FORTRUST & Ajubeo Enter into a Partnership for Mutual Benefits

June 29, 2012 By

FORTRUST, premium data center based in the rocky mountain region recently announced that Ajubeo, a national provider of enterprise-class cloud infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), has chosen its Denver, Colorado data center for their high-density cloud computing colocation deployment. This development is a result of FORTRUST’S impressive zero downtime record. FORTRUST also owns a 224,000 sq.ft data center which is situated in Denver, Colorado.

According to the industry experts, companies like Ajubeo which specialize in cloud infrastructure prove to be ideal clients for FORTRUST because of their superior potential and on-site marketing synergies which employ hybrid colocation to cloud deployments.

This Partnership also opens doors for various other offerings by FORTRUST including its new data module offering. Ajubeo has already shown interest in the product and now the companies are in talks about their next move.

“The decision to deploy our Denver cloud hub at FORTRUST was obvious,” commented Chuck Price, president and CEO of Ajubeo. “FORTRUST is the only data center in Denver built to handle power-dense offerings like Ajubeo’s enterprise-class cloud infrastructure. FORTRUST has never experienced an outage and their commitment to security is evident immediately upon entering the facility. FORTRUST enables Ajubeo to provide an infrastructure-as-a-service platform that is second-to-none.”

“We are excited to welcome Ajubeo’s industry-leading cloud infrastructure offering to the FORTRUST data center ecosystem,” said Rob McClary, vice president of FORTRUST. “We expect Ajubeo’s expansion potential and complimentary offering to contribute significantly to FORTRUST’s success over the years to come.”

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C7 Data Centers Add a New Member to their Growing Client List

June 20, 2012 By

C7 data centers who are the Intermountain West’s largest suppliers of advanced IT and data center outsourcing services, recently announced that they have added AlphaGraphics as their newest client. AlphaGraphics is known as the world leader in print and marketing communications.

AlphaGraphics offers a host of services which include print, visual communications and marketing products and solutions, including full-service digital, offset and large format printing; design services; mailing and one-to-one marketing services; promotional products and digital archiving.

“C7′s scalable and robust colocation services are mission critical to our continued safe and reliable operations,” said Jason Kol, Vice President Business Technology, AlphaGraphics. “We looked at several data center outsourcing candidates in the region; it soon became clear that C7 delivers the high level of service and redundancy required to support our expanding global operations.”

“We had to ensure that our corporate and franchisee data was in good hands and always accessible. When we combined C7′s ability to guarantee this access with its local presence and knowledgeable support personnel, our colocation partner decision was really quite easy,” Kol continued. “We’re excited about our new relationship, which we view as a long-term partnership.”

It is reported that C7 will be offering its services from the Linden data center to AlphaGraphics. Its services will include a full suite of colocation services and 24×7 support, continuous network connectivity, cooling and power that are all backed with Service Level Agreement (SLA) guarantees.

“AlphaGraphics can fully depend on our services and our commitment,” said C7 Data Centers President and CEO, Wes Swenson. “We continually strive for the highest levels of consistency and performance, both hallmarks of AlphaGraphics’ service offerings. C7′s data center outsourcing solutions will enable AlphaGraphics to focus on the business offerings it provides to its expanding base of franchisees.”

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Thai Government Collaborates to Improve Its Database Efficiency

June 18, 2012 By

According to industry reports, the Thai government has planned to set up citizen identification data center all across the nation. It is stated that this move will simplify the process of accessing and transferring information between the state agencies. It has also come to light that an agreement between the provincial administration department and the Electronic Government Agency (EGA) has been signed.

In the report, ICT Minister Anudith Nakornthap said “this collaboration will improve the government’s database efficiency and reduce the cost of connections. The data center will eliminate duplicate connections and redundant systems currently in use to process documents among state agencies, yielding expected yearly cost savings of 500 million baht (US$15.6 million)”.

The ICT ministry will be installing a high speed connection with the department’s computer system to provide services to other agencies through the government’s information Network intranet. . EGA director Sak Segkhoonthod said in the report the agency received a budget of 1 billion baht (US$31.3 million) to upgrade the connection efficiency of some 2,000 government agencies. It will also spend 30 million baht (US$940,557) to increase computer security, he added. The director said EGA plans to link up 30 government agencies by 2013 and up to 1,000 agencies within three years

Sukij Charoenrattanakul, director-general of the Provincial Administration Department, said some 103 government agencies use the Thai citizen database and over 100 million database requests are made on a yearly basis. The Royal Thai Police is the top user, at 24 million transactions, followed by the land transport Department at 14 million, and the revenue department with 13 million.

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QTS’s Data Center Becomes the Primary Data Center Choice for Web.Com

June 13, 2012 By

 

QTS (Quality Technology Services), charts as one of the leading providers of data center facilities and services and they recently announced that it has been selected by Web.com which is an online service provider, to take care of and manage the company’s growing data center service requirements. The terms of agreement for the current relationship are not disclosed.

 

It has been reported that eight separate data centers all in North America support web.com and its various other owned brands. With this new partnership, web.com is looking to branch out by keeping the QTS data center as their primary option and will consolidate wit h facility near the company’s Jacksonville, Florida, headquarters to retain disaster recovery capacity.

 

“As a company consistently growing both organically and via strategic acquisitions, scalability and flexibility are primary infrastructure needs,” said Jane Landon, senior vice president and chief technology officer — Web.com. “We inherited a relationship with QTS when we acquired Network Solutions and Web.com has continued to appreciate the service and performance. QTS offered us a long-term agreement that gives us the flexibility we need, and the sheer size and scope of the QTS Atlanta Metro Data Center provides us room to grow.”

 

“We’re pleased that after a thorough review of possible data center options, Web.com has determined that QTS is the best solution to handle the constantly growing requirements of its many businesses,” said Chad Williams, chief executive officer — QTS. “QTS will continue to build and develop the hardened, world-class data center space needed by today’s demanding customers. We’ll continue to provide our services at scale for growing companies like Web.com who are looking to mitigate the risk associated with forecasting their data center needs.”

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Branch Circuit Protection in PDU’s

June 7, 2012 By

Corporate data centers account for some of the most expensive and sought after real estate in the world today. Enterprises invest huge amounts of capital to design, construct and secure their investment in IT equipment in the data center.

In a rack Power Distribution Unit (PDU), the power input is often broken into multiple segments. A division of the circuit with current limited by a fuse or circuit breaker is referred to as a branch circuit.

Branch circuit protection can be accomplished by either branch circuit breakers or fuses. To identify a UL489 circuit breaker,   there are two general visual indicators. The first indicator is the size of the externally showing rocker switch. The UL489 breaker will range in dimension from 1” wide to 1.5” long. The lower grade rocker switch or reset type are typically very small (less than ½”). The second indicator is that the chassis will be expanded to accommodate the higher performing breaker. If the vertical 30A/208V power strip is perfectly symmetrical (2” x 2” or less) across the full length of the power strip, it is highly probable that it does not comply with the current standards.

It is now common practice for consultants to open power units to identify comply with to code. Eaton® uses the highest quality hydraulic-magnetic circuit breakers to ensure maximum overload protection as well as comply with to mandated code requirements. The “lower grade” thermal circuit breaker is in fact approved to a different UL standard, UL1077. A UL1077 device is a Supplementary Over-current Protective device. Its marking will show a UR symbol (i.e., it is UL Recognized). A UL489 device is a Branch Circuit breaker, and the marking on it is “UL listed”.

Compared to higher capability circuit breakers, thermal breakers have several subtle issues and capability limitations:

(a)   No Disconnect Capability – Many thermal breakers can only be reset after a fault and cannot be used to manually disconnect the power supply. The only methods to disconnect a power unit is to either pull the power cord out from the power source or open the upstream circuit breaker at the power panel.

(b)  Heat Susceptibility – Thermal breakers are by their nature susceptible to enclosure heat. The typical derating factor for a thermal circuit breaker for a temperature increase from 73°F to 104°F is 8%.

(c)   Lower Overload / Overcurrent Protection – a thermal breaker is often a UL1077 device, and it can break prospective fault currents up to 1 or 2kA. This is far less than the capability of a UL489 branch breaker which must be able to break fault currents of 5kA. The use of inappropriate devices is not only against the regulations but can be hazardous and will cause extended down time due to device failure.

While fuses are generally accepted for certain products, they are not considered a ‘best practice’ for mission critical facilities:

(a)   Increased Points of Failure – current market specifications employ as many as twelve fuses. For a data center with 100 enclosures, that would equal 2400 additional points of failure.

(b)  Reduced Safety to Personnel – for double pole applications (208V) it is possible for only one fuse to blow and the second leg to remain ‘hot.’

(c)   Higher MTTR (Mean Time to Repair) – while a branch circuit breaker can be quickly reset, the replacement of a fuse can take as long as one hour or more depending on the specific model.

(d)  Higher Repair and Replacement Costs – unlike a circuit breaker which can be quickly reset, it costs significantly more to replace a fuse. Depending on the marketplace, both an electrician and apprentice may be required. A full remediation plan may also be required in the maintenance budget to facilitate ‘off-hour’ replacement.

(e)   Voided Warranty and/or Product Certification - Any time a power unit is physically opened; it presents a number of issues. Not only is there concern as to whether the correct fuse is replaced, but whether the product requires re-qualification for safety performance (e.g. hipot, ground continuity, and functional tests).

The fundamental issue is how much risk the end-user is willing to assume, including financial, functional and safety. The proper application of UL60590-1 Edition and the employment of UL489 branch circuit breakers are best suited to mitigate issues of PDU protection.

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Extend Your Data Center’s Life Cycle

June 1, 2012 By

With the steep rise in energy costs, data center operators and their clients are recognizing energy efficiency as key for future growth. Managing a data center’s hardware life cycle is an ongoing process and needs to be constantly updated. Costly failure rates and downtime can be avoided by identifying and isolating hotspots and inefficient devices prior to implementation and equipment upgrades. Introducing cooling simulation early in your design process can reduce your data center cooling costs.

A typical server service life is about three to five years, but that number can now be as long as eight years. Some data centers are so impoverished that servers must run even longer than that.  Machines require increased maintenance as they wear down. But this increases data center costs. So the question is, how can data center engineers extend the life of their machines while keeping everything cost effective?

The methods to  extend the life cycle of the data center would be as follows:

  •  It is much needed to make sure we get the most from existing technology. We need to take advantage of the best practices such as proper room sealing, the hot-aisle/cold-aisle rack arrangement, and preventive maintenance to optimize the performance of the existing data center cooling system. Installation of a supplemental cooling infrastructure is the next step. This would indeed extend the facility life and delay the need to build a new data center.
  • Using the right size building blocks is essential, as the input power to the facility will ultimately determine how much equipment can be supported. As an example, by analyzing the power system reliability of a multi- module UPS configuration, it is recommended that the UPS modules be sized no less than one-third of the total facility load.
  •  Older machines require extra care because with older hardware, the little things can make all the difference. To help the system run longer, several tasks need to be completed at least once a month. For example, make sure that all operating system patches, updates, drivers and roll ups have been deployed; the antivirus system has been updated and is operational. Now with better technology and resources, this can be accomplished more easily and cost-effectively than ever.
  •  It is quite tricky to predict what technologies a data center may have to support in the next 10 years. The best approach would be to employ adaptive technologies that would give us the most flexibility to respond to change. Though availability is still the No. 1 factor in infrastructure design, flexibility is now a close second.
  •  If a server uses local storage, run the Disk Cleanup as well as Defragment tool to help the machine run longer with stable data and a cleaner running drive. Running hard drive health checks on a regular basis, regular inspection of hardware components within the machine and making sure all fans are operational and verify that all components and cable headers are in their place is very essential. There is also a need to keep an eye on dust buildup as this can quickly interrupt cooling and cause electrical glitches that can affect the server.
  •  To provide valuable intelligence and control at both the rack and room level, the monitoring systems have improved beyond simple alarming. Intelligent controls in computer room air conditioners now enable multiple units in a room to work together as a team, increasing system efficiency. Intelligent power strips provide receptacle-level visibility and control of equipment power on the rack level.
  • It is necessary to stay vigilant. The past experiences have shown that the equipment with a robust maintenance program experience reduced downtime and clearly extend the life of their data center equipment. Also, consider regular data center assessments to monitor the impact of new technology and ensure supporting technologies and best practices are current.

Optimization of the electrical and physical environment will assist any server work for a longer duration. This includes the following important factors: electricity, temperature and air quality:

  •  Electricity quality plays a key role in determining the longevity of a machine. To maintain healthy operation of the machines, managing the amount of voltage entering the server room is very critical. A sudden spike can severely damage computers. Using a good uninterruptible power supply and power regulators will help to monitor the amount of input voltage to the machine, or a rack of servers.
  •  The room temperatures for normal operation of most servers should be between 60 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit. A steady humidity level between 50 and 75 percent should be maintained. Proper management of the environment in a data center would increase performance of the machines inside and also allows them to have longer operational life.
  •  Air quality is also very important with computers as proper air circulation could prevent its overheating. It is much needed to keep good airflow around your machines. Servers need to be moved away from walls to allow vents to properly circulate hot and cold air.

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Terremark Expands Their Brazilian Data Center

May 14, 2012 By

Verizon owned company Terremark, is expanding its data center in Sao Paulo, Brazil. This is the latest initiative of the company which is investing in the booming Latin America market. The 70,000 square foot data center will be cloud enabled and will house 150,000 servers in a connected, secure and redundant ecosystem.

This expansion is the second such initiative by Terremark due to increasing customer demand in Brazil. This initiative comes as a part of Terremarks’s global strategy to make advanced IT solutions available through a network of nearly 50 strategically located data centers around the world. Through its data centers in Brazil, Terremark offers more than 90,000 square foot of collective raised data center floor space in Latin America.

“We have experienced outstanding success and growth in Latin America, which is a clear testament of our unique proposition and our commitment to help enterprises across every industry transform their business through the adoption of the Enterprise Cloud,” said Nelson Fonseca, President of Terremark. “Brazil represents a central IT hub in Latin America and further expanding our operations in Brazil is a vital step in growing our presence in this high-demand region.”

The facility in Brazil, known as ‘NAP do Brazil’, is home to one of the most important internet exchange points in Latin America with huge and diverse connectivity from the region’s largest carriers. The data center delivers a broad range of services from Terremark’s extensive IT solution portfolio which include varied cloud solutions, security and IT capabilities. These solutions are a vital part of the company’s expanded global network of nearly 50 data centers.

“Our goal is to provide growing local and multinational enterprises with a secure, highly available hosting environment for their mission-critical applications,” said Hugo Zanon, head of the operations in Brazil. “We have some of the highest security standards in place, including the ISO 27001 certification which validates our commitment to providing high availability and confidentiality of customer data.”

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Pros and Cons of SaaS

December 7, 2011 By

When it comes to the data center in your company, there are many things you will have to make sure of for it to be in perfect order. These things include the temperature and the air humidity of the data center, that all the software and hardware is functioning properly, all the servers and switches are functioning, and so on. In order to be able to do this, you will have to get to know all the aspects of managing the data center, and one of these aspects will include getting all the available information on the pros and cons of SaaS.

Software as a Service (SaaS)

SaaS is an abbreviation for the term Software as a Service. This basically represents any software in a data center that is used over the internet and is not present on any of the devices that use it. What this means is that a company sells you software you are able to use over the internet without the need to install it or take care of it. Some examples of SaaS are Fortiva or Live Office email services.  Even though this sounds great, here is a list of its pros and cons:

Advantages of SaaS

The most obvious benefit of SaaS is the fact that you don’t have to install the software on your computer, thus saving hard drive space. Also, there is no need to worry about someone illegally copying the software or fixing the problems with it, because it actually isn’t there on the computers.

Disadvantages of SaaS

There are two great drawbacks with SaaS, and one of these is security and the fact that it is used over the internet. The fact that the software in question is used over the internet implies that all the data will be leaving the company network, which is less secure than if it didn’t. Also, if it happens that there are some internet connection problems, the software in question will not be available to end users.

More details on Cloud and Software as a Service are available at Data Center Talk.

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How to Make Sure that You Have Enough Data Storage Space in Your Data Center

December 7, 2011 By

Whichever data center location you choose to go with, data storage will be crucial. Namely, all data center locations should be able to give you enough room to place all the hardware you need for your data center. On the other hand, not all of the data center locations available to you will be good in this respect. Therefore, you should always keep in mind that your data center location should be large enough to accommodate all of the hardware needed to operate a successful data center.

Plan For Your Future Growth

All data centers are not the same, as not all companies are the same. Namely, you might own a company which will need a pretty small data center at first, but as the company gets bigger, the data center requirements will grow alongside it. The main thing that you will need as your company continues to grow is data storage space, and this virtual space will eventually require more physical space in your data center.

Data storage space is basically hard drive space, as hard drives are where all of your precious data is most commonly stored. In order to have enough data storage space for a fast growing company, you will have to make sure that you have enough hardware to provide you with a means to store all of this data. More hardware will automatically mean having more physical space in your data center as well as more electrical power being needed, which will ultimately result in more effort being required to keep the data center’s temperature and humidity level at a desirable level. All in all, the best thing you can do in terms of ensuring that you will not run out of data storage space is to think ahead and choose your data storage location wisely, as moving your data center to another location will always be a hassle.

 

Read more on Hiring Right Data Storage Services.

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Hiring Data Storage Services

December 7, 2011 By

Storing their data safely has always been important to people and it doesn’t matter if this is data related to their private lives or to business. Despite the fact that technology has progressed a lot in the last couple of years, it still happens that people lose their valuable data. Now, when it comes to business owners, losing valuable pieces of information can result in financial loss or just be bad for their customers. Taking this into account, more and more business owners have started using data centers and data center services.

Data Storage Options

When it comes to storing data, companies are offered two different options – they can either do this by themselves, or they can hire storage services. Even though a company can store their own data, it is often the lack of information or time that stops business owners from enjoying the benefits of data centers. This then leads to a business owner hiring data center services, which include data storage and data backup services.

Why should I Hire Services?

In spite of the fact that creating a data center is more common that hiring data center services this does not necessarily mean that it is a better solution. Namely, hiring a company that will store the data that is important for your business is in many situations a much cheaper solution than creating your own data center. Creating a data room requires certain things to be done and sometimes a lot of money to be invested. This is especially the case with companies that have offices in many different places. These companies are always better off with hiring data storage services than having a data center for each of their offices. Therefore, it is easy to see when and how a company might decide to hire data storage services. However hiring these services has its benefits and drawbacks that need to be taken into consideration. Make sure you look up and compare the overall costs of hiring the services. Also ensure that the data storage services you are hiring has plans and resources to meet additional requirements you may need in future.

To know more about data storage systems, do visit Data Center Talk.

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