Green (low carbon) Data Center Blog

What is the future of a Data Center Glasnost?

DataCenterKnowledge’s Rich Miller wrote a good post on Google’s Chris Malone presentation at Uptime Institute in Apr 2009, and Daniel Costello’s calling for a Data Center Glasnost.

Microsoft, Google and Data Center Glasnost

April 16th, 2009 : Rich Miller

Chris Malone of Google speaks Tuesday at the Uptime Institute Symposium 2009 in New York. Listening at right is Uptime Institute founder Ken Brill.

One of the best-attended Tuesday sessions at The Uptime Institute’s Symposium 2009 in New York was a presentation by Google’s Chris Malone. As has been notedelsewhere, Malone’s talk summarized much of the information that Google disclosed April 1 at its Data Center Efficiency Summit. But there was a noteworthy moment during the question and answer period when Daniel Costello approached the mike.

Daniel went on to present the idea of a Glasnost.

“Microsoft applauds Google’s openness in presenting this information,” Costello said. “It’s moving us forward to a data center glasnost of sorts.” Glasnost, for those with short memories, was the policy of openness and transparency that Mikhail Gorbachev introduced in the Soviet Union in the 1980s.

Google’s Chris Malone responds.

Over the past year Microsoft has been actively discussing some of its data center innovations and best practices at industry events. Responding to Costello, Malone said Google intends to pursue a similar path, reversing years of secrecy about its data center operations. “One of the reasons we’re here is to share in the industry discussions,” said Malone, who added that Google has now joined The Green Grid, one of the industry consortiums on energy efficiency.

Rich Miller makes an excellent point though in differences in what Microsoft and Google are presenting.

There are differences in the two companies’ approaches. Microsoft is talking publicly about its future data center design plans, like the “Generation 4 ” plan for roofless container farms. Google’s disclosures thus far have focused on older facilities that likely don’t represent the 2008 model year for its data centers. And as happened at Uptime, there will be continuing debates in the industry about how much of the innovation seen at Google and Microsoft is relevant to smaller data centers.

But, with Daniel Costello moving to Google will Glasnost and the spirit of openness change into a Cold War?  Rich Miller closed his post making the point of a cold war.

But when it comes to expert information on best practices, more is better. Like the end users, the data center industry has its share of information siloes, and its good to see that starting to change. Much hard work remains. But Glasnost is far better than a data center Cold War.

If you follow with the Cold War analogy who is the Soviet Union and who is the US?

Google has been building data centers longer than Microsoft and they are proud of their move to containers before Microsoft.

Both Google and Microsoft have a bunch of money and a lot to win and lose in the data center wars.

Is Daniel Costello’s move to Google a tipping point?

From Publishers Weekly

The premise of this facile piece of pop sociology has built-in appeal: little changes can have big effects; when small numbers of people start behaving differently, that behavior can ripple outward until a critical mass or "tipping point" is reached, changing the world. Gladwell's thesis that ideas, products, messages and behaviors "spread just like viruses do" remains a metaphor as he follows the growth of "word-of-mouth epidemics" triggered with the help of three pivotal types. These are Connectors, sociable personalities who bring people together; Mavens, who like to pass along knowledge; and Salesmen, adept at persuading the unenlightened. (Paul Revere, for example, was a Maven and a Connector). Gladwell's applications of his "tipping point" concept to current phenomena--such as the drop in violent crime in New York, the rebirth of Hush Puppies suede shoes as a suburban mall favorite, teenage suicide patterns and the efficiency of small work units--may arouse controversy.

How ironic that Daniel calls for Glasnost in Apr 2009 as Microsoft data center executive and in Sept 2010 will be a Google Data Center executive.

Microsoft Data Center Director Daniel Costello joins Google

Data Centers are competitive advantages for the Internet companies, and how much you know about your competitors helps plan your future.  Microsoft's Daniel Costello has been a heavily recruited data center executive for months (I think I count 8 from when I first heard he was being recruited)  He finally made his decision ... to join Google, leaving Microsoft.

Who is Daniel Costello?  Daniel is the person in the center of this photo.

And had this role at Microsoft.

Daniel Costello, director of Data Center Services

     Global Foundation Services

Daniel Costello is the director for Data Center Services at Microsoft, responsible for data center research and engineering, standards and technologies, data center technology roadmap, Generation 4 data center engineering, data center automation and integration with IT hardware, operating systems and applications.  Daniel also works closely with Microsoft Research on proof of concepts in support of the data center of the future and manages a team of facility engineers and service architects. 

I don't know Daniel's new role at Google.  Director of Generation 4 5 data center engineering? :-)  Given Daniel's move to Google, I doubt we'll hear for quite a while what he is doing.

I think Daniel could have the title Data Center Wizard as he knows more than anyone else in the industry about Google and Microsoft's data centers and IT infrastructure.  How much is Daniel's knowledge worth?

Here are two videos from Daniel's presentation 2 years ago at GigaOm.

The funny thing is I just happened to connect to LinkedIn last week.  Daniel provided no information for this blog post, but I had a hunch it was time to connect.

Daniel is one sharp guy who has impressed many.  Here is my post about his engineering approach.

Microsoft’s Daniel Costello, Engineering Approach to Solve Data Center Design

Microsoft’s Daniel Costello has a good post on an engineering approach to solve data center business problems.

...

Now let’s look at  Daniel’s steps.

1) Time to Market

2) Cost

3) Efficiency

4) Flexibility and Density

And the goals of the Microsoft team.

The Goals our Engineering Team Set

· Reduce time-to-market and deliver the facility at the same time as the computing infrastructure

· Reduce capital cost per megawatt and reduce COGS per kilowatt per month by class

· Increase ROIC and minimize the up-front investment for data centers

· Differentiate reliability and redundancy by data center class and design the system to be flexible to accommodate any class of service in the same facility

· Drive data center efficiency up while lowering PUE, water usage, and overall TCOE

· Develop a solution to accept multiple levels of density and form factors, such as racks, skids, or containers

eBay (first Windows Azure platform appliance customer) uses Microsoft Azure Cloud to host Apple iPad sales

eBay and Microsoft both posted press releases on the first customer for Windows Azure private cloud.

eBay and Microsoft Announce Cloud Computing Agreement

Microsoft unveils new Windows Azure platform appliance for cloud computing; eBay signs up as early customer.

WASHINGTON — July 12, 2010 — Microsoft Corp. and eBay [NASDAQ: EBAY] today announced that eBay will be one of the first customers of Microsoft’s new Windows Azure platform appliance for cloud computing. The partnership is a significant joint engineering effort that will couple the innovation and power of the Windows Azure platform appliance with the technical excellence of eBay’s platform — to deliver an automated, scalable, cost-effective capacity management solution.

Microsoft also announced the limited production release of the Windows Azure platform appliance, the first turnkey cloud platform for large service providers and enterprises to deploy in their own datacenters. eBay will incorporate the Windows Azure platform appliance into two of its datacenters to further optimize its platform and achieve greater strategic agility and datacenter efficiency.

Someone made an interesting decision to test Windows Azure to sell Apple iPad's

This partnership follows a successful pilot deployment by eBay of Microsoft’s public Windows Azure platform, which offers eBay the flexibility to deploy certain applications on a public cloud while maintaining the reliability and availability of eBay.com. eBay’s page for iPad listings —http://ipad.ebay.com— is hosted on the public Windows Azure platform.

Here is the cross company executive quote trade.

“Microsoft’s focus on and investment in the Windows Azure platform appliance shows it is committed to world-class cloud computing solutions. eBay has the right blueprint for next-generation software-as-a-service-based applications with our platform’s architecture, scale and reliability, ” said James Barrese, eBay vice president of technology. “Joint engineering on the Windows Azure platform appliance with eBay’s massive, high-volume systems allows Microsoft to demonstrate its leadership in this space and helps eBay improve our user experience through a flexible, scalable and cost-effective solution.”

The Windows Azure platform appliance consists of Windows Azure, Microsoft SQL Azure and a Microsoft-specified configuration of network, storage and server hardware. The appliance is optimized for scale out applications and datacenter efficiency across hundreds to tens of thousands of servers.

“eBay has one of the world’s largest ecommerce platforms, and we believe the Windows Azure platform appliance provides the scalability, automation, datacenter efficiency and low cost of operations that eBay requires to meet the needs of its customers worldwide, ” said Bob Muglia, president of Server and Tools Business, Microsoft.

HP and Microsoft announced their Windows Azure partnership for deploying private clouds.  HP includes POD containers and HP networking to provide a complete HP owned solution.

HP and Microsoft to Partner on Windows Azure Built on HP Converged Infrastructure

Collaboration to help transition customers to cloud computing

PALO ALTO, Calif., and REDMOND, Wash. — July 12, 2010 — HP and Microsoft today announced their intention to work together on a Microsoft Windows Azure platform appliance that will enable large enterprise customers to confidently and rapidly adopt cloud-based applications as businesses needs change and grow.

The companies will work together to deliver a complete hardware, software, services and sourcing solution that will accelerate customers’ transition to the Windows Azure platform. Customers will be able to manage the appliance with HP Converged Infrastructure on-premises or choose HP data center hosting services.

Enterprise customers adopting cloud services need a comprehensive approach, including application modernization support, an optimized infrastructure platform and flexible sourcing options. With the new Windows Azure platform appliance, HP and Microsoft will help customers rapidly scale applications, deliver new online services, and migrate Windows and .NET-based applications to the cloud. This latest collaboration extends the $250 million Infrastructure-to-Application initiatives HP and Microsoftannounced in January and will result in HP delivering these offerings:

•

Data center hosting services. HP Enterprise Services will combine deep systems management expertise, standardized processes and world-class secure data centers to manage the Windows Azure platform appliances for HP customers. HP and Microsoft plan to release a limited production Windows Azure platform appliance for deployment in HP data centers by the end of the year.

•

Converged infrastructure for Windows Azure. HP’s current position as a primary infrastructure provider for the Windows Azure platform, coupled with HP and Microsoft’s ongoing efforts to optimize Microsoft applications for HP’s Converged Infrastructure through extensive joint engineering and development, will allow HP to deliver an industry-leading cloud deployment experience for its customers. The Converged Infrastructure for the Windows Azure platform appliance will include the following:

•

HP Networking, which delivers to customers a flexible network fabric that is simpler, higher-performing and more secure, at up to 65 percent lower cost of ownership than competitive solutions.*

•

HP ProLiant servers, which are highly dense, highly scalable computing platforms that help customers speed application delivery, better utilize IT resources and achieve strong returns on investments.

•

The appliance can be deployed in HP Performance-Optimized Datacenters (PODs), which deliver improved power and data center capacity as well as rapid data center expansion. HP PODs allow customers to increase capacity without the capital expense of brick-and-mortar construction. They will be used in addition to traditional data center deployments.

•

Application modernization, migration and integration services for Windows applications.HP’s expertise in complex environments, specific industries, frameworks, processes and resources will help customers modernize, migrate and integrate their applications while balancing costs and speed when adopting the Windows Azure platform.

Microsoft's Christian Belady says time to move on, PUE was the past, Time to optimize the WHOLE

I've had the pleasure of getting to know the two HP engineers who started PUE, Christian Belady at Microsoft and Chris Malone at Google.  here is the HP presentation from March 2007 that Christian gave.

This references the Sept 2006 paper Chistian and Chris co-wrote on PUE.

PUE is over 4 years old.

Matt Stansberry has an interview with Christian to discuss what is next.  And starts with discussing PUE.

Your data center efficiency metric PUE has been public for about four years. What do you think of adoption at this point?
Christian Belady: I think it's pretty good. If you talk to anyone running a major data center operation, they're using PUE. There are perceived issues with it, comments about people cheating on PUE reporting. But who cares?

Then jumps to what is the next metric.

What do you think about the next level of efficiency metric: measuring the useful work of the data center? Will that kind of metric be available in the future?
C.B.: This is going to take a lot of effort. Look at PUE and see how difficult it was to get buy-in from various stakeholders. A data center productivity metric will be an order of magnitude more difficult to get broad acceptance. It's a very complex metric, and I'm very supportive of it, but it will be really hard to get agreement.

What is Christian working on in Microsoft Research?

But I'm all about the interfaces: the big opportunities are not to dive deep in one area, but to look across disciplines. In my new team, the eXtreme Computing Group, I get to look at the opportunities across hardware, software, applications and security interfaces. What can we do if we really stripped all our legacy IT requirements? What if we blurred the lines between these disciplines and developed a new cloud ecosystem from ground zero. What could that ecosystem look like? How can we see an order of magnitude reduction in cost.

My interest always lies way out in the future. How do we change the game? All the guys in this series have demonstrated that they have made significant changes in the industry. My challenge to all of us is [to ask] how we take the next big step. That's what excites me more and that is what I am working on. Stay tuned!

It is interesting to see how two guys who started down the path of a data center metric like PUE now work on the bigger data center picture.

If you are down in the weeds, maybe you should pop your head up and look at the bigger picture and figure out how what you do affects the whole.

Google, Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon are thinking about the whole, and many others do too.  Also, these are the people who know how to green their data center as they understand the environmental issues and how it affects the long term sustainability of their operations.

Microsoft's Bob Muglia says Cloud Computing provides early feedback

Cloud Computing has many benefits, but here is one you don't hear often.  We run the Cloud for early validation.  CNET has an interview with Microsoft's Bob Muglia.

You mentioned that Microsoft is pretty much doing everything for the cloud first. Does that mean that over time on-premises customers are actually going to be getting technology that's somewhat older, for better and for worse?
Muglia: Well, I think the way to look at it is that we're able to use the cloud to do a lot more of our early validation than we've ever been able to do before. You know, you see us with labs, you know, Live Labs and things like that, being able to take ideas and put them up in the cloud. More and more what you'll see is the beginning of our beta processes will be run for new things up in the cloud, because our ability to get feedback from customers is so much more rapid if customers don't have to deploy the infrastructure themselves. So, there's a set of things that we can do, which will help to reduce our cycle time, and bringing new features to market.

Could Microsoft provide a cloud environment as part of enterprise sales agreements?

I mean, in general our products run on two- to three-year cycles, and it very often takes customers at least that long to deploy them. I actually think the cloud will expedite customers' ability to get our software and our innovations, even if they run it themselves, because it will shorten our cycle for delivery, and also I think customers as they see these things available in the cloud will have a better understanding of the advantages they can get if they deploy it themselves. So, I actually don't think it slows down things at all for our customers that choose on-premises.

Or help customers run their own private clouds.

We hear a lot about this term, private cloud, meaning taking a cloud-like infrastructure and deploying it in one's own data center, taking the idea of a public cloud and having a completely private version of that replicated in someone else's data center. I guess I'm kind of curious what are you hearing the most demand from customers for when they say private cloud.
Muglia: Well, you know, one of the things we've learned is that customers have different views of the term private cloud. And so what we've been talking about is customers' ability to build their own clouds in their own data centers or for partners to be able to build clouds.

But fundamentally we do see a great deal of demand for that, because customers have some very reasonable concerns about their ability to control the environment, and they often have security concerns. So, for many circumstances having a customer build their own cloud is what absolutely makes sense for them, and we're supplying them with the tools and products they need in the form of Windows Server, System Center, and SQL Server to build their own clouds.

The business models for cloud computing is where there new opportunities.  Most focus on an AWS type of model.  But, it is interesting to think down the path of what Bob Muglia suggests as a cloud computing run as part of product development.

BTW, one of the problems Microsoft has is Microsoft Update which was started in the Office team then Windows, is almost always turned off in the Server product.  So, Microsoft gets very little product crash data from Server.  In Azure though they can get all the for known environments.  That in itself is a big help for Microsoft's Server business.