By Steve Altizer, President - Compu Dynamics, LLC Hyperscale and multi-MW (Mega Watt) colocation deployments are driving the unprecedented development of dozens of large data centers. Much of this growth has been focused around major cities such as Ashburn, Dallas, Phoenix, and Chicago, where network providers are able to share traffic. Our experience with data center design and white space de...
By Steve Altizer, Compu Dynamics While the concept of pre-fabricated data centers is nothing new, we’ve recently noticed an elevated level of dialogue on the topic. The term “pre-fabricated” was first applied to data centers approximately 10-12 years ago. At that time, the industry standard was a reconstituted and retrofitted ISO container jam-packed with racks, servers, power, and cooling equ...
In most buildings constructed before the turn of the century, tenants are fighting a losing battle trying to adapt legacy analog telephone closets to serve today’s internet-enabled digital network equipment. In the old days (1990’s), phone closets needed little-to-no ventilation, only a few inches of depth, and perhaps one electrical outlet. Modern network centers (I call them network “center...
Due to recent mass migration to the cloud and an increase in colo facilities, on-premise data centers are far less common than they were just a few short years ago. Those that remain are typically vital to their organization’s mission. For these mission critical data centers, and other on-premise facilities that serve as network closets, it’s crucial that IT infrastructure remains reliably con...
Most major colocation facilities today are built with pressurized raised floor cooling systems. This type of air conditioning design is similar to those that have been in use supporting IT equipment for decades. Over this period of time, IT loads have risen, requiring more air volume to be delivered to the space. In the early days of computing, access floor heights were around twelve inches or...
Lately, it seems like everyone in the cloud environment is playing catch-up. Budgets are increasing with the directive to “go build”. Before you jump into creating the operational processes and selecting partners for national data deployments, it’s crucial that you take the time to find a partner that can provide you with the greatest value and service for your needs. The following should be co...
By Steve Altizer, President, Compu Dynamics, LLC
As a service provider to the colocation industry, we see the interiors of many wholesale, large retail a...
You've decided to move your data center assets to a colocation site. And you've decided on a specific facility. Before you actually implement the move, however, here are five questions to answer first — based on our own real-life experience with our clients. 1. Will you use your colo move as an opportunity to refresh technology, network architecture, server architecture? This could increase th...
Today's data center managers face a variety of challenges. On any given day, they are expected to come up with ways to: