A while ago, I was reading a white paper published by Intel discussing different methods to achieve high density in an air-cooled environment. It got me thinking about the different approaches I have seen or heard about in the data center industry and how best to apply them in a retail colocation environment. Because of the differences in supporting multiple customer environments, from basic servers to virtualized environments to blades, retail colocation requires a level of flexibility that … Read More...

Bear with me. This has a point related to data centers and your business. So the other night, I am driving home. It’s late because I work ridiculous hours. About a mile from my house, there is a hill. It’s not a huge hill, but enough of one that you can’t see what’s on the other side. In any case, as I am approaching the hill at a reasonable rate of speed, I notice the glow of headlights indicating on-coming traffic. No big deal. Except that the car comes over the hill straddling the … Read More...

I think it’s fair to say that Google has done some pretty innovative things. They seem to be a smart and focused bunch of people. Not surprisingly, companies with talented, focused people can be quite innovative. When you throw billions of dollars of funding behind them, the results can be pretty impressive. Recently, Google’s use of recycled water as a part of their data center operations created a lot of press. A blog from their Facilities Manager, Jim Brown, revealed that Google was … Read More...