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Over the last 20 years or so, and especially in the last 10, we’ve seen data centers evolve from cost centers to drivers of businesses, in the process raising the profile of CIOs and putting ever-more stringent demands on data center availability. Realizing that the data center is the heart of their business has executive leadership teams thinking about data center operations , and who is best positioned to do the job effectively. For most organizations, it seems increasingly likely the answer is “not us.” These are some of the points I raised in a recent webinar with eWeek (which you can access on demand ). The title of the webinar neatly describes what it was all about: “The Data Center as a Business Enabler: Everything a C-Level Should Know About Data Center Strategy & Operations.” Data centers: once strictly a cost center  In this post, I want to focus on that data center evolution story, and the ramifications it has for the CIO’s role as well as data center operations...

EFF, Human Rights Watch y más de 70 grupos de la sociedad civil solicitan a Mark Zuckerberg que proporcione a todos los usuarios y usuarias un mecanismo para apelar ante la censura de contenidos en Facebook La libertad de expresión del mundo está en sus manos, dicen estos grupos al director ejecutivo de Facebook San Francisco – The Electronic Frontier Foundation y más de 70 grupos de derechos humanos y digitales pidieron hoy a Mark Zuckerberg que añadiera transparencia y responsabilidad real al proceso de eliminación de contenidos de Facebook. Específicamente, los grupos exigen que Facebook explique – claramente –   cuánto contenido elimina, correcta o incorrectamente, y que proporcione a la totalidad de sus usuarios un método justo y oportuno para apelar estas eliminaciones y ver la restitución de su contenido. Mientras que Facebook ya está bajo una enorme -y creciente – presión para eliminar material que es verdaderamente amenazante, sin transparencia, imparcialidad ...

The IT industry as a whole is facing a shortage of skilled workers and the data center segment is no exception. No quick fix is available to correct the problem, either. It’ll take creative outreach to new groups of potential workers and training; lots and lots of training. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but there’s really no sugar-coating the situation. Joe Kava, VP of data centers for Google, summed it up nicely in a keynote address at the recent Data Center World conference, saying, “The greatest threat we’re facing is the race for talent.” Even Google has trouble staffing data centers A study last year by TEKsystems highlighted the issue, with 81% of the IT leaders surveyed saying it was difficult to find quality candidates for IT jobs. Nearly 50% of leaders with open positions didn’t expect they would fill them in the desired timeframe. There’s reason to believe the situation is even worse for companies looking to hire data center infrastructure staff for a simple reas...

Data in retail was probably never about beer and nappies – the perhaps apocryphal tale about the superstore chain which spotted a late-night pattern in men buying nappies and treating themselves to a beer. Today, data is everywhere. In a rapidly changing sector, big market shifts are reflected in IT infrastructure management from the core to the edge. Edge data centers are creating computing ecosystems as they roll out across retail stores in response to new business drivers and new customer behavior patterns. A Schneider Electric commissioned report from the 451 Group provides examples from two large US retailers. For one, the current focus is on rapid response and using monitoring at the edge to resolve service issues in almost real time. For the other the focus is on its evolution of the core and creating cloud native applications as it shifts workloads out of the on-premise data center to a more hybrid set up. Retail edge computing is now mission critical with services provis...

If you keep track of industry trends at all, then I bet your newsfeed has been filled with exciting stories and bold predictions about artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and neural networks. With hyperbolical headlines such as, “ How Artificial Intelligence Will Self-manage the Data Center ” and “ Is 2018 When Machines Take Over? ”, I’m sure many people are mentally rolling their eyes as they click to the next story. With any new trend, of course, there’s hype, confusion, and misleading claims. And companies sometimes want to grab on to it and claim it for their own before things are fully baked. But this doesn’t mean there isn’t substance behind all the talk. I believe in the power of AI to make data centers better. Here in the Data Center Science Center , we believe AI’s biggest impact for colo data centers will be on reliability and less so on efficiency. Also, we believe it will take a bit longer than some might think before AI’s value is really felt; there are so...

Standardization pervades modern life to such a degree that we hardly notice it. From operating a vehicle to replacing a battery, its influence is at work behind the scenes to make our collective lives more convenient, more predictable, safer and easier. When we buy a light bulb, we know it will fit in the lamp socket. Standardization is a powerful concept that has established itself as a critical ally in managing progress. For panel builders and contractors, standardization is key for efficiency and productivity when working with medium voltage switchgear and transformer equipment. Despite standardization’s long track record of success in streamlining business, some work environments have yet to enjoy its full benefits.  One example is the detailed and time-consuming work that key intermediaries such as contractors and panel builders have to endure as they attempt to select products, issue price quotations, place orders, assemble solutions, and ultimately deliver configured and...

Copyright Week 2018: Join Us in Fighting for Better Copyright Law and Policy We’re taking part in Copyright Week , a series of actions and discussions supporting key principles that should guide copyright policy. Every day this week, various groups are taking on different elements of copyright law and policy, and addressing what’s at stake, and what we need to do to make sure that copyright promotes creativity and innovation. Copyright law shapes the world we live in. It is supposed to encourage progress and creativity, enriching our culture and contributing to the growth of knowledge. However, the law is often used as a blunt instrument by a few prominent actors to preserve their cultural dominance. Less obviously, governments and other large industries have taken to using the law to hide information they don’t want us to see and use or to limit functionality and ownership of software and devices we buy and use. The law shouldn’t work this way. It should serve us all. It doesn’...

Part 1 of this 4-part series introduced ways in which increasing digitization might improve plant operations . Part 2: we focused on how IIoT can improve the productivity of reactive, preventive, predictive and proactive maintenance . Here in Part 3: we will explore five converging trends. The following five trends are converging around IIoT to help more companies achieve maintenance benefits such as those that Ash Grove Cement Cement, of Overland Park, Kansas has enjoyed. Ash Grove Cement uses  asset management software to automate maintenance data collection at each of its nine facilities. This enabled Ash Grove to reduce its inventory costs by US$2 million in the first year of implementation, while ensuring compliance with the EPA’s Portland Cement Maximum Achievable Control Technology regulation, thereby minimizing the potential loss of US$3 thousand per hour for every hour the kiln is offline. The five trends are: 1. Advances in edge control that enable flexible deploym...

As the colocation industry becomes commoditized, a premium offering with a high-level of touch gives larger companies — sometimes limited by more traditional models — back some of the data center control they lost, all while lowering TCO. This is the wholesale market Skybox Datacenters serves, and Schneider Electric is helping us do so. We operate three mission critical facilities in Texas — two are located at Houston One, a 12.5 MW, 20-acre private campus. The other is Legacy One, a 25 MW, 21-acre campus in Dallas. Our core focus is on companies that need more than 1MW. Schneider Electric’s approach aligns with our operating principles of transparency, customization and partnership. Power is notably one area into which we deliver transparency and, thereby control, to our customers.  Every output and display we see, they can see in their portals as well. We give them the entire picture. Typically, this type of business model would result in a higher TCO.  However, our fac...