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Important Data Center Metrics You Should Know

DCT User — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 08:29:18 +0000

We all know that data center and both mechanical and electronic equipment within the facility are becoming energy efficient. There are a variety of standards, certificates and metrics that have emerged to measure the efficiency of the facility. Metrics and Standards are very important to perform accurate measurement of data center and its IT equipment. Standards and Certification programs can maintain the integrity of IT companies’ claims for energy efficiency. Following are some of the certifications, standards and metrics that companies are using to show the energy efficiency of their facility and equipment.

Carbon Intensity per Unit Data:

Carbon Intensity is used to refer the ratio of carbon-di-oxide to energy. It is a measurement of the amount of carbon emissions per unit of fuel consumed. Akamai is one of the leading content delivery network has been reporting carbon emission related to cloud computing. Carbon emission related to cloud computing based services in the metrics of “CO2/ megabytes of data transferred”. This metric enables Akamai to compare cloud computing usage across industry and also in process of making this metric to available on a monthly basis to its clients. Greenpeace has praised Akamai for its transparent reporting of this metrics and has awarded highest grade for its transparency above all giant internet players like Apple, Google, Facebook and, IBM.

Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE):

This is the leading metrics which shows how efficiently the data center is operating. PUE is the ratio of how much energy is consumed in running data center’s equipment to the energy consumed to run the overall data center. This metric was created by “The Green Grid”. If a data center consumes lot of energy for cooling and power conversion, the facility isn’t very efficient and its PUE rating will be very near to 2. If very little energy is consumed in power conversion and cooling then data center will have a PUE closer to one.

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED):

This is a certificate awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council. LEED council evaluates green credentials of the building and consider several factors like materials, water used, indoor environmental quality and, location along with the efficiency of the plant to award any one of the five certificates certified by U.S. Green Building Council.

American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air- Conditioning Engineers (ASHARE):

This society is focused on building systems, indoor air quality, and sustainability, refrigeration and energy efficiency. ASHARE also publishes a series of standards and guidelines relating to HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air-Conditioning) issues and

systems.

Energy Star:

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s energy star certification is one of the widely used certification program for computers and gadgets. This certification can also be used for data centers and building that runs many number of data centers.

PAR4:

This metric measures server powers in different methods including peak power, transaction per watt, idle power and total utilization of power.PAR4 metric is developed my startup power Assure and enables servers of different generations

to one another in terms of energy consumption and efficiency. PAR4 is gaining huge response from Internet giants like Cisco, Intel and, Dell and have been working to incorporate this metric into their systems.

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LDeX Signs deal with New Energy Suppliers to deliver Renewable Energy

DCT User — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 08:03:29 +0000

LDeX (London Data Exchange) data center service providers announced that it has signed a deal with New Energy Supplier, UK to deliver 100 % renewable energy to its LDeX1 data center in Northwest London. LDeX had opened 22, 000 cialis sq ft LDeX1 data center in last spring. This facility is capable of providing carbon free Co-location services to organizations.

Many data center owners and operators are implementing many alternative ways to make their facility more efficient. More and more data centers are constructing their facilities to gain Energy Star Certification, Green Globes certification and LEED standards. Gaining green certification is one of the ways to show its customers’ their commitment to operate eco-friendly data centers.

Chief Executive Officer at LDeX Robin Garbutt said, “LDeX’s 3 year road map was to operate our data centers on 100 percent renewable energy. To do this within LDeX1’s first year of operation is something we are very proud of. In an age where energy costs are rising and mounting pressure is put on businesses to take their impact on the environment seriously, we feel we have hit a sensible balance in committing to renewable energy in 2013.”

In addition to this LDeX data centers have gained ISO-5001 standards for energy efficiency and management. An ISO-5001 standard recognizes organizations with minimum energy wastage. LDeX claims to be one of the few organizations in UK to achieve his certification and standards.

UK Energy Department of Energy

and Climate Change said that 11.7 % of energy came from renewable source and aim to cut emission by 34% by 2020 and also have aim to produce 15% percent of overall energy usage from renewable source.

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Equinix Tops 2012 Data Center Stock

DCT User — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 08:01:22 +0000

Equinix one of the internet exchange providers was the best performing data center Stocks for 2012. Equinix has 103% gains was the main headline for publicly held data center companies. Equinix provides internet connection service and Co-location services in major markets have gained more benefits from its REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) conversion. Probably by 2014 Equinix will issue a special dividend to all its shareholders after completion of RETI conversion. Equinix shares have gained 25% in 2011. 2012 Data Center Stock Winner’s list is followed by Interxion and Rackspace Hosting. Both the organizations have gained 70% in their stock value this year.

Interxion provides interconnection services and data center space in major European markets. Rackspace hosting is one of the leading providers of cloud computing services.

Here’s a look at the year’s performance chart

2012 Data Center Stocks Winners Performance
Company	12/30/2011	12/31/12	Change%
Equinix	101.4	206.2	103.4
Interxion	13.45	23.76	76.7
Rackspace Hosting	43.01	74.27	72.7
CoreSite Realty	17.82	27.66	55.2
Akamai	32.28	40.91	26.7
Internap	5.94	6.93	16.7
CenturyLink	37.2	39.12	5.2
Digital Realty Trust	66.67	67.89	1.8
DuPont Fabros	24.22	24.16	-0.2
Limelight Networks	2.96	2.22	-25

About Equinix:

Equinix is an American corporation which provides Internet exchange and carrier neutral data center services located in Redwood city, California. Equinix currently operates 98 data centers across 12 countries in South America, Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America. Equinix, Inc. operates International Business Exchange and its mission is to protect the power and connect the digital economy.

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CoSentry Kansas Facility Achieves Energy Star

DCT User — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 07:59:21 +0000

One of cloud and Co-location service provider CoSentry has achieved Energy Star certification from US EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). CoSentry Lenexa Kansas data center has achieved this certification. This announcement was made by facility’s lead tenant, Catapult International. CoSentry data centers have received two Energy Star certifications in less than a month. CoSentry Omaha, Nebraska facility had attained Energy Star Certification in December. Apart from these data center CoSentry owns and operates data centers in South Dakota and Missouri.

Facility manager of CoSentry National Data Center Scott Capps said, “not only is it an award that that demonstrates our commitment to low cost, low impact energy usage, but it

Coolest Data Centers in the World

DCT User — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 11:10:35 +0000

We all know most of the data centers are capable of sending and receiving millions of data per second. Data centers are drawing attention of with its features like space, reliability and, temperature control. Following are the list of best and coolest data centers in the world. So what makes these data center one of the coolest? These data centers are built with a unique design, installed with best cooling properties, building structure and capacity to withstand any disasters or attacks including nuclear attacks.

Pionen Data Center:

Pionen Data Center is the world’s most super designed data center. This data center is located in Sweden. This server housing center is capable of withstanding hydrogen bomb. Backup power to this plant is provided by a couple of German Submarine engines. Some of the main coolest features of this facility are false waterfalls, low-lying fog, conference room with an image of the moon’s surface, 686 gallon of salt water fish tank and, indoor jungle. This facility is located 100 feet below the streets of Stockholm.

The Green Mountain Data Center:

Green Mountain Data Center is one of the unique data center facilities in the world. This facility is located on the shores of the Rennesoy Island in Norway, this facility was a former high secured NATO ammunition storage now rebuilt into a data center. Green Mountain Data Center is located just beside the deep fjord and has constructed a dedicated cooling system which brings colder water from 100

m into the facility without any energy usage. This facility has a very strong underground power supply system and 3 independent are energizing the data center.

Citi Data Center, Germany:

This is one of the most sustainable data Centers in the world. This facility is located in Frankfurt, Germany and occupies 9, 800 sq m of space. This facility is surrounded by green spaces and eastern part of the building is installed with green walls. The Citi Data Center is the first data center to achieve LEED Platinum certificate. Green Roof installed in this facility will keep the entire facility warm in winter and cooler in summer.

Swiss Fort Knox Data Center:

This data center facility is located beneath a mountain in the Swiss Alps. This is one of the two high secured data centers inside the Swiss Alps and both are being operated by SIAG. Physical and logical infrastructure of this data center is coordinated by two SOC (Security Operation Centers). This facility houses one of the best security features such as bulletproof plastic door vault and face recognition surveillance software. The two data center facilities on Swiss Alps are 10Km apart from each other and houses one of the best cooling systems in the world. Underground water provides water for the whole system.

Iron Mountain Data Center:

This data center facility is built in a limestone mine. Cooling system draws cool water from an underground lake; equipments in this data center are embedded into the limestone. Limestone is capable of absorbing 1.5 BTUs (British thermal unit) per sq ft. Test rooms are implemented with a raised floor design which directs heat through ceiling panels and blows across the cooling shafts.

These are some of the coolest data centers around the world. We can find lots more data centers which are similar to the one in the list above.

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ProlimeHost Announced Discounts for Phoenix Data Center Hosting

DCT User — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 11:07:22 +0000

ProlimeHost one of the leading web host and dedicated game server providers has offered a price discount available for their customers. ProlimeHost has launched a coupon to reduce the hosting prices up to 25% for the upcoming holiday season. In addition to this, ProlimeHost has announced additional hardware in their Phoenix data center to improve the gaming experience in order to make online gamers happy.

Chief Technology Officer at ProlimeHost Tom Beck said, “We are excited to let our current and potential customers know that we have dedicated a group of our high-performance servers with accelerated hardware for our online gaming customers, and reduced the subscription cost of these dedicated servers by 25% through our usage coupon. Each dedicated game server has been allocated a special

slot in the racks such that the slots are the best-equipped with network speed and bandwidth. Our Phoenix based dedicated servers are the ones that have been specially set up for this purpose. The discounts on the dedicated servers are all set to be offered for the entire upcoming Holiday season.”

However the company was optimistic about their growth said, “We have listened to our customers’ requirements. This move could shoot up the number of additional customers by almost 30% with luck, but I don’t see the number at anywhere below 15%. Looking at the fact that even a 15% growth will offset our investments towards this restructuring effort, our top and bottom lines will move upwards because of our bold decision to provide discounted dedicated hosting to our Phoenix datacenter based game server offering.”

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PlusOne Joins with PeakColo to Include IaaS Solutions at Chicago Data Center

DCT User — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 11:03:54 +0000

One of the best Co-location service

providers PlusOne proudly announced it has partnered with Cloud service providers PeakColo to add enterprise class cloud service in its data center in Chicago.PlusOne has plans to open its seventh cloud node at Chicago data center, with this data center PlusOne will be able to provide low latency services to its customers. Cloud service provider has a great opportunity to partner with Co-location and data center operators

to provide white-labeled IaaS solution on their own.This new cloud service is based on VMwate powered by PeakColo’s vCloud; vCloud is a compliment Co-location service from PlusOne. PlusOne experienced demand from customers for cloud service running on an enterprise class Infrastructure-as-a-Service, so decided to add new cloud service to its portfolio. In search for the best IaaS solution, PlusOne selected PeakColo’s WhiteCloud service which is deployed on VMwate and NetApptechnologies.

Chief Executive Officer at PeakColo Luke Norris said, “We are delighted to enter into this relationship with PlusOne for their white-label usage of our WhiteCloud Services. In partnering with PeakColo, PlusOne is able to immediately offer its customers efficient and reliable Cloud-based services with enterprise-class features and performance.”

PlusOne currently operates data center in Atlanta and Chicago, PeakColo provides IaaS Cloud services in six data centers in Denver, New Jersey, United Kingdom, New York and Seattle.

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Washington State Extends Comment Period on Vantage Data Center

DCT User — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 11:01:49 +0000

Washington State Department of Ecology has extended the comment period on Vantage Data Center for a proposed air quality permit for buildings. The revised comments date is now January 11, 2013. The comment period has been extended because Vantage data center made few changes in its proposed project, however analysis showed that the project still complies with all air quality rules. The data center will be allowed to install 17 backup generators to support facility during power failures. Generators will be powered by diesel engines, totally 158 generators have been installed in this facility. Each of the generators is capable of generating 3 M watts of energy and total of 51

M watts of energy.

According to Washington State department of Ecology states, “Diesel engine exhaust carries toxic air pollutants including nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, organic compounds and small particles.” Vantage has chosen the Quincy location because of its low cost and green hydro power generation by the Columbia River. All data centers must receive approval from the Department of Ecology before construction of the facility, and companies need to describe all emissions from the facility and also need to explain project’s emission control technology. The vantage data center has plans to use one of the most current air pollution control equipment for controlling harmful gases entering the atmosphere.

Vantage has designed this facility to achieve LEED Platinum certification and have made several changes to its proposed project to re-analyze the emission for the revised proposal system with all air quality rules.

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Best Websites for Enterprise Security

DCT User — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 13:53:53 +0000

IT field advances each and every day, so are the threats to it has exponentially increasing and becoming more sophisticated. IT administrators have realized the need for

network security. Even after implementing hard core tool such as firewalls and enterprise security applications, breaches and hacks have be so effective that they can penetrate through tools secure layers.

Even with a small mishap with these tools can cost millions of dollars to the IT company. Virtual IT world is put into fast-track, where only fittest application can be considered as the best. Websites are the main source to know more on IT security. Following are some of the top websites for effective IT security.

Cloud Security Alliance:

Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) is a non-profit organization with a mission to promote and provide best security assurance within cloud computing. CSA provides guidelines to enterprise companies on security and in implementing cloud computing and also help vendors to address their security. When it comes to website security assistance, CSA is considered to be one of the best in the industry and provides effective techniques in approaching security in cloud computing. Cloud Security Alliance’s website is also incorporated with improved cloud computing security and related issues.

SourceForge:

SourceForge is one of the preferred website in IT industry. SourceForge is a web based storehouse, it acts as a centralized source for developers to manage and control websites. SourceForge is the first to offer free to open source projects. SourceForge’s website has several sections that offer endless security which covers almost every aspect of IT security such as networking security tool, firewalls and open source.

VMware:

VMware is one of the companies based upon virtualization and cloud. VMware’s security and its security Advisories, guides and certifications are the best in IT industry. VMware compliance blog is the best websites that can provide the effective and one of the best assistance on VMware devices.

Cisco Design Zone for Security:

Similar to VMware, Cisco also offers security within their website. Cisco is primarily into offering networking devices, security and guidance throughout the globe. Cisco designs,

manufactures and sells its own networking products.

NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology):

NIST is a measurement standards lab which is a non-regulatory agency of US department of commerce. NIST plays a major role in security requirements and defensive measures across the globe. According to NIST, the recent focus has been on mobile and cloud computing security. NIST was formerly known as National Bureau of Standards (NBS).

Gartner Blog Network:

Gartner Blog is the preferred place for enterprises seeking advices on network security. Gartner Blog is included with researches, articles, blog and rakings on network security and also houses a huge list of expertise on network security devices and common safety issues.

Microsoft Security Advisories:

Microsoft Security Advisories is a supplement of Microsoft Security Bulletins. Microsoft Security Advisories offers changes occurring within Microsoft products and other related bulletins along with troubleshooting advices. Microsoft Security Advisories is one stop solutions to security related issues.

Apart from these you might find many other websites for enterprise security like Android Security Group, PCI Security Standards Council, Packet Storm, and, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. All the mentioned websites are considered as one of the best.

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Google Begins Construction on Chile Data Center

DCT User — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 13:51:38 +0000

Internet giants Google announced that it has begun construction of data center in Quilicura, Chile. Google had announced it has chosen several sites in several locations across Latin America such as Costa Rica, Mexico and Brazil. Google’s high profile scouting process looked at many factors such as quality of workforce, infrastructure and business regulations. Chile Data center is placed in the company’s other industrialized countries hosting data centers such as Finland, Hong Kong, United States and England.

Google’s new data center in Quilicura, Chile will employee 20 people including experienced managers, security staff and Savvy entry level staffs. Google has provided community building programs

to back its investment plans. This program allows organizations to promote their

science and technology, internet access and environmental consciousness. Google will fund “Green Initiatives” proposed by people in an effort to promote the usage of clean energy. Earlier in 2012 Google is working on its data center in Dublin, Hong Kong. Google has opened a new data center in Oklahoma.

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