Google’s Asian Infrastructure Ambitions

TeleGeography reports that Google will participate in a consortium building a new intra-Asian submarine cable system. The Southeast Asia Japan Cable (SJC), would bolster connectivity in Japan to Guam, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Thailand and Singapore. In February Google announced plans to partner with five other companies in building the Unity undersea communications cable across the Pacific, which marked the first time an Internet company has invested in a trans-oceanic cable.

The new report meshes with earlier news about Google’s extensive scouting of potential data center locations in Asia. The company is said to have looked at potential sites in Taiwan, Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, India and even Vietnam. We had speculated that the search giant was pitting Asian governments against one another to gain the best incentives for a major data center project, but the breadth of the search could also suggest that Google will build several facilities. Do the landing points for the new cable offer any hints about where we’ll see new Google data centers? Or when? The Unity cable will be finished in 2010, while the SJC timetable calls for 2011 completion.

Public Debate About Private Clouds

There’s been more discussion in recent days about “private” clouds in enterprise data centers, as opposed to “public” clouds running on infrastructure from third-party service providers. Some relevant links:

• The Case Against Private Clouds: Sam Johnston says it’s impossible for in-house clouds to emulate key cloud features.  
• Build Your own Cloud With Cisco VFrame: Greg Ferro looks at how early components of Cisco’s Data Center 3.0 initiative can help (link via Doug Gourlay)
• Private Clouds, Before & After: Hypothetical discussion among your IT staff.
• Private Cloud Links: A list of resources from the OnSaaS aggregator.

Our New Look

Data Center Knowledge has a new look this morning. We’ve been overdue for an update, and the new design will support our next phase of growth, and hopefully make it easier for you to find the news and information you need. That’s become a challenge as DCK has grown to feature more than 2,300 articles on the data center industry.

If you have any problems using the site with the new design, please e-mail us and let us know what you’re experiencing. Be sure to include the browser and OS you’re using.

Google Plans Miami Data Center

Google (GOOG) is planning to expand its data center space in Miami, and is expected to lease an existing facility to convert into a data center. The lease is likely to be for “tens of thousands” of square feet of space, rather than the enormous footprints seen in instances where Google has built new data centers from the ground up.

An expansion by Google in Miami reflects a focus on strategic growth, as well as the mega-scalability seen in the company’s recent U.S. data center projects. Miami is a key connectivity gateway to Latin American markets, and international expansion has been a major theme in Google’s recent infrastructure growth. In late 2007 Google was known to be planning a data center expansion in Asia, and is also rumored to be scouting locations in Austria and Lithuania.

Google declined to comment on plans for its Miami data center footprint, continuing its policy of offering few details about its data center operations. “Google invests heavily in technical facilities around the world and is constantly on the look out for additional locations,” a spokesman said. “However, for competitive reasons, we can’t confirm or deny possible locations.”

Dell Seeking Container Strategist

Dell is looking for an “enclosures strategist” to run its data center container business, having posted the position on LinkedIn (link via Reuven Cohen). The posting seeks an executive to “develop a strategy around Dell’s entry into the Datacenter enclosure market place” and develop “launch strategies such as competitive analysis and collateral production and customers/sales force education.”

Dell has yet to publicly admit that it has a container product, but word leaked out in May that the company was developing one for a customer. Any suspense about the identity of the customer ended in June when Microsoft’s Debra Chrapaty mentioned that “Dell has a pretty nice container” while discussing the company’s infrastructure plans with Om Malik.

While Microsoft is using containers to build a cloud platform for its Live online services, the job posting places the enclosure effort in Dell’s Enterprise Product Group, meaning Dell sees a market beyond the clouds.

Savvis Realigns Business Units

Managed hosting specialist Savvis Inc. (SVVS) today said it would organize the company under three business units: Hosting, Network and Financial Services. Savvis named Bill Fathers to oversee the realignment and manage Savvis’ business units in the U.S. Fathers, who previously served as Senior Vice President of Product Development, will “focus primarily on product design, engineering, demand creation and delivery support across three business units.”

Savvis said the change in structure reflects the “company’s commitment to improve product delivery and speed to market to maximize focus and operational efficiencies.”

“It is clear that SAVVIS has reached a stage in our growth where three clear lines of business have emerged,” said CEO Phil Koen. “Hosting, Network, and Financial Services have each grown to a size, scale and complexity level that requires them to be managed as separate business units with critical interdependencies. Bill is a proven leader and I look forward to his contributions as we focus on improving Savvis’ revenue growth, operational excellence and profitability on a global scale.”

ABRY Acquires Q9 Networks for $361 Million

Private equity firm ABRY Partners has agreed to buy Canadian data center specialist Q9 Networks for $361 million, continuing its string of acquisitions in the sector, the companies said Monday. ABRY Partners will pay $17.05 a share for Q9, a 38 percent premium to its closing share price Monday on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

ABRY Partners acquired Houston managed hosting specialist CyrusOne last year, and bought Hosted Solutions for $140 million in April.

“We are strong believers in the Canadian data center infrastructure market and are excited to be participating in it through our acquisition of Q9,” said C.J. Brucato, Partner at ABRY Partners. “Q9, with its talented management team, has achieved a leading market position and a diversified blue chip customer base. We look forward to helping Q9 accelerate their growth and extend their leadership position.”

Recap: More than 70 Industry Blogs

Here’s a recap of our Blog Week posts of the most interesting and useful blogs in various niches in the data center ecosystem, so they can be easily accessed from one bookmark:

• Data Center Blogs (Updated)
• Web Hosting Blogs (Updated)
• Content Delivery Network (CDN) Blogs
• Cloud Computing Blogs

These guides feature more than 70 blogs covering one or more areas of the industry. If you can’t track that many blogs each day, just keep reading Data Center Knowledge! We’re monitoring these sites, as well as numerous searches on topics of interest in the data center.

Media Temple Tops for Hosting Leading Blogs

As online media continues to disrupt news consumption, the leading blogs are building huge audiences and making money - making these top blogs a more attractive customer for hosting and data center providers. Which providers are having the most success with commercial blogs?

Media Temple is the clear winner, according to a survey of where the top 100 blogs are hosted, hosting 13 of the top 100 blogs. The Los Angeles hosting company, which offers shared hosting and a grid platform, counts TechCrunch, Mashable and Dosh Dosh among its customers. Runners-up include Datagram (The Gawker Media blogs and the Huffington Post) and Six Apart (Seth Godin) and Voxel (Perez Hilton, Daily Kos).

While some high-traffic blogs seek out commercial hosting, four of the top 100 continue to host on Google’s free Blogger service, most notably PostSecret.

When a Widget Slows Your Platform

The opening of social networking platforms to third-party applications has created a vibrant “widget economy” and boosted the fortunes of app developers like Slide and RockYou. But what happens when popular apps slow the performance of a network with a huge user base?

“Network degradation” was a hot topic this weekend after white-label network provider Ning cited performance issues in banning Widget Laboratories from its platform. The shutdown caused significant problems for thousands of Ning users who paid to use apps from Widget Labs, who found their networks didn’t function properly when the widgets were suddenly shut off.

Widget Labs protested vigorously and took its case to the blogosphere, alleging that the ban was driven by business issues rather than technical problems. But the last word from Ning focused on “multiple and significant technical degradations to the Ning platform,” according to a lengthy e-mail exchange posted by Widget Labs. The debate over the banning continues (see TechCrunch for a summary).

Setting aside the particulars of the Ning-Widget Labs brouhaha, the dispute highlighted the performance challenges of opening platforms to third-party applications, which has been a management challenge for many social networks, including Facebook.