Compass DC serves up 1.2 MW increments to Savvis in Minneapolis-St Paul

I don't know about you, but it is refreshing to see a press release that says exactly what is the first deployment vs. future capacity.  Savvis has a press release on a new data center lease in Minneapolis-St Paul, and the 2nd paragraph makes this statement

The Savvis MP2 data center is designed to serve the region's growing demand for colocation, cloud, managed hosting and network services. Built to support 4.8 megawatts of IT load on 100,000 square feet of raised floor space, it will open with an initial 1.2 megawatts and 13,000 square feet of raised floor space.

Compass data centers is serving up 1.2 megawatt increments to Savvis for the local market.

"We are excited to partner with CenturyLink's Savvis organization, which combines a global leadership position in data center excellence with a deep understanding of Minnesota market needs through the existing local CenturyLink presence," said Chris Crosby, chief executive officer of Compass Datacenters. "Working with Savvis to quickly facilitate expansion in the Minneapolis-St. Paul market, we've developed a streamlined strategy for future expansion and response to the growing demands of businesses in the region."

Now that Savvis has a taste of consuming in 1.2 megawatt increments anywhere they have a market need we'll see how many more data centers start cropping up out of the major internet hubs.

Respecting the Brand, it is worth a lot of money

In the technology industry it is common for the companies to try and use the Brand name of another company to demonstrate credibility of their product/service.  Saying you provide services to X company verbally is the easiest thing to do.  Getting written approval approval is hard.

Interbrand just released the latest on the most valuable brands and Apple has now beat Coca-Cola.

Apple takes the #1 spot and Google jumps to #2 – the first brands to unseat Coca-Cola in the history of Best Global Brands

NEW YORK, New York (30 September 2013) – For the first time in the history of Interbrand’s Best Global Brands report, there is a new #1 brand: Apple. Interbrand, the world’s leading brand consultancy, publishes Best Global Brands on an annual basis, identifying and examining the top 100 most valuable global brands. With Apple claiming the top position this year, Google jumps to #2 and Coca-Cola, the brand that held the #1 position for 13 consecutive years, moves to #3. This year, the total value of all 100 Best Global Brands is USD $1.5 trillion -- an 8.4 percent record increase over the total value of the 100 Best Global Brands in 2012.

Technology is dominating the fastest growing brands.

2013 TOP RISING BRANDS: Facebook, Google, Prada, Apple, Amazon

Facebook (#52, +43%): As the leading (and only) social media brand to claim a position on this year’s Best Global Brands ranking, Facebook has succeeded in boosting both revenue and earnings per share in the past year—and has surpassed Wall Street's expectations in the process. Facebook also increased its global user base by 26 percent since its IPO over a year ago. Around the world, the brand continues to see an increase in users, with the Asia-Pacific region experiencing the largest growth. Facebook’s mobile users also grew by 51 percent in the past year and mobile ads are poised to account for more than half of the social media giant's advertising dollars. With former Google executive Gary Briggs recently named the company's first CMO and by acquiring companies like Instagram, Facebook’s growth is likely to continue for years to come.

Google (#2, +34%): Due to evolutionary changes to its core offerings (Search, Android, and Gmail) and new innovations like Google Glass and its self-driving car, Google’s brand value increased by 34 percent – making it this year’s #2 brand and the second top rising brand after Facebook. By continuing to move beyond search and by placing big bets on innovation, Google will impact the way its consumers live and behave worldwide – and increase the value of its brand in the process.

Prada (#72, +30%): The iconic Italian luxury fashion brand emerged as Interbrand’s third top riser this year with a brand value increase of 30 percent—just behind top-rising technology brands Facebook and Google. Prada’s increase in brand value reflects the organization’s ability to strike a harmonious (and profitable) balance between honoring its Italian heritage and producing innovative and cutting-edge designs. By effectively intertwining its digital and physical touchpoints and with the Prada Foundation’s support of the art world, Prada has been able to engage with its customers in more meaningful ways – and expand its global footprint in the process.

Apple (#1, +28%): Despite having its reputation tarnished by patent spats with Samsung and the Foxconn labor conditions scandal, the Apple brand proved to be resilient and emerged as not only the leader in this year’s Best Global Brands report, but also a top riser. In addition to being resilient, Apple is also prescient – continually anticipating what consumers will want next. To maintain its #1 position over the next year, Apple will have to slow rival Samsung’s momentum in the mobile market and never lose sight of what it does best: “Think different.”

Amazon (#19, +27%): With a brand value increase of 27 percent, Amazon is a top riser in this year’s Best Global Brands report. The e-commerce innovator continues to differentiate itself from rivals by taking on initiatives such as Amazon Appstore, which provides a comprehensive mobile experience for Google Android devices. Amazon has also expanded into new businesses such as TV-set-top boxes, original programming, 3-D smartphones, the Kindle line of e-book readers, and same-day grocery delivery service. Such initiatives, if successful, could mean Amazon will play an even greater and more holistic role in its consumers’ future retail experiences.

Watch out thinking you can use a brand name without permission.  the Brand is worth billions of dollars.  And most don't want their brand used in ways that don't increase or preserve its value.

Consider that some of those in the data center industry who reference a big brand may not have current or much business with the brand. If they did, then they would most likely be asked to remove the brand from their presentations.

Part of why Data Center presentations are boring is many lack the skills of a storyteller

I've worked on a lot of executive presentations, and part of why I don't sit in many data center ones is they are so boring and I am constantly critiquing the presentation style and soon lose interest.

If you are interested in making a better presentation consider learning the skills of the storyteller. I just finished this book by Jonathan Gottschall.

Humans live in landscapes of make-believe. We spin fantasies. We devour novels, films, and plays. Even sporting events and criminal trials unfold as narratives. Yet the world of story has long remained an undiscovered and unmapped country. It’s easy to say that humans are “wired” for story, but why?

In this delightful and original book, Jonathan Gottschall offers the first unified theory of storytelling. He argues that stories help us navigate life’s complex social problems—just as flight simulators prepare pilots for difficult situations. Storytelling has evolved, like other behaviors, to ensure our survival.

Drawing on the latest research in neuroscience, psychology, and evolutionary biology, Gottschall tells us what it means to be a storytelling animal. Did you know that the more absorbed you are in a story, the more it changes your behavior? That all children act out the same kinds of stories, whether they grow up in a slum or a suburb? That people who read more fiction are more empathetic?

Of course, our story instinct has a darker side. It makes us vulnerable to conspiracy theories, advertisements, and narratives about ourselves that are more “truthy” than true. National myths can also be terribly dangerous: Hitler’s ambitions were partly fueled by a story.

But as Gottschall shows in this remarkable book, stories can also change the world for the better. Most successful stories are moral—they teach us how to live, whether explicitly or implicitly, and bind us together around common values. We know we are master shapers of story. The Storytelling Animal finally reveals how stories shape us.

What Planet are DCIM vendors on? A Sales World

Adinfa has a blog post asking the question What planet are DCIM Vendors on?  The world is different.

And that is a big part of the problem, I think.  Too many DCIM products are over-hyped, over-priced and over-complicated.  Lots of Powerpoints, lots of conference presentations but little that is tangible and deliverable particularly when it comes down to the reality of retro-fitting DCIM into a multi-vendor data centre.  If you need to run Flash, if you need high-power graphics cards in the server, if you need permanent contractors, if you need week long training courses for users, if you try to position your DCIM product as comparable to ERP or CRM of old then you are probably missing the point.

When I think of the way vendors sell DCIM, I think of a world that is defined by the vendor sales team.  A Sales World where  you will pay all this expense and time to reach the nirvana promised in the ppt.

The Adfina post continues with what is the alternative to DCMI Sales World.

People who want to use DCIM want tools that take their pain away and make their life easier.  In this era of instant gratification, asking someone to make a case to their board for something that will take months to deploy and years to achieve RoI (based on more tangible measures than notional savings derived from those oft-quoted cost of downtime studies) is about as palatable to them as asking them to make a case for building their very own “Curiosity”.  What most data centre managers really want from DCIM is a practical software tool that is straightforward to implement, simple to navigate, intuitive to work with, browser-based (with no add-ins needed), flexible in nature and priced reasonably.  They don’t need to go to Mars for that.

Do you prefer Drawing or Talking?

Some people exist in a verbal world wanting to talk in person or on the phone.  Writing is too much work.  And Drawing is not even something they attempt.

But, think about this.

“I prefer drawing to talking.  Drawing is faster, and leaves less room for lies.”

- Le Corbusier

If you want the truth and less lies, you may want to draw more.  This is one reason why I have chosen Galaxy Note smartphones and tablets as my main devices.  Oh and a pad of paper.