Top 10 Ways Colocation Can Impact Your Business

For most primary data center or computer room operations, PTS Data Center Solutions contends that owning and operating your own data center offers the best opportunity for long-term ROI, flexibility, and OPEX cost control. However, owning your own facility comes with a CAPEX premium - and that is sometimes not an option. To that end, it may be worth considering a colocation company to support your data center infrastructure requirements. 

Here are our Top 10 reasons to consider a colocation:

1. Reliability. Have you checked your tier rating lately? The Uptime Institute's tier rating system provides higher ratings for facilities which have several levels of redundancy for power, cooling, etc. The costs are significant for a company to build many levels of redundancy throughout its data center or computer room (i.e. design costs, procurement of equipment and services, management costs).
2. Flexibility. Are your typical power requirements at 2.5 KW per rack? Needing a facility capable of supporting blade servers with 10 KW per rack requirements? Consider a colocation specializing in high per rack power requirements. They'll also have the appropriate cooling systems in place.
3. Speed to Deploy. Did management forget to tell you early about a new acquisition and the need to add disparate IT solutions in your data center? Colocation providers typically have ample availability, ready for IT build-outs, at a moment's notice. Sure, you won't be in tomorrow, but a few weeks will do.
4. Security. There's a cost of doing business for colocations in terms of physical and network security. Services include providing protection from theft and fire, but also may include well conceived network security designs. And, if needed, you can look for a facility with 7x24 security.
5. Facility Size. Tired of the endless guessing games related to sizing a facility? Colocations can actually save an organization money because it doesn't have to over-size power, space, and cooling in the facility.  
6. Maintenance. Too many assets to maintain between servers, storage, UPS, cooling, switching, etc.? Think of the time you would save not having to worry about supporting infrastructure and being able to concentrate on keeping the IT infrastructure up-to-date.  
7. Capital Budgetary Constraints. Waiting for your CAPEX budget to be released? What if you can forget about the capital to expand or build a new facility? Colocation monthly fees fall into the operating expense or OPEX category.  
8. Network Management & Monitoring. Is your facility manned 7x24? Many colocation facilities have around-the-clock network operations personnel ready and waiting for a failure. Sure beats yanking the IT manager out of bed. 
9. WAN Connectivity. What happens when the network goes down? Colocation providers have facilities from more than one network services provider and, because of the volume of services, can provide truly separate infrastructures.
10. Offsite Backup & Disaster Recovery. Still taking tapes offsite? Worried about the financial impact of a data center down condition? How about the peace of mind knowing you stored your critical data offsite at a colocation specializing in backup and disaster recovery?  

All these reasons should be considered when looking at colocation or, for that matter, cloud services. If you are looking for expert advice and analysis relevant to your particular scenario, consider PTS' Data Center Facility Business Strategy Consulting Services. The service analyzes your situation, evaluates potential risks, hidden costs, and other items which can affect making the right decision.

Can Your Data Center Recover From A Disaster?

Looking for a reliable, cost-effective data protection and recovery solution? Tired of tedious tape back-up? Afraid your data center isn’t disaster ready?

PTS Data Center Solutions announced July 10^th it has been accepted as a Strategic Reseller Partner by Quorum. The announcement comes as Quorum continues to build momentum in delivering its appliance and hybrid cloud backup, recovery and continuity solutions. The award-winning Quorum series of appliance and hybrid cloud disaster recovery solutions makes continuity a reality for small to mid-sized companies, letting them recover from any type of disaster within minutes.

Quorum solutions are simple and cost-effective. If your company avoids just 30 minutes of downtime, the Quorum Solution typically pays for itself. The solutions are scaled to support smaller clients with just a few physical or virtual servers but can scale to support larger mid-size clients. The solutions are offered in a range of sizes to match almost any requirement and include processing, de-duplication, storage, and virtualization seamlessly integrated into the appliance.

PTS' President, Pete Sacco, states he is very pleased to be able to deploy Quorum's solutions to our customers. Coupled with PTS' Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery Consulting Services, the Quorum appliance-based and Hybrid Cloud Disaster Recovery Solutions provide PTS clients with peace of mind knowing their revenue, customers, and reputation are safeguarded.

Read the complete press release.

Data Center Move Pitfalls: How to Avoid Them

Data Center relocations are fraught with risks. Unlike other organizations within the enterprise that might have more mundane equipment such as desks, book cases, and file cabinets, data center operators and IT staff must have everything go smoothly. If the move doesn't go as planned, troubles can range from costs associated with replacing or fixing broken servers to company downtime because critical data and applications were lost in the move.

Thus, it is critical to plan. “You cannot plan enough. Poor planning can lead to extended outage, damage to equipment, and all kinds of other problems,” says Michael Petrino, Vice President at PTS Data Center Solutions. “During the preparation for the data center relocation, you need to have many meetings months before the move to ensure that you have all of the backup plans ready to go for the project.”

And remember, since this is not a project you do everyday, make sure to bring all the critical people to the planning events. IT staff must work hand-in-hand with facilities or project management staff employed on these "special projects". The worst scenario is one in which management and/or specific project managers oversee all the elements of the move but don't see or understand the complexity of the IT migration or the need for specialized IT moving personnel.

Also of concern, have your IT staff look at the age of the IT infrastructure. Old servers, switches, and storage devices which are already out-of-warranty are a major risk when subjected to the strains and stressed evident in an IT relocation. Planning activities should consider what, if any, IT infrastructure should be replaced with new, in warranty equipment that is less likely to fail during the data center move. This is also a great time to consider reducing the overall footprint through server or storage consolidation using virtualization technologies. Not only does this reduce the burden in terms of items to move and, therefore, relocation cost, but it's a great way to replace older physical servers with virtualized servers running on new virtualized hosts, eliminating the need to move those old server.

Consider leveraging a reputable third party to support the rare data center move. For example, professional IT movers will use specialized packing materials, such as sea bins with foam, blankets, and plastic, and sometimes use the packing materials from the equipment manufacturer, Petrino says. A consultancy firm will have a proven data center relocation methodology and should also know which firms are certified to move specific OEM products so the company can maintain warranties. “You do not just call up any moving company out of the phone book,” Petrino says. “Most companies are not insured to cover a data center equipment move and associated custom insurance.” 

Finally, even superior planning cannot offset the unexpected failure. Contingency planning is critical when relocating mission critical assets and should be a core component of your data center relocation plan. Know what you will do ahead of time if a server doesn't start-up, a UPS fails after them move and re-commissioning or theft means a lost data store. Planning for a failure is better than scrambling when it occurs.

DCIM Made Simple 

Last week's Triple Play Lunch & Learn was a resounding success. Feedback from attendees was extremely positive as presentings from PTS Data Center Solutions, RF Code,  Rackwise, and No Limits Software providers viewers with a variety of thought provoking approaches to improve management of their data center systems.

As an added bonus, attendees were able to take advantage of 3 "signing bonuses" offered by the vendors to add to or upgrade their current DCIM solutions. If you were unable to attend but would like to learn more about the signing bonuses and DCIM solutions, please contact us. And remember, consider our leading DCIM tools to:

• Know where your assets are in the facility and in their lifecycle
• Discover how your assets are performing 
• Use discovered and trended data to plan and optimize your data center with tools you are already familiar with

Puzzling Over Effective Computer and Server Room Design

Creating an effective computer or server room design is a bit like piecing together a jigsaw puzzle. Unless you’re a glutton for punishment (which, I admit, some of us probably are), you wouldn’t get started on a puzzle without making sure you had all the right pieces or without looking at the picture on the box to see how the finished puzzle is supposed to look. In order to get the project done as efficiently and effectively as possible, you need to assess the puzzle’s pieces, make a game plan, and then begin work in a systematic manner.

When creating a server room design, not only do you need to take stock of all the elements of the server room, you also need to consider the way those components work together. It’s rare that you get a server room design right on the first try – throughout the design process, you’ll need to adjust for different design elements to make sure the systems work harmoniously.

To make sure your team has all its pieces in place, begin by meeting with your IT and facility staff to review your server room objectives based on your existing systems and facility. With your company’s design goals in mind, your team can evaluate the availability expectations as well as the requirements for your server room’s power and cooling density. The Planning & Feasibility stage defines the scope, schedule and budget for the new server or computer room. You can develop a conceptual server room design and draw up construction budgets and timelines.

With feasibility accomplished and a high level plan in place you are ready to move to the Engineering & Design phase. The end result of your design project should be a server room that not only provides enhanced scalability, flexibility and server availability, but also concurrent maintainability and fault-tolerance against failures in which a component must be replaced.

To evaluate the quality of your server room design, consider the following points:

1. The server room should accommodate your current needs, as well as your facility’s expansion for up to five years in the future. If it doesn’t, you may need to go back to the drawing board.
2. Your location should be centralized and in a secure location. Try to avoid placing the server room near in the basement, on the ground floor, near bathrooms, and near the roof or exterior walls because of flooding and climate control issues. Also, avoid high traffic areas in order to improve the security of your server room.
3. When evaluating your server room’s power and cooling requirements, don’t stop with just the servers or the air conditioning system. Consider the impact of air flow, floor space, lighting, UPS, fans, and other hardware. Each of these elements affects your design’s power and cooling loads. You may have to revisit your plans multiple times to create an efficient server room design.
4. Take security seriously. Control access to your server room via auditable methods and consider installing security cameras.

The true test of an effective server room is whether your design will allow for future expansion while remaining reliable and cost-effective in the present time. Through careful planning, you can design a sophisticated, successful server room that meet your company’s demands for years to come.

PTS Data Data Center Solutions Open House Highlighted by Emerson Network Power Smart Solutions Tour

On May 16, 2012, PTS Data Center Solutions hosted a half-day open house featuring the Smart Solutions by Emerson Network Power. Attendees had the opportunity to tour the SmartRow solution, talk to PTS engineers about their emerging data center design requirements, and explore possible implementation of the solution within their own environments. In addition, conversations ranged from Emerson's powerful new DCIM solution, Trellis, to the latest design techniques used in green data center design and energy efficiency programs.

Smart Solutions are an alternative to traditional design. They allow data center managers to:

• Quickly increase data center capacity
• Improve energy efficiency and space utilization
• Offer location flexibility and capability with existing infrastructure
• Lower data center operating costs through lower PuE
• Deploy higher density zones in their legacy data centers

To learn more, please contact PTS or call us at 201-337-3833.

Still Manually Collecting Data to Make Decisions for Your Data Center?

DCIM made simple: When you select open solutions that were designed to make use of and integrate with tools you already have and know, DCIM will be embraced by your organization.

 

No Limits Software, RF Code, Rackwise & PTS Data Center Solutions present, "A Lunch & Win with DCIM Experts: A Triple Play Score for Your Data Center!"

Have lunch with Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) category experts and discover the triple play that guarantees success for the implementation and continuous use of DCIM in your organization:    

• Know where your assets are throughout their lifecycle 
• Discover how your assets are performing throughout their lifecycle 
• Use discovered and trended data to plan and optimize your data center with tools you are already familiar with

The 1st Lunch & Win seminar you must attend this year. You'll gain a clear understanding of today's DCIM field and how simple it is to get on base. There will be promotional offers to help attendees score this Triple Play with ease.

• LOCATION: Chart House - Weehawken, NJ
• DATE: Wednesday, June 13th
• TIME: 11:30am - 1:30pm

Learn more and register here.

Emerson Network Power Welcomes Partners into Trellis Pilot Program

Emerson Network Power today welcomed PTS Data Center Solutions and 10 additional channel partners into its Trellis™ Pilot Partner Program. The program is designed to enable this select group of Emerson Network Power partners to effectively and successfully support the Trellis data center infrastructure management (DCIM) platform. 

The Trellis platform is a real-time infrastructure optimization platform that enables the unified management of the data center’s IT and facilities infrastructure, allowing for unprecedented insight and action to achieve optimal data center performance. To help ensure success of the go-to-market strategy for this platform, participants in the pilot program were selected from the Emerson Network Power Innovation Partnership Program based on an intensive screening and interview process that identified channel partners with the strongest data center strategies and activities in place, experience selling complex software and solutions, and commitment to the vision and growth of DCIM.

“We appreciate that Emerson Network Power saw the potential in PTS Data Center Solutions to consider us as a pilot partner for the Trellis launch,” said Pete Sacco, president of PTS Data Center Solutions. “To PTS, it was critical that Emerson Network Power saw the importance and invested in preparing us to take the industry’s most advanced and comprehensive DCIM technology to our clients." 

Read the complete press release.

Learn more about the Trellis Pilot Partner Program.

Learn more about Trellis.

End-to-End Real-Time Power Management from your IT Devices to your Utility Feeds

Power Management at the IT device and utility level is a hot topic today. With legislative  driven by driving data center green initiatives, utility investment in energy audits for clients, and events such as the Con Edison Energy Efficiency Summit, data center managers everywhere are engaged in ways to build high-performance and energy efficient data center facilities.

Famed management consultant Peter Drucker once said, "If you can't measure it, you can't manage it." That statement holds true for data center power management where managers need to be able to effectively monitor and manage power consumption within the facility at both the IT device and utility level.

At the device level, PTS is bullish on the Rack Management Platform (RaMP) solution developed by No Limits Software. RaMP automates the build polls and trends power right from the IPMI chip and through service processors such as iLO & DRAC. It also makes recommendation to take specific action based upon analytics.

At the facility level, the PowerLogic Power & Energy Monitoring System from Square D monitors and measure every level of facility power infrastructure from the utility feed, to main distribution panels, to the transformers, PDU's and circuit breakers feeding data center IT equipment.

Other solutions such as Power Assure provide combined IT & Facilities power monitoring solutions. Also for consideration are other Power Monitoring solutions as well as integrated Data Center Infrastructure Management solutions from Raritan, Packet Power, nlyte Software, Emerson Network Power, RF Code, ServerTech, and Geist to name a few.

To learn more about PTS' Energy Management Services & Solutions, visit us here or contact us.

PTS Exhibiting at Con Edison Energy Efficiency Summit 2012

Join PTS Data Center Solutions at the Con Edison Energy Efficiency Summit on May 1st at the Hilton New York Hotel. The second annual event brings together building contractors, manufacturers, and consultants working to reduce business energy consumption. Many reports state greater than 50% of the power burden for businesses resides in the data center and its IT and facility support infrastructure. Leveraging our proprietary data center & energy usage assessment approach, PTS provides actionable recommendations to reduce energy consumption and green the data center.

Register and get the event details here or learn more about PTS' role as a Market Partner to ConEd focused on assessing and improving energy efficiency within data centers and computer rooms.