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Cogent De-peers Limelight Networks
In recent days Internet backbone operator Cogent Communications (CCOI) has reportedly discontinued traffic-swapping agreements with several providers, most notably content delivery network Limelight Networks (LLNW). These arrangements, known as "peering" in the network community, allow providers to exchange traffic with one another at no cost (or low cost) by establishing direct connections between their networks, instead of routing traffic across the public Internet. Reports this weekend on the mailing list for the North American Network Operators Group (NANOG) indicated that Cogent "de-peered" Limelight on Friday and WV Fiber on Sept. 17.
As we noted last April, Cogent is best known for two things: cheap bandwidth and peering controversies. At the time, Todd Underwood from Renesys found it unusual that Cogent was making the decision to drop a peer (rather than the other way around) and suggested this might be a sign of a strategic shift at Cogent. That post may get more attention with the company's latest peering moves, especially since Limelight is better known than the other providers Cogent has de-peered.
September 30, 2007
Findory to Shut Down Nov. 1
The personalized search engine Findory will shut down Nov. 1, founder Greg Linden announced Sunday on his Geeking with Greg blog. Findory, which was launched in 2004, has been on auto-pilot since January, when Greg said development was being shelved as he focused more on his health and family. Here's Sunday's update:
Sadly, all good things must come to an end. On November 1, 2007, Findory will be shutting down. It was a wonderful experiment building Findory. Information personalization is in our future. Some day, online newspapers will focus on your interests, building you your own unique, customized front page of news. Some day, search engines will learn from what you do to help you find what you need. Some day, your computer will adapt to your needs to help with the task at hand. Some day, information overload will be tamed. But not today.On Friday, Greg wrote about his experience scaling Findory's infrastructure, which offers an interesting window into how to design a personalized service for speedy performance and growth.
Posted by Rich Miller 
September 30, 2007 | Permalink | Newsletter
Spaghetti Cabling in Data Centers
How's your network cable management? Let's hope it doesn't look anything like any of the data centers profiled over at the Vibrant Technologies blog, which features some epic examples of "spaghetti cabling." Some of these data center pictures were posted on Flickr, while others were collected by the League of Professional System Administrators. To stay a step ahead of the data center spaghetti monster, check out resources on cable management best practices from the TAB Canada newsletter and Tech Target.
Posted by Rich Miller September 30, 2007 | Permalink | Newsletter
September 28, 2007
Web Hosting Blogs: The Big List
Two years ago there was a major imbalance: hosting customers were blogging like crazy, but hosting companies were not. Only a handful of industry professionals were writing about web hosting. That's changed in a big way, as many major hosting providers now have a company blog, and often the CEO and other C-level executives are doing the blogging. These blogs offer service updates and insight into industry trends. Since web hosting companies are major users of data center space, many may be of interest to readers of Data Center Knowledge. Here's the list:
- The Inner Layer: A company blog for managed hosting provider SoftLayer, with bloggers including CEO Lance Crosby and CFO Mike Jones.
- Racklabs: Industry insight from Rackspace Managed Hosting, with regular contributors including CTO John Engates and Senior VP of Strategy Lew Moorman.
- The WHIR Blogs: A team blog from Web Host Industry News, with contributors including WHIR staffers and industry experts in various niches, including legal issues, M&A and security.
- Hot Points: Pioneering blog from Go Daddy founder and CEO Bob Parsons, who has used it as a bully pulpit during his company's Super Bowl ad campaigns.
- Stargate Blog: The Stargate Colocation company blog, featuring regular updates and photos of its new data center.
- Netcraft: News on hosting and security from the folks behind the popular Web Server Survey.
- The DreamHost Blog: LA's DreamHost had one of the earliest hosting blogs. Co-founder Josh Jones has used wit and candor to connect with customers and defuse potentially disastrous outages.
- The Planet Blog: The Dallas dedicated hosting giant has a team blog with a substantial number of contributors.
- Isabel Wang: Although Isabel has recently decided to take a break from the hosting industry, her blog has been enormously influential in prodding hosting executives to get blogging and improve their customer communications. The archives remain a great resource.
Posted by Rich Miller September 28, 2007 | Permalink | Newsletter
September 27, 2007
Can Your Generator Be Hacked?
The Department of Homeland Security has been able to use an electronic attack to destroy a large diesel generator, apparently by altering the engine's operating cycle and causing it to malfunction, according to a story and video from CNN. The proof-of-concept attack was part of an experiment named "Aurora" conducted in March at the Department of Energy's Idaho lab, the network said. The video shows the generator begin to shake and shutter as bolts are sheared off, after which clouds of white and black smoke shoot forth from the engine.
The notion that such an attack could be launched electronically is bound to be unsettling for data center operators, as most mission-critical facilities have banks of large diesel generators on site to provide back-up power in the event of a grid outage. The DHS said details of its attack methods are being shared with sources in the electric power industry. CNN's report takes a pretty alarmist tone, interviewing experts who predict that cyber attacks on electric infrastructure could cripple the U.S. power industry for months.
The threat posed by hacking power control systems known as SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) is real, but isn't anything new to the security community or the power industry. The issue was the focus of a feature article in Electric Light & Power magazine in July 2006. The government has been studying the risk posed by SCADA hackers for years at its Idaho National Laboratory and Center for SCADA security at Sandia Labs.
Posted by Rich Miller September 27, 2007 | Permalink | Newsletter
Missile Bunker Listed on eBay, Again
An abandoned missile base in Washington State is back in the news. The former Titan missile silo at Larsen Air Force base in central Washington, which for many years was marketed as a potential "data bunker," has been featured this week on Boing Boing and the BBC. The news: the 57-acre site is for sale, and is actually listed on eBay for $1.5 million.
Here's the real news: this property has been for sale for years, and was previously listed on eBay in March 2004, when the list price was more than $3.9 million. The property has remained unsold during the huge boom in data centers in central Washington and a concurrent mini-boom in underground data centers (with new sites including the SpringNet Underground in Missouri, Cavern Technologies in Kansas City, StrataSpace in Louisville and the InfoBunker in Iowa).
Posted by Rich Miller September 27, 2007 | Permalink | Newsletter
Allstate Plans 50,000SF Illinois Data Center
Allstate Insurance Co. has announced plans to build a 50,000 square foot data center facility in Rochelle, Ill., a western suburb of Chicago. The company, which recently bought 25 acres of land in the Rochelle Technology Park, is reported to be spending $50 million in the facility. The insurer will be the first tenant in the 160-acre business park, and receive $278,000 in tax incentives and job training funds from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.
"This new data center facility will provide Allstate with additional hosting capacity for its business applications," said Catherine Brune, Allstate's Chief Information Officer. "We expect to make an additional multi-million dollar investment for computer related equipment in the facility over the next several years."
The company spent three years scouting locations in the Midwest before choosing Rochelle, according to CB Richard Ellis Vice-President Chad Freese. "We were all over the region, including Wisconsin and Indiana, and there were 29 locations we were originally looking at," Freese told local media. "During the last 18 months we narrowed the selection down to three finalists and it became clear Rochelle had the most going for it in the Midwest. These city leaders in Rochelle are the most forward thinking and enterprising individuals when it comes to competing for projects like this. They have really positioned Rochelle well for the future."
Posted by Rich Miller September 27, 2007 | Permalink | Newsletter
Cisco Touts Scotland as Data Center Hub
Officials at Cisco (CSCO) are promoting Scotland as an ideal location for data center development, according to a report in the UK tech site Silcon.com. Gordon Thomson, Cisco's director for Ireland and Scotland, said that the site location benefits of Scotland include stable weather and renewable energy sources, including an abundance of water and wind-power generation facilities. "I think this could be a phenomenal play for Scotland, Thomson said. "We could build you a data centre that is 100 per cent green. Wind and tidal energy are there in abundance. We have the telecoms infrastructure and the high-capacity networks. And we have a good, local skills base."
Cisco is said to be seeking the support of a number of politicians in its effort to promote Scotland as a suitable place for data centres, such as the SNP's John Swinney, who is also the cabinet secretary for finance and sustainable grown in the Scottish government.
Posted by Rich Miller September 27, 2007 | Permalink | Newsletter
September 26, 2007
NaviSite Raises Revenue Guidance
Shares of managed hosting provider NaviSite Inc. (NAVI) are higher this morning after the company forecast revenue well above Wall Street's expectations. Investors liked the results, as shares of NaviSite are up 80 cents to $8.58 a share (+11.5 percent) in early trading today on the NASDAQ exchange.
The company said late Tuesday that it expects sales between $36 million and $37 million for the quarter ending in October, while analysts polled by Thomson Financial had predicted revenue of $34.3 million. The company's results will benefit from its recent acquisitions of netASPx, Alabanza and Jupiter Hosting, which totaled $56 million. Navisite expects full-year revenue of $170 million to $180 million, compared to analyst expectations of $150.5 million.
NaviSite has more than 1,000 customers and 14 data centers in the U.S., United Kingdom and India. The Andover, Mass. company provides application hosting services and operates a content distribution network. It has also added data center capacity with the Alabanza and netASPx acquisitions, expanding its colocation footprint.
Posted by Rich Miller September 26, 2007 | Permalink | Newsletter
Survey: Customer Attitudes on 'Green' Premium
Will data center and managed hosting customers pay more for "green" products from vendors? Up to a point, according to the latest customer survey by Rackspace Managed Hosting, which examined attitudes toward environmental responsibility. The random survey of 380 Rackspace customers found that 30 percent expect a green vendor to be a central part of their business strategy within five years.
The survey also gathered opinions on pricing issues for green products and services, which often cost more than existing options. Nine percent of respondents were not willing to pay more to work with a "green" vendor, compared to 27 percent were willing to pay a premium of 5 percent, and 25 percent would pay as much as 10 percent extra. Just seven percent of respondents said they would pay a premium higher than 10 percent.
Rackspace said it conducted the survey to assess how environmental attitudes impact business decisions. It's not an academic issue for the San Antonio provider, which recently announced plans to open a 100,000 square foot data center in Slough, England that will be powered directly by alternative energy. The new facility will get 90 percent of its power from Slough Heat and Power, which burns wood chips rather than coal.
Posted by Rich Miller September 26, 2007 | Permalink | Newsletter
September 25, 2007
VeriSign Expands in Five U.S. Markets
VeriSign, Inc. (VRSN) said it has deployed new infrastructure facilities in Miami, New York City, Chicago, Palo Alto and Washington, DC to upgrade its domain registry operations and DNS resolution sites. The company has also expanded its Regional Internet Resolution Sites (RIRS) in Argentina, Bulgaria, Lithuania and South Africa, and is and is negotiating with India, Germany and Chile to deploy infrastructure in those countries.
The upgrades are part of VeriSign's Project Titan, a program to invest $100 million in expanding VeriSign's ability to manage the domain name infrastructure for the .com and .net top-level domains. These systems currently get 30 billion DNS queries per day, up from 24 billion at the start of 2007. The initial phase of its Internet infrastructure upgrade has increased its capacity to 2 trillion Domain Name System (DNS) queries a day. Project Titan's long-term goal is to expand VeriSign's capacity to handle more than 4 trillion DNS requests per day by 2010.
Posted by Rich Miller September 25, 2007 | Permalink | Newsletter
MORE STORIES FROM THIS MONTH:
- Cogent De-peers Limelight Networks
- Findory to Shut Down Nov. 1
- Spaghetti Cabling in Data Centers
- Web Hosting Blogs: The Big List
- Can Your Generator Be Hacked?
- Missile Bunker Listed on eBay, Again
- Allstate Plans 50,000SF Illinois Data Center
- Cisco Touts Scotland as Data Center Hub
- NaviSite Raises Revenue Guidance
- Survey: Customer Attitudes on 'Green' Premium
- VeriSign Expands in Five U.S. Markets
- Would Google Cable Affect Bandwidth Costs?
- News Stories on Data Centers On The Rise
- Data Center Cooling Set Points Debated
- LEED Buildings Becoming Big Business
- CDN Market Grows to 28 Providers
- Data Center Tours: Savvis and Netcetera
- Report: EMC Acquires Mozy for $76M
- The Internet Is Not Melting Down
- Power Saving Strategies for Linux
- Google Plans Trans-Pacific Fiber Cable
- CRG West Expands at One Wilshire
- State-by-State Green Power Locator
- Huge NJ Data Center Campus Proposed
- Akamai Dips on Analyst Pessimism
- Scenes From Data Center World
- Technorati Struggles During Migration Prep
- EDS Gets $800M DHS Data Center Deal
- Data Center Capacity Management Heats Up
- 1U Rackmount Servers Are Getting Deeper
- Credit Line Will Fund Internap Colo Expansion
- Scaling Twitter for 600 Requests per Second
- The DOE Joins The Green Grid
- Rackable Offers Denser Portable Data Center
- EdgeCast CDN Expands at Switch & Data
- Interxion Invests in European Data Centers
- EPA Maps Careful Course on Energy Leadership
- SWsoft Buys Ensim Hosting Control Panel
- GNi, Hosted Solutions Named to Inc. List
- Microsoft Data Center Blogs
- Data Center Conferences Collide
- Equinix Raises Guidance, Sets Stock Sale
- NaviSite Continues Acquisition Spree
- VMWorld Day 3 Wrap
- CDW Berbee Confirms Wisconsin Data Center
- Power Dispute May Impact Terremark Project
- Six Apart Expands at New 365 Main Site
- Xsigo Launches, Targeting Data Center Costs
- VMWorld Day 2 News Roundup
- Digital Realty Buys Into Silicon Valley Project
- Dataside: New Dallas Data Center is Full
- Carpathia Plans Huge Virginia Data Center
- Columbia, Missouri Seeking Data Centers
- NASA Building Heat-Resistant Chips
- VMWorld Day 1 Highlights
- Terremark Buys Properties in Santa Clara
- VMware Acquires Dunes Technologies
- Sensicast: Another Wireless Monitoring Startup
- New Data Center Project in Utah
- Monsanto Opens $21M LEED Data Center
- Uptime Institute Plans Design Charrette
- SynapSense Gets $10 Million Funding
- Dell Strategy: Small Deals, Not Big Ones
- Firms Making Their Own 'Green' Standards
- Major CDNs to Add P2P Capabilities
- EarthLab Picks Terremark Grid Infrastructure
- 3Tera CEO Miloushev Passes Away
- Telx Network Powers WV Expansion
- Involta Plans 20,000 SF Iowa Data Center