The Devils in the Details - Enhanced SAN & Switching Solutions for Next Gen Data Centers

PTS is pleased to announce a new educational event, The Devils in the Details - Enhanced SAN & Switching Solutions for Next Generation Data Centers, in which we will introduce several new technology-based solutions, which will enhance data center optimization, consolidation, virtualization, and disaster recovery.Prior to an upcoming New Jersey Devils versus Philadelphia Flyers hockey game we will...

Data Center World, Spring 2010

PTS Data Center Solutions will be presenting and exhibiting at this spring’s Data Center World Event, held in Nashville from March 7-11. Data Center World is the largest global event of its kind and has been named one of the 50 fastest growing tradeshows in the U.S. It is the leading educational conference for data center professionals.Our...

PTS Announces a Strategic Distribution Relationship with Dell Corporation

I’m excited to announce that PTS has launched a strategic distribution relationship with Dell Corporation which includes the full breadth of Dell products targeted for the small to mid-size business segment.As a leading data center design and turnkey solutions provider, we’ve been approached by many clients asking us to help them reduce overall data center operational costs through power efficiency...

‘Lights Out’ Data Center Management

In a recent post at The Data Center Journal, titled “Save some money – work with outsiders,” Rakesh Dogra discusses the new trend to minimize power bills using Lights-Out data center and remote management. [As a side note, way back in 2006 we blogged about how “dim” data center designs are a realistic goal for most companies. You can read that post here.]Dogra explains that the use of these tactics...

Data Center Education Series Expands to More Dates, Cities

I'm pleased to announce the expansion of our Data Center Education Series to include more dates and cities.If you're not already familiar with the program, our Data Center Education Series provides students with comprehensive, vendor-neutral, module based training led by the data center design experts from PTS. The training series discusses the most pertinent topics in the data center industry, tying...

PTS Data Center Solutions Showcase

PTS' growth of solutions to design, build and manage the data center has never been stronger.This post showcases two industry-leading solutions that you may want to consider for your own data center.Energy Monitoring SystemsWould device-level power consumption monitoring help you manage costs for effectively?Working in conjunction with Packet Power, PTS is pleased to announce a cost effective per-device...

Introducing PTS' Information Technology Solutions Group

For years our team has provided exceptional service to analyze, survey, design, plan, commission and manage Data Centers for our clients. We are now pleased to leverage our expertise in All Things Data Center to launch an exciting new division, PTS Information Technology Solutions Group (ITSG). ITSG provides information technology...

Intel's Active Management Technology {AMT} provides KVM access & console access eliminating the need for external KVMs or console servers?

There has been a lot of talk in the industry on how Intels new onboard AMT could replace service processors, such as; ILO, DRAC, RSA & ILOM.http://sof​tware.inte​l.com/en-u​s/blogs/20​09/10/18/i​ntel-kvm-t​his-is-you​r-sol-on-s​teroids/According to the Blog the local user has to allow the remote user in so I’m not sure this is a valid KVM or ILO replacement as much as a replacement for desktop...

The Devils in the Details - Data Center Management Event

Managing a data center is tough. With all its complexity, just keeping track of your assets can be a full time job, not to mention finding opportunities to run the data center more efficiently.To help you do your job more efficiently, PTS Data Center Solutions and Raritan are teaming up to host a Data Center Education seminar...

New York Jets Power Camp 2009

Thank you to everyone who joined PTS Data Center Solutions and the New York Jets last night at Power Camp 2009, hosted at the new Jets Training Facility in Florham Park, NJ.We kicked off the training event with the Power Players Buffet … after all, if you want to be a pro you have to eat like a pro. There were about 80 people...

Inflection point: Build for Higher Density or Plan for Efficient IT?

Over the last decade, the focus of the Data Center Industry has been to plan & renovate feverishly to support higher densities. Not too much of a surprise because there was actually an uptick in the scale of Morse's Law over the last decade as processing power, processing density & power consumption per rack unit all had risen faster than the industry had ever experienced.Over the last few...

PTS & The New York Jets Invite You to Power Camp '09

PTS, in collaboration with the New York Jets, is excited to invite you to Power Camp ’09. Tackle power issues before they result in a defensive meltdown and make sure that your Data Center is powered up for many more winning seasons! The three hour Power Camp includes a buffet dinner and 3 intense drills that teach the latest techniques and solutions for effective power monitoring and control, followed...

Role of the CIO in Business Continuity, Disaster Recovery

Ralph DeFrangesco at ITBusinessEdge posted the following discussion question in their forums recently.Corporations often confuse business continuity and disaster recovery. They also tend to put the CIO in charge of both. Should the CIO be the point person for both BC and DR? If so, why? If not why and who should it be?It resulted in an interesting debate on the role of the CIO, so I reposted it on...

A Closer Look at PTS’ Data Center Education Series

Thanks to everyone who’s expressed interest in participating in our upcoming Data Center Education Series! The response has been very positive and we’re looking forward to the first session which will be held at our headquarters in Franklin Lakes, NJ from September 15 to 17, 2009. A few of you have emailed me to ask for more information on what will be covered during the training sessions, so I’m...

Data Center Education Series Sept. Training - IMPORTANT UPDATES

The Data Center Education Series training event on September 15-17 has been moved from NYC to the PTS Headquarters in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey. The event cost has also been changed and is now just $999 per attendee. For more details and the full agenda, visit our Data Center Education Series page. Hope to see you the...

Expert Data Center Education & Training In NYC

Just a quick reminder for all our readers: PTS' Data Center Education Series is coming to midtown NYC from September 15-17.UPDATE 08/20/2009: The PTS Data Center Education Series for September 15-17 has been relocated to our headquarters in Franklin Lakes, NJ.The three (3) day class provides students with comprehensive, vendor-neutral, module based training that covers the most pertinent topics...

Google Cools Data Center Without Chillers; Data Center Pros Weigh-in

Google’s chiller-less data center in Belgium has received a lot of buzz. The facility relies upon free air cooling to keep its servers cool and will shift the computing load to other data centers when the weather gets too hot.It's an approach that stands to greatly improve energy efficiency. However, as e-shelter explained to Techworld, there are some risks. For instance, it's possible that airborne...

LinkedIn Discussion on Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE)

Last week I posted the following discussion question in our Computer Room Design networking group at LinkedIn.com. I’m really impressed with the response from group members, so I’d like to share their thoughts with you here:How can the industry address problems with the reporting of Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) without undermining the usefulness of the metric?In a recent post in Data Center Knowledge,...

LinkedIn Discussion on Eliminating the Battery String

Thanks to everyone who’s participated in our Computer Room Design networking group at LinkedIn.com so far! We’re off to a great start, with over 200+ members joining in the first two weeks. I’d like to share highlights from one of our recent discussions…Kevin Woods, Director of Business Development and Sales at i2i, asked:Eliminating the Battery String? Does anyone have experience/opinion on the viability...

Introducing PTS’ Data Center Education Series

How extensive is your knowledge about all aspects of your data center? With our newly launched Data Center Education Series, you will never look at your IT and support infrastructure the same way again.PTS’ Data Center Education Series will help you better assess problems in your data center by providing you with substantive knowledge that you can take back to your data center to improve operations,...

Please join us on LinkedIn & Twitter

PTS is excited to provide our peers with a new online forum in which to discuss the planning, design, engineering, and construction of data centers and computer rooms. If you’ve been reading our blog for a while, you may already be aware of our Facebook Page at https://www.facebook.com/PTSDataCenter. (A big ‘thank you’ to everyone who’s added themselves as fans!) Today, I’m happy to announce that...

Energy Efficiency Remains Priority In Spite of Economic Troubles

In lean times, data centers are learning to do more with less. The Aperture Research Institute of Emerson Network Power just released the results of a study showing that, despite the global economic downturn, energy-efficiency is still a top-of-mind objective for many data centers. In fact, data center managers are concentrating on resolving efficiency issues as a way to balance increasing demand...

Investing in Energy-Efficient Equipment

In "Taking Control of the Power Bill", Bruce Gain takes a look at how many data center admins are retooling their IT infrastructures’ power needs to accommodate growth and slash costs. He notes that although many admins struggle with having to pay additional costs associated with switching to more eco-efficient server room cooling, airflow designs, and other related equipment, paying for more expensive...

Drug Companies Put Cloud Computing to the Test

Traditionally characterized as "late adopters" when it comes to their use of information technology (IT), major pharmaceutical companies are now setting their sights on cloud computing. Rick Mullin at Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN) explores how Pfizer, Eli Lilly & Co., Johnson & Johnson, Genentech and other big drug firms are now starting to push data storage and processing onto...

Data Center Professionals Network

The other day I stumbled across the Data Center Professionals Network, a free online community for professionals from around the world who represent a cross section of the industry. Members include data center executives, engineering specialists, equipment suppliers, training companies, real-estate and building companies, colocation and wholesale businesses, and industry analysts. The recently launched...

How Big Should Large Screen Displays Be In Your Command & Control Room?

Many A/V planners are challenged with how big large screen displays should be in their command & control rooms. There are actually some fairly complicated calculations that can be done which will help you determine what the minimum character size (sometimes referred to as 'x' size) should be under a given circumstance. This 'x-size' is defined as being the height of the smallest coherent element...

Should New York Stock Exchange be hiding the location of its new Data Center?

I find it interesting that major financial institutions & government agencies attempt to hide the locations of their Data Centers. How effective can this non-disclosure aspect of security really be in today's media frenzy world? Obviously not too effective since NYSE's new Data Center build is already being talked about in Data Center Knowledge & The Bergen Record. http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2009/05/04/financial-data-center-hiding-in-plain-sight/comment-page-1/#comment-3718Even...

Free Data Center Assessment Tools from the Department of Energy.

It certainly shows where we are at in this country when the Government is creating free tools to help us access our efficiency and giving us guidance on how to improve our Data Center Efficiency. What choice does the DoE have with the rising demand for power from our Data Centers expected to be 10% of the total US demand for power by 2011 while we have a growing need to reduce our carbon footprint...

How important is it to consider the Grid for my back-up data center & DR Plan?

It has been several years since the August 2003 Blackout, but I can't help thinking that we are all being lulled to sleep on the next major grid issue. There are only 3 main power grids in the US so if I have my primary Data Center on the Eastern Interconnect then should my DR requirement be to locate my back-up site in TX on the ERCOT Grid or in the west on the WSCC Grid. Or is there any benefit...

Going Green with Data Center Storage

Just saw an interesting article in Enterprise Strategies about the use of magnetic tape as an energy-efficient storage solution. In “Tape’s Role in the Green Data Center,” Mark Ferelli discusses how tape technology is making a comeback by helping to keep the data center green as utility bills rise. He explains:The efficient use of disk can help with data center greening when a user reads and writes...

Google Unveils Server with Built-in Battery Design

For the first time on Wednesday, Google opened up about the innovative design of its custom-built servers. The timing of the reveal, which coincided with April Fool’s Day, left some wondering if the earth shattering news was a prank. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is, right? Not so in this case. In the interest of furthering energy efficiency in the industry, Google divulged that...

Can The Container Approach Fit Your Data Center Plans?

Conventional Data Center Facilities have now had a long history of difficulties in keeping up with the increasing demands of new server & network hardware so organizations are now looking for solutions that upgrade the facility with the technology upgrade, rather than continuing to invest millions in engineering & construction upgrades to support higher densities, the expense of having to...

Data Center Power Drain [Video]

Click here to watch a recent news report from CBS5.com on what's being done to make San Francisco's data centers more energy efficient.In the "On the Greenbeat" segment, reporter Jeffrey Schaub talks to Mark Breamfitt at PG&E and Miles Kelley at 365 Main about how utilities companies and the IT industry are working to reduce overall energy consumption. According to the report, each of 365 Main’s...

Spending on Data Centers to Increase in Coming Year

An independent survey of the U.S. data center industry commissioned by Digital Realty Trust indicates that spending on data centers will increase throughout 2009 and 2010.Based on Web-based surveys of 300 IT decision makers at large corporations in North America, the study reveals that more than 80% of the surveyed companies are planning data center expansions in the next one to two years, with more...

Top 3 Data Center Trends for 2009

Enterprise Systems just published the “Top Three Data Center Trends for 2009” by Duncan Campbell, vice president of worldwide marketing for adaptive infrastructure at HP. In the article, Campbell discusses how companies need to get the most out of their technology assets and, in the coming year, data centers will be pressured to "maintain high levels of efficiency while managing costs". In addition,...

It’s Nap Time for Data Centers

Yesterday at the International Conference on Architectural Support for Programming Languages and Operating Systems in Washington, D.C., researchers from the University of Michigan presented a paper, titled “PowerNap: Eliminating Server Idle Power”. “One of the largest sources of energy-inefficiency is the substantial energy used by idle equipment that is powered on, but not performing useful work,”...

Finding the Silver Lining During an Economic Downturn

It seems, no matter which way you look these days, there’s more bad news. Job losses are up. The stock market is down. But not every business is focusing on the negative. In fact, there’s even a growing list of companies refusing to take part in the recession. As Jamie Turner at the 60 Second Marketer writes: To be sure, times are tough. They’re downright B-A-D. But the world isn’t ending. The sky...

Improving Mobile Applications in the Enterprise

Look for Michael Petrino, vice president of PTS Data Center Solutions, in the latest issue of PROCESSOR (Vol.31, Issue 8).In "Essential Mobile Tools: Maximize Your Mobile Toolset to Better Unlock Wireless’ Potential", Petrino shares his thoughts on the importance of establishing the right power infrastructure in order to improve the broadcast range of on-campus wireless connections.The article discusses...

Acquisition of NTA’s Technology Consulting Assets

I’m pleased to announce that PTS has officially acquired critical components of Nassoura Technology Associates, LLC (NTA) including all of its technology consulting assets. If you are not already familiar with NTA, they were a leading technology consulting and engineering firm based in Warren, New Jersey who in-house developed the widely acclaimed software product, dcTrack3.0. Recently, Raritan, Inc....