1. Articles from InformationWeek

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    1. Federal Data Center Consolidation: By The Numbers

      Explore InformationWeek (Nov 16 2011) Cloud Computing

      Federal Data Center Consolidation: By The Numbers The government is moving forward with a massive data center consolidation initiative that will slash the number of federal data centers by 40% from more than 2,000 to about 1,200 by 2015, according to Lisa Schlosser, deputy administrator of the Office of Management and Budget's office of e-government and IT. The government says it's ahead of its initial schedule, and plans to close 195 data centers by the end of 2011 alone, with 178 more to be closed next year. Schlosser says the consolidation initiative shouldn't be defined by data center closures alone. But the number of data centers and closures will remain key measurements of the government's success. (Read Full Article)

      Comment Mentions:   Department of Homeland Security   Department of Energy   Office of Management and Budget

    2. 6 Lessons Learned From FedEx's Private Cloud

      Explore InformationWeek (Sep 13 2011) Construction , Cloud Computing

      6 Lessons Learned From FedEx's Private Cloud FedEx in the fall of 2010 opened a new data center in Colorado Springs, Colo., that is intended to function as its "general purpose, workload agnostic" computing environment--in short, as its private cloud, said Rob Carter, executive VP and CIO. He said he implemented what he views as the "dominant design" for future data centers, taking his cue from what he's seen Salesforce.com, Twitter, and Facebook build for themselves. Here are six conclusions on how to do that, based on his talk Monday at the InformationWeek 500 conference in Dana Point, Calif. More Cloud Insights White Papers A Revolutionary Approach to Cloud Building Driving Business Growth with Integrated CRM Analytics Strategy: The Hybrid Enterprise Data Center SaaS and E-Discovery: Navigating Complex Waters Webcasts Outsourcing Security: What Every Potential Cloud Security Customer Should Know Effective IT Inventory and Asset Management: From Quagmire to Quick Fix Videos TechWebTV catches up ... (Read Full Article)

      Comment Mentions:   Amazon.com   Facebook   LEED

    3. Data Center Outages Generate Big Losses

      Explore InformationWeek (May 12 2011) Cloud Computing

      Data Center Outages Generate Big Losses Downtime in a data center can cost an average of $505,500 per incident, according to a Ponemon Institute study. Sure data center failures are costly, but how costly? Try an average of $5,600 per minute, according to a study of outages at U.S.-based data centers by the Ponemon Institute. "Calculating the Cost of Data Center Outages," by the Ponemon Institute, analyzed costs associated with downtime at 41 data centers across varying industry segments with a minimum size of 2,500 square feet. The study was sponsored by Emerson Network Power, a provider of storage and energy products and services, among other things. (Read Full Article)

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    4. How To Build A Modern Data Center

      Explore InformationWeek (Apr 27 2011) Solar , Cloud Computing

      How To Build A Modern Data Center Borrowing ideas from Google, Facebook, and Microsoft, Vantage is building three wholesale data centers in Santa Clara that focus on energy efficiency. A new type of data center is going up in Santa Clara, Calif., built by Vantage, a specialist in creating modern computing space. The facility's design and energy use is only one step behind the leaders in the field, Google and Facebook. Unlike Vantage, however, Google and Facebook tend to build their data centers in remote, optimum locations like the Columbia River Valley, where power is cheap, or in central Oregon where the cool nights and high desert climate aid in the fight to keep densely packed computer equipment from overheating. (Read Full Article)

      Comment Mentions:   Google   Facebook   CA

    5. Government Outlines Data Center Consolidation Goals

      Explore InformationWeek (May 12 2010) Cloud Computing , Servers

      Government Outlines Data Center Consolidation Goals The federal government is aiming through its government-wide data center consolidation effort to increase server virtualization four-fold or more, double or triple the number of virtual machines per host, increase server utilization several times over, and make significant gains in energy efficiency. While Department of Treasury CIO Michael Duffy said at an event Wednesday morning that those proposed goals -- noted in a PowerPoint slide that was part of his presentation -- are still "notional" and that proposed metrics will likely be changed or supplemented once the government finishes compiling the results of a self-reported data center audit, they help give a sense of the significance of the task the government has ahead of it. "We're going for substantial change in efficiency and utilization of the computing resources we have," he said. (Read Full Article)

      Comment Mentions:   Office of Management and Budget

    6. Earth Day Data Center Makeover

      Explore InformationWeek (Apr 21 2010) Servers

      Earth Day Data Center Makeover There's no doubt that new investments in green technology are big business. But, this Earth Day, consider making some low tech investments in your data center to save energy as well as scarce budget dollars. I recently spoke to Rick Tashman with Syscom, a firm that does work with Xerox, McGraw-Hill, Merrill Lynch, among others. They've been doing what they call "extreme data center makeovers" for their clients, and here are some free tips that you can apply at your data center to be green and save a little green. (Read Full Article)

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    7. NASA Shifts Data Center Strategy

      Explore InformationWeek (Mar 9 2010) Cloud Computing , Servers

      NASA Shifts Data Center Strategy NASA, which had been planning to build a new enterprise data center estimated to cost $1.5 billion, has done an abrupt about-face, announcing late last month that it was planning major changes to its data center strategy. In an announcement posted on the site of NASA's long-term, multi-billion dollar IT transformation project, the Information Technology Infrastructure Integration Program (I3P), NASA said that it was postponing the release of a long-awaited request for proposal for the new data center in light of new White House policies and leadership changes at NASA. "NASA intends to create a data center consolidation plan to incorporate all data centers, systems and applications," the announcement said. (Read Full Article)

      Comment Mentions:   Vivek Kundra

    8. HP Unveils Huge Data Center Cooled By Wind

      Explore InformationWeek (Feb 11 2010)

      HP Unveils Huge Data Center Cooled By Wind The latest addition to the exotic new-wave data centers we wrote about recently—including an ice-cooled former NATO command center in Iceland and a new tourist attraction at Disney World—is Hewlett-Packard's 360,000-square-foot UK facility cooled by the bracing winds from the nearby North Sea. Here are some of the highlights of the new facility, which was originally the brainchild of EDS, the global IT services provider that HP acquired in 2008. For more details, be sure to check out the complete story in Web Host Industry Review. (Read Full Article)

      Comment Mentions:   Iceland   Hewlett Packard   Web Host Industry Review

    9. Server Den: Architectural Differentiation To Dominate In 2010

      Explore InformationWeek (Jan 5 2010) Servers

      Server Den: Architectural Differentiation To Dominate In 2010 Sifting the server tea leaves for the new year, one sees clear signs of both the market doldrums lifting and of renewed vigor on the architectural front. The upshot is that 2010 will be an exciting year. Spurred by processor innovations from Intel and AMD, we'll see a pitched battle for market leadership among IBM, HP, and Dell. So-called niche players could also have an impact. I'm thinking in particular of Sun, which will reposition itself by refocusing on its high-end offerings, after it has been absorbed into Oracle. More Hardware Insights WhitepapersThe AMD Processor Roadmap for HP ProLiant ServersTV 2.0 - The Big Screen PC WebcastsAutoVirt 3.0 For Unstructured Data Management5 Keys to Driving Down Data Protection Costs While Increasing IT Service Levels: Smart Moves You Can Make Now ReportsIntel's Sean Maloney Talks Nehalem, And MoreHTML 5 Starts Looking Real (Dr. Dobbs) Videos Bay Area ... (Read Full Article)

      Comment Mentions:   Intel   Oracle   IBM

    10. Is an Energywasting Data Center Draining Your Bottom Line?

      Explore InformationWeek (Nov 24 2009) Power and Cooling

      Is an Energywasting Data Center Draining Your Bottom Line? Overview: An unforgiving economic climate has left many organizations struggling to sustain (or restore) profitability. Many of them reacted to the downturn by restructuring, trimming back R&D and marketing, and laying off employees. All of these moves leave a company in a vulnerable position when the market rebounds, which it inevitably will. Meanwhile, huge potential savings are sitting, untapped, right in the company’s data center. Data center energy costs as a percent of total revenue are at an all time high. (Read Full Article)

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    11. What IT Teams Bring To Green Building Efforts

      Explore InformationWeek (Nov 13 2009) Carbon Footprint , Networking

      What IT Teams Bring To Green Building Efforts People get drawn into information technology work for a lot of reasons, but seldom because they have a passion for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems. However, the extreme power and cooling demands of modern data centers have forced IT pros to build expertise in facilities management, and in some cases that's helping them move their companies toward greener, smarter buildings. A smart building is one that uses networked sensors and controls and centralized monitoring and management to improve the efficiency of its operation. Even amid an economic downturn that has been particularly hard on commercial construction, the market for such facilities is being spurred by high energy costs and carbon footprint concerns, reinforced by federal stimulus dollars. (Read Full Article)

      Comment Mentions:   Gartner

    12. NSA To Build $1.5 Billion Cybersecurity Data Center

      Explore InformationWeek (Oct 30 2009) Construction , Power and Cooling

      NSA To Build $1.5 Billion Cybersecurity Data Center The National Security Agency, whose job it is to protect national security systems, will soon break ground on a data center in Utah that's budgeted to cost $1.5 billion. The NSA is building the facility to provide intelligence and warnings related to cybersecurity threats, cybersecurity support to defense and civilian agency networks, and technical assistance to the Department of Homeland Security, according to a transcript of remarks by Glenn Gaffney, deputy director of national intelligence for collection, who is responsible for oversight of cyber intelligence activities in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. More Security Insights WhitepapersHP Exstream For Public Sector OverviewHP Exstream For Tax And Revenue Agencies WebcastsNavigating Business in Stormy Conditions with Event ProcessingTapping into the Information Pipeline in Real-Time: Creating new levels of visibility and control for the Oil and Gas Industry ReportsBreach DiariesVirtual Servers, Real Risks Videos Juniper CEO Kevin Johnson talks ... (Read Full Article)

      Comment Mentions:   Department of Homeland Security   LEED   NBC

    13. Obama Orders Federal IT To Get Greener

      Explore InformationWeek (Oct 7 2009) Carbon Footprint , Emissions

      Obama Orders Federal IT To Get Greener "In order to create a clean energy economy that will increase our nation's prosperity, promote energy security, protect the interests of taxpayers, and safeguard the health of our environment, the federal government must lead by example," Obama wrote in the order. The order means that sustainability will increasingly be factored into government acquisition of IT products and services. It's "going to make all of us look at what we do with IT with a new eye," said Jeff Eagan, electronics stewardship coordinator for the Department of Energy, during a panel discussion at 1105 Media's Virtualization, Cloud Computing & Green IT Summit in Washington. (Read Full Article)

      Comment Mentions:   Barack Obama   Department of Energy

    14. Google Plans Private Government Cloud

      Explore InformationWeek (Sep 16 2009) Cloud Computing

      Google Plans Private Government Cloud In conjunction with federal CIO Vivek Kundra's launch of Apps.gov and declaration of support for cloud computing, Google on Tuesday said that it plans to create a government cloud to provide government agencies with access to Google services in an environment more suited to government security and policy requirements. "The government cloud will come from Google-owned-and-operated facilities," said Google Enterprise director of product management Matthew Glotzbach, in a phone interview. "It will be sections of existing facilities. But it will be a fully parallel instance of Google Apps. The difference being we're working with the government to meet the specific needs of government data regulations." (Read Full Article)

      Comment Mentions:   Google   Vivek Kundra   Energy Department

    15. First Look At Amazon's Oregon Data Center

      Explore InformationWeek (Sep 14 2009) Construction

      First Look At Amazon's Oregon Data Center Amazon.com has confirmed that a major data center under construction on the Columbia River in Oregon belongs to the company. Work at the site, however, has quietly come to a halt. Until now, Amazon's involvement in the data center project at the Port of Morrow, a 9,000-acre industrial complex in Boardman, Ore., has been largely a matter of speculation. The company listed as the data center's owner is Vadata Inc., an obscure company without even a Web site. Recently, after an investigation by InformationWeek, Amazon confirmed that Vadata is a legal entity of Amazon, lifting some of the mystery around Vadata and establishing Amazon's involvement in the new data center. The Oregonian reported in November that plans called for the project to be carried out over six phases, starting with the construction of a 116,700-square-foot building to be followed by two more on the ... (Read Full Article)

      Comment Mentions:   Amazon.com   Google   CA

    16. Dept. Of Energy Neglects Own Advice On Energy-Efficient IT

      Explore InformationWeek (Jun 11 2009) Monitoring , Emissions , Cloud Computing

      Dept. Of Energy Neglects Own Advice On Energy-Efficient IT The Department of Energy falls far short in following its own advice for energy-efficient information technology, a new departmental inspector general report finds. For example, the report, which follows up on a similar one issued last October, finds that although the Energy Department gives guidance to turn off PCs and monitors if they are idle, departmental processes didn't ensure that these features were enabled on the 46,345 PCs at the sites reviewed by the inspector general. This is despite a federal regulation that requires agencies to turn on power management features. More Insights White PapersNow more than ever, your field workers must be "ON"Practical Advice for Leveraging CICS in an SOAWebcastsBuilding an Agile Enterprise for Rapid ResponseCA Records Manager Introductory Corporate DemonstrationReportsThe Pain Of E-DiscoveryVirtual I/O Ups BandwidthVideos From the exhibit floor at Interop Las Vegas 2009, InformationWeek Global CIO editor Bob Evans explains the issues ... (Read Full Article)

      Comment Mentions:   Department of Energy