Step One: BCP Integration

The planning stage is always the most critical with data centers, which is where BCP comes in. Otherwise known as Business Continuity Planning, this is a necessary step in implementing backup solutions and alternative plans for data centers’ power and cooling needs. Having BCP plans in place is a critical step in ensuring continuous operation with a data center, no matter what events occur. Many people and interests depend on data centers and it is up to them to ensure that their plans along with processes have been tested so that should the city go dark or communications cease, the data center remains a beacon of light and a hub of information flow for your business to continue operating.

Avoid Downtime: Backup, Backup, Backup

Diesel fueled generators are a popular option, and a must, for data centers in times where commercial power is unstable or unavailable. Having the right equipment to manage all of the backup power that is necessary to keep things running even when there is an outage can make all the difference. This should be a part of the BCP blueprint to ensure that operations can continue despite unanticipated events or interruptions in power during a natural disaster.

Downtime is a big issue in data centers. Put simply, this is the amount of time that the power or system is down or not available due to an interrupting event such as an “outage” of some kind. While having a low downtime average is great, having no downtime at all is ideal. Take the example of one data center in Fort Myers, which never lost power during a hurricane. According to FindWhat.com, their main data center took the time to transition data services to a secondary location and ensure that backup generators were in place as a part of their BCP. Because of their backup, they never actually needed to swap their data, saving a lot of time and hassle in the long run. You can read the entire piece at TechTarget to learn more.

It’s All About Planning

Whether a facility chooses to transition to a secondary location, use generators for backup power, or create an entirely different course of action, a plan must be in place to deliver that solution. Data centers’ power and cooling needs should be addressed as soon as possible so that a proper blueprint can be put into place for growth as well as the next potential service interruption or natural disaster. As anyone who lives in an area prone to man-made or nature’s interrupting events and disasters knows, it’s not “if” but “when” it will strike.

TELEHOUSE America is a data center and colocation provider with 23 years of service in the industry. They operate facilities in New York, as well as throughout the world, providing clients with the access, support, and hosting solutions that they need. Learn more at www.telehouse.com

“Where the world gets connected!” and ”Where the worlds IT gets managed!”

TELEHOUSE will be able to inform attendees about their acquisition of Databurg GmbH’s colocation facility, containing 220,000 sq feet of colocation space. The 43rd addition to the TELEHOUSE portfolio of premier global data centers is right in the heart of the financial center of continental Europe. It already impressively accommodates a number of Germany’s largest corporations. It also provides them with access to DE-CIX, Europe’s largest Internet Exchange with over 400 ISP’s and carriers.

Come visit TELEHOUSE at Stand 79! To learn more about this event visit: http://www.worldhostingdays.com/eng/. You can also read the press release by clicking here.

KDDI recently announced the establishment of the ‘KDDI Open Innovation Fund,’ a $66 million (5 billion yen) investment targeted at supporting innovation and enabling technology start-ups. With an initial focus on investments in new companies in Japan and other Asia-Pacific regions, the fund will provide resources and platforms for cloud services, to foster the development of innovative technology, services and applications which are so critical to newly established businesses. These resources will aim to provide competitive advantages to help startups differentiate themselves in the marketplace.

Managed by Global Brain Corporation, an experienced venture capital firm focused on start up ventures, the fund will also leverage KDDI’s expertise and technology platforms. An incubation program will be established to further define and organize potential start-ups. Read our press release at http://www.kddi.com/english/corporate/news_release/2012/0201/index.html

TELEHOUSE West

‘Going Green’ has been a buzz term for over a decade and is a significant concern in the energy intensive nature of the collocation and data center business.

“Green” data centers are continually emerging as more service providers and businesses realize the positive impact the facilities have on cost and energy efficiency; not to mention on reputation throughout the industry. A “green” data center is a receptacle for the management, storage, and distribution of data in which the mechanical, lighting, electrical and computer systems are built and designed for the highest obtainable energy efficiency and minimum environmental impact.

What exactly are some things “green” centers do?

• Reduce carbon footprint
• Utilize low-emission building materials, (e.g. carpeting, paints…)
• Ensure sustainable landscaping or negligible ground impact
• Recycle all waste
• Install catalytic converters on backup generators
• Utilize alternative energy technologies (wind, photovoltaic, heat pumps, evaporative cooling)
• Utilize hybrid or electric company vehicles

Some data center providers are wary of the cost to both build and certify a “green” data center as up-front costs are considerable. However, the long-term cost savings can be realized quickly on both operations and maintenance. The “green” facilities also provide employees, visitors and tenants with a pleasing and comfortable environment. They also improve relations with local communities. Additionally, several government programs or initiatives have surfaced, calling for monetary support for the creation and maintenance of environmentally responsible technologies.

One famous example of a “green” data center is TELEHOUSE West in London. TELEHOUSE West is an £80 million flagship facility that first opened in March 2010 as a pioneer in the green data center movement. The facility’s mission is to reduce carbon emissions, and sustain a safe and unpolluted environment. Specific ‘green’ actions include:

• Achieving the ISO 14001 certificate for Environmental Standard and the Carbon Trust Standard.
• Application of photovoltaic cells on the data center roof contributes to the energy supply of TELEHOUSE West thereby reducing the total energy consumption from external resources.
• Employment of a plate heat exchanger system ensures higher efficiency of heat transfer than traditional methods.
• TELEHOUSE West’s neighbors benefit from their green initiatives. The waste heat is distributed by TELEHOUSE to nearby homes and businesses.
• TELEHOUSE passed on green benefits to customers who in turn are able to offset their own carbon footprint.
• TELEHOUSE West purchases 100% renewable energy from UK provider, Smartest Energy.
• TELEHOUSE West added more efficient and controllable air conditioning units and implemented a “switch it off” policy for electrical equipment.

For more information on TELEHOUSE West or other leading global data center facilities contact us.

TELEHOUSE America is excited to announce that Inteliquent (formally known as Neutral Tandem/Tinet) is the newest carrier to extend its IP network into TELEHOUSE New York Chelsea, located at 85 10th Avenue.

Inteliquent will offer a comprehensive suite of global connectivity solutions out of TELEHOUSE New York Chelsea, including IP transit services utilizing both IPv4 and IPv6 routing, Ethernet Private Line (EPL) transport service, remote peering, and its newest Ethernet service, EtherCloudSM. EtherCloud, which first launched in April of 2011, is a Layer 2 platform connecting diverse partner networks into a holistic Ethernet cloud that delivers end-to-end Ethernet and VPLS connectivity around the world. Inteliquent has been a valued customer of TELEHOUSE since 2003, also connecting at its 25 Broadway facility.

Inteliquent is just one of the many carriers to extend into TELEHOUSE Chelsea within the last year. Additional carriers and ISPs include AboveNet, Cogent, KDDI America, Level 3, OCG, Sidera Networks, Time Warner Cable, and XO Communications. You can also contact us to schedule a tour of this state of the art facility.

Mr. Newby’s presentation focused on “The Need and Rationale for a New, National, Carrier-Neutral Colocation and Dark Fiber System”. As he explained, most current long-haul dark fiber is over ten years old, with many routes having reached fiber exhaust or lease elimination. Currently, dark fiber is in a much higher demand than ten years ago due to wireless technology, distributed data centers, cloud computing and rural broadband demand.

Some key requirements for new demand models include:

• Carrier-Neutral, Real Estate Model
• A New Long Haul Fiber Route for the USA
• Short Haul Fiber (Metro Design over Long Haul)
• Multiple, Physical Access Points
• Neutral Colocation – The Meeting Point
• Long Term Fiber & Colocation Leases

Current examples of this new dark fiber design model include Gasline, based in Germany and Dark Fiber Africa.

Morris Tabush, the second speaker of the morning, focused on the importance of properly storing and backing up your data. Mr. Tabush reviewed the different types of backup systems and what we need to need to be prepared for, including:

• Natural disasters
• Facility issues
• Malicious activity
• Hardware or software problems
• Accidents

For many companies, deciding whether or not to outsource their backup systems can be a difficult decision. The positives of outsourcing are the reliability of having a dedicated provider manage and monitor the system, and less worry on their company’s part. The downside of outsourcing is the need to keep your provider up-to-date with network changes, the on-going maintenance cost, regulatory and compliance issues, and the security of your data. Some cost factors to consider when choosing a back system include the size of your network, the level of protection needed and the quality of the service provider.

Videos of presentations from TELEHOUSE’s breakfast event coming soon! Visit http://telehouse.com/events.php. You can also view more photos on TELEHOUSE’s Facebook page.

2011 was indeed an explosive year for network innovations on many levels. From increased speeds and feeds to hot initiatives such as cloud computing, storage, IPv6, and data convergence, 2011 is marked as the time in which networking innovations truly erupted, after years of being stagnant. With that, it is reasonable to conclude that 2012 will indeed be continuing the path of paving way for new networking technologies and opportunities.

A recent article featured by Data Center Dynamics describes 2012 as the “Year of the Network”, citing that network operators across all sectors continue to seek out ways to drive data faster, and create shortcuts for content, which leaves the network vulnerable to exertion as it copes with today’s heavy multimedia and application demands.

The ‘cloud’ in particular has grown rapidly, which means that it will be one of 2012’s biggest requirements across several key industries. Data Center Dynamics states, “If cloud computing is going to be the trend in 2012, the network will be its bottleneck.”

What does this mean for data center operators?

According to Gartner Research, by 2014, network planners should anticipate more than 80% of traffic in the data center network to be between servers; and that by the end of 2013, half the enterprise applications that are used will be virtualized. Additionally, the amount of bandwidth in the rack itself is bound to grow by ten times.

Why the staggering increase? The growth is due to the shift from the hardware-focused data center to one that relies more upon software, which includes cloud applications, virtualization, automation, management tools, and more. In a nutshell, data centers are bound to become completely automated.

When the data center industry reaches this point, data center operators must place attention on the storage network and security with regards to what needs to change. What actions do the operators need to undergo to migrate their data centers into, essentially, ‘software-driven networks’? While it will be a challenge for the common data center, more and more large-scale data centers are already noting the benefits of making the migration; starting first with cost savings and flexibility.

Migrating data centers to house such networks is, what many, including HP’s CTO of networking, Saar Gillai, believe the industry needs.

“Now with cloud computing it is fully networked. You are accessing the network from different places in the cloud. This essentially means we have been on this journey, where the application has become more reliant on the network. If the application relies on the network, you need bandwidth – proper east-to-west capacity – and you have to have resiliency and dynamic capability,” states Gillai.

Having access to a network environment via the cloud provides access to data for all components of an enterprise – the employers, vendors, and partners. The shift to virtualization within data centers is poised to be what definitely supports 2012 as being the “Year of the Network. To read more about this topic visit Data Center Dynamics.

Learn more about TELEHOUSE and its growth initiatives for the network in 2012 at www.telehouse.com. You can also contact us.

Hunter Newby, CEO, Allied Fiber

A 15-year veteran of the telecom networking industry, Hunter Newby is the founder and CEO of Allied Fiber. Mr. Newby is a published author and frequent speaker at industry conferences. We are delighted to welcome him to the TELEHOUSE event series. On February 15th, we will take a close look at necessary bandwidth infrastructure in the U.S.A. How do you get the access of facilities like TELEHOUSE and other premium data center facilities in minor markets throughout the USA (i.e non NFL cities.)?

Morris Tabush, Owner, Tabush Consulting

As one of the early adopters of technology platforms, Morris Tabush has 15 years of experience leading and developing technology resources. Morris’ career has encompassed information technology consulting; network design and installation; application development and technology project management. On February 15th, he will be presenting a critical look a Disaster Recovery options based on realistic industry predictions. This presentation is not to be missed!

Sign up for your seat by clicking here – http://cts.vresp.com/c/?TELEHOUSEAmerica/a21f8db7e7/TEST/e4cf31212a

Our event is held at our flagship facility, The Teleport, in Staten Island. We are providing free transportation from Manhattan to our Staten Island based data center from 8.30am on February 15th. We are also offering tours of our 162,000 square foot data center, elite networking opportunities, a buffet breakfast and a chance to catch up with all your TELEHOUSE colleagues. Secure your seat by clicking on the link above or emailing Amy at amy.wetton@telehouse.com.

Special Features and Benefits:

• Connected to Europe’s second largest Internet exchange, DE-CIX
• Carrier Neutral with access to 22 ISP’s/Carriers
• N+1 Redundant UPS and battery back up
• Redundant air conditioning and cooling systems at N+1
• Carrier neutral facility with access to global telecoms and ISP
• Telehouse Frankfurt is certified to IDW PS951 (German equivalent to Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) No. 70)
• 24/7 onsite security/monitoring with “remote hands”
• Video Surveillance
• Environmentally friendly “green” power supply

You can learn more about why companies and providers are choosing TELEHOUSE Frankfurt to support their IT, disaster recovery and compliance requirements by contacting us.

Managed Services vary greatly from provider to provider. At TELEHOUSE they include backup, storage, security, business continuity, network management, help desk, hardware support, , and compliance services, as well as, expert consulting services, which provide assistance through planning, deployment and management. Managed services ensure that your IT infrastructure is available and performing well, 24×7.

At TELEHOUSE, Managed Services can take the place of an IT department – automating and performing daily management tasks – either remotely or from any one of our state-of-the-art facilities.

Managed IT solutions offered by TELEHOUSE America include but not limited to the following most commonly requested services:

• Apache Server Management and Monitoring
• Linux OS Management and Monitoring
• Load Balancer Management and Monitoring
• Microsoft ISS Web Server Management and Monitoring
• Microsoft SQL Server Management and Monitoring
• MySQL Server Management and Monitoring
• Network Device Management and Monitoring
• Oracle Data Base Management and Monitoring
• Service Level Management and Monitoring
• Sun Solaris Operating System Management and Monitoring
• Synthetic Transaction Monitoring
• URL Monitoring
• Microsoft Windows Operating System Management and Monitoring

So put the worrying aside and leave your IT management to the professionals. Managed Services can help put your mind at ease, while protecting your crucial IT infrastructure.