Plans 1 Million Square Foot Data Center Campus In Ashburn The Equinix DC-11 building, which is the newest of the company’s 11 data center facilities in northern Virginia. (Photo: Equinix) Equinix plans to build a massive data center campus in Ashburn, Virginia, not far from its existing interconnection hub in the heart of northern Virginia’s “Data Center Alley.” The company has submitted plans to build a gargantuan development with more than 1.16 million square feet of data center space at the intersection of Loudoun County Parkway and the Washington & Old Dominion Trail. Equinix plans to build six buildings at the site, which is just south of the Washington Redskins training complex. Equinix has 11 existing data centers in northern Virginia, where its data centers serve as the key intersection for many of the world’s largest networks. The new facility would secure a long-term growth plan for Equinix in the critical northern Virginia market. It also raises fresh questions about the amount of data center supply in the Ashburn market, which is the focus of an extraordinary level of data center construction and development. Equinix has consistently grown in northern Virginia, with its most recent expansion being the opening of its DC11 facility in May of 2013. That 230,000 square foot data center added room for 120,000 square feet of colocation space, with an initial phase of 42,000 square feet. DC11 sits on a single campus with seven other facilities totaling more than 500,000 square feet of data center space. The planned project means the Equinix footprint in Ashburn will skyrocket. Big Implications for Data Center Alley Loudoun County is already home to 5.2 million square feet of space in more than 50 existing data centers. In addition to Equinix, providers present here include DuPont Fabros Technology, Digital Realty Trust, RagingWire, Latisys, COPT, AT&T, Verizon Terremark, CenturyLink Technology, EvoSwitch and many others. Plans are in place to create 8 million square feet of data centers in Data Center Alley by the end of 2014. Planned projects include CyrusOne’s 420,000 square foot facility, and Dupont Fabros’ 446,000 square foot ACC7, which is nearing completion. RagingWire secured $230 million in expansion capital, which will help support an announced expansion in Data Center Alley. The planned Equinix campus will add a significant amount of retail colocation in the market, and is large enough to impact supply in the area, furthering raising the bar for competition. Several factors make northern Virginia attractive for data center development. Power costs are low with Dominion Power very accommodating to the data center sector. The connectivity is rich, as the very foundations of the Internet were formed here with major companies like AOL and Equinix setting up shop in Northern Virginia in the 1990s. Additionally, tax incentives are extremely friendly in Virginia. Director of Economic Development in Loudoun Buddy Rizer has stated on numerous occasions that there hasn’t been a day in five years that hasn’t seen data center construction. The new Equinix data center campus would create about 70 jobs. Ashburn is the key East Coast data center market along with the New York Metro, acting as a key communications hub for U.S. East Coast and European markets. There’s a high concentration of IT, Telecommunications, biotech, federal government, and international organizations looking to set up shop in the area. Equinix’s campus is the key campus, with over 10,000 cross connects, 900 networks and direct access to 90 percent of internet routes.  The proposed plans are extremely aggressive, perhaps as a move to maintain its strength in the area going forward. (Comment on this)
5:56p	Facebook Open Sources Power And Water Usage Efficiency Dashboard Facebook is open sourcing its Power Usage Efficiency (PUE) and Water Usage Efficiency (WUE) dashboard. The company currently uses the Dashboard in Oregon, North Carolina, and will soon use it in Sweden and Iowa. Facebook is open sourcing the power and water usage dashboards for its data centers in Prineville, Oregon and Forest City, North Carolina. Last April, the company launched public dashboards that visualized real time efficiency for the facilities, and now the company is sharing them in the spirit of transparency. The code for the dashboards has been open sourced so anyone can take a peak and potentially build something of their own. This is yet another example of Facebook embracing openness for the betterment of data centers everywhere. Last January, the company said that Open Compute designs have helped it save $1.2 billion. The company was born on open systems and open source, and is giving back where it can – here, with a dashboard that might be helpful for companies looking to visualize energy and water efficiency. The code is separated into two pieces: a front-end User Interface component and a back-end data aggregator that may be helpful for those with similar systems to Facebook. These components can work together or be used separately. Hosting and cloud giant Rackspace participated in the beta testing of the code and provided feedback prior to the open source release. Rackspace is considering integrating the open source code in their facilities. Facebook plans to add a dashboard to its Sweden data center in the coming months, as well as in Iowa once that facility is operational. To access the dashboard code, go to GitHub for the front-end component, and the back-end data aggregator. The company is both giving back and providing some insight into its operations. Another major web-scale company with a publicly viewable efficiency dashboard is eBay, which unveiled a methodology and dashboard called Digital Service Efficiency (DSE) at The Green Grid Forum in 2013. Facebook is going the extra mile by open sourcing its dashboard so that others can measure efficiency, as well as providing deep insight into its operations as it has been consistently doing over the years. (Comment on this)
8:34p	Foust Resigns as Digital Realty CEO, Stein Takes the Helm Digital Realty Trust CEO Michael Foust (left) joins Gov. Rick Perry and Mayor Gary Slagel (at right)to open Digital’s Datacenter Park – Dallas. Foust has departed his CEO post, with CFO William Stein taking on the interim CEO position. (Photo: Digital Realty) Digital Realty Trust said today that its long-time CEO Michael Foust has stepped down, effective immediately. The company’s board has appointed Chief Financial Officer William Stein to take over as Interim Chief Executive Officer. Board chairman Dennis Singleton said that the Foust and the board had “mutually agreed that it was an appropriate time to find the next leader to help guide Digital Realty to the next level and scale of operational sophistication.” “We are very thankful to Mike for his many years of dedicated service to Digital Realty, and for the remarkable business he has built,” said Singleton. “We are gratified that Bill Stein has agreed to serve as Interim Chief Executive Officer while we conduct a search for a successor. He is intimately familiar with our customers, employees, and stakeholders. He has the full confidence of the board, and the business will be in very capable hands throughout this transition period.” The company said it will hire a leading executive search firm to immediately begin a search for a successor. The board has established a transition committee, comprised of independent board members William G. LaPerch and Robert H. Zerbst, to ensure a smooth transition. Foust will continue to serve as a member of the board of directors until the company’s annual meeting in April 2014, but will not stand for re-election. The size of the board will be reduced to seven members, effective immediately prior to the 2014 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. Foust has been the only CEO in Digital Realty’s history. He was a founder of GI Partners, the private equity firm which acquired the data center properties which later formed Digital Realty as the first publicly held data center REIT (real estate investment trust). After many years as the bellwether stock for data center REITs, shares of Digital Realty fell 27.6 percent in 2013 while the broader market surged higher. The company trailed the performance of other mission-critical REITs, and drew attention from short sellers who scrutinized its accounting methods for reporting data center maintenance costs. Singleton praised Foust for his service and track record in building Digital Realty into the largest data center developer, with 131 properties spanning 24.5 million square feet in 33 markets across North America, Europe and Asia. “Under his leadership, Digital Realty has dramatically expanded the size of its asset base, from a $1 billion collection of properties at the IPO in 2004 to a global platform with a $12 billion enterprise value,” said Singleton. “This growth has been achieved not just on an absolute basis, but on a per-share basis as well, creating significant value for shareholders in the process. Our share price has more than quadrupled since the IPO in 2004, and the per-share dividend has more than tripled, delivering total shareholder returns far ahead of both the REIT sector and the broader market average. Digital Realty expects to record a one-time charge in the first quarter of 2014 of approximately $0.10 per share related to Mr. Foust’s separation compensation. Excluding this one-time charge, the company’s 2014 core FFO per share guidance of $4.75-$4.90 remains unchanged. (Comment on this)

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