ImpactWeather’s Mark Chambers reviews last year’s hurricane season with guests.

Immediately following Mark’s presentation, Data Foundry President Shane Menking, DYONYX VP of Operations Bill Douglas, and AboveNet VP of Marketing Mike Tighe took to the stage to shed light on topics like, creating and testing your disaster recovery plan, accounting for the human element, network reliability, and data security.

Data Foundry’s Shane Menking answers a question from the audience.

The panelists also explained how Austin, Texas provides Houston-based businesses a unique safe haven from the effects of hurricanes in the Gulf, focusing on the region’s low risk of natural disasters, well-planned transportation infrastructure, and access to dense fiber.

We would like to thank everyone who attended, and invite those who couldn’t attend to learn more about Data Foundry’s disaster recovery services. You might also be interested in our whitepaper entitled, Selecting the Best Data Center for Disaster Recovery – Nine Key Factors.

Mark your calendars! Data Foundry, Chatsworth and Data Aire will be hosting a cocktail party at the Mirage Las Vegas on Tuesday, March 20^th from 7pm – 10pm. Join us after Data Center World to mingle with your peers over drinks and hors d’oeuvres. AFCOM Data Center Manager of the Year Finalist, Cameron Wynne will also be in attendance!

Contact your Data Foundry Sales Rep to receive an exclusive invitation. Entrance is by RSVP only.

One of these industry experts, Mike Mosman, Vice President and CTO of CCG Facilities Integration, was asked what a WCDC meant to him, and here’s what he had to say:

“A WCDC is designed to be ‘Business Mission Responsive.’ For colocation, this means it’s designed to accommodate a wide variety of customer-specific business requirements and be able to adapt to customer business strategy changes, as well as growth over time.”

We couldn’t agree more. Building upon Mike’s perspective, we compiled data and feedback from other industry experts and recently published a white paper – The 5 Pillars of a World-Class Data Center.

Texas 1 Data Center in Austin, TX

The 5 pillars of a World-Class Data Center:

1. A Purpose-Built Facility
2. Robust Utility and Facility Infrastructure
3. High Performance Computing Capable
4. Best-in-Class Equipment
5. The Human Factor

Is your current data center a WCDC?

Download The 5 Pillars of a World-Class Data Center white paper and decide for yourself!

Golden Frog posted on their blog a great photo of 500 terabytes of cloud storage in a single cabinet. Visit the Golden Frog blog for an image of the 500 terabyte cloud storage installation inside one of our special chimney cabinets.

By offering chimney cabinets and hot/cold aisle containment, Data Foundry’s purpose-built Texas 1 data center is uniquely designed to handle high performance/high density deployments such Golden Frog’s cloud storage solution.

Data Foundry’s Partner Program also allows partners to provide a broader, more comprehensive solution to their current clients, or target new customers with state-of-the-art colocation options, reliable connectivity, and dedicated worksite recovery space.

Data Foundry is a trusted data center provider with a stellar industry reputation, so becoming a member of their new Channel Program was an easy decision. By incorporating Data Foundry’s product portfolio, including their new Texas 1 data center into our offerings, we can further ensure our clients receive the very best in cutting-edge services and support.

- Lou Peccoralo, Chief Operating Officer of COLOTRAQ.

To learn more about how you can become a partner, click here.

What was witnessed last night is the reality of utility feeds. They fail. Sometimes spectacularly!

Had Candlestick Park been powered by a “True Dual Feed” like Data Foundry’s Texas 1 Data Center, last night’s game would have started without a hitch.

What is “True Dual Feed” power and is your data center configured in such a manner? Most data center operators will misuse the term “dual feed” when communicating the power configuration of their respective facilities. In reality, using the term “dual feed” does not always mean that the facility is receiving two independent power feeds from the utility company to the data center as it might imply. To help explain the typical power feed configurations, we have prepared a white paper that utilizes the following classification system;

• Class 1 – Single Feed
• Class 2 – Single Substation
• Class 3 – Dual Substations
• Class 4 – True Dual Feed

To find out if your data center is truly dual fed, learn The Truth about Dual Power Feeds by downloading a free copy of our white paper. Click here to download.

Much consideration went into making your visits to Texas 1 easy and as productive as possible from the moment you start to move your equipment in.

Easy and Secure Access

Texas 1’s loading dock is in the front of the building, allowing our security to monitor all traffic in and out of the facility. This also makes it easy for clients to receive equipment that is shipped to the data center. In one stop, you can check in at the security booth and go into the staging area for unpacking equipment, configuring it, and racking it.

Customers can pull up at the loading dock, check in at the security booth, and unload in one place.

Texas 1 was designed with no stairs or ramps for easy deployments.

Workstations

There are several workstation areas located throughout Texas 1 with Internet access and VoIP phones. This provides technicians with relief away from the noise and cold air inside the server rooms to work on their laptops, place calls, and get the rest of their work done at their “home-away from home.”

Customers can just sit down, plug in and instantly be connected.

White Cabinets

Texas 1 has all white cabinets rather than the traditional black ones, making it easier for technicians to see inside the cabinets when cabling and configuring equipment. Often times, a flashlight is needed with black cabinets because it is too dark to see.

White cabinets reflect light, making installs smoother and more efficient.

Showers

Showers are available on the Texas 1 campus to accommodate the technicians who need to pull all-nighters or work extra hours.

Showers and break rooms available to customers make long visits more comfortable.

Texas 1 provides these extra accommodations to ensure customers are always comfortable when on-site. It’s this thoughtful attention to even the smallest detail that truly makes Texas 1 a unique, premier facility.

To learn about all of the features of Texas 1, visit http://www.datafoundry.com/tour/.

Over a period of 6 months, independent auditors assessed Data Foundry’s policies, controls, and business processes leading to SSAE 16 SOC 1 Type II compliance. Data Foundry will continue to complete an SSAE 16 audit every six months to ensure that no reporting period is unaudited. Continuous completion of an SSAE 16 Type II audit is part of Data Foundry’s commitment to provide world-class data center management services to its customers. For more information, please see our SSAE 16 page.

Guests mingled on the patio with wine and music

The latin jazz music of Soniquete entertained throughout the night

Salt Lick provided a buffet of delicious barbecue.

Surrounded by local flora and grasses, over 200 guests enjoyed themselves on the patio of our flagship data center on the Data Ranch campus. The cool night air – a rarity in Texas – made the wait until October to host this event worth it!

The night was even more special as we also marked the 17th Anniversary of Data Foundry – celebrating with many employees; some of which have been with Data Foundry for 10+ years!

Our team was proud to share their accomplishments and hard work of this past year, inviting guests to tour the innerworkings of the magnificent Texas 1 data center. Tours led our guests through the dedicated worksite recovery space, generator rooms, 24×7 NOC, water cooled mechanical room, and the vast raised floor colocation area.

Many thanks to those that made it to the event and helped us celebrate this special occasion. If you weren’t able to attend, please contact us to schedule a personalized tour. We look forward to many more years serving our clients in the Data Foundry tradition.

Here are a few more pictures from the event:

The initial phase of the highly anticipated 250,000 SF data center is fully operational and the first customers are already moved in. As chronicled on our Construction Blog throughout the past year, Texas 1 is the first colocation facility on the 40-acre master-planned Data Ranch data center development in Austin, Texas.

Watch the time lapse video of its construction here!

Texas 1 offers secure colocation and disaster recovery solutions, including dedicated worksite recovery space. Its unique design includes independent and diverse power, water and network feeds with no single point of failure within any of these systems.

The site’s fully redundant power is fed from two independent substations with a dedicated feed enclosed in an end-to-end, concrete encased duct bank – a rare feature for data centers. The chilled water cooling system enables maximum cooling flexibility from standard single cabinet deployments to high density configurations. Even the most complex High Performance Computing (HPC) environments can be properly cooled and supported within Texas 1. With over 17 network carriers available, Texas 1 also provides customers a variety of carrier-neutral options for their network solution.

Multiple carriers are installed and live in the facility.

Data Center customers have already started deploying into Texas 1.

Colocation cabinets are available for customers.

Regardless of the size of your deployment, Texas 1 has room for you!

The entire Data Foundry team is proud to open the doors of Texas 1 and start serving customers. Contact us today for a tour of Texas 1.