Netapp Data Center Expansion

These articles are practically cookie-cutter. :) Company seeks major incentives to build a new data center and they are looking for cheap power and a talented work force.

Netapp is looking at Research Triangle Park, Pittsburgh or Washington state for a $25 million to $40 million Data Center expansion.

Check out the article here.

P.S.: Both Netapp and EMC have really good blogs that I check in on pretty frequently. Netapp's Dave Hitz blog is here, and Chuck Hollis at EMC here.

Google Data Center in Belguim

There was an announcement today regarding Google building a European data center in Belgium. Here is a run-down of the coverage:

Data Center Knowledge

http://lvb.net/item/4567

Market Watch

Web 2.0 in Belgium

Council Bluffs - Part 3

The Des Moines Register is running yet another article today on the 'mystery' company planning to setup shop in Council Bluffs. The funny part is that they no longer mention it as a 'mystery' company -- they say Google at every turn! (did I miss something?)

BTW - refund of sales taxes paid for electricity over five years has been in the works for Iowa for some time. Nice to see Google....I mean a large internet company move it along.

Check out the Register article here.

Going for Green

Iowa City-based ACT is building a $4 million "environmentally-friendly" data center. ACT is hoping for a Gold level certification from the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system (LEED)

Going "green" adds about $300,000 to $400,000 to the final price tag but that money should be recovered in energy savings over the next five years or so. Gullette says, "Less water use, less electricity, more energy efficiency and we're also going to have a geothermal unit to cool the building so in the long run it'll pay for itself."

Check out the complete article here.

Fuel Cells in the Data Center

Techworld.com has an article about APC's first US customer that is using their new Infrastruxure enclosure, updated to use fuel cells.

"Hydrogen is stored outside the data centre and carried through pipes to the cells, which replace batteries and generators for backup power."

It will be interesting to see how/if this power source works out and what the benefits, costs and maintenance will be. Check out the article here

Next Generation Data Center Conference & Expo

An impressive list of 11 distinguished individuals have been named to the advisory board of the IDG Next Generation Data Center Conference. The conference is August 7-9 of this year and mission critical applications and new technology that impacts the data center.

I have been looking at this conference recently and 'think' that I would like to attend. With an advisory board like they list, here, I think it certainly should be a good conference. Co-located with the NGDC is the SNIA Enterprise Information World.

Check out the conference here

Google In Council Bluffs - Part 2

Just a quick link to a Des Moines Register article about the "large internet company" potentially locating in Council Bluffs.
Apparently Governor Chet Culver is visited Council Bluffs today.

Check out the article here.

Military Research For Cooling Systems

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute will receive funds to look for ways to "make fundamental advancements in thermal regulation of electronic systems, from pinky-nail size chips to an entire computer server farm."

The $3.4 million in funds is geared towards identifying cooling methods necessary to extend the life of computers and electronics.

Check out the complete article here
and here

Google Data Center in Iowa ??!!!

The Omaha World Herald has an article about speculation on a large project (i.e.: Google) in Council Bluffs, Iowa. I had to read the article a few times before I could stop grinning. :) Here are the indicators that it could be Google:

• Typical salaries of $60,000, quoted by the city councilman
• Inexpensive land and labor compared with the rest of the country.
• The potential Bluffs site is near several electrical grids
• The metro area has a large network of fiber-optic cables, which came with Offutt Air Force base.
• Talks with the local water works about dramatically increasing the amount of water available for the site
• Omaha was on one of the recent Boyd study lists
• Potential $48 million in rebates available
• There is a lot of secrecy and security surrounding the "large project"
  

The last one I'll offer is a reply received to my post on Guessing the Next Google Data Center Location: an anonymous reader asked if I had heard about Council Bluffs as a potential site. Dear anonymous -- I have now!

Now -- this is all speculation, and who knows what may or may not end up happening. Either way, I'm anxious to see where the next Google site will be.

Check out the Omaha World Herald article here

Qwest Strategy

The Denver Post has an article on the interest/opportunity that Qwest has on acquiring hosting companies. This allows them to focus on managed services and play catch up with rivals AT&T and others in data center space.

The article quotes several analysts that make their claim for why it makes sense for Qwest. I have my own opinions about Qwest as a company, but after loosing the MCI acquisition to Verizon, I think the strategy most likely has some merit.

Check out the article here.

Data Center Architect

I like the sound of that....... "Data Center Architect". Just like when Woody was promoted to "Senior Bartender" on Cheers. :)

Newsfactor.com has a nice article on the increasing popularity of the title of Data Center Architect within a company. Confirmation of this trend comes from both Nemertes Research and Afcom founder Len Eckhaus.

It is a nice article, and I have to agree with what is being said regarding the position, it's role in the organization and the holistic approach to data center architecture, design and operations. The one thing I felt was missing from each of the descriptions was to include the requirement of knowing ITIL processes. I think all of the things they mentioned are extremely good to have, but having a good base knowledge of ITIL guidelines is equally essential.

Check out the article here.

Guessing the next Google Data Center Location

It's kind of fun to speculate where the next mega-Google data center might pop up. Perhaps better yet is figuring exactly how many of these sites they will end up building!

Blaine Berger thinks that Wheatland Wyoming will be the next site selected. With a 3 unit power plant, each unit capable of 550 megawatts, and low electricity costs - it is easy to see why there is a possibility. Wheatland is an hour north of Cheyenne, who recently won a $60 million project for the new National Center for Atmospheric Research supercomputing data center.

Read Blaine's blog post about Wheatland here and if you are wondering where exactly Wheatland is, click here.

HB1500

I don't know if this is necessarily Data Center related --- but it is very interesting, and important to the network infrastructure (and business) that supports a data center. James Carlini has a Great article on the HB1500 bill that Illinois is looking at. It will give AT&T the ability to have one state-wide franchise without having to negotiate with each municipality.

More on HB1500 here

The idea was simply interesting until I came across James' chart at the end. It is a really cool chart that demonstrates what happens when cities embrace infrastructure changes vs. restricting them. I highly recommend reading the article.