Verizon’s Cloud Services expand Data Centers WW

October 3, 2010 Dave Ohara

Verizon announced expansion of its Data Centers WW to support its cloud offering.

Verizon Business Furthers Cloud Strategy Through Global Data Center Expansion

Expanded Facilities to Accommodate Increased Customer Demand for Public, Private and Hybrid Cloud Services

September 30, 2010

BASKING RIDGE, N.J. - To meet the increasing demand for the full range of cloud services, Verizon Business is enhancing its data centers around the globe. Within the next year, Verizon Business will expand its flagship cloud computing services suite - Computing as a Service (CaaS) - into centers in San Jose, Calif.; London; and Canberra, Australia. In addition, CaaS data centers to serve U.S. government customers will come online in Miami and Culpeper, Va., during the first quarter of 2011.

Here are some of the details on how much expansion Verizon plans.

As part of this infrastructure enhancement project, more than 5,500 additional server cabinets for enterprise clients also will be added to Verizon Business premium Internet data centers in Paris, Dublin, London, Frankfurt, Belgium, Canberra, Hong Kong and throughout the U.S. The expansion further enables the delivery of private clouds via more than 200 global data centers connected to Verizon's MPLS network, Private IP.

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Verizon Enterprise-Class CaaS Solutions Lead Market in Performance, Security

Verizon's cloud computing solutions suite, Computing as a Service, offers enterprises on-demand computing resources, including server, network and storage capacity, with high-performance and built-in security that are ideally suited to the complex needs of large enterprises. Enterprises have a choice between Verizon's flagship CaaS offering of its hybrid solution, CaaS enabled VMware vCloud™ Datacenter, which facilitates moving applications from a private to a public cloud setting. Clients can configure their enterprise cloud using Verizon's Private IP network or its global IP network.

Today, the company has CaaS data centers in Amsterdam and the U.S. A third center in Hong Kong will come online in October.

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Some of the customers are.

Early adopters of Verizon's cloud services include Modevity, Celstream, iSOFT, ISID and GWR Medical and Intelenet.. Many are using cloud computing to drive further efficiencies within their operations as well as a way to provide corporatewide access to applications while delivering enhanced ease-of-use for end-users.

And VMware is part of the Verizon partnership.

Verizon Builds Hybrid Cloud with VMware vCloud Datacenter

The widgetry won’t be quite as secure as Verizon’s existing Computing as a Service (CaaS) – but pretty close

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Verizon is trusting the solution will get its target accounts up off their collective arse and into the cloud.

Right now the thing, whose clumsy handle is Computing as a Service (CaaS) enabled by VMware vCloud Datacenter, is in field-test with the big International Hotel Group (IHG), a company whose business inherently sees peaks and troughs, expecting to widen the beta before the stuff goes GA in Q1.

While the high-end CaaS enterprise is priced à la carte, the Datacenter version will be available on both a utility model and a reservation model.

The company says it hasn't worked out the numbers yet but that's how it wants to price it; the first for transient trade, the latter for those with predictable workloads that want guaranteed resources.

Schneider Electric's Media Event, a great time to learn, network, and test new image gear

September 29, 2010 Dave Ohara

I just spent a day at Schneider Electric's media event in Chicago. Reflecting on what I got out of the event I'll just dump a stream of what comes to mind.

I was looking forward to connecting with Kevin Heslin with Mission Critical Magazine and Rich Miller with DataCenteKnowledge as any significant data center event has both of them there. Between the three of us creating content on data centers, Kevin made the point how much content would be loss if for some reason something happened to all three of us at the event. I don't put myself in the same category as Kevin and Rich who are professional media people, but I do get media status with my blogging so I enjoy the benefits of seeing how things are presented to the media.

As part of getting ready for Schneider's event, Data Center Dynamics, and AFCOM Data Center World (where by the way I'll see Rich and Kevin again), I decided to upgrade my media capabilities. I am a Canon user which can be just as religious an issue vs. Nikon. After much thought I decided to get a Canon 7D.

EOS 7D
EOS Digital SLR Cameras

Maximum resolution for any application.

The EOS 7D features a Canon-designed 18.0 Megapixel APS-C size CMOS sensor that captures such a high level of resolution it's easy to crop images for enlargement without concern of losing detail. A major factor in reducing noise, the CMOS sensor assures that images shot at highest sensitivity will be remarkably smooth. Dual DIGIC 4 Image Processors ensure that images are captured, processed and saved with remarkable speed. The EOS 7D's ability to capture and process data of images shot at 18.0 Megapixels at 8 fps, as well as Face Detection Live Mode, Full HD video recording, Auto Lighting Optimizer and Lens Peripheral optimization are all possible thanks to the Dual DIGIC 4 Image Processors.

One of the features I was playing with is to tether the Canon 7D to my laptop to allow quick transfer of images to my PC which I actually got a bunch of comments from other media people asking about my setup at the event. My Lenovo X200 Tablet worked well capturing images and video while tethering transferring images in seconds.

I couldn't find an exact video of what I was doing on YouTube, but here is a Canon 5D Mark II connected to a Mac. This worked extremely well and I am looking forward to try the setup at other events to enable live blogging with better quality images and video.

What did I get out of the event for content? I met Kevin Brown and his presentation on Infrastruxure.

APC by Schneider Electric unveiled the next generation InfraStruxure architecture, a high performance, scalable and adaptable data center architecture. InfraStruxure integrates power, cooling, racks, security and management in a modular form factor and is a building block of Schneider Electric’s comprehensive energy management architecture portfolio, EcoStruxure. This new generation of InfraStruxure delivers a 25% increase in power and cooling capacity and a 15% smaller footprint, all while reducing cost by 15%. Holland Computing Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, uses InfraStruxure to run high performance computing for cutting-edge research, including a 21 TFlop supercomputer, shared memory processing, grid computing and development of hadoop-on-demand and other custom implementations.

And spent a bunch of time with software his software subject matter expert Jon Gould diving into details of their modeling and simulation.

APC also introduced new features to the overall InfraStruxure management software portfolio, to better enable IT managers to change the way they monitor, operate, manage and maintain their data centers through the integration of new virtualization capabilities and upgraded energy efficiency and operations software. Enhanced capabilities include:

The new Data Center Lab application within InfraStruxure Capacity - a data center project management tool that enables the design of new data center build-outs or data center upgrades.

InfraStruxure Capacity’s updated Impact Analysis application - provides an instant overview of data center physical infrastructure operations including UPS, power distribution and cooling independent of the types and brands of equipment present in the data center.

InfraStuxure Efficiency 1.1 - IT managers can quickly and easily report on monthly energy consumption of their data center subsystems including CO2 emissions, PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) and DCIE (Data Center Infrastructure Efficiency).

InfraStruxure Capacity Network Management Tool - provides insight into equipment dependencies including mapping and documenting fiber and copper networks from servers, via patch panels, to switches or routers allowing IT managers to document connectivity, manage their network structure and plan and control network usage.

Saw Rick McKay's BMS solution for data center facility operations.

I'll write a blog entry about Aaron Davis's presentation.

Overall I have a much better understanding of the Schneider Electric's portfolio, and met a lot of Schneider/APC people I am sure I will connect with again.

Go Dense, Go Fast, Go Green

September 28, 2010 Dave Ohara

Kevin Brown from APC presented APC's InfraStruxure solution, and I especially liked his tag line. "Go Dense, Go Fast, Go Green"

InfraStruXure

Data centers on demand

InfraStruXure fully integrates power, cooling, rack, management, security and services. This on-demand architecture allows the selection of standardized components to create a solution through modular and mobile configurations. InfraStruXure is available for any IT environment, from wiring closets to large data centers.

For a green data center, the requirements Kevin lists are areas you should look at.

This list as an holistic thinking of the properties in a green the data center vs. the typical, PUE, hot and cold aisle containment, virtualization, etc.

Also, liked the fact that Kevin has a software background.

Kevin BROWN
Vice President, Data Center Global Offer
IT Business
Schneider Electric

Kevin held numerous management roles at APC, including Director, Software Development Group.

Amazon leases data center space while Google and Microsoft build

September 27, 2010 Dave Ohara

DataCenterKnowledge reports on Amazon.com leasing 125,000 sq ft of office/warehouse space and converting it to data center space.

Report: Amazon Leases Space in Virginia
September 28th, 2010 : Rich Miller
Amazon’s expanding cloud computing operation apparently needs room to grow. The commercial real estate news site Globe Street reports that Amazon has leased a building in northern Virginia that will be used to expand its data center operations.

Citing an unnamed source, Globe Street says Amazon has leased a 125,000 square foot facility in Sterling, Va. and will invest $60 million in converting the site into a data center. The building, which is owned by a joint venture between Altus Realty Partners and Perseus Realty Partners, features a 90,000 square foot warehouse with 18-foot ceiling clearance that can be converted to data center space. The facility also features about 35,000 square feet of space currently used for offices.

as referenced the Globe Street mentions the shortage of space.

As data center space becomes ever more scarce in the area, a growing number of firms are investing in building out the operations themselves. Microsoft, for example, is investing $499 million in the southern county of Mecklenburg to build a data center. It will be the largest investment here and create 50 jobs, according to Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell.

Amazon has an estimated 150,000 plus servers which would have most companies building data centers not leasing them. Amazon is a different breed than other high tech companies thinking like a retailer and driven by a financial discipline. Amazon has only one built data center in Boardman, Oregon.

Will Amazon eventually build big data centers like the rest following Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Facebook?

At many companies the rigors of getting approval a data center construction project approved are from the business units, technical people, and the CFO. I would expect at Amazon.com, everyone wants to see the numbers, and they spend much more time on financial modeling.

Should we lease or build?

What is the best use of Amazon's capital and cash?

What is the overall operating expense of a leased vs. owned facility?

Latest decision in the East Coast. Lease.

Facebook Data Center Summary - buildings, power, servers, and softwar

September 26, 2010 Dave Ohara

DataCenterKnowledge has a great FAQ on Facebook which coincidentally is done 4 days before the opening of "The Social Network".

The Facebook Data Center FAQ
September 27th, 2010 : Rich Miller

With more than 500 million active users, Facebook is the busiest site on the Internet and has built an extensive infrastructure to support this rapid growth. The social networking site was launched in February 2004, initially out of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s dorm room at Harvard University and using a single server. The company’s web servers and storage units are now housed in data centers around the country.

Each data center houses thousands of computer servers, which are networked together and linked to the outside world through fiber optic cables. Every time you share information on Facebook, the servers in these data centers receive the information and distribute it to your network of friends.

The FAQ is 3 pages and has a lot information for the data center curious.