The data center industry is highly competitive as Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Yahoo, and others fight for market share.  In a conversation with a data center executive he made a point about the infamous attacks on Google and others that few have an offensive strategy with almost all the effort spent on defense.

Researchers identify command servers behind Google attack

By Ryan Paul | Last updated January 14, 2010 8:45 AM

VeriSign's iDefense security lab has published a report with technical details about the recent cyberattack that hit Google and over 30 other companies. The iDefense researchers traced the attack back to its origin and also identified the command-and-control servers that were used to manage the malware.

The cyber-assault came to light on Tuesday when Google disclosed to the public that the Gmail Web service was targeted in a highly-organized attack in late December. Google said that the intrusion attempt originated from China and was executed with the goal of obtaining information about political dissidents, but the company declined to speculate about the identity of the perpetrator.

The defensive move by Google is good.

Hours after announcing the intrusions, Google said it would activate a new layer of encryption for Gmail service. The company also tightened the security of its data centers and further secured the communications links between its services and the computers of its users.

The point the data center executive made was "How can you win when you have no offense?"

Data Centers are currently designed mostly with defense capabilities for cyberattacks.  What are the offensive capabilities that should be designed in?

Sun Tzu's Art of War may help give you some ideas on how you could take offensive positions.

The Art of War is one of the oldest and most successful books on military strategy. It has had an influence on Eastern military thinking, business tactics, and beyond. Sun Tzu suggested the importance of positioning in strategy and that position is affected both by objective conditions in the physical environment and the subjective opinions of competitive actors in that environment. He thought that strategy was not planning in the sense of working through an established list, but rather that it requires quick and appropriate responses to changing conditions. Planning works in a controlled environment, but in a changing environment, competing plans collide, creating unexpected situations.

One interesting strategy is what is discussed by Moeletsi Mbeki talking to Africom

'If I were the head of AFRICOM, I would identify the critical countries in Africa that have regional influence, which can influence their neighbours and then try and find a way to stabilise those countries, so that they can exercise hopefully a more positive influence on their neighbours, which will then mean that AFRICOM itself doesn't have to be involved in each and every country. We have 54 countries in Africa. You can't possibly be involved in all 54 countries. So you have to identify the countries, which make a difference to other countries,' Mbeki said.

What would happen if the top data centers operated collaboratively to take the offensive in cyber attacks?

Lately I have been thinking about "Waves" as a metaphor.  I can thank the catalyst for the idea from my daughter who wanted to make her school science project "What makes waves?"  She was thinking it was boats make waves as they go by our house and go faster than they should for a no wake zone that many ignore.  But, I also explained that there are many more waves created by the wind, creating wind waves.

They usually result from the wind blowing over a vast enough stretch of fluid surface. Some waves in the oceans can travel thousands of miles before reaching land. Wind waves range in size from small ripples to huge rogue waves.^[1]

She got it when I shot this video from our house.

This got me thinking about methods that could use waves.  I implemented a big wave-picking system in Apple Computer Distribution when Apple hired me for my distribution logistics expertise, increasing productivity over 100%.  The same ideas are being used finally in IT buying racks and containers of equipment, looking efficiencies in a wave-picking method.

Wave Picking is an application of a Short Interval Scheduling, to assign the workload into a intervals (waves) to allow management to coordinate the several parallel and sequential activities to complete the work. The Wave data includes the workload by order or function (case picking, repack picking, pallet movement, pick position replenishment, packing, etc.) providing management the information to calculate staff requirements and assign staff by function, with the expectation that the work in each function, within each wave, can be started and be completed at about the same time. There are two basic planning elements and benefits of Wave Picking.

1. To organize the sequence of orders and assignment to waves, consistent with routing, loading and planned departure times of shipping vehicles or production requirements, etc, to reduce the space required for shipping dock handling to assemble orders and load; and
2. To assign staff to each wave and function within a wave, with the expectation that all the work assigned to each wave will be completed within the wave period, providing management with the ability to monitor and manage performance throughout the day, and respond in a timely way to problems that occur, and more effectively utilize the staffing throughout the shift.

Another way to think about waves is being a surfer.  Seth Godin just posted on "Surfing is the new career" and uses the wave metaphor as well.

Surfing is the new career

Three months ago I wrote about farming and hunting. It seems, though, that the growth industry of our generation is surfing.

Talk to surfers and they'll explain that the entire sport comes down to the hunt for that blissful moment that combines three unstable elements in combination: the wave is just a little too big to handle, the board is going just a little too fast, and the ride could end at any moment.

And explains how some are making their careers using a Surfing method.

We see successful musicians and writers do this all the time. Now, though, it's not unusual to watch someone surf in their development of shareware, or in the videos they post online or risks they take in their personal blog.

So many of the conversations I have every day could easily be replaced with, "so, where's the next wave? Tell me about your last one..."

This is actually a pretty good description of the method I use to figure out where there are Green Data Center waves.  Checking out different areas, people who are doing great work, learning from others mistakes.  Keep on moving and practicing.

Thanks to my daughter I think about waves more.  Also, here is her video, since I already posted about her brother as inspiration, and she would be mad if she read my blog and I didn't say how she is an inspiration too.  :-)

Mother's Day was a perfect weather day here in Seattle, and the OHarder's (the new name for when the Ohara and Harder family get together) had Mother's Day Brunch to celebrate the day and new Stand-up Paddle Boards they had delivered from PerfectWave.  Both Hilary Ohara and Vanessa Harder had tried stand-up paddle boarding in Hawaii and wanted to make it part of their regular exercise routine, so stand-up paddle boards have been on the wish list for a while.

Below is the gang before we started the lessons with PerfectWave owner Bobby, who is in the middle with Hawaiian Shaka hand sign.

Bobby's giving us lessons.  He is the one standing in the below picture.

It's hard to stand when I have my son on the board and he is having fun pretending he is surfing.  He already skateboards and snowboards, so surfing is on his list.

But, I eventually get up when he settles down.

Overall a great day for all, and I was busy cooking bacon and pancakes for 20 people, quadrupling the buttermilk pancake recipe. 

Hilary and Vanessa did a great job researching what kind of paddle board to get and where to buy it from.  They checked out brands like Surftech Laird.  What local shops or REI they should buy from. A week ago, they found the place they wanted to buy their boards - PerfectWave, a local shop.

Founded by Bobby Arzadon, a local boy from the Island of Kauai, Hawaii, the Perfect Wave Surf Shop is your direct link to Hawaii, without leaving the mainland.

The Perfect Wave Surf Shop is located in the Northwest, approximately ten miles east of Seattle in Kirkland, Washington.

Ninety percent of the surfboards we carry are made in Hawaii. Surfboards can be custom ordered to suit your tastes. We also carry local surfboards made here in the Northwest along with a full line of accessories, for the expert or beginner.

The girls called me and asked me to come by the shop and met Bobby before buying the boards.  We talked about how he designs his own boards in addition to carrying other brands.  I asked him what he does for his day job, and he says he runs the CAD shop at Casne.  I told him yeh, I know Casne, they are one of system integrators for OSIsoft data center real time monitoring solution.

Casne Engineering, Inc. was founded in 1979 based on a firm belief that there is great value in the engineering process. The engineering process is what matures the owner’s ideas from a dream to reality. This is the vehicle that allows the owner to make informed decisions along the way.

Looking into the future, we see a continuing need for the engineering process, and Casne Engineering remains fully committed to our mission:

" Engineering Excellence Through Teamwork
    Anchored in Trust, Integrity, and Commitment. "

One of the people who came over to try the stand-up paddle board is Bobby's Casne co-worker , Nick Wiley, who coincidentally was at OSIsoft's user conference when I was there and we were both at the Data Center Birds of a Feather lunch meeting as we made the connection we were both at the table with HP's Dave Rotheroe. 

So, in between paddling and cooking, we talked a bit of data center shop and agreed to catch up later as we both agreed data center monitoring has a lot of potential and is in its early stages compared to other industries.

I am going to have a hard time topping this Mother's day next year.  But, maybe a Mother's day brunch paddling on the lake with the OHarder's is a new tradition.