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Thursday, August 7th, 2014
| Time |
Event |
| 12:30p |
Netflix VP of Ops Leaves to Join Yahoo as CIO Yahoo has appointed Mike Kail to lead its IT and data center operations as CIO and senior vice president of infrastructure. Kail comes to Yahoo after about three years as vice president of IT operations at Netflix.
As Yahoo ramps up its push into online video, its business strategy will be ever closer tied to its infrastructure strategy. The company has been buying rights to TV shows and movies and has said it will invest in original video content, getting into closer competition with the likes of Netflix, Hulu and Amazon.
At Netflix, Kail was a member of a highly sophisticated infrastructure team. Besides being famous for its popular online video platform, which singlehandedly disrupted the entire video-rental industry, Netflix is known for innovative infrastructure management technology. Its engineers have created a number of their own management tools, many of which they have open sourced.
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, to whom Kail will report directly, said the strength of the company’s infrastructure was critical for ensuring high-quality user and advertiser experience. “It also ensures that Yahoos have the tools and technology necessary to execute,” she said in a statement announcing the appointment.
“Mike has the perfect combination of experience and vision to lead our IT and infrastructure to even greater global reach and scale.”
Kail has more than 23 years of IT operations experience, according to Yahoo. Prior to Netflix, he served as vice president of IT operations at Attensity, an unstructured data analytics company, where he led the Americas data center team.
Ongoing Yahoo data center consolidation
Yahoo’s infrastructure team has been consolidating its global data center footprint over the past several years. The company currently has a mix of owned and leased facilities on the east and west coasts of the U.S., as well as in Brazil, Ireland, Switzerland, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore and Australia.
Consolidation efforts are continuing as the company moves servers out of some locations while expanding its footprint in others. It recently bought a chunk of land in Lockport, New York, to expand its already large data center campus there.
The Lockport campus is well-known in the data center industry for its unusual design, using a shape that resembles a chicken coop. The facilities are designed to maximize the flow of outside air through the buildings to take advantage of free cooling as much as possible. | | 1:00p |
Report: Docker Nearing Close of $40M-Plus Funding Round Docker, the San Francisco startup that sells application container technology and management tools around it, meant to enable any application to run on any type of infrastructure, is in end-game discussions on a funding round that will range from $40 million to $75 million, GigaOm reported citing two anonymous sources.
The sources also told GigaOm that the company has been valued at about $400 million.
It will be several weeks before the round is closed. If successful, it will be Docker’s biggest funding round to date. It has raised $26 million so far, closing its most recent $15 million Series B earlier this year.
The company has been in existence under its current name for a few months longer than a year. It started as dotCloud, providing Platform-as-a-Service, and developed what served as the basis for Docker to enable the PaaS.
One year ago, however, it open sourced the Docker container technology and renamed itself. Earlier this week it announced that it had sold the dotCloud PaaS business to the German company called cloudControl.
A Docker-containerized application can be deployed on bare-metal servers, in a variety of clouds or on a PC. The application can also be easily moved from one infrastructure stack to another.
Docker 1.0, the first production-ready release, came out in June. The company has enjoyed support from the likes of Google and deployments by the likes of eBay, Spotify and Yandex.
Docker CEO Ben Golub told us in an interview recently that there was interest in the technology from many large banks, healthcare companies and enterprises.
In addition to the container technology itself, the company is working on management tools for it, including tools that enable multi-container applications. Last month it acquired a company called Orchard, which provides hosted cloud-based Docker and has a container orchestration tool called Fig. | | 1:30p |
T5 Lures CoreSite’s LA Facilities Manager to Its New Management Business T5 Facilities Management, subsidiary of the wholesale data center provider T5 Data Centers, has appointed John Ducic, former senior facilities manager at CoreSite Realty Corp., as director of its west coast operations.
Ducic has been at CoreSite for more than five years, and prior to that spent 10 years working as data center operations manager at Wilcon, according to his LinkedIn profile. At T5, he will oversee management of the company’s Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon, data centers as well as T5FM customer facilities in the region.
Mike Casey, chief operating officer of T5FM, said Ducic had a diverse background in data center design and operations. “John understands all the inner workings of data center operations, from power to cooling, and his experience will prove valuable for managing both of T5′s western wholesale data centers and T5FM’s new data center clients,” he said.
T5FM is a new venture for the company, launched only last month. It provides contract on-site support to data center operators.
The parent company operates in four data center locations in the U.S. (Atlanta, Los Angeles, Dallas and Charlotte, North Carolina) and is building data centers in Portland, New York and Colorado Springs, Colorado.
T5’s existing data center in Los Angeles is a 180,000-square-foot facility with about 16 megawatts of critical load.
Ducic is used to operating massive data centers. CoreSite, his previous employer is one of the largest wholesale data center providers in the U.S. It has two data centers in the Los Angeles market (the region Ducic was responsible for): the 430,000-square-foot LA2 facility at 900 North Alameda Street and the 160,000-square-foot LA1 data center at One Wilshire, one of the west coast’s most important carrier hotels. | | 2:00p |
Google adds Compute Engine Zones in US and Asia Google has launched additional availability zones in the U.S. and Asia for its Infrastructure-as-a-Service cloud Compute Engine. Each region now has three zones, which helps customers increase infrastructure redundancy to improve application availability.
Google Compute Engine is competing toe-to-toe with Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and a few other, smaller service providers. The variety of availability zones is one of the factors customer look at to decide which cloud provider to go with. How big of a role this factor plays depends on the type of their application.
While not necessarily housed in separate data centers, deploying resources in different zones in a single region provides isolation from failure (i.e. if one zone goes down, the other may remain online). Deploying across multiple regions enables geographic isolation, which protects from region-wide failures.
Google Compute Engine has three regions: U.S., Europe and Asia. While U.S. and Asia now have three zones each, Europe still has two.
The choice of a zone may also depend on the type of processor a customer wants their cloud to run on. Some zones support Intel’s Sandy Bridge architecture and some support the newer Ivy Bridge chips.
Google has six data centers in the U.S., one in South America, three in Europe and two in Asia.
In addition to beefing up its availability zones, Google has also recently released SSD-backed persistent disk service on Compute Engine into general availability. The service was launched as a limited preview in June.
In a recent blog post, Gartner analyst Lydia Leong wrote that while Google has been rolling out new cloud technology rapidly, there was still “an enormous gulf between its technology capabilities and its go-to-market prowess.”
Google has not been winning significant customers away from the IaaS market incumbent AWS. While it has done well selling cloud capacity for batch processing jobs and for deployments that combine Compute Engine with its Platform-as-a-Service offering App Engine, Google’s infrastructure cloud services have not seen much in terms of market momentum. | | 4:00p |
Four Big Advantages of Multi-Tenant Data Centers Server virtualization, application delivery, and IT consumerization have all impacted how end-users process and consume information. Because of this, entire business models are being forced to change and data center operations forced to evolve.
New types of demands can be difficult for IT to juggle for a variety of reasons. They represent tactical issues relating to IT staffing and budget, but they also represent real inflection points in the way enterprises strategically conduct business in the 21st century.
Within IT, CIOs are trying to figure out how to do more with fewer resources. It’s not just pressure from CFOs to reduce capital expenses. It’s also the ongoing challenge of finding trained staff for key responsibilities, especially in geographical areas where demand for IT skills is high.
Beyond IT, organizations are asking CIOs to deploy infrastructures that help the business respond quickly to changing competitive conditions. At the top of the list: the ability for employees to communicate quickly among themselves (for greater productivity), and for suppliers, partners and customers to access information quickly (for greater service and reliability).
In this whitepaper from CoreSite, we see how there are multiple definitions of multi-tenancy. Some cite the presence of applications side-by-side as multi-tenancy, while others cite the presence of customer data side-by-side as multi-tenancy. No matter how it’s defined, a multi-tenant data center houses multiple communication networks in a single facility.
So, from a CIO/CFO perspective, what are the big four efficiency advantages of a multi-tenant data center?
- Outsourcing infrastructure needs
- Implementation and shared infrastructure efficiency
- Cost control and operational efficiency
- The true agility of a multi-tenant data center
Download this whitepaper today to learn how multi-tenant data centers give enterprises the opportunity to serve customers and end-users better. With greater proximity to high-speed networks and other cloud providers, enterprises can reduce latency, improve application performance and increase customer satisfaction of all-important online access. Ultimately, this means that enterprises can take advantage of multi-tenant data centers to accelerate the pace of their business, while at the same time lowering their total cost of ownership for infrastructure. | | 5:31p |
Korean Telco KT Claims New Data Center Can Break ASHRAE’s Ceiling KT, one of Korea’s largest telecoms, is expanding its cloud offerings and data center capacity in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province. The company is also doing a few interesting things to make the data center more environmentally friendly and energy efficient, including operating it at higher temperatures than standard industry practice.
Like virtually all of the world’s other major telcos, the company is focusing on cloud services because of a sluggish wired network business. KT has 10 data centers in Korea and recently expanded in Cheonan with a new annex building. The company plans on another addition to Cheonan in 2015.
Data center cooling is a big cost for operators. Supplying warmer air to the data center floor reduces the amount of energy a cooling system consumes and subsequently reduces the cost.
KT can set its data-hall ambient temperature at the high end and occasionally above the upper limit of the 2008 ASHRAE standards. The company said it succeeded in developing a technology that allowed it to operate server rooms at 27 C (about 80 F) in 2012. Now it has raised that temperature further.
Server rooms in the second annex building can be run at up to 86 F, which can save up to 36 percent on air conditioning, according to KT. Most data centers operate between 68 F and 72 F, but ASHRAE has expanded the envelope over the years.
The first edition of the ASHRAE guidelines in 2004 created a recommended upper limit of 77 F. The second edition in 2008 recommended an upper limit of 81 degrees. Google and others have increased the data center temperature to 80 F.
“I am glad to show to the world our newest smart energy technology. In preparation for the upcoming ‘Gigatopia’ era in which data requirements increase at an explosive rate, we at KT will lead the initiative in creating new super energy-saving data centers,” said KT chairman Hwang Chang-gyu.
KT is building out in modules, which reduces the time it takes to get additional data center capacity up and running. Modular construction helped get the new building online in five months. It cost about 40 percent less than the first one, the company said, due to new server technology. | | 6:05p |
Interxion buys SFR’s Marseille Interconnection Hub Interxion announced it is purchasing the SFR Netcenter data center facilities in Marseille, France. The acquisition is expected to close in the third quarter 2014.
Capital expenditure associated with the purchase and further construction of the data center is expected to be €45 million. The acquisition and first two phases, about 5,400 square feet each, is expected to cost €20 million.
The Marseille data center will serve as an important gateway. It sits on the coast and is the second largest city in France.
Eight undersea cables terminate in Marseille, making the data center a key access point for Interxion and its customers that wish to serve emerging markets in the region.
The facility currently serves as a transit and caching node for more than 60 network providers. Interxion has entered into a contract with SFR, which will provide it with immediate access to the existing community of service providers and cable operators.
Interxion will purchase the land, buildings and data center equipment. The facility will have about 61,350 square feet of net usable space and at least 6 megawatts of critical power.
The first phase is expected to open in the fourth quarter, and the second is planned for the first quarter of 2015.
“Interxion’s investment in MRS 1 positions it at the crossroads of connectivity between Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East,” Interxion CEO David Ruberg said. “The strong network hub that is created by the aggregation of multiple undersea cable landing points connecting to terrestrial cables makes Marseille a highly attractive gateway.
“We have received strong interest from our connectivity, CDN, social media, and cloud customers seeking to serve the emerging markets that can be accessed by these cables,” he continued.We expect to expand the existing connectivity hub in MRS 1 and to develop thriving magnetic cloud and content hubs.”
Interxion is a major player in France. It has the most data centers there and commands close to one-third of the market.
The company’s prior most recent portfolio expansion was announced in April, when it said it would add capacity in Amsterdam and Frankfurt. | | 7:06p |
Houston Provider StratITsphere Sells Retail Colo Business to Alpheus Texas connectivity service provider Alpheus has acquired the retail colocation business of data center provider StratITsphere, which said it would focus on wholesale deals larger than 5,000 square feet. The companies also formed a strategic partnership that includes a long-term lease of data center space in Houston’s “energy corridor.”
StratITsphere will continue to operate its 93,000-square-foot data center in Katy, Texas, and Alpheus will take over about 12,000 square feet for retail colocation. StratITsphere serves the energy industry, particularly oil and gas, pipeline, refining, power, utilities and energy and commodities trading firms. It has several large energy-sector clients in Houston.
Alpheus gains a retail colocation offering strategically close to downtown Houston. The company has filled two existing Houston locations and needs additional space to meet demand, Apheus CEO Scott Widham said.
“StratITsphere’s data center is uniquely designed to provide customers like Alpheus with a differentiated product in the Houston market,” Darin Cook, CEO of StratITsphere, said. “The partnership with Alpheus allows us to focus on wholesale customers needing greater than 5,000 square feet of data center space.”
The new data center is connected to Alpheus’ deep metro fiber footprint in Texas, serving some fast growing markets, including Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio.
Houston is a competitive market. It is a historic hub for both CyrusOne and SoftLayer (now IBM) and home to about 30 data centers. It has gained a new wholesale provider, Skybox, which recently broke ground on a new data center build.
Despite healthy competition, market watchers say supply is tight, and the large footprints of recent deals in the energy sector suggest continuing demand. According to a recent estimate by wholesale data center provider Digital Realty Trust, there was less than 10 megawatts of capacity available in the Houston market as of the end of the second quarter, but more than 20 megawatts of capacity was under construction. | | 8:00p |
Strong Q2 Reports Continue Coming in From U.S. Data Center REITs Following strong second-quarter earnings reports of their peers DuPont Fabros Technology and CoreSite Realty Corp., the other three major U.S. data center real estate investment trusts – Digital Realty Trust, QTS Realty Trust and CyrusOne – reported that they too had a positive second quarter.
U.S. data center providers are operating in positive overall market conditions. All five REITS reported year-over-year revenue gains and all five have leased out lots of data center space during the three months.
Digital Realty, which finished the first quarter by announcing changes in business strategy, reported progress on execution of those changes, and S&P revised its outlook on the world’s largest data center REIT, changing it from negative to stable.
Digital Realty was a pioneering data center REIT, having formed and gone public in 2001. The company has recently been sailing in rough waters, however, including the sudden departure of its founding CEO Mike Foust in March.
Both QTS and CyrusOne had their IPOs as REITs last year. The two firms have continued expanding their portfolios, which grew substantially during the second quarter.
Digital Realty stabilizing, ready to ‘prune’ portfolio
Things began looking up for Digital Realty in the second quarter, as the company continued executing on the strategic changes introduced earlier this year. The changes include identifying underperforming properties and selling them, as well as diversifying product portfolios to offer more than its traditional space-and-power deals.
The company has identified the properties it will prune from its portfolio and said it would start marketing them after Labor Day, or early next month.
Bill Stein, Digital Realty CFO and interim CEO, said the company was seeing positive results in the market for data center deals that are smaller than its traditional wholesale leases. “Our mid-market segment continues to gain traction, and our colocation product offering generated good results with over $5 million in signed revenue during the quarter,” he said.
The company signed leases totaling about 17 megawatts of capacity during the quarter, the bulk of it in North American markets. Average per-kW rate in North America was the lowest: $154, compared to $185 in Europe and $201 in Asia Pacific. The leases will add a total of about $3.5 million per month to the company’s revenue.
While Digital Realty’s revenue for the quarter was up, it reported a drop in funds from operations (equivalent of earnings per share) from $1.22 per share in the second quarter of 2013 to $1.20 per share in the most recently completed quarter. The company reported $401 million in revenue for the quarter, up 10 percent year over year.
QTS on expansion kick
QTS reported revenue of $51.3 million for the quarter – up 20 percent year over year. Its FFO was $0.50 per share. The company’s net income for the quarter was $3.9 million – a major improvement from the $1.2 million loss it reported for the same period last year.
It signed a total of 335 leases during the quarter, amounting to about 70,000 square feet of data center space. While it is a REIT, QTS has a much more varied service portfolio than Digital Realty does, which includes custom data center space, retail colocation, cloud and managed services.
Unlike Digital Realty, which is in portfolio pruning and optimization mode, QTS is in massive portfolio expansion mode. During the quarter the company bought a 12-megawatt New Jersey data center from McGraw Hill Financial, which it says it can expand to 20 megawatts, and the former Sun Times Press facility in downtown Chicago, which it plans to redevelop and turn into a 25-megawatt data center.
Also during the quarter QTS brought online about 45,000 square feet of new data center space and continued construction in Texas, Georgia, Virginia and California. Cumulatively, the company expects those construction projects to yield more than 80,000 square feet of rentable data center space before the end of the year.
CyrusOne shrinks quarterly loss
CyrusOne reported a massive revenue gain. Its $82 million second-quarter revenue represented a 28-percent year-over-year increase. The company is still losing money, but it has managed to shrink its losses substantially, reporting a $3.6 million loss for the quarter, compared to a $6.8 million loss it reported for the same quarter one year ago.
Like QTS, it has had a strong leasing quarter as it continued to expand its data center portfolio. The REIT leased about 60,000 square feet of colocation space (about 17 megawatts of power) and about 17,000 square feet of office space during the quarter.
Among the deals signed during the three months were leases with four Fortune 1,000 customers that have not taken space with CyrusOne before. The company now has about 650 customers total, 140 of which are Fortune 1,000 companies.
It is building in Texas, Virginia and Arizona, expecting to bring online 120,000 square feet of colocation space over the course of the second half of the year. CyrusOne’s biggest ongoing construction project is in Phoenix, where the company is building a 1 million-square-foot campus. About half of the space leased during the second quarter consisted of pre-leases in the upcoming Phoenix data center. |
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