Thursday, June 23rd, 2016

Time	Event
12:00p	How TierPoint Quietly Built a Data Center Empire in Secondary Markets While the current cloud data center leasing frenzy involving the six publicly traded data center REITs in the biggest markets tends to command the headlines, it’s easy to lose sight of other major trends in the data center industry. One of them is the amount of activity in secondary data center markets. Example of a company that’s been successful at taking advantage of that trend is St. Louis, Missouri-based TierPoint, a private equity-backed colocation, hybrid cloud, and managed services provider that has quickly become a force to be reckoned with in the data center industry. Over the last year or so, it has accelerated pace and scale of acquisitions, while also expanding through new construction and development. Most notably, it recently completed a 70,000-square foot facility on a 15-acre campus in Oklahoma City. See also: Windstream to Sell Data Center Business for $575M Strategy and Future Plans Gartner recently recognized TierPoint in its June 2016 “Magic Quadrant for Disaster Recovery as a Service” report. As Shea Long, TierPoint’s senior VP of product, put it in an interview with Data Center Knowledge, the company sees DRaaS as one of the key “mousetraps” in its expansion strategy. Here are the highlights from our conversation: TierPoint’s private equity owners are not looking for an exit. They have a long-term plan for the company, which is still in growth mode. Providing hybrid cloud solutions is the foundation for TierPoint’s business moving forward, with a marketing focus geared to mid-size and large enterprise customers with $100 million to $1 billion and higher revenues. Long said TierPoint’s advantage compared to larger competitors like Rackspace Hosting and CoreSite, “is a high-touch local presence in larger secondary markets.” On the Disaster Recovery side of the ledger, he touted TierPoint’s software defined DRaaS solution “as being a better mousetrap, and a key element of TierPoint’s expansion strategy.” Expect M&A by TierPoint to continue, with a focus on markets like northern and southern California, Phoenix, Denver, and Salt Lake City. When it comes to new market expansions, TierPoint’s preference is still to buy a local company and acquire the data center clients and innovative software capabilities. International expansion is also on the radar, with London and Singapore at the top of the list. Accelerating Growth Founded in 2010 as Cequel Data Centers, the company almost immediately started to acquire local data center providers in targeted markets. When Cequel acquired TierPoint’s Spokane, Washington, facilities in 2012, it chose to rebrand its data center products and services as TierPoint. At the time, those three data centers in Spokane boosted TierPoint’s platform from 70,000 to 100,000 square feet. Subsequently, TierPoint continued to roll up additional local and regional multitenant data center providers, primarily in underserved regional markets. Read more: TierPoint Management Teams Up With Investors to Buy, Recapitalize the Company During October 2014, the company logged another significant milestone when Ontario Teachers Pension Fund participated in the acquisition of Xand, which added 1,000 customers and greatly expanded the data center footprint in the Northeast. Read more: TierPoint Buys Florida Data Center Provider CxP In December 2015, TierPoint entered the Chicago market to service an existing client with the acquisition of AlteredScale. In just the past six months, TierPoint has closed on two major acquisitions, paying $575 million for Windstream Hosted Solutions, and an undisclosed sum for Midwest data center provider Cosentry. Cosentry had a staff of 200, which increased the headcount at TierPoint to over 850 employees. Source: TierPoint – June 2016 TierPoint now operates 39 data centers, totaling over 600,000 square feet, in 21 US markets located across 18 states. Thousands of Customers Perhaps the most impressive result of the roll-up strategy of buying existing businesses is the number of customer logos. According to Long, TierPoint now has 5,000 customers generating annual revenues of about $350 million. To put that into perspective, interconnection giant Equinix, the world’s largest data center provider, currently has about 8,000 customers around the globe. Connectivity-focused CoreSite Realty, the top performing REIT of 2015, operates in eight markets and currently has 900-plus customers. From Small Player to National Provider TierPoint has evolved from a small local data center consolidator to a big-fish player in several regional markets to a full-blown national provider of hybrid IT solutions. However, due to the large number of acquisitions and the need to upgrade legacy facilities, the available products and services currently varies by market. Notably, TierPoint announced in April that it has been selected by GlaxoSmithKline to support its global data consolidation and protection initiatives. This was a concrete example of a DRaaS strategy win and of a deal that would probably look attractive to some of the big data center REITs. If TierPoint hasn’t been on the competition’s radar before, by now it certainly should be. (Comment on this)
3:00p	Building a Future-Proof Data Center Ravi Pendekanti is Vice President of Server Product Management and Product Marketing at Dell, Inc. Digital disruption and pervasive innovation are redefining the way CIOs address the dynamics of today’s data center. Now more than ever they require solutions that address constant change within existing compute models as well as enable the build-out of a “future-ready” IT environment that engages solutions that drive and power the adoption of emerging technologies and hyperscale cloud solutions. The modern era of computing requires CIOs to take a more flexible approach to building a data center that can handle the demands and workloads of today’s compute environment – all while allowing them to continue to address the priorities of their business and technology strategy. Embracing a compute-centric strategy that synthesizes traditional and new IT builds a clear path to future-proofing the data center that delivers power and flexibility via a common platform. By taking a compute centric approach to empowering the data center, CIO’s can extend existing and new IT applications and architecture that run a spectrum of applications and workloads for any size data center, when and where needed. Here are a few key aspects to consider as you move toward a compute-centric environment: How converged is your data center? Converged infrastructure isn’t industry jargon. It’s an important aspect to the way data centers will be run and managed in the future. Technology will never stop evolving, which means IT has to be ready to flex and morph as needed, responding in lightening time to the dynamics of business, customers and the industry. Evaluating the “converged” IT dynamic should be an ongoing practice – and one that will pay off in the long run. A recent survey conducted by PSB for Dell found that eight out of ten global decision makers agree that a compute centric approach to data center solution development is key in driving innovation and eighty-six percent agree that compute-centric is seen as the best approach to gain a flexible, scalable and open data center. Do you put your customers first? A compute-centric vision with a customer-centric focus should be part of the continued evolution of the core server and management portfolio in a business. This is a foundational strategy for building success for customers and partners. Customers need to have reliable and flexible data centers that are able to cut or maintain costs and improve employee productivity – and as well know, customers are the secret sauce in understanding the practice of IT and our most valuable resource. A customer-centric mindset drives innovation and enables growth beyond the bottom line. How well does your data center deal with change? We know change is constant: Internet users worldwide have increased from 2.5 billion in 2012 to 3.2 billion in 2015, and projected to reach 4 billion by 2020. The Internet of Things, mobility, security and cloud computing are a few of the top tier trends driving CIOs to think differently about IT, customers and resources. In addition to industry trends, CIOs must also adjust to synergies created by mergers and acquisitions, the mobile workforce and regulatory guidelines. Although we can’t control change, we can bolster our ability to deal with it. IT change often sits at the core of the data center, many times within the server. Partner with organizations that understand your pain points associated with change – and have the ability to help you implement compute-centric solutions that drive efficiency, minimize cost and enable growth. 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)
5:18p	Taiwan Chip Designers to Lobby for Ability to Work With China (Bloomberg) — Taiwan’s semiconductor companies need the option of merging with Chinese companies in order to stay competitive amid a global wave of sector consolidation, according to one of the industry’s largest players. Representatives of Taiwan’s chip companies will meet with government officials in the coming months to make a case for striking laws that restrict chip designers from Chinese investment, MediaTek CFO David Ku said. “It’s like trying to compete with a global 800-pound gorilla,” Ku said in a telephone interview. “I need to have the strategic flexibility, which means I can go anywhere, talk to anyone and ask for acquisitions or joint ventures with cash or shares. The way that the current Taiwan regulations restrict us, we’re basically not in the same playground.” Chip companies spent a record $113 billion on acquisitions last year, with Intel buying Altera for $16.7 billion in a bid to meet demand in data center and Internet of Things markets. Other giants like Qualcomm and Samsung Electronics have said they’re positioning themselves to reap next-decade opportunities associated with the Internet of Things, or technology that connects light bulbs, factory equipment and more to the web. See also: World’s Fastest Supercomputer Now Has Chinese Chip Technology Chinese Investor MediaTek, based in northern Taiwan’s Hsinchu, is one of the world’s biggest chipmakers and one of Qualcomm’s top rivals. Its products power low- and mid-tier Chinese smartphones. If regulations don’t change, Ku said, the company would be at a severe disadvantage compared with rivals around the world, especially Qualcomm and Irvine, California-based Broadcom. MediaTek is a member of the Taiwan Semiconductor Industry Association, which will host public discussion forums and meet with the government to discuss the issue of opening designers to Chinese investment “probably in the next few months,” Ku said. Other association members include domestic leader Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing and chip packager Advanced Semiconductor Engineering. Former civil war foes, communist China and democratic Taiwan have been separately governed since 1949. While the top leader from each side met for a historic handshake last year, a new independence-leaning Taiwan president is testing cross-strait relations. Chip-related companies like packagers and testers are currently allowed to work with Chinese counterparts and Tsinghua Unigroup is moving in. Tsinghua, an affiliate of the prestigious Chinese university, is furthering Beijing’s plan to cut its reliance on foreign-supplied chips with a $30 billion investment plan. Though Tsinghua has said it would be interested in investing in MediaTek, Taiwan designers remain off-limits to mainland firms due to intellectual property and job-flight concerns. While no merger and acquisition discussions have taken place given the current restrictions, Ku said Mediatek is open to working with the Chinese giant. “If I don’t have that strategic flexibility when I need it, then I think it will have some impact on us,” he said. “When you see most of my global competitors doing that, then you can assume we’re not talking about ten years later.” (Comment on this)
5:41p	Larry Ellison Tells Jury Oracle’s Itanium Retreat Was Just Business (Bloomberg) — Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison told a jury he wasn’t trying to drop a bomb on Hewlett Packard shareholders when he announced an end to a partnership five years ago. HP Enterprise is seeking $3 billion in damages over claims Oracle bailed out of a pact to develop software using the once-promising Itanium chip. Ellison denied that he meant HP harm in 2011 when he issued a press release, just ahead of that company’s shareholder meeting, announcing Oracle would no longer support Itanium, which had been created by Intel. “It’s just not true,” Ellison testified Wednesday. “It was a business decision to stop investing in Itanium because the maker of the chip, Intel, had stopped investing in Itanium.” The trial, now its fourth week, is a continuation of a battle that played out four years ago in the same state court in San Jose, California. See also: Oracle, Ellison Accused of Misleading Investors on Cloud Revenue 2012 Trial In 2012, a judge ruled that Oracle was contractually obligated to continue developing software for Itanium. The current jury must decide whether both companies have complied with their agreement. HP claims that after Oracle abandoned a commitment to support servers running the Itanium chips, the product floundered. Oracle has argued that chip-makers including Intel and IBM had produced superior products to Itanium and there was no point in continuing to support it. “Even though HP has all of the Oracle software, they are now asking for an extra $3 billion because of a press release that told the truth, that Intel was getting out of Itanium,” Oracle spokeswoman Deborah Hellinger said in an e-mailed statement. “But technology doesn’t die because of a press release, it dies because better technology leaves it behind.” HP contends Itanium was humming along when Oracle pulled out of the partnership. ‘Long Life’ “The record in the trial, including statements under oath by Intel executives, clearly show that Itanium was not at or near the end of its life, in fact it had a long life ahead and innovation was occurring to make it a better prospect,” said Mark Ferguson, a lawyer for HP. Jurors heard earlier from Oracle Co-CEO Mark Hurd, whose defection from HP, where he was CEO for more than five years until August 2010, sparked turmoil between the tech giants. HP’s attorney questioned Hurd about his role in Oracle’s decision to mothball Itanium services after his arrival. When asked what information he shared with Oracle after his departure from HP, he replied, “none.” Hewlett-Packard split in November into Hewlett Packard Enterprise and HP Inc. The case is Hewlett-Packard Co. v. Oracle Corp., 11-cv-203163, California Superior Court, Santa Clara County (San Jose). (Comment on this)
8:23p	Data Center Tech Cools Servers and Heats Water for Handwashing Reusing data center heat instead of simply expelling it isn’t a new idea, but few have been able to do it effectively. The most frequently cited reason for that is that servers produce low-grade heat, meaning the heat energy is difficult to extract and move somewhere where it can be put to use. One reason the heat is low-grade is because it usually comes in the form of hot air, and air is by far not the most effective heat-transfer medium. Replace air with a liquid medium, and the problem of low-grade heat dissipates. That’s exactly what a company called LiquidCool Solutions is proposing. Its data center cooling technology submerges server electronics in dielectric fluid, and recent tests at a US Department of Energy laboratory have shown that not only is the technology extremely efficient at cooling servers but it can also be used effectively to heat water for typical building uses, such as handwashing. Read more: How to Reuse Wast Heat from Data Centers Intelligently During the tests, the system recovered 90 to 95 percent of heat energy from eight servers submerged into liquid at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado, according to a statement issued Thursday. Using that energy, the system was able to heat NREL’s facility water from 75F to 120F, which is hot enough to be useful for the building. The researchers noted that the system may be capable of heating water even more, to 140F, all while keeping the servers within their operating temperature limits. An important test result for data center operators was confirmation of LiquidCool’s claim that the system uses 1 to 2 percent of the amount of energy needed to power the computing equipment. See also: Dell Designs Custom Liquid Cooling System for eBay Data Centers The tests are funded by a Wells Fargo Foundation program that aims to help accelerate the path to commercialization by early-stage commercial-building technologies. NREL is planning a second phase of testing for the system, which will include running operational workloads on the servers and heating water to 120F at DoE’s Energy Systems Integration Facility data center in Golden. Ashley Grosh, who manages Wells Fargo’s program, called IN2, said LiquidCool’s technology was “disruptive.” Read more: Is Direct Liquid Cooling Making a Comeback? Here’s how LiquidCool’s technology works: (Comment on this)

<< Previous Day

2016/06/23 [Calendar]

Next Day >>