Stretching the Data Center

Data centers are the un-sung heroes of the IT world.

A number of companies pushed off addressing facilities limitations during 2008 & 2009 for budgetary reasons. Now, some facilities are reaching their design limits.

When data centers are designed, the basic questions are how large (square footage), how many watts/square foot (driving power and cooling) and what Tier (defined by organizations like the Uptime Institute and ANSI/TIA 942) see vastly simplified table:

When these design limits are reached, large infrastructure expenditures or cloud-sourcing may be indicated. The resourceful data center manager needs to look at short and long term strategies and alternatives.

One alternative is raising the temperature of the data center. While counterintuitive, today’s equipment can operate at significantly higher temperatures. The ANSI/TIA standard calls for air intake temperature as high as 81 degrees F.

Hot aisle/cold aisle is a key way to maximize efficiency. The cold aisle is maintained at 81, and the hot aisle is, well, hot. Temperatures over 100 degrees F are acceptable.

While not recommended, we know of two companies where the server racks were “spun” 180 degrees with the IT equipment running. Professional millrights were used, and they expertly raised racks, did the spin, and replaced all while a data center technician kept strain off cables. Obviously an extreme approach!

Hot Aisle/Cold aisle containment is also an option. There are elaborate systems for containment, and simpler systems (using the area above the drop ceiling as a return air plenum.

Raised (access) floor systems used for cooling should have all penetrations closed when not used for cooling, and all racks should have blanking systems in place.

http://upsitetechnologies.com/ and http://www.snaketray.com/snaketray_airflowsolutions.html are typical companies offering solutions in this space.

When spot cooling is needed, there are above rack cooling options, and fan options. Here’s one we’ve seen effectively cool a 200 WSF load in a designed 50 WSF data center

From http://www.adaptivcool.com/

We recently were in a facility where the temperature was set to 60 degrees to provide “spot” cooling for an individual rack. This is a very expensive approach for spot cooling.

Another options used to address simple hot spots is increasing the speed on air handlers. The newest air handlers are variable speed. On some older systems, a change in the fan speed may be sufficient to address the air flow needs.

Other companies are taking an all together different approach. By using rack mounted blade servers and a virtualized environment, the overall power and space used in a data center can actually be reduced! Here’s a case where a technology refresh may be the smarter option than a facilities investment.

Every company has unique challenges and one short post cannot address every alternative. The smart data center manager takes the time to understand the root cause of their issues, and through a careful, thoughtful, measured approach can make changes extending the effective lifespan of the data center. And always consult others including MEP engineering firms or strategic IT consulting firms for best practices in your specific environment.
 

Is the Pandemic a bust like Y2K?

Is the Pandemic a bust like Y2K? A real problem that didn’t happen?

Over the last year we have been inundated with messages about the Swine Flu, H5N1. One needs to be vaccinated, one needs to be prepared. Is your family ready, is your business ready? What will you do if the flu strikes? What will you do if you can’t work, infrastructure breaks down? Hmm? What will you do?

Sounds like a bad insurance ad. Well, last year’s flu season has come and gone….and by gosh, the world didn’t come to an end and there were no Monty Python-like scenes of bodies in the streets with shouts of bring out your dead. OK, so I exaggerate but only a little. To listen or read the public health information, the picture painted was dire. Many of us got vaccinated or at least got our children vaccinated.

Thoughts of the Bird Flu or Swine Flu and Pandemic motivated many to action. On the positive side, families got vaccinations, schools and businesses worked to educate and improve health practices. What practices? Like teaching kids to sneeze into their elbow and not sometimes catch it in a little hand. Same for adults. Washing hands thoroughly every time you even walk by a bathroom….and use soap (for the kids of course)

Also, the sale of hand sanitizer went through the roof. Many buildings have dispensers next to all the elevators and stairs.

Is hand sanitizer effective? At one time I used to work in a 30 + story building and was part of the life safety team for fire drills. At the rally point, I had a clipboard and staff rosters. I needed to account for my teams. With my ‘GO KIT’ I also had a bottle of hand sanitizer- a small one the first time, a bigger one the second time and HUGE one the third. Why? Figure there are about 200 people per floor, and you are on floor 20. Heading downstairs, you will put your hand on the railing that 4,000 people just touched. What a great way to spread a cold or other nasty bug. Just think of that, 4.000 people, itching, scratching, picking (ok gross, but you get the picture)

When my teams came up to check in I offered them some hand sanitizer. At first people we ‘nah I’m good.’ After the above scenario, now I see may people sharing a squirt from their own stash of hand sanitizer. Almost reminds me of college days and shots of schnapps. That would work as a sanitizer too and you could drink it <LOL>. Somehow I don’t think the HR folks would be digging that. Sure would improve everyone’s outlook on fire drills! I digress. 

Back in the late 90’s we were all made aware of the dire consequences of not taking action. Planes would from the sky, phones would not work, and everything would stop working. Well, Y2K came and went and nothing happened. Except, we spent a fortune improving infrastructure and testing testing testing with the result that Y2K was a non-event. Post January 1, people asked, “why did we spend that money?” Was it necessary? Would it really have been that bad if new didn’t spend that money?

The parallels with pandemic planning are interesting. Since the predictions of dire results from massive flu outbreaks failed to occur, the predictions are like crying wolf.

The problem is the government ramped up their Pandemic response plan and the pandemic failed to have the impact expected/predicted. Just like Y2K, everyone got hyped up, but Armageddon didn’t happen. The flu failed to cooperate.

It would be nice to say that this isn’t going to happen again. It will. The problem for emergency managers and planners is the public will be skeptical to act so soon after the Swine Flu outbreak of 2009-2010. The take away from this article is being prepared and aware will always be beneficial, it is never a waste of time or resources especially since these plans can be reused and recycled as needed.

Think it doesn’t happen, think again. I was vaccinated against the Measles in 1966. My mother actually had my records! The firm I was working for a few years ago was in the process of buying a smaller firm. During the course of due diligence, many site visits were conducted. Well, lo and behold, some of staff from the target firm had just returned from extended tours overseas in an area of the world that didn’t practice immunization as the US and much of the first world has. The company made a decision everyone in the building needed to either provide proof of immunization or get the shot now.

The firm had a flu/ pandemic/communicable disease plan. They didn’t need to think about a response. They had one ready to roll. The Business Continuity team presented it to senior management with the options. The management team had what they needed on a timely basis, well thought out with options. This allowed them to implement a measured response to the incident.

Regardless of event size, planning and practice will always be beneficial, even if a predicted ‘big event’ doesn’t turn out. While the Swine Flu of last season didn’t turn out to be as bad as anticipated, the H5N1 Avian flu is still building and could break out to be on the scale of the great Flu of 1918. Let’s hope not. Being prepared and aware is the best response.

This post was prepared by John Manning, Associate Partner at Harvard Partners.  

He can be reached at john.manning@harvardpartners.com

Why Apple WINS

My coworkers like to gently rib me about my newfound appreciation for all things Mac.  It’s fun and I enjoy the teasing especially because I’m so often reminded of why Macs and other Apple products are so popular.  Here’s the most recent occasion.

Windows is obviously the OS of the business world and in some ways Macs still can’t quite cut it in the office, so I recently found myself buying Windows 7 Professional. Despite the $300 price tag I was excited to install it (yes, on my Mac via “Parallels”) and found the process simple.  Now, Window’s needs to be protected from evil people who write viruses so bundled with it comes antivirus software – I mean a “Security Suite.”  I don’t wish to slander the famous man (who perfected the smug, arms crossed, “I Have What You Need” look) or company producing this software so instead of calling it by name I’ll refer to it as “Trixie.”

I’m quite sure Trixie is a capable and invaluable product but like most things Windows it is often a royal pain in the backside.   Yes, I want to know I am “protected.”  Yes, I appreciate being told (constantly) Trixie is running in the background (continuously!).  YES, thank you Trixie for cleaning up those temp files where God knows what evil may lurk.  Of course, thank you, dear friend Trixie, for being ever present and in my face about every little thing you do for me and for slowing down my machine as you do it.  I realize I can ask my guardian Trixie to be less intrusive or obvious but have you actually tried to do it?  The point is I shouldn’t have to, it should just come that way.  

Trixie, Microsoft and many Windows-related products don’t understand many technologies should be ubiquitous and invisible.  Apple gets this hugely important notion and that’s why people who are new to Macs say they are so easy to use.  Think about your corporate network—or any network.  Good ones are just there and work.  They don’t tell me about how they are forwarding my packets or travelling long distances at light speed just to deliver my information, they just do what they are supposed to do.  Printing is another example (ok, except when the printer is jammed or out of paper).  I appreciate how powerful Windows tools can be but they should just work and not haunt me about every little thing they are doing.  It seems to remain important and relevant (read: something someone will pay for) Microsoft and its pals must make sure you know their software is there working its little kernel off.  So they tell you.  Constantly.

If all the meany virus authors got together and decided I’m sure they could cause serious problems for Macs, necessitating more significant “Security Suite” software to save us.  However, I’m equally sure Apple and its partner vendors would figure out how to do it with behind-the-scenes elegance that just works and doesn’t have to tell me about it all the time.  They get what Microsoft still doesn’t.

This post was prepared by Charles Kling, Associate Partner at Harvard Partners.

He can be reached on his Mac at charles.kling@harvardpartners.com

AT&T & Apple

A federal judge has thrown down the gavel at Apple and AT&T allowing a class action lawsuit to proceed against the two companies. Here are our thoughts.

Full disclosure: I am a technologist, not a lawyer. I am an AT&T (wireless) customer (because the service at my home is great), and have been from back in the day when AT&T stood for American Telephone and Telegraph and they ran wires (yes, wires) to everyone’s home. And they provided the devices at the end of the wires…actual telephones.

One would think there would be some antitrust lawyers still hanging around AT&T (the name resurrected by Southwestern Bell¹), AT&T Wireless (formerly Cingular) and Apple because the current series of lawsuits makes it very reminiscent of the old days.

AT&T’s biggest saving grace may be it is a separate company from Apple, although words like “collusion” come to mind.

If you buy an iPhone, it only works on AT&T’s network. AT&T sells 2 year deals, and it’s our understanding there is a 5 year agreement between AT&T and Apple.

Apple is tightly controlling the applications on the iPhone. For a company priding itself on being open, they get a little persnickety when it comes to pesky competitors like Google using their device.

If your iPhone drops calls, is it the nifty new case antenna,

Or an AT&T network issue?

Or an AT&T capacity issue? One would think the production and sales forecasters at Apple would share projections with AT&T allowing AT&T to build out capacity on demand.

AT&T’s response is brilliant. Manage capacity by deploying wi-fi in congested areas (a good move), and raising prices.

Consumers have the ability to use other carriers is they are willing to carry extra devices. We’ve done this in our labs and it works fine….albeit with the drawback of needing a Tumi bag to carry all the accessories.

We’re not big fans of litigation and the associated costs. We are big fans of open markets.

So we believe the justice department may have some fun with this one. While separate companies, there’s a certain about of blending going on. Until the result is in years and years from now, we may be better watching “Will it Blend?” video, or using arguably less aesthetically appealing devices offered on other carriers. 

¹ AT&T was “broken up” following the 1974 U.S. Department of Justice antitrust lawsuit against AT&T, United States v. AT&T, leading to a settlement finalized on January 8, 1982, where “Bell System” agreed to divest its local exchange service operating companies, in return for a chance to go into the computer business, AT&T Computer Systems. Effective January 1, 1984, AT&T’s local operations were split into seven independent Regional Holding Companies, also known as Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs), or “Baby Bells”.

All logos and trademarks are the ownership of their respective companies. 

Tradeoffs – Lessons for IT from the Gulf Disaster

Seeing a “Gulf Disaster – Tracking the Numbers” chart on CNN.COM this morning made me ill:

CNN.COM June 29, 2010, 9:00AM EST

As an engineer by training, and a lifelong technologist, I know there’s no good reason for the shortcuts taken by my fellow engineers on at BP.

And while the company is working feverishly to clean up their image, the Gulf area will take decades at minimum to recover:

BP Website

Think about systems in the rest of the world. In the following picture in a hospital ER room, there are

Picture by Author

a wide variety of systems working together in harmony and safely. There’s power, oxygen, vacuum, heart monitor, eye/ear devices, and the ubiquitous television (the TV is out of the picture, and the control is not.) And then there are mechanical systems (gurney, HVAC, structural, lighting, etc.) This picture was taken with a RIM BlackBerry, and sent to my hosted Microsoft Exchange email over the AT&T network.

By having solid designs and safeguards, these tools make the medical profession more effective and save lives.

When it comes to energy, we shouldn’t have to decide between oil or the environment. Engineers know how to do things safely. When shortcuts are taken (as is now being suggested in the Gulf), inevitably “bad” things happen.

Engineers are not infallible. Mistakes, or out of bound conditions do happen even to the best with disastrous results:

tokyo5.wordpress.com/2009/07/

As systems types, we are often “under the gun” to deliver things quickly. And with some planning, “just in time” philosophies, and some smarts, we can deliver!

When you are asked to make a professional compromise….consider alternatives to mitigate risks and achieve the objectives. And remember what can happen when risks are not mitigated.

Free WiFi – as a Public Service

Like the “all you can eat” buffet, wireless carriers are scrambling to change their menus to ala carte.

Soon, the one price covers all usage plans will be replaced with tiers offering a “pay as you go” approach.

Personally, I think this is subtlety devastating. Whether on a SmartPhone, PC or an “iWhatever”, the ability to capture large amounts of data to a remote device is on the increase.

I’ve been lured to watching the oil gushing from the bottom of the Gulf sea, waiting expectantly for the oil to stop leaking and hearing a neighborhood cheer in unison for the triumph of good over evil. And if one feed isn’t enough, BP offers 12 live feeds from their remotely operated vehicles: http://www.bp.com/genericarticle.do?categoryId=9033572&contentId=7062605

That’s more content than I get at my local Cineplex.

So as AT&T, Verizon and others begin ratcheting up costs and reducing my ability to affordably stay abreast of current events (or watch YouTube), what are we to do? Reach farther into our pockets during a challenging economic time to help AT&T?

I respectfully submit there’s a better way, and the Town of Brookline, MA is the working model. In a unique partnership the Town of Brookline offers residents free wireless on a merged wireless/public safety network.

Announced in 2007 this program has been working successfully allowing residents full access.

http://www.brooklinema.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=275&Itemid=242

Here’s an example of a town well ahead of its time. Other towns are following suit (for example, parts of Boston are now “lit”.)

While a grass roots effort could be undertaken opening free wireless via home wi-fi, a coordinated approach would have better coverage and maintainability.

All towns should look into providing “free” wireless to their citizens as a value added service.

Back to Basics

The battery in my backpack sprayer doesn’t seem to hold a charge any longer. Trying to spray for weeds with a battery operated device with a non-functioning battery is a problem! Ordering the replacement exposed one IT organization’s weak customer focus.

Recognizing the battery was on charge over night and just wasn’t working any longer, I sat down for lunch on the deck at a favorite restaurant Saturday noon and did a quick Google search for a SHURFlo battery pack using my trusty BlackBerry 9700. Sure enough, one of my suppliers where I have free shipping has the battery in stock!

As much as I love the BlackBerry, I’ve used the browser enough to know it’s never a great experience trying to order over the browser. It’s not about security, it’s about the BlackBerry browser tending to be rather limited…and inevitably not working quite right (Apple has it right on the iWhatever, RIM isn’t in the same league.)

In any event, I decided to call Gempler’s and place an order by phone. After all, lunch hadn’t arrived, and I was heavy into multi-tasking.

After an extended hold (odd – it’s a Saturday), the representative from Gempler’s gets on the phone.

“I’m sorry sir, our systems are down for an upgrade. We can’t tell you pricing or availability.”

Hold on, the website shows the price as $42. Why can’t you see that?

“I’m sorry sir, I can’t see pricing or availability.”

At this point, getting an order through becomes sport. “Can you take an order?”

“Yes, I can’t tell you pricing or availability.”

“So, hold on. I can see pricing and availability (at least for quantity one) on the web. You can take an order and can’t tell me pricing or availability. We can work as a team to get through this, right?”

Pause. “Ahhhh, yes, I can take an order, I can’t tell you pricing or availability.”

We now know the back end processing for Gempler’s is separate from the web interface. We also know the IT staff at Gempler’s hasn’t planning for concurrent maintenance, instead preferring to take the production environment down for an upgrade.

I’m not in the business of selling “work stuff” like Gempler’s, and somehow a weekend in May sounds like a reasonable time to have an upgrade. What is unclear is how the IT staff could leave customer service so incapacitated.

There are many ways to avoid a situation like this. Upgrade the Disaster Recovery environment first, then use it as production. Let the Customer Service people use the web interface. Freeze one environment, and apply changes after the fact. Do the upgrade “after hours” or during a holiday when customer service is otherwise unavailable (Gemplers understandably doesn’t offer 24 hour live customer service.)

Full disclosure: Gempler’s is a good company I’ve otherwise regularly used happily. GEMPLER’S® is a division of GHC Specialty Brands, LLC (whomever they are.)

The Gemplers’ IT staff forgot Gempler’s is in business to service customers. The reason Gemplers’ IT exists is NOT to do upgrades during the day.

And imagine the irony when calling on Monday morning to check the status of my order (it is not showing up on-line) when the person at the other end of the call was…the same customer service rep! Yes, your order is placed! Great team effort.

Interpersonal Communications - an argument for Desktop Video

Here are my communications preferences in order:

• Face to face
  
• Video
  
• Telephone
  
• Email
  
• Text
  
• Social Media (Twitter/ Facebook)
  
• Snail Mail
  

Call me a “high touch” kind of guy…and I personally value the ability to judge the non-verbals.

For years, business has been conducted face to face, telephone and email (for memorializing EVERY statement for latter retrieval instant retrieval.) Video was reserved for use in conference rooms, with very expensive equipment.

And not that long ago I had a Tandberg desktop video system…very pricey, great quality, and super for my calls to Hong Kong (where my friend William would enjoy breakfast as I was munching on dinner….obviously an arrangement suitable when people are comfortable with each other.

Today, I use Skype all the time. Skype allows simple low cost (free if you use an existing connection, and you’ll need a camera (standard in many laptops these days and speakers) video communications. What could be simpler?

By working remotely, yet staying in touch with Skype, a basic tenant of work mobility is attained.

With video, the non-verbals are apparent (my partner Matt does an expressive eye-roll easily seen on video…and conversely he can observe me staring out the window as I think about a comeback for something I’m reacting to….)

Skype is now in Beta for group video (a function competitor ooVoo already offers.) Group video allows a small team to work together and hold meetings. Desktop video offers a virtual alternative to having to be there for the staff meeting.

It also drives home the importance of a recent survey by Plantronics, the company producing the headsets used in many companies, about the adoption of Unified Communications, systems bringing together the full suite of communications, from online chat to Voice over IP to mobile technologies. The survey found the biggest companies already have Unified Computing strategies, with only two percent of the Fortune 1000 not considering it.

What often gets in the way is security. The Data Security people need to engage early and acknowledge cutting off the network may not be the BEST security profile. To the contrary, they need to understand how to allow advanced technologies in a secure manner.

Also, desktop video is a great way for keeping up with the kids at college. While their preferred method of communications is texting, checking in with video is a way to see how they are adjusting in college…or being Dr. Mom/Dad if the student has a cold.

Plug and Run 2

Why don’t software and services just work?

My friend Matt has decided to use Microsoft SharePoint as a collaborative tool in his business. The companies’ email provider offers SharePoint, but at a price far in excess of a large, well known company (did I say Network Solutions?)

Matt likes working weekends. It is his down time….and a perfect time to implement SharePoint.

Here we are Monday afternoon and it is still not working.

Why?

Matt is a sophisticated user. He can write code (sometimes the bane of my existence), and is very, very patient (a trait I want to learn!)

Matt has been on the phone with Network Solutions through the weekend. Their support clearly has scripts to follow, and sadly doesn’t seem to understand when the request is silly.

For example:

• “What browser are you using?” IE 8.
• “Please try a different browser.” Huh? Why? Does this make any sense?

Matt patiently searches the Microsoft site, applying knowledge base patches seeming to match. Network Solutions is on the hook to call back…and hasn’t so far.

Why is this so hard?

Personally, I wouldn’t have the patience…it should just work out of the box. Matt is paying for this service; it is not “free.” Obviously there is some subtle set up issue somewhere…

Is it possible Matt is the first to use SharePoint on Vista or Windows 7? Not likely.

Between Microsoft, who ultimately owns SharePoint, and Network Solutions, who is offering this a service, the code should just work.

Skype works this way… Oh yeah, it’s free. Maybe that’s Matt’s mistake.

Plug and Run

I want software to plug and run. Plug and play wastes my time. Too many times I find myself having to play to get things to work.

I recently upgraded the Counterpath softphone software on my Windows 7 PC. The old version (2.5) didn’t uninstall, the settings didn’t come over (even though I accepted the option to do so) and the software couldn’t connect to the PBX server. After emailing the vendor for support for this (paid) product, I have time to shoot off a Curriculotta on the topic since I can’t make or receive phone calls.

This is after spending 40 minutes today getting a “Plug and Play” router to work (a Verizon Novatel “MiFi” device.) In the end, the software had to be installed twice, the promised process to set up an account never appeared, and I had to hunt around to get it to work. Once set up it has worked fine. Technical skills needed to get this to work were 1.5 on a 1 to 5 scale. Why didn’t it work immediately?

And how about McAfee with their most recent virus software update prompting infinite reboots?

After all these years of writing software, why can’t we make it work seamlessly?

I contend we can. Those Apple people have it good. Apple understands most humans don’t want to look under the covers at the bits and bytes. Humans want software to install easily, configure instantly, and work. Apple shows we know how to do this.

Companies need to understand most humans don’t want to do configurations. We want the software to work. We want it to install silently. We don’t want to reboot. If a product needs to be brought down, and back up, then just do it. Don’t involve us in your software upgrade process.

Windows 7 took me 7 hours on the phone with Dell support. My HP 8500 multifunction printer works perfectly on XP, and chokes on Windows 7 (even the Mark Hurd executive escalation group failed at getting it to work.)

iTunes updated on my PC today. It politely asked if I wanted to upgrade, then worked quietly in the background. My iPhone upgrades similarly, although I can’t take out of the cradle during an upgrade. (One could argue Apple takes advantage of their generally silent upgrade process by sending a large number of large updates.)

My Verizon FiOS cable box upgrades silently (I’m normally asleep during the upgrade.)

As professionals and consumers, it’s time we raise the bar on what we produce and accept. Shoddy install and upgrade processes need to be escalated as issues…companies do respond to squeaky wheels, and as a community we can be vocal.

That said, it starts with us. When was the last time you wrote software silently installing or upgrading?

Editors note: 24 hours later and the SoftPhone still is not working. An article on vendor support models (including email support) will appear later!