Woohoo, GreenM3 makes GreenMonk's list of top 10 data center blogs

I honestly have fun writing on GreenM3, but sometimes I wonder why and what I should write on.  Today I was going to take a break to spend a family day with the kids and grandma, but I got up at 6am with a bunch of ideas, one of which is data center automation, and the kids are still asleep.

Checking Twitter this morning I saw this tweet.

I went to Tom Raftery's GreenMonk post on Top 10 Green Data Centers.

So without further ado – and in no particular order, I present you with my Top 10 Data Center blogs:

• Green (low carbon) Data Center blog – Dave Ohara’s famous blog on Monitoring, Modeling, and Meditating the Green Data Center
• Data Center Knowledge – one of the best known data center blogs
• The Server Room – a high volume blog of Intel staffers
• Data Center Design – from the consultants and engineers at PTS Data Center Solutions
• The Uptime Institute blog – as the name suggests, this is the blog of the Uptime Institute!
• N Plus One – another Uptime Institute blog, but this time more practical, less corporate
• Efficient Data Centers.com – despite the name, this is not at EfficientDataCenters.com – it is the blog of Jack Pouchet at Emerson
• Mark Thiele’s blog – Mark is the Founder & President of the industry practitioners group Data Center Pulse
• MS Datacenters – Microsoft’s data center blog
• Data Center Links – John Rath’s data center industry blog

What great data center blogs have I missed?

Read more: http://greenmonk.net/top-10-data-center-blogs/#ixzz1IwQjWWv3

Thanks Tom for putting together this list.

And, thank you for continuing to visit Green (Low Carbon) Data Center Blog.

Summer 2011 Tokyo, 25% power cut for big users increase data center risks

Reuters covers the Japanese government announcing a 25% power cut for big power users in Tokyo.

UPDATE 2-Japan sets power targets to avoid summer blackouts

Fri Apr 8, 2011 8:05am EDT

* Govt plan aims to avoid blackouts when power use peaks in summer

* Seeks 25 pct cut for big power users in Tokyo, north Japan

...

The government estimates that, with a particularly hot summer like last year's, peak power production could fall short of demand by as much as 18,300 MW in the two utilities' service area -- or about one-fourth of total demand -- after a massive March 11 quake and tsunami shut down several big nuclear and thermal power stations.

Will there a mass exodus of servers from Tokyo Data Centers?  Most likely not as moving data and servers is tough.  But who would want to plan a mass deployment to Tokyo.

The ministry's proposal requires big manufacturers to submit power-saving plans, such as adjustments to operating hours, and would subject them to modest penalties of 1 million yen ($12,000) if they fail to reach the targets. They could also be publicly identified as not meeting government requirements.

This could be good news for Taiwan, Hong Kong, Seoul, and Shanghai data centers.

Maybe Tokyo data centers can get exemption from the power-savings, but all of this creates more risk and potential more time on back-up power systems.

GreenM3 and StorageMojo connect at SNW, discuss some good ideas

At SNW I met Jim Handy with Objective-Analysis at lunch.

OBJECTIVE ANALYSIS:YOUR SOURCE FOR ACTIONABLE INFORMATION

OBJECTIVE ANALYSIS offers third-party independent market research and data for the semiconductor industry and investors in the semiconductor industry.
Founded by leading industry experts, Objective Analysis provides excellence in market data, reviews of technology, analysis, and custom consulting.

Through our analysts’ comprehensive industry backgrounds and deep understanding in their fields, the company provides clients with a rare level of insight and fact-based research into the “why” and “how” of the industry.

After chatting a bit about variety of technical topics, Jim asked if I knew Robin Harris.  I read storagemojo, but hadn't met Robin. 

Jim was nice enough to go find Robin who I just saw walking down an aisle and bring him over.  Robin and I had great conversations and discussed a bunch of cool ideas throughout the day and at the Ray Johnston concert.

Jim - thanks for taking the time to introduce me to Robin.  We're going to have some fun conversations.

Great People at SNW conference, people who like Data Centers

I wrote about about the Ray Johnston concert hosted by DCS, but I was going to skip the concert to be with my kids who flew with me to SJC to see grandma during spring break.  Kevin Ehringer, CTO/Founder of Data Center Sys told me bring your kids to the concert.

Wyatt, Ray Johnston, and Ashley

It was actually pretty cool to bring my kids to their first technology conference party, listening to great music, being the only kids in the museum, eating great food and desserts, and socializing.

The kids were entertaining to the tech crowd as the only kids there, and I was able to introduce them to cool people like Chris Crosby and Ginger.

After the official concert, I dropped off the kids at grandma's house and went back for the after party private concert.  It was a good to chat and hang out, but made for a long night.

My first SNW has good memories and my kids had a blast.  I won't tell them the next SNW is is Orlando.

SNW Fall 2011 will take place:

October 10-13, 2011
JW Grande Lakes
Orlando, Florida

Data Center Productivity Plan, lean is better with process improvement

One of my readers who shares his hockey passion with my family sent this MicKinsey article "data center goes lean" where average problem resolution is reduced 40 to 60 percent.

A data center goes lean

Lean transformations can help organizations supporting IT infrastructure to increase their productivity, improve service, and lift morale.

MARCH 2011 • Henrik Andersson, Gary Moe, and Lawrence Wong

The support units that manage and maintain key elements of IT infrastructure—such as servers, networks systems, and data storage—are prone to performance breakdowns that stem from complex and disordered workflows.

The report has interactive graphics on before.

and after.

the ideas are good, but there is one flaw I quickly found. in the above picture.  They show false alerts, valueless activities as being eliminated and going to the trash.

The false alerts and valueless data should be analyzed.