Topicfire Cloud Computing News

The Robot-Driven Data Center of Tomorrow

2013-05-22T20:08:36+00:00

Tape libraries, like this one at Google, provide an early example of the use of robotics to manage data centers. Robotic arms (visible at the end of the aisle) can load and unload tapes. (Photo: Connie Zhou for Google) There is an evolution happening within the modern data center. Huge data...

Cloudscaling Raises $10 Million for OpenStack Solutions

2013-05-22T18:27:50+00:00

While OpenStack is once again in the spotlight following Dell’s exit from public cloud, in the background, more venture bets are being placed on OpenStack. The latest is a new $10 million, Series B round for Cloudscaling. The company provides an OpenStack-powered cloud infrastructure system. The funding comes from Trinity...

Building A Data Center Can Be A Blast: A Little TNT Can Help

2013-05-21T15:19:55+00:00

Chris Curtis is the co-founder and SVP of Development for Compass Datacenters. We are publishing a series of posts from Chris that will take you inside the complexity of the construction process for data centers. He will explore the ups and downs (and mud and rain) of constructing data center...

Is Bigger Better? Why Scale Matters in Data Center Economics

2013-05-21T13:21:42+00:00

The DuPont Fabros ACC5 data center in Virginia has 16 huge chillers to provide cooling to the data halls, which house servers for some of the Internet’s largest companies. (Photo: DuPont Fabros) ASHBURN, Va. – Hossein Fateh has a head for numbers. When the discussion turns to the cost of building...

Going Off The Grid: Delaware Data Center Will Generate its Own Power

2013-05-20T17:44:54+00:00

There’s a major project brewing in Delaware, with a group called The Data Centers LLC (TDC) planning a sizeable data center near Newark. TDC says it is planning to invest more than $1 billion in the project, with construction alone for the first two phases expected to be around $400 million. The group wants...

NSA Utah Data Center Facing Unexpected Energy Taxes

2013-05-20T15:03:08+00:00

An artist’s illustration of the plans for the NSA data center at Camp Williams in Utah. The National Security Agency (NSA) finds itself facing millions of dollars in taxes on the electricity usage in its Utah data center as a result of a new law passed by state legislators, according to...

Bionimbus Applies Cloud Power to Genetic Data-Crunching

2013-05-16T16:18:53+00:00

A look at the Beagle supercomputer at the Computation Institute at the University of Chicago. It’s one of the tools the university is using in its biomedical computation program. (Photo: University of Chicago) An ambitious project at the University of Chicago aims to lead the nation in biomedical computation, by making...

DynamoDB Keeps Getting Better (and cheaper!)

2013-05-16T09:35:57+00:00

We love getting feedback so we can deliver the improvements and new features that really matter to our customers. You can see from the pace at which we roll out new functionality that teams across AWS take this very seriously. One of the teams that’s iterating quickly is DynamoDB. They...

Uptime: Flash Storage is Top Data Center Disruptor

2013-05-16T04:28:42+00:00

Andy Lawrence, the VP Research for Datacenter Technologies at 451 Research, presented ratings on which new technologies will create the most disruption in the data center industry at the Uptime Symposium. Which new technologies will genuinely gain traction in the data center industry? At this week’s Uptime Symnposium 2013, analyst Andy...

T5 Data Centers Lines Up $113 Million to Expand Dallas Facility

2013-05-15T18:43:45+00:00

T5 Data Centers has lined up $113 million in debt financing to expand its Dallas data center, pictured above. (Photo: T5 Data Centers) T5 Data Centers has completed a loan for $113 million to expand its data center in Dallas, the company said this week. With this additional loan, T5 Data...

Bloomberg Plans $710 Million Data Center in N.Y. Suburb

2013-05-15T13:38:13+00:00

An illustration depicting what a new data center planned for Orangetown, New York might look like, from a marketing brochure by site owner Russo Development. Bloomberg LP has been identified as the tenant. Financial media giant Bloomberg L.P. is planning to build a $710 million data center in Orangetown, N.Y., a...

CA Integrates Eaton Power Management Into DCIM Suite

2013-05-15T13:19:05+00:00

Two players in the data center management space just got closer. Eaton’s power management technologies, which help increase power reliability and control cost by reducing energy consumption, have been integrated into DCIM software from CA Technologies in a turnkey solution that helps bridge the gap between IT and facilities. Eaton’s power...

AWS OpsWorks Update - Elastic Load Balancing, Monitoring View, More Instance Types

2013-05-15T09:47:01+00:00

Chris Barclay of the AWS OpsWorks team has put together a really nice guest post to introduce you to three new AWS OpsWorks features. -- Jeff; We are pleased to announce three new AWS OpsWorks features that make it even easier to manage your applications: Elastic Load Balancing support, a monitoring view of your...

IO Lines Up $260 Million Credit Line to Fund Modular Vision

2013-05-14T20:41:33+00:00

A look inside an IO modular data center in Edison, New Jersey. The company has arranged a $260 million credit line. (Photo: Rich Miller) Modular data center specialist IO has arranged a new $260 million multi-year credit facility led by Wells Fargo, the company today. IO will use the money to...

DCK Webinar: Data Center Energy Efficiency

2013-05-14T17:04:25+00:00

Data Center Knowledge will host a free webinar on Thursday, May 30 to bring you a comprehensive look at maximizing efficiency in the data center. DCK contributor Julius Neudorfer will present on the hot topic of energy efficiency. Neudorfer is CTO at North American Access Technologies, Inc. Following the presentation, there...

The Azure Cloud, Exposed to the Azure Sky

2013-05-14T16:05:50+00:00

Data center modules packed with servers sit outside at the newest phase of the Microsoft data center in Quincy, Washington. In the background is the vast concrete shell of the company’s initial Quincy data center. (Photo: Microsoft) QUINCY, Washington – As the Windows Azure cloud expands across central Washington, the physical...

NY Times: Data Centers Acting as ‘Wildcat Power Utilities’

2013-05-13T21:05:04+00:00

The New York Times has resumed its critique of the data center business, suggesting that the industry has become a “wildcat power utility” by reselling power to customers at a profit. The Times report examines the use of a common business structure – the real estate investment trust, or REIT –...

Digital Realty Trust Launches DCIM Software

2013-05-13T17:35:18+00:00

Data center developers provide the bricks, mortar, power and ping to support their tenants. But they’re increasingly finding the need to get into the software side of the data center business, offering tools to make management easier. The latest to do so is turnkey wholesale giant Digital Realty Trust, which today...

Beating the Storage Odds in Age of Big Data

2013-05-13T16:41:39+00:00

Ambuj Goyal is general manager, IBM Systems, Storage and Networking. AMBUJ GOYAL IBM Technical evolution moves at different rates and for different reasons. Unlike other areas of computing, for example, storage solutions for distributed systems have evolved as a result of proliferation, rather than more traditional reasons such as price, performance and technical...

Twitter Plans Major Data Center Expansion

2013-05-10T20:40:26+00:00

Twitter has begun a major expansion of its data center infrastructure, adding space on both coasts in anticipation of huge growth for the microblogging service. Late last year, Twitter added about 100,000 square feet of space in a QTS (Quality Technology Services) facility in Atlanta, expanding a data center presence that...

Design for a Dynamic Environment

2013-05-09T20:33:19+00:00

This is the forth article in a series on DCK Executive Guide to Data Center Designs. Historically, data center IT loads have been relatively stable and predictable if viewed over a 24 hour or weekly period. This is beginning to change for several reasons. The first is virtualization, which originally allowed...

Interop News: Mellanox, Marvell, Arista Networks

2013-05-09T18:26:57+00:00

Interop 2013 is being held this week in Las Vegas, with announcements coming from Mellanox, Marvell, and Arista Networks. The Interop event conversation can be followed on Twitter hashtag #interop. Mellanox announces Ethernet Interconnect and InfiniBand/Ethernet gateway Mellanox Technologies (MLNX) announced its end-to-end 56 Gigabit Ethernet product line, an Ethernet-based server and storage...

Obama Signs Open Data Executive Order: U.S. Government Data To Be Made Freely Available

2013-05-09T18:17:44+00:00

Interesting news out of The White House this this morning announcing an Open Data Executive Order signed by President Obama. Along with the order is an accompanying Open Data Policy released by the Office of and Budget and Office of Science and Technology The order states that “going forward, newly generated...

New Zealand Government Announces That Software Will No Longer Be Patentable

2013-05-09T11:03:26+00:00

In a bill passed earlier today, the Government of New Zealand announced that software in the country will no longer be patentable. New Zealand’s largest IT representative body, the Institute of IT Professionals, expressed relief and said the decision removed a major barrier to software-led innovation. The policy was passed in...

Fusion-io Shares Plunge After CEO Departs

2013-05-08T20:35:38+00:00

Shares of flash memory specialist Fusion-io plunged more than 20 percent today after the company announced that CEO and President David Flynn and Chief Marketing Officer Rick White had departed to “pursue entrepreneurial investing activities.” Board member Shane Robison has been named Chairman, CEO and President. Flynn’s sudden departure didn’t sit...