Microsoft buys LinkedIn, what happens to the DC Infrastructure when integration starts?

There is a lot of news out there about the acquisition and what it means. One question that is interesting to the data center community is what happens to LinkedIn's data center infrastructure when they are part of Microsoft.

Let's start with the press release which is here. http://news.microsoft.com/2016/06/13/microsoft-to-acquire-linkedin/#sm.0001oz1nmex7gedxpaa28q5zji3ou

“LinkedIn will retain its distinct brand, culture and independence.
...
“The LinkedIn team has grown a fantastic business centered on connecting the world’s professionals,” Nadella said. “Together we can accelerate the growth of LinkedIn, as well as Microsoft Office 365 and Dynamics as we seek to empower every person and organization on the planet.”
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“Just as we have changed the way the world connects to opportunity, this relationship with Microsoft, and the combination of their cloud and LinkedIn’s network, now gives us a chance to also change the way the world works,” Weiner said”

So part of making the LinkedIn customers feel good is to let them know the brand and culture will be maintained and LinkedIn will be independent.  Satya then states with Microsoft LinkedIn will grow faster while supporting growth of Office 365 and Dynamics. And, there will be a combination of Microsoft's Cloud and LinkedIn's network.

So the independence is for the brand and some teams in LinkedIn, but not the team that runs the DC infrastructure which includes the data centers, network, and some software services. An example of a software service is the ability to sign-in to LinkedIn with a Microsoft sign-in. Simple. what about the data center infrastructure that will be connected to the Microsoft Cloud? Not so easy.

Where is LinkedIn's DC infrastructure? They celebrated their last move from retail to wholesale space in this blog post. https://engineering.linkedin.com/blog/2015/11/introducing-linkedins-west-coast-data-center. This post announces their green data center efforts in Informart's data center in Hillsboro.

When LinkedIn made decisions on its datacenter locations it focused on how best to service their users.  Now their biggest user and their owner Microsoft needs to be served. And part of that service is lower latency and higher bandwidth connections to Microsoft's Cloud. It's a long ways from Hillsboro to Quincy, WA. Seems things would work so much better if LinkedIn was at the same site as Microsoft's cloud.

“In the last twelve months LinkedIn’s storage and processing needs have grown by 34 percent. That’s massive. And that growth is on top of the 29 megawatts of capacity in our current data centers worldwide – 26 megawatts are domestic and the other three international. We are also working to deploy applications on the nearly 6,500 servers in our Singapore data center before it goes live in early 2016.

The Production Engineering Operations (PEO) team has to work to stay ahead of this always growing demand to allow us to continue to provide our members the dependable and reliable services they expect from LinkedIn. But it’s also important that we remain environmentally sound. For these reasons, we’re excited to announce that LinkedIn’s third domestic data center will be located in Hillsboro, Oregon, just outside of Portland.”

DatacenterKnowledge reports on the other LinkedIn locations. http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2014/02/12/linkedin-will-add-third-data-center-next-year/

Microsoft and Facebook Partner for Atlantic cable from VA to Spain, a step in connecting the World

Microsoft's PR group sent me the announcement of the new Atlantic cable project with Facebook. There is a race to wire the world and this is just one more step by a couple of the big players.

There is a blog entry. https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/server-cloud/2016/05/26/microsoft-and-facebook-to-build-subsea-cable-across-atlantic/

Wired has some statement from Facebook. http://www.wired.com/2016/05/facebook-microsoft-laying-giant-cable-across-atlantic/

““If you look at the cable systems across the Atlantic, a majority land in the Northeast somewhere,” says Najam Ahmad, Facebook’s vice president of network engineering. “This gives us so many more options.””

With More Limits on Your Work, Are you Better? Great Example 25 sq m Paris Flat

Some people think think their work would be better if they had more freedom. There are another set of people who embrace the limits, the constraints on what can done as challenges. Below is a video of an architect sharing his design of Paris Flat that is 25 sq meters.  I enjoyed watching it and given this post has been live only 3 days and has 100k views many others do as well.

Best 8 Watts of Power Spent in Home Office - PFSense Opensource Firewall

If you want an all in one easy to use Router, Firewall and Access Point than Google OnHub is a good choice.

If you want to run a more powerful system with security features than try PFsense. I've been running PFsense SG-2220 Security Gateway appliance for 9 months and it has been solid using only 8 watts.

here is a post by PCGamer reviewing OnHub and preferring the use of PFsense.

“The ideal situation for us was using the OnHub in bridge mode, so that we could use a more advanced router to do routing duties. In our case, connecting the OnHub to a product like the pfSense gateway is the ultimate solution.”

For my home office I use Ubiquiti access points.  I have two in the main house. I could use one, but the data center DNA has me wired to prefer redundancy. Then one in the office.  And another in the beach house.  Single SSID. Automatic frequency configuration. And all kinds of good monitoring so I know things are working.

Why the focus on monitoring? Because monitoring fits in a more secure solution.

InfoWorld wrote a review of PFSense.

“Fast and feature-rich pfSense may be the best firewall bar none — and it’s free and open source”

A Lesson from Taylor Swift resonates with my kids as I say I do the same thing

Connecting with your kids is a challenge.  My daughter is 14 and my son is 12.  This morning driving the kids to their bus stops my daughter was frustrated Taylor Swift's song "New Romance" is not part of the Apple Music subscription.  Sticking to Taylor Swift as a subject, we commented on how smart Taylor Swift is using humor in its Apple ad.

What my kids also understand is how smart Taylor Swift was in her famous letter to Apple pointing out the three month free trial would be a financial burden on many artists.

“ I’m sure you are aware that Apple Music will be offering a free 3 month trial to anyone who signs up for the service. I’m not sure you know that Apple Music will not be paying writers, producers, or artists for those three months. I find it to be shocking, disappointing, and completely unlike this historically progressive and generous company.

The letter was polite and to the point. Swift felt it unfair for Apple to use artists, especially up-and-coming ones, to grow its new service without compensating them for it. The counterargument, meanwhile, holds that the free trial could bring lots of free publicity to those same lesser-heard artists. The flaw there, however, is that Apple was asking those artists to make a leap of faith in the hopes of more followers and money in the future — but many small artists live essentially paycheck to paycheck, and they can’t stomach a quarter of reduced payouts.”

— http://time.com/3940500/apple-music-taylor-swift-release/

Apple then made a smart move and made a change, and talked to Taylor Swift.  Taylor Swift is now a part of Apple Music and as my kids see Taylor Swift as one of the leaders in Apple's advertising.

Which then brought up an interesting point. Taylor Swift did a good thing. She was willing to stand up for something and possibly make an enemy.

“You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life. ”

— – Winston Churchill

Which then reminded me of how many times I've written a blog post to stand up for something and speak my mind.  And, some of my best friends are now people at these companies who choose to reach out and have a dialog.  After many more discussions we are working together on changing the way things are.  Just like Taylor Swift.  I won't point out those specific companies as that would probably get their PR groups stirred up and I want to keep my friends at those companies. 

The story of doing the right thing resonated with my kids.  Which was a nice ending.  Then my daughter said why don't I focus on this blog more and make money that way.  I then told them how hard it is to make money running a blog.  But they were still interested in how it works.  I told them let's talk more and we can go back and add advertising on the site and they can keep the money from the blog if they help work on it. They are both in for giving it a try.

If I could have a conversation like this once a week it would be great.  Driving the kids to the bus is something I do whenever possible.