Posted by Elizabeth English on Mon, Mar 08, 2010 @ 09:58 PM
Our name and our primate theme are more appropriate than you might imagine. I'm pleased to release this exclusive interview with Silverback Migration Solutions' president, who unveils not only the story of how we came to be called Silverback, but also his rather unique way of showing devotion to the concept. Definitely check it out:
-Elizabeth English
Posted by Ken Jamaca on Wed, Mar 03, 2010 @ 01:18 PM
I saw a ReTweet by Chuck Goolsbee with a link to the following YouTube video. As awesome as this video is, imagine the catastrophic effects this could have on technology. If that happened to a primary (or redundant) power feed for a data center, it could force everyone onto the backup power systems...which, in my experience, is almost never good...
Not to over think this...I really just wanted to share this video with those that would find it amusing.
Posted by Elizabeth English on Sun, Feb 28, 2010 @ 02:53 PM
Utah-based C7 Data Centers Inc. is doing really well so far this year, putting their near-decade of experience and 40,000 square feet of space between their four Utah data centers to good use even in an economic climate which is still far from having recovered. Utah is a prime location for cautious companies who are keen to avoid the dangers of natural disasters for their data, and enjoy the relatively low cost of energy there. It may not be the most fun place to work or visit, but it’s a very reliable setting for data center and colocation facilities, and C7 Data Centers is reaping the rewards of such a safe location in an unsteady economy.
Their latest success is beginning a multi-year agreement with 
Educators Mutual Insurance Association, a non-profit organization in Utah which offers insurance benefits and services to government and educational groups. By working with C7 Data Centers, they can greatly increase the reliability of their website’s accessibility for their many clients. Since EMIA features, for example, online enrollment and benefits account management, maximum uptime is essential.
Another success of note, also this year, is C7’s multi-year colocation agreement with Answers.com, one of the top twenty most-visited websites online. Answers.com spokespeople have lauded C7’s flexibility, thorough range of services, and reputation, as well as their good location.
Although not every colocation facility can boast the same reliability and experience that C7 can, agreements like these are still encouraging for the future of the industry and the economy in general.
See TMC.net’s article and C7 Data Center’s release for more information.
-Elizabeth English
photo by neospire under flickr creative commons license - see www.neospire.net
Posted by Elizabeth English on Fri, Feb 05, 2010 @ 05:45 PM
Although Epcot has a reputation for being Disney World's most boring park, it has always been my personal favorite, and with a new exhibit featuring a data center, it just got even cooler.
The exhibit is part of a cooperative effort between Disney and IBM involving IBM's Smarter Planet initiative. It's all designed to enhance public awareness of the intricacies of technology in our daily lives and around the world. It has a green focus, and teaches tips about saving energy, like how beneficial it is to actually unplug appliances that aren't in use.
The data center part of the exhibit is an interesting step towards changing the way the public views the data center industry. I can attest to the fact that the average college student doesn't even know what a data center is, and perhaps hasn't even heard of one. Allowing visitors to explore the data center which makes the exhibit happen may not make a huge difference in society's general lack of knowledge about data centers, but it's a sign that a new way of looking at them may be in the works. Instead of being sequestered away in a high-security complex, the modular data center involved is accessible, made educational and fun in the style of Epcot.
It's a remarkable data center in other ways than just in being open to the public, too. It's much more energy-efficient than the average data center, highlighting IBM's focus on green initiatives. On a scale of Data Center Infrastructure Efficiency, it measures 70%, compared with an industry average around 43% and plummeting as low as 28%.
If you haven't been to Disney World, now may well be the time to go.
See the CNET News article for more information, and the Computerworld article.
From an industry perspective, what kind of effect will it have to bring data centers to public attention? Comments??
-Elizabeth English
photo by edanley under flickr creative commons license
Posted by Elizabeth English on Sun, Jan 31, 2010 @ 03:25 PM
Team Silverback, the Green Gorilla, certain tattoos on certain members of Team Silverback... gorillas are quite a theme with us. On our president's birthday, a new gorilla joined our team.
The trouble is, he needs a name.
What's the best name for this gorilla?
-Elizabeth English
Posted by Elizabeth English on Sun, Jan 24, 2010 @ 09:17 PM
Avatar is turning out to be one of the highest-grossing movies ever, and people are really crazy about it. I've read that some viewers are even experiencing depression and suicidal thoughts because of how much more attractive the world in the movie is than the world we live in.
It's unsurprising then that those gorgeous visuals come from Weta 
Digital in New Zealand, the well-known visual effects company responsible for the aesthetic genius of the Lord of the Rings movies. Weta performs its magic using an unusual kind of data center for the data-intensive creation process, with such specifications as 4,000 servers in a 10,000 square foot facility, and 104 TB of RAM. Weta Digital has said that each minute of Avatar is made up of 17.28 GB of data.
It's always interesting to see how data centers fit into novelty markets like movies and video games, and Avatar's success after three years of intense production work at Weta is an example of this kind of unorthodox purpose for them.
Weta Digital is also interesting in terms of cooling - they use water-cooled racks as well as naturally chill New Zealand air, and they keep their data center up at 77 degrees Fahrenheit. Check out ComputerWorld's article for more information.
-Elizabeth English
photo by Sandy Austin under flickr creative commons license
Posted by Elizabeth English on Fri, Jan 22, 2010 @ 09:44 PM
Facebook's amazing growth in an unprecedentedly short time has been a topic of interest to data center enthusiasts for some time. The news that they are building their own custom data centers is another interesting plot point in the story of Facebook, which is definitely one of the phenomenons of our generation.
As we would expect based on Facebook's history, the new data center announced in Oregon boasts some very environmentally-friendly features. Instead of chillers, the new data center will be using evaporated water and that cool, outdoors Oregon air.
Company officials expect to attain greater energy and cost savings than they did when leasing entire third-party data centers for their purposes. The specificity possible in custom-building is an interesting and appealing route for them to take. Public records, although the company has been quiet on the subject, indicate that the cost of constructing the new facility will reach about $188 million.
The Facebook page for the new data center announces that they will hire 35 employees to maintain the facility, at 150% of whatever the regional prevailing rates of pay are, starting in the third quarter of this year.
See The Register's article for more details on this new data center.
Awesome.
-Elizabeth English
photo by Lee Coursey under flickr creative commons license
Posted by Ken Jamaca on Tue, Jan 19, 2010 @ 02:35 PM
This is a break during a migration of a customer's data center. We needed to dispose of the bubble wrap and associated refuse, and we realized a long time ago it is easier to stuff into garbage bags, if it is popped...so now it is a game, and it allows our team to let go during stressful and exciting data center migration projects.
Check us out in all our glory!
Posted by Elizabeth English on Mon, Jan 11, 2010 @ 09:11 PM
Symantec's annual report produced some intriguing and perhaps unexpected results.
Perhaps most interesting to us in the data center migration business is that cloud computing is not high on the list of priorities for the 1,780 respondents to the report's survey questions (respondents from 573 businesses in 26 countries). Concerns like security, 
backup and disaster recovery, and continuous data protection are currently much more highly prioritized in data centers.
As important to nearly everyone asked as these items are, it sounds like disaster recovery plans need some work. Although 80% of respondents said they have confidence in their plan, a third said they haven't updated it in a year, and another third admitted that their plan is undocumented or otherwise needs work.
Also interesting is that mid-size data centers seem to be the most happening ones out there - they're most likely to implement new technologies. Apparently this was Symantec's first time including small and mid-sized data centers in the survey, and doing so provided some very interesting data.
Popular objectives for 2010 included reducing costs, improving responsiveness, and improving service levels.
Check out articles at The San Francisco Chronicle or Web Pro News for more information.
-Elizabeth English
photo by neospire under flickr creative commons license - see www.neospire.net
Posted by Elizabeth English on Wed, Jan 06, 2010 @ 07:28 PM
In an article from the Register about government financial contribution to energy efficiency research, the Obama administration's Secretary of Energy, Stephen Chu, mentions his call for "a new industrial revolution."
What his department is doing about the situation is giving $47 million to fund research to improve energy efficiency. They've given a number of different companies portions of the money - big companies like IBM and Hewlett Packard, as well as smaller organizations like Yahoo and Columbia University. They're focusing on three areas of improvement: cooling (of course), reworking systems and software, and re-engineering power supply chains in data centers.
Several interesting experiments are taking place, like the passive-cooling data center Yahoo is building in New York, with power conveniently provided hydroelectrically by Niagara Falls.
It's good to see something cool that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is doing for us.
-Elizabeth English
photo by Day Trips Canada (www.day-trips.ca/) under flickr creative commons license