Google's Hamina Data Center follows #1 rule of architecture, respect "the genius of a place"

Google posted a video on its Hamina Data Center.

Joe Kava is featured in the videos, but the video I would have really like to see is Joe scuba diving through the sea water tunnel that brings water into the facility.  Below is a picture of the tunnel built in 1950.

If you want to see what the facility looked like before check out this tour Google gave to the press.

100% sea water use for cooling is a first for the data center industry, and Hamina has some unique characteristics.

Google added a bypass mixing function to the sea water cooling system to lower the temperature of the discharge back to the gulf which was not a requirement by any government agency.  But, Google recognized this change would reduce the environmental impact which fits in a sustainability strategy.

There was a lot of thought required for Google to have a sea water cooling system that runs 24x7 for years and years with no downtime.

I asked Joe some questions on his presentation, and one of the areas we covered is the maintenance issues for a sea water cooling system as a typical assumption at the company who designs sea water cooling systems is there is an annual maintenance that includes downtime.  You can imagine the Google guys telling the engineering company, there will be no downtime in this facility. 

Below is where Google lists an integrated Clean in Place (CIP) system and other features to address sea water fouling to eliminate maintenance downtime.

37Signals just posted on Ten Lessons for great landscape architecture.  You may think landscape architecture doesn’t have anything to do with data center design, but great architecture design is consistent across many areas.

Ten design lessons from Frederick Law Olmsted, the father of American landscape architecture Matt May 23

Latest by Naomi Tapia

Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903), the father of American landscape architecture, may have more to do with the way America looks than anyone else. Beginning in 1857 with the design of Central Park in New York City, he created designs for thousands of landscapes, including many of the world’s most important parks.

His works include Prospect Park in Brooklyn, Boston’s Emerald Necklace, Biltmore Estate in North Carolina, Mount Royal in Montreal, the grounds of the U.S. Capitol and the White House, and Washington Park, Jackson Park and the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago. (The last of those documented excellently in Erik Larson’s book The Devil in the White City.) Plus, many of the green spaces that define towns and cities across the country are influenced by Olmsted.

Consider Lesson #1 of a great architect.

1) Respect “the genius of a place.”
Olmsted wanted his designs to stay true to the character of their natural surroundings. He referred to “the genius of a place,” a belief that every site has ecologically and spiritually unique qualities. The goal was to “access this genius” and let it infuse all design decisions.

This meant taking advantage of unique characteristics of a site while also acknowledging disadvantages. For example, he was willing to abandon the rainfall-requiring scenery he loved most for landscapes more appropriate to climates he worked in. That meant a separate landscape style for the South while in the dryer, western parts of the country he used a water-conserving style (seen most visibly on the campus of Stanford University, design shown at right).

Think about these words and watch the video again.  Right at the beginning Joe talks about designing for the unique characteristics of a site.

You may think this idea is a waste of time and you don’t have the money, but 30 years from now or a 100 years from now great data center designs, designs that match a site will last and be upgraded.  Data Centers that are not designed for “the genius of a place” will fade and be demolished.

Weak Bolts suspend operations of 3 Korean Submarines, lesson in managing the supply chain

Mike Manos has his blog at http://loosebolts.wordpress.com/, and I found this article interesting on how weak bolts have suspended the operations of three Korean Submarines.  Many of the data center industry professionals have had duty on a submarine.  Can you imagine how pissed off the operations crew would be at this problem?

For the first 1,800-ton submarine Sohn Won-il, a total of 20 bolts came loose on six occasions between 2006 and 2009.
For the second submarine Jeong Ji, its bolts were broken or loosened on six occasions between 2009 and 2010 while for the third submarine Ahn Jung-geun, its bolts were broken and came loose on three occasions during the same period.
The 214-class submarines, which were designed by German’s Howaldtswerke Deutsche Werft AG, or HDW, and built by Hyundai Heavy Industries, are the primary naval assets for underwater operations.
The military investigated and found that a local subcontractor produced and provided bolts which were weaker than what the German firm required in its design of the submarines, sources said.

I've been having some interesting discussions on supply chain issues in the data center and the need for a Bill of Materials (BOM) approach.  I've tested the idea with some experienced people who understand the approach.  But, to be successful we need an executive sponsor.

Can you think of other data center problems caused by supply chain issues where substandard parts are installed?  I can.

Google takes available space at 111 8th in NYC off the market

DatacenterDynamics reports on Google's move to remove 111 8th ave data center space off the market.

Google takes all available space at key NYC carrier hotel off market

Future of data center providers at 111 8th Ave. uncertain

Published 20th May, 2011 by Yevgeniy Sverdlik

Following its acquisition of one of East Coast’s largest carrier hotels at 111 8th Ave. in New York City, Googlehas taken all the space that was available in the building off the market. The building is home to a number of commercial data center providers, including Digital Realty Trust, Telx and Internap, among others.

I speculated that Google could use the space in 111 8th for carrier negotiations.

Google now owns a premium networking access point in NYC, the biggest concentration of money in the USA with the financials, stock exchanges, and other businesses.

As Google negotiates carrier access in various markets, it can offer a presence in 111 Eighth Ave.  This can change price points, and guarantees of service and access.

If Emerging Market Telecom sets up a relationship with Google, and agrees to a presence in 111 Eighth Ave, then the more the Emerging Market Telecom needs the location due to a variety of economic and technical reasons, the value works for Google.

Did Google just buy one the biggest bargaining chips it could have to negotiate access to WW Telcos?

With Centurylink's purchase of Savvis and Verizon's purchase of Terramark could they do what Google is thinking?  It is interesting to think one building is more valuable that Savvis or Terramark.

Data Center Dynamics Seattle, another great time with data center people

It is interesting to contrast Uptime Institute Symposium vs. DatacenterDynamics especially when I attend the conferences back to back.  Both of the conferences are good.

Here is CEO Martin McCarthy, CEO of the 451 Group with some passion.

Here is Stephen Worn CTO and CEO of North America, DatacenterDynamics with "talk to the hand" gesture.  Actually I don't remember what Stephen was saying.

I hope you get a good laugh looking at this candid picture of Stephen Worn during his presentation.  This picture was good for a few laughs from the DatacenterDynamics crew.

I've gone to 3 of the last 4 Uptime, but with all the DatacenterDynamics events around the country, I've had good times with the attendees and the DatacenterDynamics crew in SF, Seattle, Chicago, NY, and London.  I typically attended as press, but about 2 years ago I wrote a blog entry about heading to DCD SF and I was going to spend most of my time talking to attendees and not going to sessions.  In response to my post, Stephen Worn calls me in 30 minutes and tells me he is going to put me to work and be a hall chairman.

Part of the fun I have with DCD is going out to dinner with the crew after an event and we chat about all kinds of things.  Part of the fun is making the new employees play the role of the Birthday person at the dinner table until a new employee comes on board to take their place.  Ashley on the left had her first birthday dinner in Chicago, and Anabel had her first birthday dinner in Seattle a year ago.

But, this year it was actually Justin's Birthday, and it was opening day for Copper River Salmon in Seattle, so we headed to the Salmon House for a Birthday dinner.

I did have a bit of fun at Uptime Symposium with this picture when I caught Raging Wire's Jim Kennedy with a little nose scratch, and sent the high res 5184x3456 pixels to Raging Wire's VP of Marketing Doug Adams.

Both Uptime Symposium and DatacenterDynamics are great places to meet people.  But, as you can tell I have much more fun with the DatacenterDynamics crew.  I'll be at DCD SF next on June 30.

Mike Manos provide background on his Call to Action to stop being Donkeys

I blogged about Mike Manos’s talk at Uptime last week.

Mike Manos keynote question are you Donkey or a Chaos Monkey?

FRIDAY, MAY 13, 2011 AT 5:42AM

Mike Manos gave a keynote at Uptime Institute in his new role at AOL as VP of Technology, and was back with his entertaining presentation style.  Mike's talk was on "Preparing for the Cloud: A Data Center Survival Guide", but Mike wisely changed his presentation to challenge the attendees to stop being Donkeys.

And, Mike just posted his own summary of his observations at Uptime.

Chaos Monkeys, Donkeys and the Innovation of Action

May 19, 2011 by mmanos

Last week I once again had the pleasure of speaking at the Uptime Institute’s Symposium.  As one of the premiere events in the Data Center industry it is definitely one of those conferences that is a must attend to get a view into what’s new, what’s changing, and where we are going as an industry.  Having attended the event numerous times in the past, this year I set out on my adventure with a slightly different agenda.

One of the best parts Mike posts is his observation of the patterns he saw.

By listening the audiences, the hallway conversations, and the multitude of networking opportunities throughout the event a pattern started to emerge,  a pattern that reinforced the belief that I was already coming to in my mind.   Despite a myriad of talk on very cool technology, application, and evolving thought leadership innovations – the most popular and most impactful sessions seemed to center on those folks who actually did something, not with the new bleeding edge technologies, but utilizing those recurring themes that have carried from Symposium to Symposium over the years.   Air Side economization?  Not new.   Someone (outside Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, etc) doing it?  Very New-Very Exciting.  It was what I am calling the Innovation of ACTION.  Actually doing those things we have talked about for so long.

As Mike says.

As you contemplate your own job – whether IT or Data Center professional….Are you a Donkey or Chaos Monkey?