Can Data Centers grow capacity fast enough to outpace AI?

Data centers are facing unprecedented challenges and opportunities as they cope with the growing demand for generative AI and other cutting-edge technologies. To succeed in this fast-paced environment, data centers need to expand their capacity rapidly, but also strategically, ensuring that their upgrades are scalable, efficient, and cost-effective. This requires the support of a data center consulting and engineering company that can offer expert advice and solutions based on industry best practices and global standards. Such a company can help data centers optimize their existing infrastructure, design and build new facilities, and implement innovative technologies that enhance performance and operational excellence.

Data center leaders also have a key role to play in creating a culture of continuous improvement and talent development within their organizations. The data center industry is becoming more complex and competitive, requiring leaders to invest in their people and foster a learning environment that encourages innovation and growth. A consulting and engineering company can provide coaching and mentoring on leadership development and talent retention, drawing from diverse experiences and insights from other industries and markets. This external perspective can help data center leaders adopt new management and operational strategies, creating a more dynamic and resilient workforce.

Furthermore, data centers need to constantly improve their service delivery to meet the expectations of their customers and stakeholders. This means looking beyond conventional methods and exploring new ways of enhancing efficiency, reliability, and customer satisfaction. Consulting firms can bring in proven strategies from various sectors, offering fresh perspectives on service excellence and quality management. Additionally, the importance of diversity and inclusion in driving innovation is becoming increasingly evident. A consulting firm can assist in identifying and nurturing the next generation of data center professionals, ensuring a workforce that is not only technically skilled but also diverse in its problem-solving approaches, ready to face the challenges of tomorrow’s data landscape.

Revitalizing Data Centers: Overcoming Power & Cooling Constraints to Facilitate AI Deployments

 As anticipation builds around Nvidia’s forthcoming announcements, a critical issue has resurfaced within the data center domain: the significant hurdles of power and cooling that impede the efficient deployment of advanced AI technologies. This challenge, although familiar to the industry, has been a persistent obstacle for decades. However, our expertise, honed over 25 years with hundreds of clients, positions us uniquely to offer innovative solutions that address these longstanding issues, ensuring that data centers can seamlessly integrate the latest AI advancements.

Our approach to these enduring challenges is both strategic and solution-oriented. We begin by conducting a thorough assessment of your data center’s current capabilities, identifying any potential bottlenecks or underutilized resources. Often, the issue is not a lack of cooling solutions, but rather an inefficient allocation of these resources due to suboptimal system deployment. By pinpointing these areas of ‘constrained capacity’, we unlock new pathways to enhance your data center’s performance, enabling it to support cutting-edge technologies like those Nvidia is set to introduce. 

Our commitment is to transform your existing infrastructure into a robust, AI-ready environment through our innovative and tailored solutions. This can be accomplished for both enterprise client edge data centers, as well as colocation providers or clients.

Why Small Business Owners Need to Make Data-Driven Decisions

Why Make Data-Driven Decisions?

For businesses, the importance of data analytics and business intelligence cannot be overstated. Small businesses need to make informed data-driven decisions that lead to better business outcomes, and help them stay competitive.  Small businesses can use their critical business data to provide insights into daily operations to help make more informed and effective decisions.

• Improved accuracy: Data-driven decisions are based on facts and statistics, which provide a more accurate picture of a situation than relying on intuition or guesses.
• Better decision making: Data can provide insights and information that can help small business owners make more informed and effective decisions.
• Increased efficiency: Data-driven decisions can help small business owners allocate resources more efficiently and make the most of their limited resources.
• Reduced risks: Data-driven decisions can help small business owners identify and mitigate potential risks, reducing the chances of costly mistakes.
• Improved performance: Data can help small business owners track and measure performance and make necessary adjustments to improve outcomes.
• Competitive advantage: Data-driven decision making can give small businesses a competitive edge, helping them stay ahead of the curve and better serve their customers
  

The Data-Driven Decision Framework?

• Track key metrics: Identify and track key metrics that are relevant to your business, such as sales, customer satisfaction, and marketing metrics.
• Use data analysis tools: Utilize data analysis tools, such as spreadsheet software or business intelligence tools, to gather, organize, and analyze data.
• Automate data collection: Automate data collection processes to ensure accuracy and minimize manual effort.
• Collaborate with a data analyst: Work with a data analyst or a data-savvy team member to help you make sense of the data and turn it into actionable insights.
• Visualize data: Use data visualization tools to quickly identify patterns and trends.
• Test and iterate: Test new strategies based on your data insights, and continuously iterate and refine your approach.
• Encourage data-driven culture: Encourage a data-driven culture within your organization by sharing data insights with your team and using data to make decisions together.

The Most Important Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for Small Business

The most important KPIs for a small business owner to track will vary depending on the specific business, but some common KPIs include:

• Sales: Track sales revenue, growth, and conversion rates to understand the performance of your sales and marketing efforts.
• Customer satisfaction: Measure customer satisfaction through surveys, feedback, and reviews to ensure that you are meeting customer needs and expectations.
• Expenses: Track expenses such as cost of goods sold, operating expenses, and overhead costs to control costs and maximize profitability.
• Website traffic: Monitor website traffic and engagement metrics such as page views, bounce rates, and time on site to understand the effectiveness of your online presence.
• Lead generation: Track the number of leads generated and the conversion rate of those leads to sales to evaluate the performance of your lead generation efforts.
• Employee productivity: Measure employee productivity and efficiency to ensure that your team is working effectively and efficiently.
• Inventory levels: Monitor inventory levels and turnover to ensure that you have enough stock to meet customer demand and avoid overstocking.
• Social media engagement: Measure social media engagement such as likes, shares, and comments to evaluate the performance of your social media marketing efforts.

It’s important to track the KPIs that are most relevant to your business and regularly review and adjust your KPI tracking as needed. 

LEARN MORE

Make Data-Driven Decisions For Your Enterprise, Using Data That You're Already Gathering

Webinar: Data Center Development Innovation for the New Age of Facilities

How Edge Data Center Solutions are Evolving for New End User Needs 

What You’ll Learn: 

• Why do edge facilities require more customization? 
• What does that mean for design strategy and delivery speeds? 
• Are virtually integrated edge facilities the future? 
• What could that mean for construction and development in the sector? 
• How do on-prem facilities plan to evolve in both dense and secondary markets? 
• How are IT loads and management services being integrated into future solutions while keeping operations in mind? 
• How does the expansion of the cloud impact on-prem and edge facilities? 
• What are end users doing to migrate successfully today? 

Sponsored by PTS Data Center Solutions 
Recorded: Tuesday, April 20, 2021 

How You’ll Do More Business: 

Learn how end users and providers are determining cloud or on-prem strategies for new facilities coming online, how fully integrated edge developments have changed the need for on-prem solutions, who are changing their migration to the cloud and where the opportunities are for expansions. 

Who You’ll Meet: 

VP Design and Construction, director of operations, head of facilities, end users, GC’s, architects, IT directors, engineers, providers and owners 

Why You Should Attend: 

Learn how edge facilities can providing an alternative solution to the cloud, what vertically integrated data centers look like and how end users are choosing their capacity plans. 

Speakers and Panels

• Pete Sacco - Founder & President, PTS Data Center Solutions, Inc. 
• Marissa Jules - Director, Architecture & Infrastructure, Georgia Institute of Technology 
• Rajesh Gopinath - Product Leader, Bloom Energy
• Phillip Marangells - EdgeConneX

View Webinar Recording

The Key to Cutting Data Center Construction Costs? Use Minimal Infrastructure

The average enterprise data center costs between $10 million and $12 million per megawatt to build, with costs typically front-loaded onto the first few megawatts of deployment. What's more, the typical edge data center costs between $8 million and $9 million. And if data center builders want to keep a lid on ever-rising costs, they need to keep the installation of supporting infrastructure to a minimum from the outset.

That’s the advice of seasoned data center builder Peter Sacco, founder and CEO of PTS Data Center Solutions, who claims that it is possible to drive down costs by around 25 per cent or more, simply by being more disciplined on design.

“When I start working with clients and I ask, ‘What should be the facility’s goals?’ they are clear that, first, it needs to cost less to build. And, not only that, but it needs to cost less to operate, too. And it needs to be deployed faster and it needs to perform better,” said Sacco. 

While that may sound somewhat challenging, the only way in which these potentially conflicting demands can be satisfied is by designing, from the outset, to install “the minimal amount of supporting infrastructure needed to achieve [your desired level of] resilience,” said Sacco. “If you do all that, you improve all four, simultaneously.” Costs, of course, will also depend upon the desire Uptime Institute tier (or equivalent) that the operator wishes to achieve. 

Read the Full Article on Data Center Dynamics’ Site >>>

AFCOM NYC/NJ Metro Chapter Quarterly Meeting: March 25, 2021

Join PTS at AFCOM’s second Virtual Event. With lots of help from AFCOM members, and some hard work from the Board, this should serve as a great format for everyone to enjoy. And there will be some great education from all of the sponsors.

Quarterly Virtual Meeting of the NYC/NJ Metro Chapter
March 25, 2021, from 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm
 
Click Here to Register!

 

Schedule of Events

• 1:00pm – 2:00pm – InVue Education Presentation, Trivia and Music Bingo 
• Presentation: Zero Trust Architecture in the Modern Data Center 
• (2) Trivia Questions with Prizes by Sponsor 
• Music Bingo with Prize 
• 2:00pm – 3:00pm – PTS Data Center Solutions Education Presentation and Music Bingo
• Presentation: The Evolving Edge Data Center: Minimize On-Site Construction for Faster Deployment 
• (2) Trivia Questions with Prizes by Sponsor 
• Music Bingo with Prize 
• 3:00pm – 4:00pm – World Wide Technology Education Presentation and Music Bingo 
• Presentation: The Affects of COVID-19 on the Industry 
• (2) Trivia Questions with Prizes by Sponsor 
• Music Bingo with Prize 
• 4:00pm – 4:20pm – State of the Chapter – Mr. Keith Jackson 
• 4:30pm – 6:00pm – Cocktail Hour and Virtual Networking

We Hope to See You There!

REGISTER HERE

Powering the Digital Economy: The Data Center Reimagined

How can data center operators insulate themselves from the increasing risks posed by aging centralized power grids prone to outages and vulnerable to natural disasters? 

Data centers are the critical link between the digital and physical world. They power almost every aspect of our economy today, consuming close to 3% of global electricity in the process. Increasing demands on data center infrastructure are being propelled by the shifts to the cloud, machine to machine communication, mobile technologies, VR/AR, AI, 5G and IoT. 

As the world continues to innovate, data center builders and operators grapple with the question of how to navigate a myriad of facility design complexities – balancing 24 x 7 x 365 operations with growing power demands, elevated risks, and the urgent need to reduce the sector’s carbon emissions. 

Elevated risks to critical power infrastructure 

Covid-19 has highlighted our economy’s digital dependence, elevating risks and exposing harsh new realities. 

An aging centralized power grid that is prone to outages and natural disasters, coupled with a dangerous cyber-threat landscape has left society heavily reliant on an electric delivery system that has simply not kept pace with the evolution of its surrounding environment. 

>>> Read the Full Article at Data Center Dynamics… >>>

Webinar: The Data Center Reimagined – Lower Cost to Build and Operate Your Facility

 

It’s vital for companies to invest in data center operations that are simple in design, easy to operate, and minimize infrastructure needed to achieve data resiliency. By doing so, companies can realize energy efficiency and resiliency by building and operating mission-critical data centers that cost less, can be deployed faster, are easily scalable, and perform better.

In this webinar, Peter Sacco of PTS Data Center Solutions offers groundbreaking views for data center operators pursuing solutions to key operating challenges. Leveraging advanced technology like fuel cells, microgrids, and indirect evaporative cooling, PTS offers revolutionary solutions to cost and resiliency challenges.

REGISTER NOW

Key takeaways from the event to include:

• • Balanced approach to cost, performance, speed of deployment and ease of management
  • Complexity reduction in both data center facility and IT systems
  • Step change reductions in CAPEX and OPEX without sacrificing resiliency
  • A data-centric workload strategy focused on latency, cost, security, application performance, platform reliability, and regulation

Date: Wednesday, February, 10, 2021
Time: 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM Eastern Standard Time

REGISTER NOW

Contactless Body Temperature Scanning for Safer Reopening

Reopen with Confidence

As the world enters the next phase of the pandemic, businesses are forced to make changes to accommodate not only a changing workforce, but also a changing workplace.  Brick and mortar businesses need to reopen a safe environment in order to protect their employees, clients, and visitors.

Zero-Contact Body Temperature Scanning 

Near the building entrances, employees and visitors will now pause to have their body temperatures checked. The scanner resembles a small tablet on a stand, and produces an accurate temperature reading in seconds. A voice confirmation assures “Your body temperature is normal,” and entry is allowed. All visitors should be scanned every time they enter the building. 

Buy Now

Increase the safety of employees and visitors

• Complies with U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) COVID-19 Policy
• Non-Contact Touchless Scanning
• +/-0.5°F Accuracy for use in the fight against COVID-19
• 0.1 of a second scans keeps lines from forming
• Suitable for adjunct use in public areas, entrances, doorways
• Easy to install
• Easy to use
• Integrates with management system to manage alerts

Non-Contact Body Temperature Scanner 

The new normal is anything but normal. The modern workplace will require both employees and visitors to be screened for any indication of high temperatures. 

Technology designed to keep everyone safe.

Bloom Energy Webinar: Microgrid Strategies for Hospitals and Healthcare Organizations

Strategies to Continue Operating During Power Disruptions and Improve Air Quality

Title: Microgrid Strategies for Hospitals and Healthcare Organizations Webinar 

Date: Thursday, August 20, 2020 

Time: 1:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time (10:00 AM Pacific Daylight Time)

Duration: 1 hour 

 Register Now

The nature of today’s hospitals — 24-hour services provided by teams of specialized professionals, supported by an expanding use of technology — creates an extraordinary demand for energy. Now, as the health care field is tackling the most challenging pandemic of our lifetime, resiliency in healthcare energy systems is getting even more critical. Hurricanes, storms and wildfires are unavoidable, but when coupled with viral threats such as COVID-19, reliance on the central grid alone is no longer an option. 

This webinar will consider a strategic focus on how health care systems can prepare themselves for resiliency under pandemic situations. Our speakers will address energy procurement strategies, onsite energy generation technology, , how to reduce energy costs, mitigate revenue loss from canceled procedures, and doing all this while deploying clean energy solutions that improve air quality by eliminating smog-forming pollution and particulate matter. 

What You Will Learn:

• How to reduce energy costs and mitigate revenue loss from canceled procedures.
• How to create energy security during pandemics, natural disasters and planned and unplanned outages.
• How to implement sustainable energy sources, without emitting NOx, Sox and particulate matter and improving local air quality for sensitive patient populations.

Speakers:

• Nirupama Prakash Kumar, Bloom Energy, Senior Product Manager – Healthcare Microgrids
• Ryan De La Cruz, Ecom Energy Inc,  Director of Business Development

We invite you to join this discussion and Register Now!

What is DRaaS, and How is it Different from Backup?

Backing up critical data is clearly a major component of any comprehensive Disaster Recovery (DR) plan, but is that all that is needed to ensure your business is safe from catastrophe? What is the difference between DR and Backup? Is DR the same as DRaaS (Disaster Recovery as a Service)? Some definitions of these terms will help create a better understanding of the best way to preserve business continuity, in case disaster strikes. Of course there is no "one size fits all" solution to address the areas of backup, DR, and business continuity, but these definitions will help direct you towards the most suitable DR plan for your enterprise.

What is Disaster Recovery/DRaaS?

• Disaster Recovery (DR) is the replication of hosting of servers (physical or virtual) from a primary "production" location (typically, your onsite data center) to a secondary "DR" location (a co-located data center, or to the cloud). This replication provides fail-over in the event of catastrophe, as well as fail-back (recovery) when the production data center becomes available.
• Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) is DR that uses a service provider's cloud-based secondary data center location and compute/storage infrastructure. This is especially critical if your enterprise does not have a secondary data center location.
• DRaaS On-Demand is DRaaS that uses a service provider's cloud-based secondary location, but you only pay for server fail-over/recovery when it's needed. However, you will still have to pay for the ongoing backup data costs.

What is Backup?

• Backup can refer to data backup, or in a DR context, virtual server environment backup.  Data backup is simply an extra copy of data. Virtual Server Backup is a snapshot of your virtual machine(s), taken regularly (typically daily), stored in a separate location. This backup serves the short-term purpose of restoring the virtual environment.
• Backup-as-a-Service (BaaS) is backup to a service provider's cloud-based secondary data center.

What About RPO and RTO?

Recovery Point Objective (RPO) and Recovery Time Objective (RTO) are two fundamental components of a disaster recovery plan. Each addresses business decisions that must be made as part of a disaster recovery plan:

• Recovery Point Objective (RPO) determines how frequently data backups are created to addresses the acceptable level of data loss a business is willing to handle between backups. Businesses need to consider how much data they are prepared to lose if disaster strikes.
• Recovery Time Objective (RTO) is the time it takes for a business to resume regular activities following a catastrophic event. The business consideration here is: how much post-disaster downtime is acceptable before recovery is completed?

The Difference between Disaster Recovery and Backup

Disaster recovery covers the plan to be used to quickly reestablish business operations following an outage. This includes access to applications, data, and IT resources. Paramount to this recovery process is how fast and how non-disruptively you can recover. Keep in mind that data recovery alone, although part of the recovery process, are NOT sufficient to guarantee business continuity. Understanding that backup does NOT equal DR is a major move toward mastering the data protection challenges every enterprise will face.

On-Demand Webinar: 10 Minutes to DRaaS with PTS and Datrium

With the rampant rise in ransomware attacks, the ability to recover quickly and without paying the attackers has never been more critical. But traditional DR has been expensive, complex and unreliable. In this webcast, you'll learn about:

• The most important capabilities in a DR solution according to IT leaders
• How to get started with cloud-native DR in 10 minutes
• How to get 10x savings on DR with an on-demand model using the public cloud

Join Datrium and PTS Data Center Solutions for a virtual event and learn how to recover instantly after a ransomware attack. After you attend the webinar, we will email you a complimentary $25 Uber Eats gift card you can use to support your local restaurants or we can make a donation in your name to Feeding America.

Date: May 13, 202
Time: 12:30pm - 1:30pm ET
Speakers:
Peter Sacco, Founder & President, PTS Data Center Solutions
Datrium Keith Mossberg, Sales Engineer, Datrium

Register to View the
On-Demand Recording!

Bloom Energy Webinar: Stepping up in a Crisis: Rapidly Deployed, Clean Microgrids for Healthcare Facilities

Overview

Title: Stepping up in a Crisis – Rapidly Deployed, Clean Microgrids for Healthcare Facilities 
Date: Tuesday, April 28, 2020
Time: 2:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time (11:00 AM Pacific Daylight Time)
Duration: 1 hour

 

As companies step up across the globe to combat the crippling effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, Bloom Energy is fighting the war on two fronts by helping COVID-19 patients breathe easier in very different ways. 

As the U.S. faces a critical shortage of ventilators, a critical medical device used to treat respiratory failure in COVID-19  patients, we are exercising our manufacturing expertise and capabilities to refurbish thousands of out-of-service ventilators across the U.S working with state agencies and healthcare customers.

Due to the success of the ventilator refurbishing efforts and to further our support of essential businesses on the front lines of this pandemic, we have launched a new, rapid deploy microgrid solution to power existing and temporary hospitals, as well as biotech facilities with resilient and pollution-free power. Recent medical studies show a sharply higher mortality rate among coronavirus patients in areas with even slightly increased levels of air pollution. Respiratory disease requires clean air systems, and traditional backups like diesel generators create pollution and air quality issues that are harmful to coronavirus patients. This solution is initially targeted at healthcare facilities but can also be utilized for any facility in need of a rapid power resiliency solution.

Please join us in this discussion when we will showcase this new solution and detail its application at two first-of-its kind projects at temporary field hospitals in California.

We invite you to join this discussion and Register Now!

PTS Partner Bloom Energy Repurposes Old Ventilators for Coronavirus Duty

As the number of COVID-19 cases continue to grow, the number of patients in dire need of expert care has already begun to put a strain on our healthcare systems worldwide. In the U.S. specifically, hospitals have been unable to supply enough ventilators for critically-ill patients during this pandemic.

California Governor Gavin Newsom called on Bloom Energy to see if the Bloom team could repurpose some old ventilators. While other manufacturers are studying and looking at the feasibility to help support production for new medical devices such as ventilators, the Bloom team took action and answered the Governor’s call. As you may know, ventilators are critical to preventing respiratory failure in patients with COVID-19. While the original ventilator service provider told the Governor it might take a month to begin refurbishing, Bloom Operations knew that wasn’t an option with lives at risk. Less than 24 hours later, Bloom's manufacturing team had refurbished 24 ventilators and is now refurbishing an additional 25 more in California and expect to begin similar refurbishment work in Delaware this week.

At this rate, Bloom estimates they can refurbish hundreds of ventilators a week, helping to meet the anticipated high demand. The Society of Critical Care Medicine estimates that 960,000 coronavirus patients in the U.S. may need to be put on ventilators, but there are only about 200,000 such working machines available – while thousands sit idle, having reached their end-of-service life.

Bloom's team's willingness to innovate, solve tough challenges, and commit to the “art of the possible” in this time of need is a true showcase of Bloom's resilience. Their manufacturing teams are working with the State of California and the State of Delaware, and have offered services to other states, to begin refurbishing the thousands of out of service ventilators available in the U.S. Bloom is also working with state agencies and customers – many of which are hospitals and medical device companies – to identify additional supplies of ventilators that need refurbishing.

"While unprecedented times call for unprecedented measures, I could never have predicted that Bloom could have such a direct impact on our society. I am deeply humbled by our team's strength and ability to step up to this challenge. As a U.S.-based manufacturer, we take our responsibility to this country seriously and we stand ready to serve. Like our customers and the communities we serve, we are strong and we are resilient. I am blessed to work with such an amazing group of people."

Andrew Patterson Director, Partner Engagement BloomEnergy Corporation

How you can Help

If you know of any businesses or state agencies with out-of-service ventilators, please email Bloom at:  ventilatorrefurb@bloomenergy.com or visit Bloom's ventilator refurbishment web page at: https://www.bloomenergy.com/ventilators for more information.  Bloom Energy can also be reached on their hotline: +1 (888) 544-2644

PTS Support During the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic

Being a technology company, PTS is well-prepared to run our organization and support our clients remotely. We are operating as normal as can be expected under the current circumstances. You will continue to receive the exemplary level of service that you have come to expect from PTS.

We will be leveraging all the technologies at our disposal to engage and support you. Rest assured: our commitment to you during this situation remains as strong as ever. PTS will continue to operate at full capacity servicing our clients. We are well equipped with the resources and technology to work remotely, and plan on operating all other aspects of our business as usual.

How to Reach Us:

• Communication among all parties will continue as usual. PTS employees are available via email or by phone.
• Our main office phones (201.337.3833) will still be answered. Phone calls will be directed to employee cell phones or company voicemails which will be continually monitored.
• We are no longer holding in-person meetings at this time; however, we will continue to hold virtual meetings and conference calls.
• Our hours of operation will remain: Monday - Friday, 9am to 5pm.

At PTS, we are dedicated to supporting the well-being and utmost safety of our employees, clients, and families. We appreciate your patience during this challenging time and assure you of PTS’s commitment to continuing to serve our clients.

Following is a brief list of services that we are prepared to help you with in a pinch. Please visit our website at www.PTSdcs.com for a more comprehensive list.

Data Center & Facility	IT	Workplace
Emergency Repair Emergency CRAC Repair Battery Replacement Rental UPS	NOC-Based Managed IT Helpdesk Support CTOC-Based Cybersecurity Remote Access BaaS (Backup as a Service) DRaaS (Disaster Recovery as a Service)	Video Conferencing Hosted VoIP Virtual Desktop

Here are some external links offering helpful advice to businesses in dealing with the pandemic:

• Uptime Institute’s COVID-19: Minimizing Critical Facility Risk
• 7 Things Data Center Businesses Should Do During the COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic

Thank you for your business and stay safe.

Ransomware is the Number One Cause of Disaster Recovery (DR) Events

When ransomware infects a company's IT systems, it often leaves the target helpless and at the mercy of the attackers.  Stored and backup data become encrypted, and, as such, are irretrievable unless the attackers demands are met or the system can otherwise be restored from clean backups.  In response, the enterprise scrambles, often in vain, desperately trying to restore systems and data to a point prior to the attack. This disaster recovery process is often manual and time-consuming, resulting in costly downtime. In many cases, businesses (like a hospital, for instance) cannot function without their systems active, so they may feel added pressure to pay the criminals to decrypt their data more timely. It is truly a nightmare.

Some shocking ransomware statistics:

• Since 2016, Ransomware Growth: 700% – Gartner
• Cost of Ransomware in 2019: $11.5 Billion – Fortinet
• Companies that used their DR Plan in Past 24 Months: 80% – Gartner
• Companies that did NOT Meet Their RTO and RPO Objectives: 94% – Gartner

The DRaaS Solution to Ransomware
PTS and its partners are ready to offer an elegant DRaaS (Disaster Recovery as a Service) solution. Backup and DR is simple with VMWare Cloud on AWS.  Backups are deduped and stored on S3 in a steady-state. Runbook automation instantly turns these backups into live VMs during a DR event. You get instant RTO for thousands of VMs. 

10x More Cost Effective. Fail over to on-demand VMware Cloud on AWS SDDC targets using ControlShift DR plans and store forever incremental, native backups in S3. DR sites are ready when needed, in the cloud, whether for testing or actual failover. Pay for SDDC only when you need it while your data is ready to use on low-cost AWS S3. Efficiently fail back with minimal AWS egress charges by transferring only changed and globally deduplicated data. Select from a broad range of DR sites around the world.

Instant RTO Restart from Recent Snapshots or Deep Backups on S3. Easily restart instantly from recent snapshots or backups that are months or years old. With converged backup and DR, you have millions of point-in-time consistent recovery points to choose from, so you can quickly restore your entire data center. That can be critical for ransomware attacks, which often only become apparent months after the initial event. Achieve instant RTO with zero copy and no rehydration as ESX hosts directly mount a live NFS datastore hosted in AWS.

“Developing and delivering transportation solutions requires highly available and secure IT systems even during disasters. Our DR solution had to have low RTO and the high reliability and security of a leading government service that could be audited, tested, and verified regularly. Datrium DRaaS met all our demanding requirements while reducing our TCO by 80%.”

- Michael Beerer
Senior Section Manager Information Systems
Orange County Transportation Authority

Contact PTS to discuss DRaaS options 

to better protect yourself against Ransomware.

PTS Data Center Solutions is Selected by Datrium as a Select Partner for its DRaaS Solution

New DRaaS Select Tier Delivers Efficient, Cost-effective and Cloud-native Disaster Recovery and Backup Solutions to Modernize IT Infrastructures

Datrium delivers the first server flash storage system with the Datrium DVX. Unlike rigid and expensive Arrays or Hyperconverged servers, DVX storage gets its speed from commodity, Bring Your Own (BYO) compute and SSDs on stateless servers, so storage for VMs is simpler to scale, more efficient, and more dynamic. The DVX will be ideal for enterprise applications, including VDI, test and development, and server VM consolidation.

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Feb. 5, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Datrium, pioneer of the secure multi-cloud data platform for the resilient enterprise, today announced that it has expanded the Datrium Global Partner Network to new regions and introduced a new tier, DRaaS Select. With DRaaS Select partners can better aid customers in their cloud transformation and modernize disaster recovery (DR) and backup processes.

"We've experienced high demand from customers looking to transform their data centers with more cloud-based solutions," said Tim Page, Chief Executive Officer at Datrium. "At Datrium, we pride ourselves on delivering unprecedented flexibility and simplicity to help customers transform their IT. The new and expanded partner program reflects our mission to bring on-demand, failproof and cost-effective DR with VMware Cloud on AWS to enterprises everywhere. This is an exciting time for Datrium and our growing Global Partner Network."

The new DRaaS Select tier provides partners with additional services opportunities and enables them to better guide their customers through DR transformation initiatives and protect them from the growing threat of ransomware. DRaaS Select partners receive the highest level of training and certification in DR with VMware Cloud on AWS so they are uniquely equipped to help organizations protect themselves from disasters in an economical way. Participation in the DRaaS Select tier is by invitation only and is limited to an exclusive set of highly skilled partners in specific geographic regions.

Datrium Partners Bring Cloud-native DR To More IT Organizations
DRaaS is fundamentally changing the DR market with its cloud-native design, built-in backup, instant Recovery Time Objective (RTO), continuous compliance and an on-demand pay-as-you-go model. This presents a unique opportunity to leverage the public cloud and its elastic capabilities to finally deliver DR done right with Datrium DRaaS with VMware Cloud on AWS. Datrium's commitment to the channel and its partners' go-to-market efforts are reflected in the following Partner Network levels:

• DRaaS Select resellers receive advanced training and certification on DRaaS with VMware Cloud on AWS. These partners have the highest level of expertise in DR with built-in backup. DRaaS Select partners can help customers transform their DR processes including providing guidance on Runbook creation and multi-cloud deployment strategies.
• Preferred resellers are provided with new service opportunities and a rich set of program benefits, so together with Datrium they can help companies achieve failproof on-demand DR, achieve their DR compliance objectives, quickly recover from ransomware attacks, modernize their data centers, achieve their hybrid cloud objectives, and design and implement data resilience strategies.
• Authorized resellers can provide services beyond DR, including all around data center modernization, multi-cloud and hybrid cloud strategies as well as data resilience efforts.

With the Datrium Automatrix, which contains DVX at its core, Datrium and its partners can remove IT infrastructure complexity by delivering a platform that converges backup, mobility, DR and encryption in a single platform.

Since releasing DRaaS to the market in August 2019, Datrium has expanded its DRaaS Select Partner ecosystem and garnered interest in DRaaS Preferred, adding new partnerships across the U.S., Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and the Philippines including ASI Solutions and BEarena NZ, Bytes Software, CDW, Champion Solutions Group, Citrus Solutions, DCNEXT Holland, Epaton, Mindsight, Novulutions, Prodec Networks, PTS Data Center Solutions, SISL, Spinnakar, Technologent, and TrustCo.

Read the entire press release here: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/datrium-expands-partner-network-to-fuel-cloud-transformation-and-deliver-cloud-based-disaster-recovery-to-enterprises-globally-300999163.html

Why You Should Use a Design/Build Firm for Your Next Data Center Project

A design/build firm is one that manages an entire project as a one-stop shop by handling both the design and construction phases. This approach can save time and money, all while avoiding costly errors that can be caused from things like miscommunication over construction documents. More than one third of non-residential construction is completed using design/build approach.

Here are the Top 10 Reasons to Use a Design/Build Firm to design, build, and maintain your Next Data Center Project: 

1. Communication: One Point of Contact for the Life of Your Data CenterAn experienced Data Center Expert will listen to understand your vision for your data center project. Then, they will provide recommendations and create a design, apply for the town permits, manage the trades, coordinate the equipment purchases, deliveries and start-ups. The firm will also commission the complete system, then develop and manage a comprehensive maintenance plan for the life of your data center. All of these managed services with just one phone call.
2. Expertise: A Data Center Design/Build Firm Does Just One Thing, and Does it Very WellSimilar to the medical industry, when you specialize in something, you become very proficient at it over time. When an engineering company concentrates on every aspect of a single specialty, to design, build, and maintain a data center, it becomes an incredible resource to the data center industry as a whole. Take advantage of this experience and expertise.
3. Experience: Access to Vetted Manufactures and ContractorsA Design/Build firm that specializes in data centers knows the most reliable equipment, the OEMs offering the best value, and the best contractors in the business. This is because they have worked with them every day, over many years, and have solidified a mutually beneficial relationship. Only the best have risen to the top (and have stayed there), and have earned their respect and business over the course of these many projects.
4. Innovation: Get the Inside Scoop on the Latest TechnologiesWhen a Design/Build Firm’s sole focus is on finding the most productive, reliable, and cost-effective approach to build and maintain a data center, they know the latest innovations, as well as the latest flops. They have done their due diligence toward recommending the most suitable design for current business requirements, with the capability of accommodating future growth.
5. Continuity: Get One Bill and One Dedicated Rep to Coordinate all Aspects of Your Data Center ProjectCoordinating up to 30 different vendors, contractors and equipment providers while working with your enterprise is a full time job. By utilizing a Data Center Design/Build Firm, you save both time and money. This will result in freeing up resources to better enable you to concentrate on your job.
6. Cost Savings: Achieve Cost Savings by Bundling all Services, Equipment and LaborTypically, if you group your purchases, you can negotiate a better price. Similarly, a Design/Build Firm is focused on offering a better price for bundled equipment, services, and labor, since they can handle all aspects of the project.  The alternative of hiring separate service providers for each area of their expertise, will most likely result in higher overall costs, and increases the likelihood of miscommunication, missed deadlines due to coordination shortcomings, among other things. Having an experienced Data Center Project Manager to coordinate the efforts of multiple groups is key.
7. Positioned for a Long Term RelationshipSuccessful Design/Build Firms have become established over hundreds of projects and thousands of man-hours in an effort to have the competitive edge they now enjoy. They are not going away any time soon, so you can expect a working relationship to last some time.
8. Accountability: No More Finger PointingWhen a single firm handles all aspects of a project, most of the communication takes place among employees of that same firm, each working in a unified manner toward a common goal. The firm takes responsibility for the project’s success, and holds its employees accountable every step of the way.
9. Collaboration: The Design/Build Team Works Together as a Unit.Using many different contractors on the same project is much more likely to create issues from scheduling to miscommunication to finger-pointing.  When a single team is dedicated to the project, these obstacles are greatly minimized, or even eliminated entirely.
10. Time Savings: Time is Saved Due to Concurrent ActivitiesA Design/Build Firm can manage several tasks concurrently and far more efficiently than several disjoint teams. It is not uncommon for the firm to build while designing, or design while procuring. In this way, the project can be delivered more quickly and smoothly, while still maintaining a high level of quality.

PTS Data Center Solutions, Inc. has been in business since 1998, and has completed several hundred data center projects, including all aspects of data center designing, building, and maintaining. Contact PTS for all your data center projects.

Webinar 10/31/2019 (New Date): Best Practices for Disaster Recovery with Datrium & PTS Data Center Solutions

Disaster Recovery has been out of reach for many companies due to the cost, complexity, and brittle nature of traditional DR solutions. With the increasing threat of Ransomware attacks, which are up from 300% from 2018, implementing effective disaster recovery strategies, security and business continuity has never been more critical.

With the recent release of Datrium Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) with VMware Cloud on AWS, you can now get everything you need for failproof on-demand DR to the public cloud in one SaaS solution. For a fraction of the cost of current DR solutions, you can get on-demand DR in the public cloud and eliminate your secondary DR sites. It keeps your data safe and secure, and it delivers failproof recovery and failback.

Here are some of the benefits:

• Achieve immediate and on-demand failover to the cloud with VMware Cloud on AWS
• Eliminate virtual machine conversion and lengthy rehydration
• Leverage S3 for cost-effective cloud storage
• Smoothly resume operations and transition back from a DR environment

Join us for a free webinar on Thursday, October 31st at 12pm EDT and learn about Datrium DRaaS, and how Datrium and PTS Data Center Solutions have partnered to help organizations achieve their multi-cloud objectives, modernize their data centers and achieve failproof DR in the public cloud. For more than 20 years, PTS has been helping IT teams solve some of their most difficult challenges.

• Date: Thursday, October 31, 2019
• Time: 12pm EDT
• Duration: 60 Minutes
• Speakers:
  • Jeff Parker, Field CTO at Datrium, and
  • Peter Sacco, President and Founder of PTS Data Center Solutions

We hope you can join us!

Can’t attend live? Register and we’ll send you
a link to the on-demand recording.

Top 10 Reasons Why you Should Modernize your Data Center

There are many factors influencing how suitable a given data center is at meeting the needs of the organization that is utilizing it.  Inevitably, executives are forced to deal with the challenges of upkeep, and in considering upgrades, must decide whether outsourcing or modernizing is the better route.  In either case, the existing infrastructure will ultimately need to be upgraded or replaced.

When attempting to accommodate the evolving needs of the company, older facilities might reveal limitations of space (both physical space, and data storage space), inefficient cooling, and/or an inflexible existing power infrastructure. Similarly, end-of-life components pose a risk, as well as a slew of other age-related data center issues.  It may be time to consider modernization options.

Reasons why you should modernize your existing data center:

1. You have a several upgrade options that can be both simple, and cost-effective. Companies can buy time by identifying and consolidating underutilized assets, improving cooling, expanding UPS infrastructure, utilizing high-density PODs, and upping preventative maintenance practices. This can often be done within tight budgets.
2. Modernizing carries a lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). Owning and operating your own data center is still cheaper than outsourcing (colocation or public cloud).
3. Your current data center is on the brink of failure. If you have been operating for an extended time, you likely have unserviceable parts that may be about to fail.
4. High-density PODs may provide seamless migration options. High-density PODs contain high-density racks with dedicated row-based cooling, and operate as a unit. You can abandon the “room” onsite and move to a POD, allowing for a seamless migration to a new environment.
5. Your service options (including replacement part procurement) are past End-Of-Life dates. When (not if), things go wrong with your current data center, you may find yourself past expiration for vendor support. You may also discover that replacement parts may be difficult to procure, if available at all.
6. Your current data center is horribly inefficient. If you haven’t analyzed your data center consumption recently, the extremely high power bills, among other things, might indicate how inefficient your data center might be operating. Upgraded data center will have dramatically increased efficiency, resulting in lower energy costs, and lower emissions.
7. Your current data center no longer meets your needs. If you capacity and efficiency ratings aren’t meeting your current (and future) needs, then it’s becomes necessary to upgrade.
8. You need a more reliable site. Upgraded data center will greatly improve a site’s long-term reliability, and will provide peace of mind due to its increased predictability.
9. There may be Accounting, Insurance, and/or Tax benefits. Pods may be classified as equipment vs building, potentially offering accounting, tax, and/or insurance benefits depending on the location and policies.
10. Converged IT/OT technologies reduce costs. High-efficiency operations technologies (power, cooling, monitoring) have merged with IT infrastructure, creating massive reductions in data center operational costs.