Notes from the Consultant’s Jungle

As I’ve watched the momentum of the Cloud, it’s caused me to reflect upon earlier discussions about data center physical security.  It’s long been my opinion that physical security will soon emerge (or re-emerge) as a top issue in data center planning, since businesses and consumers alike are increasingly reliant on the data and transaction [...]

[Read more →]

Many firms have gone looking for core/shell property with the intent of renovating these structures for use as a data center.  These projects are very capital intensive, and in many cases the benefits of having the existing structure are almost nil when viewed in the context of the broader project plan and budget.  However, many [...]

[Read more →]

Well, now I know why I’ve never come out on top whenever I buy one of Jim Cramer’s recomendations.
In a recent (10/22/2009) Mad Money piece on CNBC, Jim Cramer used the Equinix acquisition of Switch and Data to make the point that data centers are obsolete.  In his diatribe about why anyone with Equinix stock [...]

[Read more →]

When launching a new data center build project, where the data center will be located is a fundamental issue. There are many factors in deciding where the data center will be, but all of these factors can arguably be consolidated into two issues- Risk and Cost.
We mention risk in terms of Risk Management. [...]

[Read more →]

I attended the 2009 IT Roadmap Conference in Atlanta,
Georgia this week and sat in on the presentation by
Johna Till Johnson of Nemertes Research, entitled
“Building a Resilient Dynamic Data Center.” The presentation
was a summary of hundreds of hours of discussions
with data center operators and enterprises with [...]

[Read more →]

Data
Center consolidation and Data Center outsourcing are
top of mind for many CIO’s these days. Many companies
have ‘90s vintage IT facilities that not only do not
have the availability to align with the Business’ operating
model but also are struggling to keep up with the power
and cooling demands of contemporary computing systems.
The deployment of multi-core processors and blade-based
systems [...]

[Read more →]

It’s increasingly clear that the current economic situation (‘intentionally avoiding negative words to send positive vibes out there to the investors) is impacting worker productivity at a number of levels.

[Read more →]

Earlier this year we talked about 2008 being a breakout year for container data centers.  We’ve also discussed new developments and new product introductions by the container vendors as well as a number of established and emerging use cases.  It would appear though that the launch of container sales has yet to get underway.  In [...]

[Read more →]

The data center consolidation and construction boom of the 21st century is well underway.  As we work with Clients, helping with planning, advice, and project management of these changes foundational to the future performance of their enterprise, we always encounter the discussion of facility Tier Level rating.
The Tier Level rating refers to an industry [...]

[Read more →]

For those of you who are regular visitors to this blog, this topic may seem rather basic.  However, I was recently asked to write an article on this subject and thought that if it’s good enough for that venue then perhaps someone will find benefit in reading here as well.  So here are some highlights [...]

[Read more →]