Data Foundry Blog - Insights

Most people have heard about cloud computing, the catchall phrase that represents computing based on virtual resources. However, there are multiple flavors of cloud computing that can make the whole subject a little confusing. We’ll take a look at the two broad categories, public and private and tie in some directions, trends, and threats to make it all a little clearer. Because this is a really big topic, we’ll break it into a few chunks to make it easier to digest.

The battle is heating up and the costs are staggering. In a recent Information Week article entitled Banks Hit Downtime Milestone in DDoS Attacks, it was reported that U.S. banks and financial services institutions have reported double the downtime of their websites compared to a year ago. And, with the much publicized accusations against the Iranian Government for sponsoring DDoS attacks on U.S. Banks, the impact may be felt for some time. It’s not just banks and financial institutions at risk, anyone with a web presence can be impacted. So, if you aren’t protected you may end of paying a stiff price in terms of business interruption and possibly lost customers, revenue and reputation.

Imagine that Hurricane Sandy came knocking at your door. Would your IT infrastructure be safe? Would your staff have a suitable workspace to continue operations? Don’t let your business be a victim of a disaster as some experienced in New York and New Jersey when their cooling systems were forced to power down and flooding killed their network. These events are further explained in an article entitled In Sandy’s Aftermath, Epic Challenges for Data Centers about some of the effects Hurricane Sandy had on data centers. To ensure that your disaster recovery strategy can withstand the test of a disaster, here are four important items to consider.

Colocation providers are eager to help you make the right choice in selecting a data center (hint – we all believe our data center is the right choice). Most colocation providers will supply you with a checklist to make sure you understand all of the features we think you should evaluate in order to make an informed decision. This is good stuff and actually quite useful!

In the end we are all trying to make sure your IT infrastructure will have a happy home in our data center. It’s like when your child leaves home for college; you want to make sure he/she will have everything needed to thrive – from a safe and secure roof over their head to a reasonable diet to roommates they can trust. We essentially want the same thing for your IT infrastructure while it is under our roof.

Let’s start by talking about why this is even a topic for discussion. It all comes down to the desire to have successful data center outsourcing initiatives – whether you are looking to completely outsource your data center operations or just pieces of them. Nobody goes into a project expecting failure yet there are plenty of stories about best efforts that went wrong, sometimes very wrong, like Texas Ousts IBM, Takes New IT Outsourcing Tack. To be fair, the majority of organizations looking to outsource all or part of their mission-critical infrastructure won’t have to deal with the scale and complexity of the state of Texas. Where, as we know, everything is bigger. However, I think you would agree that your IT infrastructure is no less important…to you!

Hurricane Sandy served as a stark reminder that we should always be prepared for the unexpected. Following this type of disaster, we are forced to reassess our understanding of how certain areas are affected by natural disasters. Red Cross, NOAA and NRC have developed a basic risk level for almost every part of the US. We commonly use the map below to illustrate how safe Austin, TX is for data center operations.

Texas 1 is designed to ensure continuous uptime and availability for your IT infrastructure. In our latest blog entry, we explore the costs of downtime.

Downed Power Lines

According to the Edison Electric Institute, the top five causes of power outages in the United States are:

1. Mother Nature – More than half of all power outages across the U.S. are caused by nature. High winds, lightning, ice and heavy rains can affect an aboveground power line directly or indirectly by causing trees or other debris to strike it. Overgrown vegetation can also short out aboveground equipment.
2. Automobile Accidents – Over five percent of all power outages are caused by a vehicle striking an electrical pole or transformer.
3. Wildlife – A smaller percentage of power outages is caused by animals coming in contact with the line or equipment, causing it to fail.
4. Construction – Whether new construction or maintenance, cranes and dig-ins are another major threat to the power supply.
5. Fire – Aboveground feeds are vulnerable to fire destroying equipment at any point along the line’s path.

Hurricane season is in full swing, and as we learned from ImpactWeather President Mark Chambers in May, there are up to 11 named storms and two to three major hurricanes predicted for this season. Of course, it only takes one storm to put an unprepared business out of business.

According to Contingency Planning Research & Strategic Research Corporation, 43% of U.S. companies experiencing disasters never re-open, and 29% close within 2 years.

Data Foundry, DYONYX, and AboveNet recently teamed up to host an executive luncheon at Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse in Houston, Texas. A packed room of local professionals heard the President of ImpactWeather, Mark Chambers, speak about the upcoming hurricane season. With 2 to 3 major hurricanes predicted for 2012, Chambers highlighted the importance of having a proven disaster recovery plan in place.