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 Uptim Institute Symposium 2009 in New York, while Uptime founder Ken Brill listens.

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.

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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

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Green Data Center is a standard

I’ve been blogging about Green Data Center for 3 years and been discussing the concept for a bit longer.  When I started blogging about green data centers it was hard to find content I could reference.  Now there is so much out there, I can be selective on what to blog about.

Here is one example of how times have changed.  ZDnet blogger David Chernicoff has a blog called Five Nines: The Next Generation Data Center and here are his latest posts.  Look at all the green data center related topics he discusses.

Five Nines: The Next Gen Datacenter

David Chernicoff

About Five Nines: The Next Gen Datacenter

David Chernicoff looks at technologies that impact data center users and operators, including server consolidation and virtualization, green IT, and the latest hardware advances.

In David’s post  on No Suprise: Green Sells.

For now, “green” is a sales buzzword almost as compelling as “cloud.”  But it will soon enough be simply another expectation and no longer a differentiator.

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Customer Support for frozen Kindle 3, a 15 second fix to hard reset

I wrote about having the Kindle 3, and I use my Kindle 3 much more than my Kindle first generation.  But, it froze on me last night at 9p.  Wouldn't turn off, reset didn't work.  Plugged it in to make sure it had a full charge, within 5 minutes the green light when showing full charge.

Note I have had over 1,000 views of this post, and I wrote a follow on about the users and web analytics here.

And for you Kindle 3 fans, I have the first Kindle signed by William Gibson which was actually the first Kindle he held.

Signed very first Kindle at Microsoft. Actually, *touched* very first Kindle. Appealing unit, IMO.36 minutes ago via Twitterrific

...

image

Symptom
Resolution

Kindle screen frozen or Kindle unresponsive.

Possible cause:

  1. Unplug Kindle from power adapter or computer.
  2. Slide and release the power button. The LED light that surrounds the power button will display green for two seconds.
  3. Shut down Kindle by sliding and holding the power button for five seconds. The LED light will blink three times. Wait for the screen to go blank, then release the power button.
  4. Turn on the Kindle by sliding and releasing the power button.
  5. If Kindle is still not working, you can perform a hard reset by sliding and holding the power button for 15 seconds.
  6. If Kindle is still unresponsive, try charging Kindle before trying to restart the device once again.
If you continue to experience problems, please contact us.

It took me a while (3 minutes) to figure out how to contact amazon.com technical support.  Which now I know is easiest to do based on going to my order history and reporting an issue with an order.

Order:
July 29, 2010 / 105-2727168-6118645

Items:

Kindle Wireless Reading Device, Wi-Fi, 6" Display, Graphite - Latest Generation

Issue Details:

Kindle

- Kindle (U.S.)

- Frozen/defective/damaged Kindle

Within 15 seconds of pressing the submission, my cell phone rings putting me in the amazon.com tech support queue.

I get told the wait is less than one minute.  Tech support was quite friendly and helpful.  I assume the support person was in the comfort of their home office given it was 9p on Saturday night and I didn't hear the background noise from an offshore customer support center.

Within minutes the tech support person told me I needed to have the exact timing of sliding and holding the power switch for 15 seconds exactly, then release.  I did this and the KIndle 3 reboot.

Now the instructions were not totally clear to hold for 15 seconds only and release for a hard reset.  I thought I would hold for at least 15 seconds, then release.

Overall how much better could it have been. I was frustrated, tried on my own for 5 - 10 minutes, contacted amazon.com tech support, within 15 seconds my cell phone rings, after a couple of minutes, I am told how to fix the problem with an exact 15 second hold and release which triggers a hard reset.

Don't you wish other customer support organizations worked this way?

In fact, I am going to add some of these ideas to what a green data center should do for customer support.  How much better would the experience be if you had the option of registering on line with your support issue, and someone calling you within a period of time?

Allowing interruptions to occur at any time is highly disruptive. Even if you can put them off for a few minutes, it can make the overall system work much better.

Anyone who has studied Queueing Theory knows this.

Queueing theory is the mathematical study of waiting lines, or queues. The theory enables mathematical analysis of several related processes, including arriving at the (back of the) queue, waiting in the queue (essentially a storage process), and being served at the front of the queue. The theory permits the derivation and calculation of several performance measures including the average waiting time in the queue or the system, the expected number waiting or receiving service, and the probability of encountering the system in certain states, such as empty, full, having an available server or having to wait a certain time to be served.

amazon.com has this in their DNA, the same way Disney Theme Parks understand queues for lines of people.  If you focus on customer service you need to think of how you manage the queues.

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John Cleese's ideas for Creativity leveraging the unconscious brain

Jason Z. has a great post about John Cleese.

The amazing John Cleese shares his wisdom on writing, creativity, getting in the zone, and interruptions. It’s great to see advice that we hear all the time reaffirmed from outside the tech industry.

I love this video as I use many of these ideas to think of things, but don't do all of the things.

Watch the whole video as it gets even better at the end, and many of the frustrations John Cleese discuss applies to the challenges of a  green data center. At 9:02, John Cleese makes a point that is quite insightful.

Absolutely awesome: To know how good you are at something requires the same skills as it does to be good at those things. Which means if you're absolutely hopeless at something, you lack exactly the skills to know that you're absolutely hopeless at it. This is a profound discovery. that most people who have absolutely no idea what they're doing, have absolutely no idea that they have no idea of what they're doing. It explains a great deal of life.

Creativity in the data center is rare, and as John points out at 10:15 the problems for creativity when management feels like they have to be in control.

The video is here.

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