Many employees approach AI-based systems in the workplace with a level of mistrust. This lack of trust can slow the implementation of new tools and systems, alienate staff and reduce productivity. Data center managers can avoid this outcome by understanding the factors that drive mistrust in AI and devising a strategy to minimize them. Perceived […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Building-trust-working-with-AI-based-tools-featured.jpg5401030Rose Weinschenk, Research Associate, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngRose Weinschenk, Research Associate, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2024-12-19 17:00:002024-12-19 14:33:06Building trust: working with AI-based tools
Data center infrastructure management (DCIM) software is an important class of software that, despite some false starts, many operators regard as essential to running modern, flexible and efficient data centers. It has had a difficult history — many suppliers have struggled to meet customer requirements and adoption remains patchy. Critics argue that, because of the […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/DCIM-past-and-present-whats-changed-featured.jpg5401030John O’Brien, Senior Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngJohn O’Brien, Senior Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2024-11-13 15:00:002024-11-13 10:14:33DCIM past and present: what’s changed?
Direct liquid cooling (DLC), including cold plate and immersion systems, is becoming more common in data centers — but so far this transition has been gradual and unevenly distributed with some data centers using it widely, others not at all. The use of DLC in 2024 still accounts for only a small minority of the […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Water-cold-plates-lead-in-the-small-but-growing-world-of-DLC-featured.jpg5401030Jacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngJacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2024-10-30 15:00:002024-11-13 10:21:48Water cold plates lead in the small, but growing, world of DLC
Cyberattacks on operational technology (OT) were virtually unknown until five years ago, but their volume has been doubling since 2009. This threat is distinct from IT-focused vulnerabilities that cybersecurity measures regularly address. The risk associated with OT compromise is substantial: power or cooling failures can cripple an entire facility, potentially for weeks or months. Many […]
An earlier Uptime Intelligence report discussed the characteristics of processor power management (known as C-states) and explained how they can reduce server energy consumption to make substantial contributions to the overall energy performance and sustainability of data center infrastructure (see Understanding how server power management works). During periods of low activity, such features can potentially […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Managing-server-performance-for-power-a-missed-opportunity-featured.jpg5401030Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDaniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, [email protected]2024-09-18 15:00:002024-09-17 15:35:54Managing server performance for power: a missed opportunity
Research has shown that while data center owners and operators are mostly in favor of sustainability regulation, they have a low opinion of the regulators’ expertise. Some operators have cited Germany’s Energy Efficiency Act as evidence: the law lays down a set of extremely challenging power usage effectiveness (PUE) requirements that will likely force some […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Resiliency-v-low-PUE-regulators-a-catalyst-for-innovation-featured.jpg5401030Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2024-09-04 12:00:002024-09-06 14:47:55Resiliency v low PUE: regulators a catalyst for innovation?
Despite their role as enablers of technological progress, data center operators have been slow to take advantage of developments in software, connectivity and sensor technologies that can help optimize and automate the running of critical infrastructure. Most data center owners and operators currently use building management systems (BMS) and / or data center infrastructure management […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Data-center-management-software-is-evolving-at-last-featured.jpg5401030Max Smolaks, Research Analyst, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngMax Smolaks, Research Analyst, [email protected]2024-08-21 15:00:002024-08-19 15:24:23Data center management software is evolving — at last
In the past year, Uptime Intelligence has been asked more questions about generative AI and its impact on the data center sector than any other topic. The questions come from enterprise and colocation operators, suppliers of a wide variety of equipment and services, regulators and the media. Most of the questions concern power consumption. The […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Generative-AI-and-global-power-consumption-high-but-not-that-high-featured.jpg5401030Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2024-07-31 12:00:002024-07-31 10:03:53Generative AI and global power consumption: high, but not that high
Uptime Intelligence regularly addresses IT infrastructure efficiency, particularly servers, in our reports on data center energy performance and sustainability. Without active contribution from IT operations, facility operations alone will not be able to meet future energy and sustainability demands on data center infrastructure. Purchases of renewable energy and renewable energy certificates will become increasingly — […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Understanding-how-server-power-management-works-featured.jpg5401030Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDaniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, [email protected]2024-07-10 15:00:002024-07-09 10:40:07Understanding how server power management works
The European Green Deal, a set of policy initiatives approved in 2020, aims for a sustainable and competitive economy with net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Along with the legislation driving this transition, such as the Energy Efficiency Directive recast (see EED comes into force, creating an enormous task for the industry), the strategy will […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/EU-battery-regulations-what-do-the-new-rules-mean-featured.jpg5401030Rosa Lawrence, Research Associate, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngRosa Lawrence, Research Associate, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2024-06-20 15:00:002024-06-20 09:40:06EU battery regulations: what do the new rules mean?
The colocation and public cloud sectors of the digital infrastructure industry continue to make headlines, with many organizations planning large-scale capacity expansion to meet rising demand. However, there is also a less public expansion underway — enterprises operators, for the third successive year, say they are going to invest in more data center capacity in […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Colocation-and-public-cloud-growth-masks-enterprise-expansion-featured.jpg5401030Douglas Donnellan, Senior Research Associate, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDouglas Donnellan, Senior Research Associate, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2024-06-05 15:00:002024-06-03 17:19:21Colocation and public cloud growth masks enterprise expansion
Human error has been — and remains to be — a major cause of outages in data centers. Uptime Intelligence’s research shows that about four in 10 operators have had a major outage in the past three years in which human error played a role (Annual outage analysis 2023). Half of these respondents said errors […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Long-shifts-in-data-centers-time-to-reconsider-featured.jpg5391030Rose Weinschenk, Research Associate, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngRose Weinschenk, Research Associate, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2024-05-22 15:00:002024-05-21 14:17:51Long shifts in data centers — time to reconsider?
Due to regulatory mandates and expanded stakeholder expectations, a growing share of operators are quantifying and publicly reporting a complete carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions inventory for their data center infrastructure. An organization’s direct on-site emissions (classified as Scope 1 according to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol) and emissions from purchased energy sources (classified as Scope […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/What-does-embedded-carbon-really-represent-featured.jpg5391030Jay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngJay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2024-05-08 15:00:002024-05-07 10:02:05What does embedded carbon of IT really represent?
A growing number of data center operators and equipment vendors are anticipating the proliferation of direct liquid cooling systems (DLC) over the next few years. As far as projections go, Uptime Institute’s surveys agree: the industry consensus for the mainstream adoption of liquid-cooled IT converges on the latter half of the 2020s. DLC systems, such […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/DLC-will-not-come-to-the-rescue-of-data-center-sustainability-featured.jpg5391030Jacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngJacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2024-04-25 15:00:002024-04-24 13:58:20DLC will not come to the rescue of data center sustainability
Rising concerns about cryptocurrency mining energy use have led the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) to launch a six-month emergency data reporting mandate (on January 26, 2024) to obtain information from 82 cryptocurrency mining companies. The emergency order which was approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) requires cryptocurrency miners to provide information […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/US-mandates-crypto-energy-reporting-will-data-centers-be-next-featured.jpg5391030Jay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngJay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2024-04-08 15:00:002024-04-08 10:32:51US mandates crypto energy reporting: will data centers be next?
The idea of using liquids to cool IT hardware, exemplified by technologies such as cold plates and immersion cooling, is frequently hailed as the ultimate solution to the data center’s energy efficiency and sustainability challenges. If a data center replaces air cooling with direct liquid cooling (DLC), chilled water systems can operate at higher supply […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Performance-expectations-of-liquid-cooling-need-a-reality-check-featured.jpg5391030Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDaniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, [email protected]2024-03-20 15:00:002024-03-19 14:24:42Performance expectations of liquid cooling need a reality check
Cloud workloads are continuing to grow — sometimes adding to traditional on-premises workloads, sometimes replacing them. The Uptime Institute Global Data Center Survey 2023 shows that organizations expect the public cloud to account for 15% of their workloads by 2025. When private cloud hosting and software as a service (SaaS) are included, this share rises […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/FinOps-gives-hope-with-cloud-costs-featured.jpg5391030John O’Brien, Senior Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngJohn O’Brien, Senior Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2024-03-06 15:00:002024-03-05 09:49:08FinOps gives hope to those struggling with cloud costs
Corporate data centers have been the backbone of enterprise IT since the 1960s and continue to play an essential role in supporting critical business and financial functions for much of the global economy. Yet, while their importance remains, their prominence as part of an enterprise’s digital infrastructure appears to be fading. Today, businesses have more […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/The-majority-of-enterprise-IT-is-now-off-premises-featured.jpg5391030Max Smolaks, Research Analyst, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngMax Smolaks, Research Analyst, [email protected]2024-02-21 15:00:002024-02-20 11:34:43The majority of enterprise IT is now off-premises
Uptime Institute calculates an industry average power usage effectiveness (PUE), which is a ratio of total site power to IT power, each year using data from the Uptime Institute Global Data Center Survey. This PUE data is pulled from a large sample over the course of 15 years and provides a reliable view of progress […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Large-data-centers-are-mostly-more-efficient-analysis-confirms-featured.jpg5391030Jacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngJacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2024-02-07 15:00:002024-02-09 09:32:16Large data centers are mostly more efficient, analysis confirms
For more than a decade, the data center industry — and the wider digital infrastructure that relies on it — has lived with the threat of much greater sustainability legislation or other forms of mandatory or semi-mandatory controls. But in a period of boom, it has mostly been a background worry, with legislators more concerned […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/When-net-zero-goals-meet-harsh-realities-featured.jpg5391030Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2024-01-24 15:00:002024-01-24 10:05:58When net-zero goals meet harsh realities
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/What-role-might-generative-AI-play-in-the-data-center-featured.jpg5391030John O’Brien, Senior Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngJohn O’Brien, Senior Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2024-01-10 15:00:002024-01-08 11:35:25What role might generative AI play in the data center?
The suitability of a data center environment is primarily judged by its effect on the long-term health of IT hardware. Facility operators define their temperature and humidity set points with a view to balancing hardware failure rates against the associated capital and operational expenditures, with the former historically prioritized. Over the past decade, this balance […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Looking-for-the-x-factor-in-data-center-efficiency-v2-featured.jpg5391030Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDaniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, [email protected]2023-12-13 15:00:002024-01-24 09:18:10Looking for the x-factor in data center efficiency
Regular readers of Uptime Institute’s annual data center survey, the longest running of its kind, already know that the industry average power usage effectiveness (PUE, a ratio of total site power and IT power) has trended sideways in recent years. Since 2020, it has been stuck in the 1.55 to 1.59 band. Even going back […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Global-PUEs-going-anywhere-featured.jpg5391030Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDaniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, [email protected]2023-12-04 15:00:002023-12-01 14:58:53Global PUEs — are they going anywhere?
Over the past 12 months, Uptime Institute Intelligence has been closely following regulatory developments in the area of sustainability. These include mandates based on the Task force on Climate-related Financial Disclosure standard, such as the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and the UK’s Climate-related Financial Disclosure Regulations, and the EU’s Energy Efficiency Directive. These legal […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Emerging-regulatory-requirements-tactics-for-riding-the-tsunami-featured.jpg5391030Jay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngJay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2023-11-16 15:00:002023-11-15 13:55:30Emerging regulatory requirements: tactics for riding the tsunami
Two persistent trends in data center staffing are in apparent tension. The 2023 Uptime Institute Global Data Center Survey confirmed, once again, that operations teams are struggling to attract and retain qualified staff. The severity of this shortage should justify aggressive hiring from all available labor sources — yet data centers still employ shockingly few […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Data-Center-Are-Short-Staffed-Boys-Clubs-featured.jpg5391030Jacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngJacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2023-11-01 12:00:002023-10-31 11:10:50Data centers are short-staffed boys’ clubs
In recent reports, Uptime Institute Intelligence has warned that a wave of resiliency, security and sustainability legislation is making its way toward the statute books. Governments around the world — aware that digital infrastructure is increasingly critical to economic and national security (and consumes a lot of power) — have decided the sector cannot be […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Consensus-on-regulatory-goals-hides-national-differences-featured.jpg5391030Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2023-10-18 15:00:002023-10-16 12:07:26Consensus on regulatory goals hides national differences
Legislative requirements for data center resiliency, operational transparency and energy performance are tightening worldwide — putting data centers under greater regulatory scrutiny. In response, organizations are either starting or stepping up their efforts to achieve compliance in these areas, and findings from the Uptime Institute Global Data Center Survey 2023 reveal that most are prioritizing […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Regulations-drive-investments-in-cybersecurity-and-efficiency-featured.jpg5391030Douglas Donnellan, Senior Research Associate, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDouglas Donnellan, Senior Research Associate, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2023-10-04 13:00:002023-10-02 16:38:42Regulations drive investments in cybersecurity and efficiency
The testing of backup power systems is crucial for ensuring that data center operations remain available through power interruptions. By cutting all power to the facility and replicating a real-world electrical grid failure, pull-the-plug testing provides the most comprehensive assessment of these systems. However, there are some differing opinions on the best way to perform […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Utility-companies-pull-plug-testing-featured.jpg5391030Douglas Donnellan, Senior Research Associate, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDouglas Donnellan, Senior Research Associate, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2023-09-20 15:00:002023-09-19 15:14:28Are utility companies needed for pull-the-plug testing?
The topic of artificial intelligence (AI) has captured the public’s imaginations, and now barely a week goes by without reports of another breakthrough. Among the many, sometimes dramatic predictions made by experts and non-experts alike is the potential elimination of some, or even many, jobs. These expectations are partly — but only partly — mirrored […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/AI-limited-role-for-now-featured.jpg5391030Max Smolaks, Research Analyst, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngMax Smolaks, Research Analyst, [email protected]2023-09-06 15:00:002023-09-06 09:22:08AI will have a limited role in data centers — for now
ANALYST OPINION In a recent report on server energy efficiency, Uptime Intelligence’s Dr. Tomas Rahkonen analyzed data from 429 servers and identified five key insights (see Server energy efficiency: five key insights). All were valuable observations for better managing (and reducing) IT power consumption, but one area of his analysis stood out: the efficiency benefits […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/The-strong-case-for-power-management-featured.jpg5391030Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2023-08-23 15:00:002023-08-22 09:25:21The strong case for power management
The European Commission (EC) continues to grapple with the challenges of implementing the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) reporting and metrics mandates. The publication of the Task B report Labelling and minimum performance standards schemes for data centres and the Task C report EU repository for the reporting obligation of data centres on June 7, 2023 […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/EED-requirements-come-into-focus-featured.jpg5391030Jay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngJay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2023-08-10 15:00:002023-08-09 16:06:51The Energy Efficiency Directive: requirements come into focus
Public cloud infrastructures have come a long way over the past 16 years to slowly earn the trust of enterprises in running their most important applications and storing sensitive data. In the Uptime Institute Global Data Center Survey 2022, more than a third of enterprises that operate their own IT infrastructure said they also placed […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Lifting-and-shifting-apps-to-the-cloud-a-source-of-risk-creep-featured.jpg5391030Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDaniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, [email protected]2023-07-26 15:00:002023-07-24 15:06:01Lifting and shifting apps to the cloud: a source of risk creep?
The public cloud’s on-demand pricing model is vital in enabling application scalability — the key benefit of cloud computing. Resources need to be readily available for a cloud application to scale when required without the customer having to give advance notification. Cloud providers can offer such flexibility by allowing customers to pay their bills in […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Use-tools-to-control-cloud-costs-before-its-too-late-featured.jpg5391030Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2023-07-19 15:00:002023-07-18 11:22:59Use tools to control cloud costs before it’s too late
Digital infrastructure operators have started to refocus their sustainability objectives on 100% 24×7 carbon-free energy (CFE) consumption: using carbon-free energy for every hour of operation. To establish a 24×7 CFE strategy, operators must track and control CFE assets and the delivery of energy to their data centers and use procurement contracts designed to manage the […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/24x7-CFE-part-2-featured.jpg5391030Jay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngJay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2023-07-12 15:00:002023-07-10 15:45:0824×7 carbon-free energy (part two): getting to 100%
Low latency is the main reason cloud providers offer edge services. Only a few years ago, the same providers argued that the public cloud (hosted in hyperscale data centers) was suitable for most workloads. But as organizations have remained steadfast in their need for low latency and better data control, providers have softened their resistance […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Where-the-cloud-meets-the-edge-featured.jpg5391030Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2023-07-05 15:00:002023-07-05 10:36:06Where the cloud meets the edge
The energy crisis of 2022, resulting from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, caused serious problems for data center operators in Europe. Energy prices leapt up and are likely to stay high. This has resulted in ongoing concerns that utilities in some European countries, which have a mismatch of supply and demand, will have to shed loads. […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/DC-Operators-Face-Grid-Disturbances-featured.jpg5391030Jacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngJacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2023-06-28 15:00:002023-06-26 09:54:19Data center operators will face more grid disturbances
Data center operators that set net-zero goals will ultimately have to transition to 100% 24×7 carbon-free energy. But current technological limitations mean it is not economically feasible in most grid regions. In the past decade, the digital infrastructure industry has embraced a definition of renewable energy use that combines the use of renewable energy credits […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/24x7-CFE-part-1-featured.png5391030Jay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngJay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2023-06-21 15:00:002023-06-20 16:56:2424×7 carbon-free energy (part one): expectations and realities
Cloud providers divide the technologies that underpin their services into two ”planes”, each with a different architecture and availability goal. The control plane manages resources in the cloud; the data plane runs the cloud buyer’s application. In this Update, Uptime Institute Intelligence presents research that shows control planes have poorer availability than data planes. This […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Cloud-resiliency-plan-to-lose-control-of-your-planes-featured.jpg5391030Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2023-06-14 15:00:002023-06-13 17:26:33Cloud resiliency: plan to lose control of your planes
Early in 2022, Uptime Intelligence observed that the return of Moore’s law in the data center (or, more accurately, the performance and energy efficiency gains associated with it) would come with major caveats (see Moore’s law resumes — but not for all). Next-generation server technologies’ potential to improve energy efficiency, Uptime Intelligence surmised at the […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Server-efficiency-and-caveats-increases-again-featured.jpg5391030Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDaniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, [email protected]2023-06-07 15:00:002023-06-06 16:14:48Server efficiency increases again — but so do the caveats
Hyperscale cloud providers have opened numerous operating regions in all corners of the world over the past decade. The three most prominent — Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure — now have 105 distinct regions (excluding government and edge locations) for customers to choose from to locate their applications and data. Over […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Data-shows-the-cloud-goes-where-the-money-is-featured.jpg5391030Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2023-05-31 14:00:002023-05-31 09:03:56Data shows the cloud goes where the money is
Data center operators and IT tenants have traditionally adopted a binary view of cooling performance: it either meets service level commitments, or it does not. The relationship is also coldly transactional: as long as sufficient volumes of air of the right temperature and quality (in accordance with service-level agreements that typically follow ASHRAE’s guidance) reach […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Cooling-to-play-a-more-active-role-in-IT-performance-and-efficiency-featured.jpg5391030Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDaniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, [email protected]2023-05-24 15:00:002023-05-22 14:23:53Cooling to play a more active role in IT performance and efficiency
European countries narrowly avoided an energy crisis in the past winter months, as a shortfall in fossil fuel supplies from Russia threatened to destabilize power grids across the region. This elevated level of risk to the normally robust European grid has not been seen for decades. A combination of unseasonably mild weather, energy saving initiatives […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Failing-Power-Grid-South-Africa-featured.jpg5391030Max Smolaks, Research Analyst, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngMax Smolaks, Research Analyst, [email protected]2023-05-17 15:00:002023-05-16 09:41:26The effects of a failing power grid in South Africa
In the struggle to reduce carbon emissions and increase renewable energy, the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), passed in August 2022, is a landmark development. The misleadingly named Act, which is lauded by environmental experts and castigated by foreign leaders, is intended to rapidly accelerate the decarbonization of the world’s largest economy by introducing nearly […]
Data centers have become victims of their own success. Ever-larger data centers have mushroomed across the globe in line with an apparently insatiable demand for computing and storage capacity. The associated energy use is not only expensive (and generating massive carbon emissions) but is also putting pressure on the grid. Most data center developments tend […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Energy-efficiency-focus-to-shift-to-IT-at-last-featured.jpg5391030Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDaniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, [email protected]2023-05-03 15:00:002023-05-02 11:33:58Energy-efficiency focus to shift to IT — at last
The past decade has seen numerous reports of so-called cloud “repatriations” — the migration of applications back to on-premises venues following negative experiences with, or unsuccessful migrations to, the public cloud. A recent Uptime Update (High costs drive cloud repatriation, but impact is overstated) examined why these migrations might occur. The Update revealed that unexpected […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Asset-utilization-drives-cloud-repatriation-economics-featured.jpg5391030Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2023-04-26 15:00:002023-04-25 10:08:53Asset utilization drives cloud repatriation economics
A proposed permanent network of electromagnetic monitoring stations across the continental US, operating in tandem with a machine learning (ML) algorithm, could facilitate accurate predictions of geomagnetic disturbances (GMDs). If realized, this predictive system could help grid operators avert disruption and reduce the likelihood of damage to their — and their customers’ — infrastructure, including […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Forecasting-the-Solar-Storm-Threat-featured.jpg5391030Jacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngJacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2023-04-19 15:00:002023-04-18 10:29:17Forecasting the solar storm threat
Big public-cloud operators have often had to compete against each other — sometimes ferociously. Only rarely have they had to compete against alternative platforms for corporate IT, however. More often than not, chief information officers (CIOs) responsible for mission-critical IT have seen a move to the public cloud as low-risk, flexible, forward-looking and, ultimately, inexpensive. […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Cloud-migrations-to-face-closer-scrutiny-featured.jpg5391030Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2023-04-12 15:00:002023-04-11 09:48:33Cloud migrations to face closer scrutiny
A host of regulations worldwide have introduced (or will introduce) legal mandates forcing data center operators to report specific operational data and metrics. Key examples include the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD); the European Commission’s proposed Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) recast; the draft US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) climate disclosure proposal and […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Accounting-for-digital-infrastructure-GHG-emissions-featured.jpg5391030Jay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngJay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2023-04-05 15:00:002023-03-30 14:00:14Accounting for digital infrastructure GHG emissions
Up until two years ago, the cost of building and operating data centers had been falling reasonably steeply. Improving technology, greater production volumes as the industry expanded and consolidated, large-scale builds, prefabricated and modular construction techniques, stable energy prices and the low costs of capital have all played a part. While labor costs have risen […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Data-center-costs-set-to-rise-and-rise-featured.jpg5391030Max Smolaks, Research Analyst, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngMax Smolaks, Research Analyst, [email protected]2023-03-29 15:00:002023-03-27 12:20:19Data center costs set to rise and rise
Unexpected costs are driving some data-heavy and legacy applications back from public-cloud to on-premises locations. However, very few organizations are moving away from the public cloud strategically — let alone altogether. The past decade has seen numerous reports of so-called cloud “repatriations” — the migration of applications back to on-premises venues following negative experiences with, […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/High-costs-drive-cloud-repatriation-featured.jpg5391030Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2023-03-22 15:00:002023-03-21 11:00:17High costs drive cloud repatriation, but impact is overstated
Standard IT hardware was a boon for data centers: for almost two decades, mainstream servers have had relatively constant power and cooling requirements. This technical stability moored the planning and design of facilities (for both new builds and retrofits) and has helped attract investment in data center capacity and technical innovation. Furthermore, many organizations are […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Too-hot-to-handle-Operators-to-struggle-with-new-chips-featured.jpg5391030Jacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngJacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2023-03-15 15:00:002023-03-14 09:42:37Too hot to handle? Operators to struggle with new chips
The COVID-19 pandemic — and the subsequent disruption to supply chains — demonstrated the data center industry’s reliance on interdependent global markets and the components they produce. Although the data center sector was just one of many industries affected, the extensive variety of the often complex electrical and mechanical equipment involved exacerbated supply chain problems. […]
Attracting and retaining qualified data center staff has been a major industry challenge for years — and continues to cause substantial problems for operators worldwide. Uptime Institute’s 2022 Management and Operations Survey shows staffing and organization (54%) is the leading requirement cited by operators (see Figure 1). In an environment where rapid growth in data […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Data-center-staffing-an-ongoing-struggle-featured.jpg5391030Dr. Paul Carton, Research Vice President, Uptime Institutehttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDr. Paul Carton, Research Vice President, Uptime Institute2023-03-01 13:00:002023-03-01 11:52:50Data center staffing — an ongoing struggle
Many digital infrastructure operators have set themselves carbon-neutral or net-zero emissions goals: some large hyperscale operators claim net-zero emissions for their current operating year. Signatories to the Climate Neutral Data Center Pact, a European organization for owners and operators, aim to be using 100% clean energy by 2030. All these proclamations appear laudable and seem […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Unraveling-net-zero-featured.jpg5391030Jay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngJay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2023-02-22 13:00:002023-02-22 09:48:39Unravelling net zero
Google was an underdog when it launched its infrastructure cloud in 2013. Amazon had already made a name for itself as a disruptive technology provider, having launched Amazon Web Services (AWS) seven years prior. Microsoft, a household name in commercial software, launched Azure in 2010. What chance did Google, a company known primarily for its […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Is-Google-a-credible-enterprise-cloud-featured.jpg5391030Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2023-02-15 13:00:002023-02-22 09:51:07Is Google a credible enterprise cloud?
A debate has been raging since cloud computing entered the mainstream: which is the cheaper venue for enterprise customers — cloud or on-premises data centers? This debate has proved futile for two reasons. First, the characteristics of any specific application will dictate which venue is more expensive — there is no simple, unequivocal answer. Second […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Higher-data-center-costs-unlikely-to-cause-exodus-to-public-cloud-featured.jpg5391030Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2023-02-08 13:00:002023-02-06 11:34:16Higher data center costs unlikely to cause exodus to public cloud
The past year (2022) has seen regulators in many countries develop or mandate requirements to report data centers’ operating information and environmental performance metrics. The first of these, the European Commission (EC) Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) recast is currently under review by the European Parliament and is expected to become law in 2023. This directive […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/First-signs-of-federal-data-center-reporting-mandates-appear-in-US-featured.jpg5391030Jay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngJay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2023-02-01 13:00:002023-01-30 10:51:42First signs of federal data center reporting mandates appear in US
Recent geopolitical concerns, predictions of a looming recession, and continued supply chain difficulties are unlikely to dampen growth in digital bandwidth on private networks according to Equinix’s 2022 Global Interconnection Index (GXI). Global interconnection bandwidth (the volume of data exchanged between companies directly, bypassing the public internet) is a barometer for digital infrastructure and sheds […]
Cloud providers have experienced unprecedented growth over the past few years. CIOs the world over, often prompted by CFOs and CEOs, have been favoring the cloud over on-premises IT for new and major projects — with the result that the largest cloud provider, Amazon Web Services (AWS), has seen revenue increase by 30% to 40% […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Reports-of-cloud-decline-exaggerated-featured.jpg5391030Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2023-01-18 15:00:002023-01-18 12:23:29Reports of cloud decline have been greatly exaggerated
Uptime Institute’s outages database suggests data center fires are infrequent, and rarely have a significant impact on operations. Uptime has identified 14 publicly reported, high-profile data center outages caused by fire or fire suppression systems since 2020. The frequency of fires is not increasing relative to the IT load or number of data centers but, […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Major-data-center-fire-highlights-criticality-of-IT-services-featured.jpg5391030Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDaniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, [email protected]2023-01-11 13:00:002023-01-10 15:40:40Major data center fire highlights criticality of IT services
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has made a minor change to its private-cloud appliance, AWS Outposts, that could significantly impact resiliency. The cloud provider has enabled local access to cloud administration, removing the appliance’s reliance on the public cloud. In the event of a network failure between the public cloud and the user’s data center, the […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Cloud-Autonomy-featured.jpg6281200Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2022-12-07 08:00:002022-11-14 15:25:40Tweak to AWS Outposts reflects demand for greater cloud autonomy
In any market, fewer sellers or providers typically results in less choice for buyers. Where the number of sellers is very low this could, theoretically, lead to exploitation, through higher prices or lower-quality goods and services — with buyers having no choice but to accept such terms. Three hyperscale cloud providers — Amazon Web Services, […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Cloud-Competition-featured.jpg6281200Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2022-11-30 08:00:002022-11-10 14:16:23Why are governments investigating cloud competitiveness?
Organizations are becoming more confident in using the cloud for mission-critical workloads — partly due to a perception of improved visibility into operational resiliency. But many users aren’t taking basic steps to ensure their mission-critical applications can endure relatively frequent availability zone outages. Data from the 2022 Uptime Institute annual survey reflects this growing confidence in […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Cloud-Outage-featured.jpg6281200Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2022-11-23 08:00:002022-11-08 15:40:46Users unprepared for inevitable cloud outages
The data center industry and other large power-consuming industries continue to feel pressure from skyrocketing electricity prices. In Germany and France, wholesale energy prices this August increased six-fold compared to prices from 2021. The US has fared better, but wholesale electricity prices have doubled this summer compared with last year’s prices. While leased data center […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Rising-Energy-Prices-featured.jpg6281200Lenny Simon, Senior Research Associate, Uptime Institutehttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngLenny Simon, Senior Research Associate, Uptime Institute2022-11-16 08:00:002022-11-08 15:09:24Will high energy prices push operators to direct liquid cooling?
A serverless platform is an abstracted cloud computing service that executes a user’s code without the user needing to provision the underlying server or operating environment. The physical server, resources and operating environment used to execute the user’s code are managed by the cloud provider and are not accessible to the user (hence “serverless”). In […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/AWS-Price-Cut-featured.jpg6281200Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2022-11-02 08:00:002022-10-17 10:49:19AWS price cuts: is serverless gaining momentum?
The European Commission’s (EC’s) proposed recast of its Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) sets out new and strict reporting requirements for data centers operating in the EU. If passed, data centers with 100 kilowatts or more total installed IT power demand (from server, storage and network equipment) will have to report their energy performance every year, […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Frustrated-Reporting-featured.jpg6281200Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2022-10-26 08:00:002022-10-06 14:09:52EU’s EED recast set to create reporting challenges
Halloween brings joy to many in the form of tricks and treats. But to IT managers, Halloween is a stark reminder of the evil spirits that hide out of sight in data center cabinets and public cloud applications. Vampires, zombies and ghosts haunt the infrastructure, sucking valuable energy, space and resources. IT managers need to […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Halloween-featured.jpg6281200Jay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngJay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2022-10-24 17:00:002022-10-21 16:44:32This Halloween, beware the vampire server
The US Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) issued multiple geomagnetic storm watches throughout August and September 2022. Geomagnetic storms occur when solar storms interact with the Earth’s atmosphere and magnetic field, risking disruption to satellites, radio communications and the power grid. The strongest predicted storm earned the agency’s rating of G3 (“strong”) on a five-level […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Solar-Storms-featured.jpg6281200Jacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngJacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2022-10-19 08:00:002022-10-05 16:14:07Data centers weather solar storms
New findings from research by Uptime Institute Intelligence reveals that organizations can cut both their cloud carbon emissions and costs by moving workloads to different regions. However, the trade off with this migration is an increase in latency. Cloud users choose regions based primarily on two factors: Locating the application close to end users improves […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Cloud-Carbon-featured.jpg6281200Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2022-10-17 09:00:002022-10-11 14:58:13Sacrifice speed to cut cloud carbon and costs
IT hardware vendors, such as Dell and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), are pivoting their revenue models away from product sales toward service-based subscriptions. The objective is to make hardware appear more flexible and cloud-like so buyers can retain servers in their choice of data center while receiving the critical benefit of the cloud: scalability. Much […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Server-leasing-models-featured.jpg6281200Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2022-10-12 08:00:002022-09-15 10:59:16New server leasing models promise cloud-like flexibility
Quantum computing promises a revolution in scientific discovery. Quantum computing’s main advantage over digital computing is in quickly solving highly complex problems that require significant time or resources to process. Currently, solutions to many complex problems can be estimated using supercomputers or pools of servers over days or weeks. Other problems are so complex that […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Quantum-Computing-featuring.jpg6281200Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2022-10-05 08:00:002022-09-14 14:25:39Quantum computing is not a panacea yet
Although big-name hyperscalers such as Amazon, Google and Microsoft dominate the cloud arena, other companies also believe they have a role to play. Vultr, OVHcloud, Linode, DigitalOcean, Bluehost and Scaleway, for example, don’t offer huge portfolios of cutting-edge products but their products focus on simplicity and low cost for smaller businesses with relatively straightforward requirements. […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Cloud-Alternative-featured.jpg6281200Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2022-09-28 08:00:002022-08-29 11:53:33Alternative clouds are vulnerable to demanding buyers
The value, role and safety of nuclear power has strongly divided opinion, both in favor of and against, since the 1950s. This debate has now, in 2022, reached a critical point again as energy security and prices cause increasing concern globally (particularly in geographies such as Europe) and as the climate crisis requires energy producers […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Nuclear-2-featured.jpg6281200Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2022-09-21 08:30:002022-09-14 09:51:51Data center operators cautiously support nuclear
Last month 7,000 developers traveled to Valencia to attend the combined KubeCon and CloudNativeCon Europe 2022 conference, the event for Kubernetes and cloud-native software development. A further 10,000 developers joined the conference online. The event is organized by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), part of the non-profit Linux Foundation. The CNCF supports and promotes […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Navigating-Cloud-Complexity-featured.jpg6281200Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2022-09-07 08:00:002022-08-16 10:21:59Is navigating cloud-native complexity worth the hassle?
Nearly 15 years ago – in 2008 – Uptime Institute presented a paper titled “The gathering storm.” The paper was about the inevitability of a struggle against climate change and how this might play out for the power-hungry data center and IT sector. The issues were explored in more detail in the 2020 Uptime Institute […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Sustainability-Laws-featured.jpg6281200Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2022-08-31 03:00:002022-08-22 10:20:36Sustainability laws set to drive real change
When Uptime Institute Intelligence surveyed data center infrastructure operators about supply chain issues in August 2021, more than two-thirds of respondents had experienced some shortages in the previous 18 months. Larger operations bore the brunt of disruptions, largely due to shortages or delays in sourcing major electrical equipment (such as switchgear, engine generators and uninterruptible […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Weak-Demand-featured.jpg6281200Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDaniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, [email protected]2022-08-24 08:00:002022-08-15 14:09:19Equipment shortages may ease soon — but not for good reasons
Technology giants such as Microsoft or IBM didn’t view Amazon as a threat when it launched its cloud business unit Amazon Web Services (AWS) in 2006. As a result, AWS has a significant first to market advantage with more services, more variations in more regions and more cloud revenue than any other cloud provider. Today, […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Cloud-Wars-featured.jpg6281200Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2022-08-17 08:00:002022-08-15 09:06:08Who will win the cloud wars?
Cloud providers tend to adopt the latest server technologies early, often many months ahead of enterprise buyers, to stay competitive. Providers regularly launch new generations of virtual machines with identical quantities of resources (such as core counts, memory capacity, network and storage bandwidths) as the previous generation but powered by the latest technology. Usually, the […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Cloud-Price-Lock-in-featured.jpg6281200Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2022-08-10 08:00:002022-07-28 16:21:15Costlier new cloud generations increase lock-in risk
An extreme heat wave swept across much of Western Europe on July 18 and 19, hitting some of the largest metropolitan areas such as Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam and Paris — which are also global data center hubs with hundreds of megawatts of capacity each. In the London area, temperatures at Heathrow Airport surpassed 40°C / […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Extreme-heat-featured.jpg6281200Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDaniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, [email protected]2022-07-27 20:37:472022-07-28 10:23:38Extreme heat stress-tests European data centers – again
A single tweet in May 2021 brought unprecedented public attention to a relatively unknown issue. Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted that because of the large energy consumption associated with the use of Bitcoin, Tesla would no longer accept it as currency. Instead, Tesla would favor other cryptocurrencies that use less than 1% of Bitcoin’s energy […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Crypto-data-centers-featured.jpg6281200Lenny Simon, Senior Research Associate, Uptime Institutehttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngLenny Simon, Senior Research Associate, Uptime Institute2022-07-27 08:00:002022-07-18 14:09:06Crypto data centers: The good, the bad and the electric
In recent years, Uptime Institute has published regular reports examining both the rate and causes of data center and IT service outages. The reports, which have been widely read and reported in the media, paint a picture of an industry that is struggling with resiliency and reliability — and one where operators regularly suffer downtime, […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Outage-Data-features.jpg6281200Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2022-07-20 07:00:002022-06-28 14:43:50Making sense of the outage numbers
In general, the prices of cloud services either remain level or decrease. There are occasional price increases, but these are typically restricted to specific features; blanket price increases across product families are rare. Price cuts are often the result of improved operating efficiencies. Through automation, slicker processes, Moore’s law improvements in hardware and economies of […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Cloud-Costs-featured.jpg6281200Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2022-07-13 07:00:002022-06-28 10:34:51Cloud price increases damage trust
Direct liquid cooling (DLC) is a collection of techniques that removes heat by circulating a coolant to IT electronics. Even though the process is far more efficient than using air, the move to liquid cooling has been largely confined to select applications in high-performance computing to cool extreme high-density IT systems. There are a few […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Direct-liquid-cooling-pressure-is-rising-but-constraints-remain-featured.jpg6281200Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDaniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, [email protected]2022-07-06 08:00:002022-07-06 09:27:12Direct liquid cooling: pressure is rising but constraints remain
Uptime Institute’s data on power usage effectiveness (PUE) is a testament to the progress the data center industry has made in energy efficiency over the past 10 years. However, global average PUEs have been largely stalling at close to 1.6 since 2018, with only marginal gains. This makes sense: for the average figure to show […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Ultimate-liquid-cooling-featured.jpg6281200Jacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngJacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2022-06-29 07:00:002022-06-17 15:22:44The ultimate liquid cooling: heat rejection into water
A service level agreement (SLA) is a contract between a cloud provider and a user. The SLA describes the provider’s minimum level of service, specified by performance metrics, and the compensation due to the user should the provider fail to deliver this service. In practice, however, this compensation is punitive. It seems designed to punish […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/SLAs_Compensation-featured.jpg6281200Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2022-06-15 07:00:002022-06-02 16:01:24Cloud SLAs punish, not compensate
Analyzing human error — with a view to preventing it — has always been challenging for data center operators. The cause of a failure can lie in how well a process was taught, how tired, well trained or resourced the staff are, or whether the equipment itself was unnecessarily difficult to operate. There are also […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Human-Error-featured.jpg6281200Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2022-06-08 08:00:002022-06-03 11:30:20Outages: understanding the human factor
As a result of some high-profile outages and the growing interest in running critical services in a public cloud, the reliability — and transparency — of public cloud services has come under scrutiny. Cloud services are designed to operate with low failure rates. Large (at-scale) cloud and IT service providers, such as Amazon Web Services, […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Concern-over-cloud-and-third-party-outages-featured.jpg6281200Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2022-06-08 08:00:002022-06-03 11:53:08Is concern over cloud and third-party outages increasing?
Cloud providers offer services that are assembled by users into applications. An outage of any single cloud service can render an application unavailable. Importantly, cloud providers guarantee the availability of individual services, not of entire applications. Even if a whole application becomes unresponsive due to a provider outage, compensation is only due for the individual […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Weakest-Link-featured.jpg6281200Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2022-06-01 07:00:002022-05-17 16:57:39The weakest link dictates cloud outage compensation
How is the Ukraine conflict affecting digital infrastructure and the data sector? In response to multiple queries, Uptime Institute Intelligence identified six main areas where operators and customers of digital infrastructure are experiencing effects from the conflict or will do so soon, not just in Europe but globally. (In Russia and Ukraine there are over […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Ukraine-featured.jpg6281200Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2022-05-18 07:00:002022-05-17 16:52:34The shock waves from Ukraine
Cloud providers need to deliver the newest capability to stay relevant. Few enterprises will accept working with outdated technology just because it’s consumable as a cloud service. However, existing cloud instances don’t migrate automatically. Similarly to on-premises server infrastructure, users need to refresh their cloud services regularly. Typically, cloud operators prefer product continuity between generations, […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Cloud-generations-drive-down-prices-featured.jpg6281200Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2022-05-03 06:00:002022-04-30 14:08:45Cloud generations drive down prices
Pressed by a sense of urgency among scientists and the wider public, and by governments and investors who must fulfil promises made at COP (Conference of the Parties) summits, major businesses are facing ever more stringent sustainability reporting requirements. Big energy users, such as data centers, are in the firing line. Many of the reporting […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Industry-Consensus-on-Sustainability-featured.jpg6281200Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2022-04-19 06:00:002022-04-07 10:13:54Industry consensus on sustainability looks fragile
The cloud model was designed to be simple and nimble. Simple and nimble doesn’t necessarily mean fit for purpose. Over the past decade, new layers of capability have been added to cloud to address its shortcomings. While this has created more options and greater functionality, it has also meant greater complexity in its management. Today, […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Cloud-Complexity-featured.jpg6281200Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2022-04-12 06:00:002022-04-07 09:44:57Why cloud is a kludge of complexity
Conditions will soon be ripe for widespread use of direct liquid cooling (DLC) — a collection of techniques that uses fluid to remove heat from IT electronics instead of air — and it may even become essential. Currently, air cooling is still dominant with DLC remaining a niche option — around 85% of enterprise IT […]
As major businesses feel a growing sense of urgency to dramatically cut carbon emissions, opinions are starting to shift in favor of nuclear power, which is not classed as clean, but is a near-zero carbon energy source. The digital infrastructure industry, a major global consumer of energy, has a role to play in rehabilitating nuclear, […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Nuclear-Option-featured.jpg6281200Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2022-03-15 06:00:002022-03-11 11:00:58Data center operators ponder the nuclear option
Vendor lock-in is regularly levied as a criticism of cloud services. But the reality of IT is, there has always been lock-in. Even before cloud, enterprises were locked into hardware, operating systems, database platforms, data centers and network providers. Practically, the lock-in challenge with cloud isn’t that moving from one location or platform is not […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Cloud-Lock-in-risk-featured.jpg6281200Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2022-03-01 06:00:002022-02-25 17:40:14Flexibility drives cloud lock-in risk
The global data center industry describes its own sustainability performance as average, compared with other industries — and most think efforts are not substantially reducing environmental impacts. A recent Uptime Institute global survey of over 400 data center owners and operators asked whether the industry’s environmental commitments are effective in curbing data center energy use, […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Sustainability-Fail-featured.jpg6281200Lenny Simon, Senior Research Associate, Uptime Institutehttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngLenny Simon, Senior Research Associate, Uptime Institute2022-02-22 06:00:002022-02-19 17:35:49Data center operators give themselves a “Fail” for sustainability
Control over critical digital infrastructure is increasingly in the hands of a small number of major providers. While a public cloud provides a flexible, stable and distributed IT environment, there are growing concerns around its operational resiliency.
As the data center sector increases its focus on becoming more environmentally sustainable, regulators still have a part to play — the question is to what extent?
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Sustainability-Regulations-featured.jpg6281200Jacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngJacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2022-01-12 07:00:002022-01-12 01:14:52Bring on regulations for data center sustainability, say Europe and APAC
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Blockchains-featured.jpg6281200Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2021-12-22 07:00:002021-12-20 15:51:33Are proof-of-work blockchains a corporate sustainability issue?
To track changing attitudes and responses to climate change and the related threats to infrastructure, Uptime Institute Intelligence concluded two global surveys in the fourth quarters of 2020 and 2021, respectively.
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Climate-Change-featured.jpg6281200Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2021-12-16 08:00:002021-12-20 11:29:18Climate change: More operators prepare to weather the storms
The power usage effectiveness (PUE) metric is predominant thanks to its universal applicability and its simplicity: energy used by the entire data center, divided by energy used by the IT equipment.
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/DLC-featured.jpg6281200Jacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngJacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2021-11-05 08:30:002021-11-04 21:01:17Does the spread of direct liquid cooling make PUE less relevant?
Earlier in 2021, ASHRAE’s Technical Committee 9.9 published an update — the fifth edition — of its Thermal Guidelines for Data Processing Environments.
Operators often say that data center infrastructure management (DCIM) software is a necessary evil. Modern facilities need centralized, real-time management and analytics, but DCIM is notoriously difficult to deploy.
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Startups-brew-new-chemistries-for-fresh-battery-types.jpg4801030Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDaniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, [email protected]2021-09-01 07:00:002021-09-01 07:04:03Startups brew new chemistries for fresh battery types
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Edge-Data-Denter-Demand.jpg4281030Dr. Tomas Rahkonen, Research Director of Distributed Data Centers, Uptime Institutehttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDr. Tomas Rahkonen, Research Director of Distributed Data Centers, Uptime Institute2021-06-28 05:00:002021-06-25 09:35:48Eyeing an uptick in edge data center demand
A recent outage at content delivery network Fastly took down thousands of websites in different countries, including big names, such as Amazon, Twitter and Spotify, for nearly an hour. It is the latest large outage highlighting the downside of a key trend in digital infrastructure: The growth in dependency on digital service providers can undermine […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Fastly-blog-featured-diagram.jpg4661024Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDaniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, [email protected]2021-06-11 15:15:072021-06-11 15:17:15Fastly outage underscores slow creep of digital services risk
Until recently, power purchase agreements (PPAs) and unbundled renewable energy certificates (RECs) were the primary means for data center operators or managers to procure renewable electricity and RECs for their operations. Many companies are not comfortable with the eight-to-20-year length and financial risks of a PPA. Unbundled RECs are an ongoing expense and do not […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Green-energy3.jpg6121638Jay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngJay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2021-05-10 06:04:002021-04-22 09:33:10Green tariff renewable energy purchases
As the pandemic began to make an impact in early 2020, it became clear that data center operators were going to have to invest more if they were to provide the services on which their customers were increasingly reliant. Short-term needs included protective equipment, deep cleaning and, it seemed likely, more spending to support extended […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/DC-Costs.jpg7342391Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2021-05-03 06:30:002021-04-22 09:08:57Pandemic has driven up data center costs
Across the world, data center owners and managers are striving to buy more renewable energy and reduce their dependence on fossil fuels. The global internet giants and the largest colocation companies have led the way with huge green energy purchases. But the impact of renewable energy on the grid operator’s economics, and on the critical […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/renew-2.jpg7842660Jay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngJay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2021-04-26 06:10:062021-04-12 12:31:53Renewable energy and data centers: Buyer, be aware
Uptime Institute Members say one of their most vexing security concerns is the insider threat — authorized staff, vendors or visitors acting with malicious intent. In extreme examples, trusted individuals could power down servers and other equipment, damage network equipment, cut fiber paths, or steal data from servers or wipe the associated storage. Unfortunately, data […]
In early March 2021, a hacker group publicly exposed the username and password of an administrative account of a security camera vendor. The credentials enabled them to access 150,000 commercial security systems and, potentially, set up subsequent attacks on other critical equipment. A few weeks earlier, leaked credentials for the collaboration software TeamViewer gave hackers […]
The catastrophic fire that occurred at OVHcloud’s SBG2 data center in Strasbourg, France (see last week’s blog about it) has led many operators to question their vulnerability to fires. Fires at data centers are a constant concern, but are rare. In almost all cases of data center fire, the source is quickly located, the equipment isolated, […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/fire3.jpg6921932Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2021-04-05 08:26:002021-05-04 10:33:00Datacenter Fire Frequency
The fire that destroyed a data center (and damaged others) at the OVHcloud facility in Strasbourg, France, on March 10-11, 2021, has raised a multitude of questions from concerned data center operators and customers around the world. Chief among these is, “What was the main cause, and could it have been prevented?” Fires at data […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/firefist2a.jpg6501819Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2021-03-29 06:01:002021-03-23 15:21:42Learning from the OVHcloud data center fire
Transitioning to renewable energy use is an important, but not easily achieved, goal. Although the past decade has seen significant improvements in IT energy efficiency, there are indications that this may not continue. Moore’s Law may be slowing, more people are coming online, and internet traffic is growing faster than ever before. As energy consumption […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/renew3.jpg6281783David Mytton, Research Affiliate, Uptime Institutehttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngDavid Mytton, Research Affiliate, Uptime Institute2021-03-22 06:11:002021-03-12 14:01:13How data center operators can transition to renewable energy
Recent extreme weather-related events in the US (the big freeze in Texas, fires on the west coast) have once again highlighted the need for data center operators to reassess their risks in the face of climate change. The topic is discussed in depth in the Uptime Institute report (available to Uptime Institute members) entitled, The gathering […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/gw.jpg7481941Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2021-03-15 06:07:002021-05-04 10:32:23Extreme weather affects nearly half of data centers
In every region of the world, data center capacity is being dramatically expanded. Across the board, the scale of capacity growth is stretching the critical infrastructure sector’s talent supply. The availability (or lack) of specialist staff will be an increasing concern for all types of data centers, from mega-growth hyperscales to smaller private enterprise facilities. […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/job7.jpg5031331Rhonda Ascierto, Vice President, Research, Uptime Institutehttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngRhonda Ascierto, Vice President, Research, Uptime Institute2021-03-08 06:09:002021-05-04 10:28:57Data center staff shortages don’t need to be a crisis
In Uptime Institute’s recent report on preparing for the extreme effects of climate change, there were over a dozen references to the dangers of extremely hot weather, which can overwhelm cooling systems and trigger regional fires that disrupt power, connectivity and staff access. But the effects of extreme cold were discussed only in passing. The […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/cold2.jpg10521938Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2021-03-01 05:34:002021-03-01 08:52:22Extreme cold — a neglected threat to availability?
Power failures have always been one of the top causes of serious IT service outages. The loss of power to a data center can be devastating, and its consequences have fully justified the huge expense and effort that go into preventing such events. But in recent years, other causes are catching up, with networking issues […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/dd2.jpg8992034Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2021-02-22 05:44:002021-05-04 10:27:15Network problems causing ever more outages
The pandemic has led to a renewed interest by data center managers in remote monitoring, management and automation. Uptime Institute has fielded dozens of inquiries about these approaches in recent months, but one in particular stands out: What will operational automation and machine learning mean for on-site staff requirements? With greater automation, the expectation is […]
Recent events have heightened concerns around physical security for many data center operators, and with good reason: the pandemic means many data centers may still be short-staffed, less time may have been available for review of and training on routine procedures, and vendor substitutes may be more common than under non-pandemic conditions. Add the usual […]
Data center operators (and enterprise IT) are generally cautious adopters of new technologies. Only a few (beyond hyperscale operators) try to gain a competitive advantage through their early use of technology. Rather, they have a strong preference toward technologies that are proven, reliable and well-supported. This reduces risks and costs, even if it means opportunities […]
Through 2021 and beyond, the world will begin to recover from its acute crisis — COVID-19 — and will turn its attention to other matters. Few if any of these issues will be as important as climate change, a chronic condition that will become more pressing and acute as each year passes. In the critical […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/sustainability2.jpg242700Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2021-01-11 05:42:002021-05-04 10:25:22Sustainability: More challenging, more transparent
One of the most widely anticipated trends in IT and infrastructure is significant new demand for edge computing, fueled by technologies such as 5G, IoT and AI. To date, net new demand for edge computing — processing, storing and integrating data close to where it is generated — has built slowly. As a result, some […]
Outsourcing the requirement to own and operate data center capacity is the cornerstone of many digital transformation strategies, with almost every large enterprise spreading their workloads across their own data centers, colocation sites and public cloud. But ask any regulator, any chief executive, any customer: You can’t outsource responsibility — for incidents, outages, security breaches […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/resp-sm.jpg6801100Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2020-12-21 05:15:002021-05-04 10:22:35Accountability – the “new” imperative
What we can expect for mission-critical digital infrastructure in 2021? Each autumn Uptime Institute, like many other organizations, puts together a list of some of the big trends and themes for the year ahead. This time, we have focused on five big trends that might not have been so obvious 12 months ago. Heading into […]
Density is rising The power density per rack (kilowatts [kW] per cabinet) is a critical number in data center design, capacity planning, and cooling and power provisioning. There have been industry warnings about a meteoric rise in IT equipment rack power density for the past decade (at least). One reason for this prediction is the […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/racks1.jpg6491923Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2020-12-07 06:00:562020-11-30 14:14:55Rack Density is Rising
Data center capacity is rapidly expanding in outsourced, third-party IT venues, such as colocation data centers and public cloud. Whether measured in megawatts (MW) of uninterruptible power supply capacity or IT load (or by some other measure, such as square feet of white or leased space, or in units of compute or storage) overall capacity […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/choice.jpg8852329Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2020-11-23 06:00:322020-11-20 16:18:06Common Factors for IT venue selection (Choosing In-house or Outsource)
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused concerns about data center HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) filtration. So many data center operators are adjusting filtration protocols, including upgrading to finer MERV (minimum efficiency reporting value) 13 filters, to better filter out aerosols and COVID-19 virus carriers.1 But there is no free lunch. Depending on the design […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/ch1aa.jpg5001350Todd Traverhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngTodd Traver2020-11-16 05:00:502021-05-04 10:20:49COVID-19, air filtration and energy use
There are few organizations that have had as big an impact on data center design as ASHRAE — and specifically, their Technical Committee (TC) 9.9. ASHRAE’s 2004 publication Thermal guidelines for Data Processing Environments (now in its fourth edition) described the optimal environmental operating conditions for the electronics in a data center, and in doing so, effectively […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Edge1.jpg9202185Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2020-11-09 04:54:042020-10-29 08:36:15Why ASHRAE is concerned about edge data centers
When the PUE (power usage effectiveness) metric was first discussed at a meeting of The Green Grid in Santa Clara, back in 2007, a microphone stand was placed in each aisle of the auditorium. The importance of the initiative was understood even then: experts, including the founders of Uptime Institute, formed lines to give their […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/PUE-Rusty.jpg380895Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2020-11-02 07:32:042020-10-26 12:18:10PUE: The golden metric is looking rusty
When Uptime Institute recently asked over 300 data center managers how the pandemic would change their operations, one answer stood out: Two-thirds expect to increase the resiliency of their core data center(s) in the years ahead. Many said they expected their costs to increase as a result. The reasoning is clear: the pandemic — or […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/type1a.jpg3551475Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2020-10-26 06:00:342021-05-04 10:19:35Why data center operators are investing in more redundancy
In mid-September 2020, The US Bureau of Labor and Statistics published their updated 2019-2029 Employment Projection summary news release and the associated handbook which discusses various job roles and hiring and salary expectations over the next decade. It identified a number of easy to consume trends which caught my attention and perhaps worth your consideration. In the […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/BLS-blog.jpg8202320Mark Harrishttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngMark Harris2020-10-19 06:00:012020-10-20 09:38:45Job Projections, 2019-2029, Macro shifts, Gig work and the Baby-Boomers
Periodically we get questions about data center temperatures and energy savings. The questions usually ask about possible energy savings in commercial data centers by raising the temperature of the data hall. Some form of this question surfaces regularly over time because it just seems to be a common sense opportunity. But there is alot to […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/thermo3.jpg7352420Mark Harrishttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngMark Harris2020-10-12 06:00:522020-09-21 15:37:57Increasing data center temperatures to reduce energy costs
Data centers are built and sited to withstand all that Mother Nature can throw at them — or at least, is likely to throw at them — during their lifecycle. This has long been a given, practiced and understood by designers, planners and regulators. But climate change is changing everything. Recent weather events have led […]
As the COVID-19 pandemic has unfolded, many people have suggested that the business case for enterprises to move more workloads to the public cloud has been strengthened. Some have argued that the pandemic will accelerate the decline of the enterprise data center. Is this actually the case? And if so, why? This is one of […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/blog-cloud-sm.jpg7001890Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2020-09-21 06:00:272021-05-04 10:18:25Will the pandemic accelerate the move to public cloud?
As will be discussed in our upcoming note about managing data center with the severe weather caused by climate change, we continue to highlight the need for data center managers to not only review existing emergency plans but also anticipate previously unforeseen challenges. The need to understand the new ‘Normal’ Which brings us to wildfires… […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/pexels-sippakorn-yamkasikorn-3552472-blogsm.jpg13943764Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2020-09-16 06:00:542020-09-14 09:43:03Data Centers and Wildfires
Data center managers, on both the facilities and the IT side of operations, are known for their preparedness. Even so, the pandemic caught most by surprise. Few had an effective pandemic plan in place, and most had to react and adapt on the fly, as best as they could. A small but significant number suffered […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/chess-blog-sm.jpg10002700Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2020-09-14 06:50:202021-05-04 10:17:30Pandemics: Operators plan to be ready next time
One of the emerging trends in data centers is the use of lithium ion (Li-ion) batteries, both for distributed and centralized uninterruptible power supplies. Research by Uptime Institute and others predicts high levels of adoption in the years ahead. The primary reasons for this are technical, relating to energy density, rechargeability and management. But Li-ion […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Lithium-Element-Blog.jpg8302255Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2020-09-06 06:00:082020-08-27 10:49:33Lithium-ion batteries in the Data Center: An ethical dimension?
Increasingly, data centers cannot find qualified candidates for open jobs. Companies that commit to diverse and inclusive workplaces are more likely to have better financial performance; greater innovation and productivity; and higher employee-ambassador recruitment, employee retention and employee job satisfaction rates.
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/blog-infographic-aug2020sm.jpg7502025Rhonda Ascierto, Vice President, Research, Uptime Institutehttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngRhonda Ascierto, Vice President, Research, Uptime Institute2020-08-31 05:00:132020-10-22 14:27:22Data center workforce diversity makes good business sense
It’s HERE!!! Every year, Uptime Institute reaches out to thousands of industry leaders, enterprises and suppliers to ask them about their view of where the data center and digital infrastructure industry is going and what kinds of challenges they are dealing with today and expect in the future. We ask about trends and migrations, tactics […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Survey-2020blog2.jpg5001350Mark Harrishttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngMark Harris2020-07-29 06:45:112020-07-30 11:11:31Uptime Institute’s 10th Annual Data Center Survey is here!
In a recent Uptime Institute Intelligence analysis we considered a question that Uptime Institute has been asked many times since COVID-19 lockdowns began: Has the pandemic caused any increase in outages? The question arose because the pandemic has caused staff shortages, extended shifts, delays to maintenance, and a shortage of parts for at least some operators. […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Internet-Giants.jpg5001450Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2020-07-20 06:00:402021-05-04 10:15:55The pandemic, outages and the internet giants
Demand for IT capacity continues to grow rapidly across the globe, which has driven the need for more industrialized approaches to data center provisioning including construction and component assembly. Large operators and their partners have scrambled to apply new processes and disciplines, expand and re-organize supply chains, deploy prefabricated components, and, where possible, reduce cost […]
What will be the long-lasting impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the digital critical infrastructure industry? It may be too soon to ask the question given that, at the time of writing, the virus is taking its toll at scale across the world. But Uptime Institute has been asked this question many times, and it’s […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/COVID-LEGACY-sm.jpg10002700Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2020-06-22 06:00:552021-05-04 10:14:36COVID-19: Critical impact and legacy
During the current COVID-19 crisis, enterprise dependency on cloud platform providers (Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform) and on software as a service (Salesforce, Zoom, Teams) has increased. Operators report booming demand, with Microsoft’s Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella saying, “We have seen two years’ worth of digital transformation in two months.” This […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Banks-cloud-getty-blog.jpg5351440Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2020-06-08 06:00:242021-05-04 10:11:23Enterprises’ need for control and visibility still slows cloud adoption
Fear of the coronavirus or confirmed exposure has caused about half (49%) of data center owners to increase the frequency of regular cleanings, according to a recent Uptime Institute flash survey. Even more (66%) have increased the frequency of sanitization (disinfection) to eliminate (however transitorily) any possible presence of the novel coronavirus in their facilities. […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/GettyImages-1222181804blog.jpg9252486Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2020-06-01 06:00:082020-06-04 12:06:45Data Center cleaning and sanitization: detail, cost and effectiveness
To date, the critical infrastructure industry has mostly managed effectively with reduced staff, deferred maintenance, social distancing and new patterns of demand. While there have been some serious incidents and outages directly related to the pandemic, these have been few. But what worries operators for the months ahead? Clearly, the situation is changing all the […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/GettyImages-1134312106-blog.jpg7402003Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2020-05-11 06:00:502021-05-04 10:10:02COVID-19: What worries data center management the most?
To date, media coverage of the impact of COVID-19 and the lockdowns has been largely laudatory. There have been few high profile or serious outages (perhaps fewer than normal) and for the most part, internet traffic flow analysis shows that a sudden jump in demand, along with a shift toward the residential edge and busy […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/GettyImages-1171885110-blog.jpg9602592Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2020-05-04 06:00:242021-05-04 10:08:04Pandemic is causing some outages and slowdowns
The average power usage effectiveness (PUE) ratio for a data center in 2020 is 1.58, only marginally better than 7 years ago, according to the latest annual Uptime Institute survey (findings to be published shortly). PUE, an international standard first developed by The Green Grid and others in 2007, is the most widely accepted way […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/GettyImages-1193108294blog.jpg10002700Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2020-04-27 11:50:272020-04-27 11:52:57Data center PUEs flat since 2013
The final installment of our Q&A regarding digital infrastructure considerations during the COVID19 crisis includes Deferred Maintenance, Remote Word, Supply Chain, Tier Standard and Long-Term Outlook Below is Part 3 of the Q&A responses brought up during our recent series of webinars about managing operational risk during the COVID19 crisis. (Part 1 dealt with Staffing and […]
Here is Part 2 of our Q&A regarding digital infrastructure considerations during the COVID19 crisis. Keep in mind that we are all handling this crisis in varied ways, and learning from each other along the way. In that process, we really ARE all finding our own “New Normal” and ultimately we will come out of […]
We are all in this together. We are all finding our own “New Normal”. We are all learning from each other and will come out of this crisis stronger due to the renewed focus on operational effectiveness, risk avoidance and contingency planning. To this end, Uptime Institute has been creating many types of guidance and […]
One of the findings of Uptime Institute’s recently published report Annual outage analysis 2020 is that the most serious categories of outages — those that cause a significant disruption in services — are becoming more severe and more costly. This isn’t entirely surprising: individuals and businesses alike are becoming ever more dependent on IT, and it is […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/GettyImages-1202490579-blog.jpg10002700Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2020-03-30 06:00:592020-03-13 10:57:44Are IT Infrastructure Outages Getting Longer?
Over the past few weeks, Uptime Institute held multiple customer roundtables to discuss the impact of the COVID-19 virus on data center operations and potential operational responses to its spread. We gathered our communities insights and best practices, we combined with our own 25 years worth of infrastructure operational management knowledge and we are now […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/GettyImages-1212420405-blog.jpg10672667Sandra Vailhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngSandra Vail2020-03-17 06:00:572020-03-17 09:44:54COVID-19: IT organizations move from planning to implementation
As enterprises continue to move from a focus on capital expenditures to operating expenditures, more data center components will also be consumed on a pay-as-you-go, “as a service” basis. “-aaS” goes mainstream The trend toward everything “as a service” (XaaS) is now mainstream in IT, ranging from cloud (infrastructure-aaS) and software-aaS (SaaS) to newer offerings, […]
Despite years of discussion, warnings and strict regulations in some countries, data center hot work remains a contentious issue in the data center industry. Hot work is the practice of working on energized electrical circuits (voltage limits differ regionally) — and it is usually done, in spite of the risks, to reduce the possibility of […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Energized-hot-work-cropped-blog.jpg11983242Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2020-02-24 05:30:402020-02-14 15:34:41Phasing Out Data Center Hot Work
Uptime Institute Intelligence plans to release its 2019/2020 outages report shortly. This report will examine the types, causes and impacts of public outages, as well as further analyze the results of a recent Uptime survey on outages and impacts. The data will once again show that serious IT service interruptions are common and costly, with […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/GettyImages-1142860861-blog.jpg4461221Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2020-02-10 05:46:282020-01-30 14:56:41The spectre of ransomware
A wave of new technologies, from 5G to the internet of things (IoT) to artificial intelligence (AI), means much more computing and much more data will be needed near the point of use. That means many more small data centers will be required. But there will be no sudden mass deployment, no single standout use […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/GettyImages-157394357-blog.jpg10242720Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2020-02-03 05:34:532020-01-30 14:46:06Micro data centers: An explosion in demand, in slow motion
Hardware refresh is the process of replacing older, less efficient servers with newer, more efficient ones with more compute capacity. However, there is a complication to the refresh cycle that is relatively recent: the slowing down of Moore’s law. There is still a very strong case for savings in energy when replacing servers that are […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/GettyImages-1017644632-50.jpg9952591Rabih Bashroushhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngRabih Bashroush2020-01-27 05:45:542020-01-27 09:59:00Optimizing server refresh cycles with an aging Moore’s law
Big IT outages are occurring with growing regularity, many with severe consequences. Executives, industry authorities and governments alike are responding with more rules, calls for more transparency and a more formal approach to end-to-end, holistic resiliency. Creeping criticality IT outages and data center downtime can cause huge disruption. That is hardly news: veterans with long […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/GettyImages-1192700007-blog.jpg9472655Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2020-01-13 05:57:122019-12-27 09:11:43Outages drive authorities and businesses to act
Energy use by data centers and IT will continue to rise, putting pressure on energy infrastructure and raising questions about carbon emissions. The drivers for more energy use are simply too great to be offset by efficiency gains. Drivers Demand for digital services has seen sustained, exceptional growth over the past few years — and […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/GettyImages-1096717338-blog.jpg17624775Rabih Bashroushhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngRabih Bashroush2020-01-06 06:00:422019-12-19 11:12:47Data center energy use goes up and up and up
Data centers are no longer a niche or exotic investment among mainstream institutional buyers, which are swarming to the sector. There is now a buyer for almost every type of data center — including traditional-infrastructure investors and sovereign wealth funds. How might this new mix of capital sources change the broader data center sector? Traditional […]
In her book “Surveillance Capitalism,” the Harvard scholar Shoshana Zuboff describes how some software and service providers have been collecting vast amounts of data, with the goal of tracking, anticipating, shaping and even controlling the behavior of individuals. She sees it as a threat to individual freedom, to business and to democracy. Zuboff outlines the […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/GettyImages-912023604-sm.jpg16884655Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2019-12-09 06:44:592019-11-27 11:32:34Surveillance Capitalism and DCIM
In 2012, Microsoft announced that it planned to eliminate engine generators at its big data center campus in Quincey, Oregon. Six years later the same group, with much the same aspirations, filed for permission to install 72 diesel generators, which have an expected life of at least a decade. This example illustrates clearly just how […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/datacenter-2-7.jpg15134085Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2019-12-02 06:30:252019-11-11 11:33:28Data centers without diesel generators: The groundwork is being laid…
The digital infrastructure industry continues to grow and change at a striking price. Across the world, a thriving community of investors, designers, owners and operators are grappling with many of the same issues: resiliency and risk, the impact of cloud, the move to the edge, rapid innovation, and unpredictable (although mostly upward) demand. What should […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Trends-2020.jpg8222220Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2019-11-18 05:21:122019-12-11 15:32:43Top-10 Digital Infrastructure Trends for 2020
Separating production and non-production assets should be an operational requirement for most organizations. By definition, production assets support high-priority IT loads — servers that are critical to a business or business unit. In most organizations, IT will have sufficient discretion to place these assets where they have redundant power supplies, sufficient cooling and high levels of […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Separationj.jpg12403387Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2019-11-04 06:00:082019-10-21 10:23:36Non-production IT can hinder mission-critical operations
One of the most widely cited metrics in the IT industry is for availability, expressed in the form of a number of nines: three nines for 99.9% availability (minutes of downtime per year), extending to six nines — 99.9999% — or even, very rarely, seven nines. What this should mean in practice is show in […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Red-Clock-aspect27.jpg13423523Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2019-10-28 06:05:072019-10-14 15:36:5199 Red Flags
Regulation of Internet giants has focused so far mostly on data privacy, where concerns are relatively well understood by lawmakers and the general public. At the same time, the threat of antitrust action is growing. Congressional hearings in the US with Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google have begun, and governments in Europe, India and elsewhere […]
In the movie “Mary Poppins,” Mr. Banks sings that a British bank must be run with precision, and that “Tradition, discipline and rules must be the tools.” Otherwise, he warns, “Disorder! Chaos!” will ensue. One rule, introduced by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in 2018, suggests that disorder and chaos might be quite common […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/GettyImages-1023248390cropped.jpg18535000Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2019-10-14 06:00:392019-09-30 11:02:05Outage Reporting in Financial Services
A previous Uptime Intelligence Note suggested that avoiding data center outages might be as simple as trying harder. The Note suggested that management failures are the main reason that enterprises continue to experience downtime incidents, even in fault tolerant facilities. “The Intelligence Trap,” a new book by David Robson, sheds light on why management mistakes continue to […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Blog-Part-Deux.jpg9802643Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2019-10-07 06:15:142019-09-23 10:16:41How to Avoid Outages – Part Deux
In a recent Uptime Institute Intelligence note, we considered a June 2019 report issued by the US General Accounting Office (GAO) on the IT resiliency of US airlines. The GAO wanted to better understand if the all-too-frequent IT outages and resultant chaos passengers face have any common causes and if so, how they could be […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/GettyImages-522477922-aspect-smaller.jpg17504725Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2019-09-30 06:00:012019-09-18 15:36:57Why do some industries and organizations suffer more serious, high profile outages than others?
Uptime Institute has spent years analyzing the roots causes for data center and service outages, surveying thousands of IT professionals throughout the year on this topic. According to the data, the vast majority of data center failures are caused by human error. Some industry experts report numbers as high as 75%, but Uptime Institute generally reports […]
In the recently published 2019 Uptime Institute supplier survey, participants told us they are witnessing higher than normal data center spending patterns. This is in line with general market trends, driven by the demand for data and digital services. It is also a welcome sign for those suppliers who witnessed a downturn two to three […]
With the recent expansion of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers’ (ASHRAE’s) acceptable data center operating temperature and humidity ranges — taken as an industry-standard best practice by many operators — the case for free air cooling has become much stronger. Free air cooling is an economical method of using low external […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/BLOG-Energy-Arrows.jpg8012202Rabih Bashroushhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngRabih Bashroush2019-09-09 06:30:542019-08-19 15:17:00Data Center Free Air Cooling Trends
Uptime Institute’s Annual outage analysis, published early this year, called attention to the persistent problem of IT service and data center outages. Coupled with our annual survey data on outages, the analysis explains, to a degree, why investments to date have not greatly reduced the outage problem — at least from an end-to-end service view. Gathering […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/GOA-chart-2.7aspect.jpg10002700Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2019-08-19 09:00:032019-08-19 15:20:06IT Outages in the Airline Industry, A New Report by the GAO
An artificial intelligence (AI) strategy for data center management and operation requires more than just data and some very smart humans. Selecting specific use cases and understanding the types of data that influence AI outcomes — and then validating those outcomes — will be key if the needs of the business are to be met. […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/GettyImages-1135342603-blog.jpg18414928Rhonda Ascierto, Vice President, Research, Uptime Institutehttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngRhonda Ascierto, Vice President, Research, Uptime Institute2019-08-12 08:00:442019-11-18 08:49:50Data center AI: Start with the end in mind
We have heard for a dozen years about the Open Computing Project (OCP) and their non-traditional approach to computing hardware, from the racks to the servers, storage and networking. And over the last few years to the Open19 Foundation started to promote their alternative platform which resembles the more traditional 19-inch rack approach we have […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Open19-Rack-Photo-wide.jpg6881883Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2019-08-05 09:00:032019-07-07 06:15:37Open19 expects 2019 to be the year of “Accelerated Adoption”
In our October 2018 report, A mission-critical industry unprepared for climate change, Uptime Institute Intelligence urged data center operators and owners to plan for the effects of climate change. We specifically encouraged data center owners and operators to meet with government officials and utility executives to learn about local and regional disaster preparation and response plans. […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/carr-fire-gty-er-180731_hpMain-999x375.png373989Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2019-07-29 08:00:292019-07-07 06:18:23PG&E Turns Power Off (a.k.a. Climate Change and the Data Center)
The spectacular growth of the public cloud has many drivers, only one of which is the deployment, redevelopment or migration of enterprise IT into the cloud. But many groups within the industry — data center builders and operators, hardware and software suppliers, networking companies, and providers of skills and services alike — are closely watching […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Hybrid-for-blog-with-pct.jpg16184484Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2019-07-22 09:00:002019-05-30 14:29:50Enterprise IT and the public cloud: What the numbers tell us
It is still very early days, but it is clear that artificial intelligence (AI) is set to transform the way data centers are designed, managed and operated — eventually. There has been a lot of misrepresentation and hype around AI, and it’s not always clear how it will be applied, and when. The Uptime Institute […]
In a recent presentation at the Energy Smart data center conference in Stockholm, Gary Cook, the Greenpeace activist who has tracked data center carbon emissions for a decade, showed a slide of logos, indicating companies that have made a commitment to use 100 percent renewable energy for their IT. Cook showed the commitment started with […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/RENEWABLE.jpg5681371Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2019-06-10 09:00:072019-05-10 15:04:27Renewed Pressure for Renewables to Power the Data Center
Sometimes it can be hard to get people to talk about their issues — other times, it can be hard to keep them quiet. A recent Uptime Institute Network member’s meeting began as an open discussion but was soon dominated by one issue: data center staffing. The members’ concerns reflect the growing disquiet in the […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/SKILLS-SHORTAGE.jpg9762375Sandra Vailhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngSandra Vail2019-05-22 09:00:482019-05-10 15:03:44The Data Center Staffing and Skills Shortage is here NOW!
One of the more intriguing results of the Uptime Institute Global Data Center Survey 2019 concerned energy efficiency. For years, data centers have become ever more efficient, with power usage effectiveness (PUE) ratings across the industry (apparently) falling. Big operators, such as hyperscale cloud companies and big colos, regularly claim annual or design PUE figures […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/PUE-line.jpg7181582Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2019-05-15 11:30:352019-05-17 10:43:52Is PUE actually going UP?
Avoiding IT service outages is a big concern for any operator or service provider, especially one providing a business-critical service. But when an outage does occur, the business impact can vary from “barely noticeable” to “huge and expensive.” Anticipating and modeling the impact of a service interruption should be a part of incident planning and is key […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Outage-red-image.jpg5201371Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngAndy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]2019-05-08 09:00:322019-05-10 15:21:27Comparing the severity of IT service outages: Uptime Institute’s Outage Severity Rating
Artificial intelligence (AI) is being used in data centers to drive up efficiencies and drive down risks and costs. But it also creates new types of risks. This is one of the findings from a recent Uptime Intelligence research report #25, “Very smart data centers: How artificial intelligence will power operational decisions”, published in April […]
The 1970s-era environmental phrase “Think globally, act locally,” is an apt way for data center operators to consider the best approach to understand and address the effects of climate change on their facilities and IT operations TODAY. Globally, we all hear that climate change threatens to bring warmer temperatures, stronger storms, rising sea levels, and […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Flooding-Hurricane-ClimateChange-851x360.jpg390851Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2019-01-16 15:13:322019-01-16 15:13:32“Think Globally, Act Locally”: Re-Evaluating Data Center Resiliency in the Face of Climate Change
This is a guest post written by Brett Ridley, Head of Central Operations and Facility Management for NEXTDC.NEXTDC is Australia’s leading independent data centre operator with a nationwide network of Uptime Institute certified Tier III and Tier IV facilities. NEXTDC provides enterprise-class colocation services to local and international organisations. If you are interested in participating in […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/NextDC-B2-night_851x360.jpg360851Brett Ridleyhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngBrett Ridley2018-09-27 13:58:492019-04-22 10:54:43NEXTDC: Obsessed with the details so our customers’ business is always available
Software enabled application resiliency is now playing a significant and increasing role in bolstering applications availability and reliability across the enterprise, reducing risk to the business. No longer are clients solely reliant upon the stability provided by the electrical and mechanical systems in their data center. By utilizing new software techniques, enterprises are now able […]
We’ve entered an era where our IT infrastructures are now becoming a compilation of capacity that is spread out and running upon a wide range of platforms; some we completely control, some we control partially and some we don’t control at all. No longer should our IT services discussions start with ‘And in the data center […]
New technologies such as IoT and cloud architectures are driving computing to the edge. Companies must embrace this trend in order to survive. The definition of computing infrastructure is changing. While large traditional data centers have been the mainstay of information technology for the past 60 years, we’re seeing a perfect storm today where mobility, […]
We have all seen big headline stories for years about overseas network hackers who are able to extract millions of account details and social security numbers from the retail, financial and a litany of other industries. And Hollywood has done a great job of painting the picture about bad guys physically breaking into data centers […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/building-cloud-lockPNG.png4091030Mark Harrishttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngMark Harris2017-12-11 06:00:112017-12-27 08:57:42Hacking the Physical Data Center – Not just for Hollywood Movies
Today, your data center is more important and essential than it has ever been! Let me explain. We are at a cross-roads in thinking for IT Infrastructures. For nearly 40 years (about the time when the first connected computing systems came into being), bigger has always been better. Bigger processors, bigger disk drives, bigger servers, […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Rows-Out-1030x409.jpg4091030Mark Harrishttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngMark Harris2017-12-04 13:47:372017-12-04 14:45:24As Data Center Footprint shrinks, the Importance of the Data Center Grows!
It has always been incredibly difficult to align an organization’s business needs and strategies with the underlying information technologies required to get there. For many years, the long-tenured IT organization was given a tremendous amount of leeway due to the complex nature of delivering IT. IT was viewed as an almost magical discipline, something that […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/accountability_tag_cloud_252ar.png4231065Mark Harrishttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngMark Harris2017-11-09 11:04:532017-11-17 10:26:27Delivering IT in 2018 is All About Accountability!
True or false? When it comes to Tier Certification, just ask Uptime Institute By Uptime Institute Staff Uptime Institute’s Tier Classification System for data centers has reached the two-decade mark. Since its creation in the mid-1990s, Tiers has evolved from a shared industry terminology into the global standard for third-party validation of data center critical […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/tiers.jpg5941500Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2017-07-20 12:33:222017-07-20 12:33:22Myths and Misconceptions Regarding the Uptime Institute’s Tier Certification System
Uptime Institute recently published “Top Considerations for Addressing Data Center Facilities Management Risks,” a guide for reducing data center risks in enterprise IT organizations . The guide comprises 14 top considerations useful for designing and running an enterprise-grade data center facilities management program. The full guide is available for download on the Uptime Institute website. […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Uptime_Institute_Top_Considerations_for_Addressing_Facility_.gif241600Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2017-06-13 08:22:012017-06-13 08:22:01Top Considerations for Addressing Data Center Facilities Management Risks
Nearly perfect M&O Stamp of Approval scores prove that NRI’s data centers operations are world class By Kevin Heslin Nomura Research Institute, Ltd. (NRI), a ¥18 billion ($US169 million) company that provides consulting, financial IT solutions, industrial IT solutions, and IT platform services mainly to a global financial marketplace, has earned Uptime Institute Management and […]
This week, Uptime Institute hosted its first major event in China, Uptime Institute Symposium: Shanghai. Over 400 invite-only attendees joined Uptime Institute for a day of collaborative learning at the Grand Hyatt. The photos below illustrate some highlights from the the day. Stay tuned to the Symposium website for updates on our events in North […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/ThinkstockPhotos-515811014.jpg11612581Matt Stansberryhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngMatt Stansberry2017-03-22 22:00:102017-03-23 01:56:57Highlights from Uptime Institute Symposium: Shanghai
David Meredith says that CenturyLink’s involvement, including the M&O Stamp of Approval, with Uptime Institute provides mutual benefits. Uptime Institute’s Risk Journal for IT Infrastructure is the most recent example. CenturyLink’s commitment to operational excellence has become one of the company’s competitive advantages, and David Meredith, a senior VP at CenturyLink, has been an enthusiastic […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/risk.jpg5941500Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2017-03-09 14:25:582017-03-10 08:40:25CenturyLink Benefits from Its Commitment to Excellence
Luxconnect obtains different Tier Certifications to meet the needs of the changing market demands By Christine De Ridder LuxConnect, a multi-tenant, multi-tier data center and dark fiber network operator based in Luxembourg, developed an innovative strategy using Uptime Institute Tiers to differentiate the services and pricing it offers to key customer groups. In doing so, […]
Senior facility manager calls achieving Tier Certification of Operational Sustainability “a dream” By Kevin Heslin The New South Wales (NSW) Department of Finance, Services and Innovation (DFSI) is a government service provider and regulator for the southeastern Australian state. DFSI supports many government functions, including sustainable government finances, major public works and maintenance programs, government […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Unknown.jpeg4751201Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2017-01-03 09:29:212017-01-03 09:30:32When an Australian Government Department Required Operational Sustainability, Metronode Delivered
Uptime Institute recently awarded its Efficient IT (EIT) Stamp of Approval to LinkedIn for its new data center in Infomart Portland, signaling that the modern new facility had exceeded extremely high standards for enterprise leadership, operations, and computing infrastructure. These standards are designed to help organizations lower costs and increase efficiency, and leverage technology for […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/linkedinfinal.jpg4751200Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2016-12-08 08:12:292018-07-12 08:56:17LinkedIn’s Oregon Data Center Goes Live, Gains EIT Stamp of Approval
Uptime Institute has prepared this brief airline outages FAQ to help the industry, media, and general public understand the reasons that data centers fail. The failure of a power control module on Monday, August 8, 2016, at a Delta Airlines data center caused hundreds of flight cancellations, inconvenienced thousands of customers, and cost the airline […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/delta1.jpg4751201Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2016-11-28 12:44:412016-11-28 12:44:41Airline Outages FAQ: How to Keep Your Company Out of the Headlines
Green Mountain melds sustainability, reliability, competitive pricing, and independent certifications to attract international colo customers By Kevin Heslin Green Mountain operates two unique colo facilities in Norway, having a total potential capacity of several hundred megawatts. Though each facility has its own strengths, both embody the company’s commitment to providing secure, high-quality service in an […]
Industry data from Uptime Institute and 451 Research evidence a rapid rate of cloud computing adoption for enterprise IT departments. Organizations weigh cloud benefits and risks, and also evaluate how cloud will impact their existing and future data center infrastructure investment. In this video, Uptime Institute COO Julian Kudritzki and Andrew Reichman, Research Director at […]
FORTRUST regards management and operations as a core competency that helps it win new clients and control capital and operating expenses Shortly after receiving word that FORTRUST had earned Uptime Institute’s Tier Certification for Operational Sustainability (Gold) for Phase 7 of its Denver data center, Rob McClary, the company’s executive vice president and general manager, […]
Uptime Institute President Lee Kirby and Stephen Douglas, Risk Control Director for CNA, an insurance and risk control provider for the software and IT services industry recently coauthored an article for Data Center Knowledge: Lowering Your Data Center’s Exposure to Insurance Claims. In this follow on, Kirby discusses how companies can reduce insurance premiums by […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Capture.png4781322Matt Stansberryhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngMatt Stansberry2016-07-14 10:58:242016-07-18 12:32:58Reduce Data Center Insurance Premiums
Peer-based critiques drive continuous improvement, identify lurking data center vulnerabilities By Kevin Heslin Shared information is one of the distinctive features of the Uptime Institute Network and its activities. Under non-disclosure agreements, Network members not only share information, but they also collaborate on projects of mutual interest. Uptime Institute facilitates the information sharing and helps […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/lurkingtop.jpg4751201Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2016-06-30 07:23:422016-07-01 08:24:59Identifying Lurking Vulnerabilities in the World’s Best-Run Data Centers
Will drought dry up the digital economy? With water scarcity a pressing concern, data center owners are re-examining water consumption for cooling. By Ryan Orr and Keith Klesner In the midst of a historic drought in the western U.S., 70% of California experienced “extreme” drought in 2015, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. The state’s […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/orrwaterheader.jpg4751201Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2016-06-17 14:29:212016-06-17 14:29:21Ignore Data Center Water Consumption at Your Own Peril
The team approach helped the Bank earn Uptime Institute’s M&O Stamp of Approval By Matt Stansberry The Bank of Canada is the nation’s central bank. The Bank acts as the fiscal agent of the Canadian government, managing its public debt programs and foreign exchange reserves and setting its monetary policy. It also designs, issues, and […]
Raytheon integrates corporate sustainability to achieve savings and recognition By Brian J. Moore With a history of innovation spanning 92 years, Raytheon Company provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration, and other capabilities in the areas of sensing, effects, command, control, communications, and intelligence systems, as well as a broad range of mission support services in […]
Special care must be taken on modular and phased construction projects to avoid compromising reliability goals. Shared system coordination could defeat your Tier Certification objective By Chris Brown Today, we often see data center owners taking a modular or phased construction approach to reduce the costs of design, construction, and operation and build time. Taking […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/brown.jpg4751201Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2015-12-14 11:14:162015-12-14 11:24:22Tier Certification for Modular and Phased Construction
A statistical justification for 24×7 coverage By Richard Van Loo As a result of performing numerous operational assessments at data centers around the world, Uptime Institute has observed that staffing levels at data centers vary greatly from site to site. This observation is discouraging, but not surprising, because while staffing is an important function for […]
Conventional wisdom blames “human error” for the majority of outages, but those failures are incorrectly attributed to front-line operator errors, rather than management mistakes By Julian Kudritzki, with Anne Corning Data centers, oil rigs, ships, power plants, and airplanes may seem like vastly different entities, but all are large and complex systems that can be […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/systemsfailures.jpg4751201Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2015-10-09 13:37:472016-08-23 08:53:49Examining and Learning from Complex Systems Failures
Allocating IT costs to internal customers improves accountability, cuts waste By Scott Killian You’ve heard the complaints many times before: IT costs too much. I have no idea what I’m paying for. I can’t accurately budget for IT costs. I can do better getting IT services myself. The problem is that end-user departments and organizations […]
By Kevin Heslin and Lee Kirby Driving operational excellence across multiple data centers is exponentially more difficult than managing just one. Technical complexity multiplies as you move to different sites, regions, and countries where codes, cultures, climates, and other factors are different. Organizational complexity further complicates matters when the data centers in your portfolio have […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/herb.jpg4751201Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2015-07-20 09:52:582015-07-22 12:42:34AIG Tells How It Raised Its Level of Operations Excellence
By Matt Stansberry and Lee Kirby Driving operational excellence across multiple data centers is exponentially more difficult than managing just one. Technical complexity multiplies as you move to different sites, regions, and countries where codes, cultures, climates and other factors are different. Organizational complexity further complicates matters when the data centers in your portfolio have […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/mo.jpg4751201Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2015-06-18 09:54:552015-09-02 21:13:42Meeting the M&O Challenge of Managing a Diverse Data Center Footprint: John Sheputis and Don Jenkins, Infomart
Better information leads to better decisions By Jose Ruiz New tools have dramatically enhanced the ability of data center operators to base decisions regarding capacity planning and operational performance like move, adds, and changes on actual data. The combined use of modeling technologies to effectively calibrate the data center during the commissioning process and the […]
Experience, teamwork, and third-party verification are keys to avoiding data center construction problems By Keith Klesner In 2014, Uptime Institute spoke to the common conflicts between data center owners and designers. In our paper, “Resolving Conflicts Between Data Center Owners and Designers” [The Uptime Institute Journal, Volume 3, p 111], we noted that both the […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/KlesnerTop.jpg4751201Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2015-05-13 13:42:102015-05-13 14:29:11Avoiding Data Center Construction Problems
Rigorous testing of data center components should be a continuous process By Ryan Orr, with Chris Brown and Ed Rafter Many data center owners and others commonly believe that commissioning takes place only in the last few days before the facility enters into operation. In reality, data center commissioning is a continuous process that, when […]
On March 13, 2015, Data Center Knowledge published an article “ViaWest Accused of Misleading Customers in Las Vegas”. The following is excerpted from the article. ViaWest, the Shaw Communications-owned data center service provider, is being accused of misleading customers about reliability of its Las Vegas data center. Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt’s office has asked […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/1.jpg4751201Matt Stansberryhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngMatt Stansberry2015-03-17 11:56:222015-03-17 12:43:12Data center design goals and certification of proven achievement are not the same
The care and feeding of a data center By Richard F. Van Loo Managing and operating a data center comprises a wide variety of activities, including the maintenance of all the equipment and systems in the data center, housekeeping, training, and capacity management for space power and cooling. These functions have one requirement in common: […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/vl.jpg4751201Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2015-03-12 11:22:522015-03-12 19:44:06Proper Data Center Staffing is Key to Reliable Operations
Five questions to ask yourself, and five to ask your team By Fred Dickerman When Uptime Institute invited me to present at Symposium this year, I noticed that the event theme was Empowering the Data Center Professional. Furthermore, I noted that Uptime Institute described the Symposium as “providing attendees with the information to make better […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/dickermantop.jpg4751201Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2015-02-10 14:03:492015-02-10 14:05:58Empowering the Data Center Professional
In this series, Uptime Institute asked three of the industry’s most well recognized and innovative leaders to describe the problems facing enterprise IT organizations. Jason Weckworth examined the often-overlooked issue of server hugging; Mark Thiele suggested that service offerings often did not fit the customer’s long-term needs; and Fred Dickerman found customers and providers at […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/jw.jpg4751201Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2015-01-22 12:55:402015-01-22 12:55:40RagingWire’s Jason Weckworth Discusses the Execution of IT Strategy
In this series, three of the industry’s most well-recognized and innovative leaders describe the problems facing enterprise IT organizations today. In this part, Switch’s Mark Thiele suggests that service offerings often don’t fit customer’s long-term needs. Customers in the data center market have a wide range of options. They can choose to do something internally, […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/mt.jpg4751201Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2015-01-20 09:05:582015-01-20 09:05:58Mark Thiele from Switch examines the options in today’s data center industry
The fourth annual Uptime Institute Data Center Industry Survey provides an overview of global industry trends by surveying 1,000 data center operators and IT practitioners. Uptime Institute collected responses via email February through April 2014 and presented preliminary results in May 2014 at the 9th Uptime Institute Symposium: Empowering the Data Center Professional. To immediately […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/17-header.jpg4751201Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2014-11-21 15:56:262015-07-24 08:54:12Annual Data Center Industry Survey 2014
Striking the appropriate balance between cost and reliability is a business decision that requires metrics By Dr. Hussein Shehata This paper focuses on cooling limitations of down-flow computer room air conditioners/air handlers (CRACs/CRAHs) with dedicated heat extraction solutions in high-density data center cooling applications. The paper also explains how higher redundancy can increase total cost […]
An interview with CenturyLink’s David Meredith and Drew Leonard By Matt Stansberry Through our survey data and interactions with global Network members, Uptime Institute has noted large enterprise companies that have gone from running their own data centers exclusively to augmenting with some form of outsourced infrastructure. Does this match your experience? Do you see […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/meredithweb.jpg4751201Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2014-10-09 10:04:412014-10-23 07:34:48Executive Perspectives on the Colocation and Wholesale Markets
Data center operators need to move beyond PUE and address the underlying factors driving poor IT efficiency. By Matt Stansberry and Julian Kudritzki, with Scott Killian Since the early 2000s, when the public and IT practitioners began to understand the financial and environmental repercussions of IT resource consumption, the data center industry has focused obsessively […]
Note: This is an April 2021 update to an article previously published. Uptime Institute’s Tier Standard and its Tier Classification System for data centers have been applied by owners and operators of data centers for nearly 30 years. Since its creation in the mid-1990s, the system has evolved from a shared industry terminology into the […]
Involving operations at the beginning of a data center capital project is a good way to reduce TCO and gain other benefits By Lee Kirby As the data center industry grows in geographic breadth and technological sophistication, it is natural that design professionals, owners and operators pay attention to the capital-intensive effort of designing and […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/start-wth-the-end-in-mind-cover.jpg4751201Mark Harrishttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngMark Harris2014-09-18 15:37:492014-11-06 12:42:07Start With the End in Mind!
The availability of qualified candidates is just part of the problem with data center staffing; the industry also lacks training and clear career paths attractive to recruits. The data center industry is experiencing a shortage of personnel. Uptime Institute Founder Ken Brill, as always, was among the first to note a trend, mentioning it more […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/06.jpg4751201Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2014-08-13 13:36:072015-04-28 12:52:43Resolving the Data Center Staffing Shortage
Improving communication between the enterprise and design engineers during a capital project For over 10 years, Uptime Institute has sought to improve the relationship between data center design engineers and data center owners. Yet, it is clear that issues remain. Uptime Institute’s uniquely unbiased position—it does not design, construct, commission, operate, or provision equipment to […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Data-center-owners-v-designers.jpg4751201Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2014-08-07 13:06:172015-02-06 13:06:39Resolving Conflicts between Data Center Owners and Designers
How did these six enterprises find and eliminate so much waste? Comatose IT equipment, servers long abandoned by application owners and users but still racked and running, are hiding in plain sight within even the most sophisticated IT organizations. Obsolete or unused servers represent a double threat in terms of energy waste—squandering power at the […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/server-roundup-cover-image.jpg4751201Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2014-08-07 09:17:412014-08-28 07:47:33Decommissioning as a Discipline: Server Roundup Winners Share Success
What happens when economies of scale is a false promise? By Chris Crosby Chris Crosby is a recognized visionary and leader in the data center space, Founder and CEO of Compass Datacenters. Mr. Crosby has more than 20 years of technology experience and 10 years of real estate and investment experience. Previously, he served […]
In this keynote video from 2014 Uptime Institute Symposium, Andy Lawrence, Research Director at 451 Research, provides an overview of what a data center might look like in 2020 and beyond. This presentation covers how all the various new technologies might be combined with new data center services, along with extrapolated improvements in processing, storage […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/andy.jpg4751201Matt Stansberryhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngMatt Stansberry2014-07-24 07:29:202015-07-13 13:12:03The data center in 2020 and beyond
David Fullagar, Director of Content Delivery Architecture at Netflix, presents at Uptime Institute Symposium 2014. In his presentation, Fullagar discusses the hardware design and open source software components of Netflix Open Connect, the custom-designed content delivery network that enables Netflix to handle its massive video-streaming demands, and explains how these designs are well-suited to other […]
This paper launches the Uptime Institute FORCSS Case Study Series and introduces the FORCSS Index Uptime Institute FORCSS is a means to capture, compare, prioritize, and communicate the benefits, costs, and impacts of multiple IT deployment alternatives. Deployment alternatives may include owned/existing data centers, commercial data centers (wholesale, retail, colocation, managed service), or IaaS (including […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/20-title-.jpg4751201Kevin Heslinhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngKevin Heslin2014-06-26 15:45:502014-11-07 13:35:32How FORCSS Works: Case Study 1
Uptime Institute Director of Content and Publications, Matt Stansberry, delivers the opening keynote from Uptime Institute Symposium 2014: Empowering the Data Center Professional. This is Uptime Institute’s fourth annual survey, and looks at data center budgets, energy efficiency metrics, and adoption trends in colocation and cloud computing.
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/23.jpg4751201Mark Harrishttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngMark Harris2014-06-10 15:17:132014-06-18 10:40:132014 Uptime Institute Data Center Survey Results
A new process to compare IT deployment options across both in-house and outsourced alternatives By Julian Kudritzki and Matt Stansberry, Uptime Institute Uptime Institute FORCSS™ is an original system to capture, compare, and prioritize the various impacts to the many IT deployment alternatives. On an ongoing basis, enterprise organizations decide to deploy IT assets in […]
The Dream Job By Fred Dickerman Editor’s note: Mr. Dickerman’s feature on the challenges of starting a Facilities Team breaks new and unexpected ground, as Mr. Dickerman adapts the new FORCSS methodology to help resolve a staffing question in a hypothetical case. The Uptime Institute did not anticipate this use of FORCSS as it developed […]
https://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/021.jpg4751201Matt Stansberryhttps://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/uptime-institute-logo-r_240x88_v2023-with-space.pngMatt Stansberry2014-05-08 12:07:262014-06-27 07:36:10Building a data center facilities management team from scratch
Building trust: working with AI-based tools
/in Executive, Operations/by Rose Weinschenk, Research Associate, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Many employees approach AI-based systems in the workplace with a level of mistrust. This lack of trust can slow the implementation of new tools and systems, alienate staff and reduce productivity. Data center managers can avoid this outcome by understanding the factors that drive mistrust in AI and devising a strategy to minimize them. Perceived […]
DCIM past and present: what’s changed?
/in Executive, Operations/by John O’Brien, Senior Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Data center infrastructure management (DCIM) software is an important class of software that, despite some false starts, many operators regard as essential to running modern, flexible and efficient data centers. It has had a difficult history — many suppliers have struggled to meet customer requirements and adoption remains patchy. Critics argue that, because of the […]
Water cold plates lead in the small, but growing, world of DLC
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Jacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Direct liquid cooling (DLC), including cold plate and immersion systems, is becoming more common in data centers — but so far this transition has been gradual and unevenly distributed with some data centers using it widely, others not at all. The use of DLC in 2024 still accounts for only a small minority of the […]
OT protection: is air-gapping the answer?
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Michael O’Neil, Consulting Analyst - Cybersecurity, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Cyberattacks on operational technology (OT) were virtually unknown until five years ago, but their volume has been doubling since 2009. This threat is distinct from IT-focused vulnerabilities that cybersecurity measures regularly address. The risk associated with OT compromise is substantial: power or cooling failures can cripple an entire facility, potentially for weeks or months. Many […]
Managing server performance for power: a missed opportunity
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, [email protected]An earlier Uptime Intelligence report discussed the characteristics of processor power management (known as C-states) and explained how they can reduce server energy consumption to make substantial contributions to the overall energy performance and sustainability of data center infrastructure (see Understanding how server power management works). During periods of low activity, such features can potentially […]
Resiliency v low PUE: regulators a catalyst for innovation?
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Research has shown that while data center owners and operators are mostly in favor of sustainability regulation, they have a low opinion of the regulators’ expertise. Some operators have cited Germany’s Energy Efficiency Act as evidence: the law lays down a set of extremely challenging power usage effectiveness (PUE) requirements that will likely force some […]
Data center management software is evolving — at last
/in Executive, Operations/by Max Smolaks, Research Analyst, [email protected]Despite their role as enablers of technological progress, data center operators have been slow to take advantage of developments in software, connectivity and sensor technologies that can help optimize and automate the running of critical infrastructure. Most data center owners and operators currently use building management systems (BMS) and / or data center infrastructure management […]
Generative AI and global power consumption: high, but not that high
/in Executive, Operations/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]In the past year, Uptime Intelligence has been asked more questions about generative AI and its impact on the data center sector than any other topic. The questions come from enterprise and colocation operators, suppliers of a wide variety of equipment and services, regulators and the media. Most of the questions concern power consumption. The […]
Understanding how server power management works
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, [email protected]Uptime Intelligence regularly addresses IT infrastructure efficiency, particularly servers, in our reports on data center energy performance and sustainability. Without active contribution from IT operations, facility operations alone will not be able to meet future energy and sustainability demands on data center infrastructure. Purchases of renewable energy and renewable energy certificates will become increasingly — […]
EU battery regulations: what do the new rules mean?
/in Executive, Operations/by Rosa Lawrence, Research Associate, Uptime Institute, [email protected]The European Green Deal, a set of policy initiatives approved in 2020, aims for a sustainable and competitive economy with net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Along with the legislation driving this transition, such as the Energy Efficiency Directive recast (see EED comes into force, creating an enormous task for the industry), the strategy will […]
Colocation and public cloud growth masks enterprise expansion
/in Executive, Operations/by Douglas Donnellan, Senior Research Associate, Uptime Institute, [email protected]The colocation and public cloud sectors of the digital infrastructure industry continue to make headlines, with many organizations planning large-scale capacity expansion to meet rising demand. However, there is also a less public expansion underway — enterprises operators, for the third successive year, say they are going to invest in more data center capacity in […]
Long shifts in data centers — time to reconsider?
/in Executive, Operations/by Rose Weinschenk, Research Associate, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Human error has been — and remains to be — a major cause of outages in data centers. Uptime Intelligence’s research shows that about four in 10 operators have had a major outage in the past three years in which human error played a role (Annual outage analysis 2023). Half of these respondents said errors […]
What does embedded carbon of IT really represent?
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Jay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Due to regulatory mandates and expanded stakeholder expectations, a growing share of operators are quantifying and publicly reporting a complete carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions inventory for their data center infrastructure. An organization’s direct on-site emissions (classified as Scope 1 according to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol) and emissions from purchased energy sources (classified as Scope […]
DLC will not come to the rescue of data center sustainability
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Jacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, [email protected]A growing number of data center operators and equipment vendors are anticipating the proliferation of direct liquid cooling systems (DLC) over the next few years. As far as projections go, Uptime Institute’s surveys agree: the industry consensus for the mainstream adoption of liquid-cooled IT converges on the latter half of the 2020s. DLC systems, such […]
US mandates crypto energy reporting: will data centers be next?
/in Executive, Operations/by Jay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Rising concerns about cryptocurrency mining energy use have led the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) to launch a six-month emergency data reporting mandate (on January 26, 2024) to obtain information from 82 cryptocurrency mining companies. The emergency order which was approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) requires cryptocurrency miners to provide information […]
Performance expectations of liquid cooling need a reality check
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, [email protected]The idea of using liquids to cool IT hardware, exemplified by technologies such as cold plates and immersion cooling, is frequently hailed as the ultimate solution to the data center’s energy efficiency and sustainability challenges. If a data center replaces air cooling with direct liquid cooling (DLC), chilled water systems can operate at higher supply […]
FinOps gives hope to those struggling with cloud costs
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by John O’Brien, Senior Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Cloud workloads are continuing to grow — sometimes adding to traditional on-premises workloads, sometimes replacing them. The Uptime Institute Global Data Center Survey 2023 shows that organizations expect the public cloud to account for 15% of their workloads by 2025. When private cloud hosting and software as a service (SaaS) are included, this share rises […]
The majority of enterprise IT is now off-premises
/in Executive, Operations/by Max Smolaks, Research Analyst, [email protected]Corporate data centers have been the backbone of enterprise IT since the 1960s and continue to play an essential role in supporting critical business and financial functions for much of the global economy. Yet, while their importance remains, their prominence as part of an enterprise’s digital infrastructure appears to be fading. Today, businesses have more […]
Large data centers are mostly more efficient, analysis confirms
/in Executive, Operations/by Jacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Uptime Institute calculates an industry average power usage effectiveness (PUE), which is a ratio of total site power to IT power, each year using data from the Uptime Institute Global Data Center Survey. This PUE data is pulled from a large sample over the course of 15 years and provides a reliable view of progress […]
When net-zero goals meet harsh realities
/in Executive, Operations/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]For more than a decade, the data center industry — and the wider digital infrastructure that relies on it — has lived with the threat of much greater sustainability legislation or other forms of mandatory or semi-mandatory controls. But in a period of boom, it has mostly been a background worry, with legislators more concerned […]
What role might generative AI play in the data center?
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by John O’Brien, Senior Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, [email protected]This is the first in a series of reports on artificial intelligence (AI) and its impact on the data center sector.
Looking for the x-factor in data center efficiency
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, [email protected]The suitability of a data center environment is primarily judged by its effect on the long-term health of IT hardware. Facility operators define their temperature and humidity set points with a view to balancing hardware failure rates against the associated capital and operational expenditures, with the former historically prioritized. Over the past decade, this balance […]
Global PUEs — are they going anywhere?
/in Executive, Operations/by Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, [email protected]Regular readers of Uptime Institute’s annual data center survey, the longest running of its kind, already know that the industry average power usage effectiveness (PUE, a ratio of total site power and IT power) has trended sideways in recent years. Since 2020, it has been stuck in the 1.55 to 1.59 band. Even going back […]
Emerging regulatory requirements: tactics for riding the tsunami
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Jay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Over the past 12 months, Uptime Institute Intelligence has been closely following regulatory developments in the area of sustainability. These include mandates based on the Task force on Climate-related Financial Disclosure standard, such as the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and the UK’s Climate-related Financial Disclosure Regulations, and the EU’s Energy Efficiency Directive. These legal […]
Data centers are short-staffed boys’ clubs
/in Executive, Operations/by Jacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Two persistent trends in data center staffing are in apparent tension. The 2023 Uptime Institute Global Data Center Survey confirmed, once again, that operations teams are struggling to attract and retain qualified staff. The severity of this shortage should justify aggressive hiring from all available labor sources — yet data centers still employ shockingly few […]
Consensus on regulatory goals hides national differences
/in Executive, Operations/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]In recent reports, Uptime Institute Intelligence has warned that a wave of resiliency, security and sustainability legislation is making its way toward the statute books. Governments around the world — aware that digital infrastructure is increasingly critical to economic and national security (and consumes a lot of power) — have decided the sector cannot be […]
Regulations drive investments in cybersecurity and efficiency
/in Executive, Operations/by Douglas Donnellan, Senior Research Associate, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Legislative requirements for data center resiliency, operational transparency and energy performance are tightening worldwide — putting data centers under greater regulatory scrutiny. In response, organizations are either starting or stepping up their efforts to achieve compliance in these areas, and findings from the Uptime Institute Global Data Center Survey 2023 reveal that most are prioritizing […]
Are utility companies needed for pull-the-plug testing?
/in Executive, Operations/by Douglas Donnellan, Senior Research Associate, Uptime Institute, [email protected]The testing of backup power systems is crucial for ensuring that data center operations remain available through power interruptions. By cutting all power to the facility and replicating a real-world electrical grid failure, pull-the-plug testing provides the most comprehensive assessment of these systems. However, there are some differing opinions on the best way to perform […]
AI will have a limited role in data centers — for now
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Max Smolaks, Research Analyst, [email protected]The topic of artificial intelligence (AI) has captured the public’s imaginations, and now barely a week goes by without reports of another breakthrough. Among the many, sometimes dramatic predictions made by experts and non-experts alike is the potential elimination of some, or even many, jobs. These expectations are partly — but only partly — mirrored […]
The strong case for power management
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]ANALYST OPINION In a recent report on server energy efficiency, Uptime Intelligence’s Dr. Tomas Rahkonen analyzed data from 429 servers and identified five key insights (see Server energy efficiency: five key insights). All were valuable observations for better managing (and reducing) IT power consumption, but one area of his analysis stood out: the efficiency benefits […]
The Energy Efficiency Directive: requirements come into focus
/in Executive, Operations/by Jay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, [email protected]The European Commission (EC) continues to grapple with the challenges of implementing the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) reporting and metrics mandates. The publication of the Task B report Labelling and minimum performance standards schemes for data centres and the Task C report EU repository for the reporting obligation of data centres on June 7, 2023 […]
Lifting and shifting apps to the cloud: a source of risk creep?
/in Executive, Operations/by Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, [email protected]Public cloud infrastructures have come a long way over the past 16 years to slowly earn the trust of enterprises in running their most important applications and storing sensitive data. In the Uptime Institute Global Data Center Survey 2022, more than a third of enterprises that operate their own IT infrastructure said they also placed […]
Use tools to control cloud costs before it’s too late
/in Executive, Operations/by Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]The public cloud’s on-demand pricing model is vital in enabling application scalability — the key benefit of cloud computing. Resources need to be readily available for a cloud application to scale when required without the customer having to give advance notification. Cloud providers can offer such flexibility by allowing customers to pay their bills in […]
24×7 carbon-free energy (part two): getting to 100%
/in Executive, Operations/by Jay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Digital infrastructure operators have started to refocus their sustainability objectives on 100% 24×7 carbon-free energy (CFE) consumption: using carbon-free energy for every hour of operation. To establish a 24×7 CFE strategy, operators must track and control CFE assets and the delivery of energy to their data centers and use procurement contracts designed to manage the […]
Where the cloud meets the edge
/in Executive, Operations/by Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Low latency is the main reason cloud providers offer edge services. Only a few years ago, the same providers argued that the public cloud (hosted in hyperscale data centers) was suitable for most workloads. But as organizations have remained steadfast in their need for low latency and better data control, providers have softened their resistance […]
Data center operators will face more grid disturbances
/in Executive, Operations/by Jacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, [email protected]The energy crisis of 2022, resulting from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, caused serious problems for data center operators in Europe. Energy prices leapt up and are likely to stay high. This has resulted in ongoing concerns that utilities in some European countries, which have a mismatch of supply and demand, will have to shed loads. […]
24×7 carbon-free energy (part one): expectations and realities
/in Executive, Operations/by Jay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Data center operators that set net-zero goals will ultimately have to transition to 100% 24×7 carbon-free energy. But current technological limitations mean it is not economically feasible in most grid regions. In the past decade, the digital infrastructure industry has embraced a definition of renewable energy use that combines the use of renewable energy credits […]
Cloud resiliency: plan to lose control of your planes
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Cloud providers divide the technologies that underpin their services into two ”planes”, each with a different architecture and availability goal. The control plane manages resources in the cloud; the data plane runs the cloud buyer’s application. In this Update, Uptime Institute Intelligence presents research that shows control planes have poorer availability than data planes. This […]
Server efficiency increases again — but so do the caveats
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, [email protected]Early in 2022, Uptime Intelligence observed that the return of Moore’s law in the data center (or, more accurately, the performance and energy efficiency gains associated with it) would come with major caveats (see Moore’s law resumes — but not for all). Next-generation server technologies’ potential to improve energy efficiency, Uptime Intelligence surmised at the […]
Data shows the cloud goes where the money is
/in Executive, Operations/by Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Hyperscale cloud providers have opened numerous operating regions in all corners of the world over the past decade. The three most prominent — Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure — now have 105 distinct regions (excluding government and edge locations) for customers to choose from to locate their applications and data. Over […]
Cooling to play a more active role in IT performance and efficiency
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, [email protected]Data center operators and IT tenants have traditionally adopted a binary view of cooling performance: it either meets service level commitments, or it does not. The relationship is also coldly transactional: as long as sufficient volumes of air of the right temperature and quality (in accordance with service-level agreements that typically follow ASHRAE’s guidance) reach […]
The effects of a failing power grid in South Africa
/in Executive, Operations/by Max Smolaks, Research Analyst, [email protected]European countries narrowly avoided an energy crisis in the past winter months, as a shortfall in fossil fuel supplies from Russia threatened to destabilize power grids across the region. This elevated level of risk to the normally robust European grid has not been seen for decades. A combination of unseasonably mild weather, energy saving initiatives […]
US operators scour Inflation Reduction Act for incentives
/in Executive, Operations/by Lenny Simon, Senior Research Associate, Uptime InstituteIn the struggle to reduce carbon emissions and increase renewable energy, the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), passed in August 2022, is a landmark development. The misleadingly named Act, which is lauded by environmental experts and castigated by foreign leaders, is intended to rapidly accelerate the decarbonization of the world’s largest economy by introducing nearly […]
Energy-efficiency focus to shift to IT — at last
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, [email protected]Data centers have become victims of their own success. Ever-larger data centers have mushroomed across the globe in line with an apparently insatiable demand for computing and storage capacity. The associated energy use is not only expensive (and generating massive carbon emissions) but is also putting pressure on the grid. Most data center developments tend […]
Asset utilization drives cloud repatriation economics
/in Executive, Operations/by Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]The past decade has seen numerous reports of so-called cloud “repatriations” — the migration of applications back to on-premises venues following negative experiences with, or unsuccessful migrations to, the public cloud. A recent Uptime Update (High costs drive cloud repatriation, but impact is overstated) examined why these migrations might occur. The Update revealed that unexpected […]
Forecasting the solar storm threat
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Jacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, [email protected]A proposed permanent network of electromagnetic monitoring stations across the continental US, operating in tandem with a machine learning (ML) algorithm, could facilitate accurate predictions of geomagnetic disturbances (GMDs). If realized, this predictive system could help grid operators avert disruption and reduce the likelihood of damage to their — and their customers’ — infrastructure, including […]
Cloud migrations to face closer scrutiny
/in Executive, Operations/by Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Big public-cloud operators have often had to compete against each other — sometimes ferociously. Only rarely have they had to compete against alternative platforms for corporate IT, however. More often than not, chief information officers (CIOs) responsible for mission-critical IT have seen a move to the public cloud as low-risk, flexible, forward-looking and, ultimately, inexpensive. […]
Accounting for digital infrastructure GHG emissions
/in Executive, Operations/by Jay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, [email protected]A host of regulations worldwide have introduced (or will introduce) legal mandates forcing data center operators to report specific operational data and metrics. Key examples include the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD); the European Commission’s proposed Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) recast; the draft US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) climate disclosure proposal and […]
Data center costs set to rise and rise
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Max Smolaks, Research Analyst, [email protected]Up until two years ago, the cost of building and operating data centers had been falling reasonably steeply. Improving technology, greater production volumes as the industry expanded and consolidated, large-scale builds, prefabricated and modular construction techniques, stable energy prices and the low costs of capital have all played a part. While labor costs have risen […]
High costs drive cloud repatriation, but impact is overstated
/in Executive, Operations/by Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Unexpected costs are driving some data-heavy and legacy applications back from public-cloud to on-premises locations. However, very few organizations are moving away from the public cloud strategically — let alone altogether. The past decade has seen numerous reports of so-called cloud “repatriations” — the migration of applications back to on-premises venues following negative experiences with, […]
Too hot to handle? Operators to struggle with new chips
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Jacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Standard IT hardware was a boon for data centers: for almost two decades, mainstream servers have had relatively constant power and cooling requirements. This technical stability moored the planning and design of facilities (for both new builds and retrofits) and has helped attract investment in data center capacity and technical innovation. Furthermore, many organizations are […]
Geopolitics deepens supply chain worries
/in Executive, Operations/by Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, [email protected]The COVID-19 pandemic — and the subsequent disruption to supply chains — demonstrated the data center industry’s reliance on interdependent global markets and the components they produce. Although the data center sector was just one of many industries affected, the extensive variety of the often complex electrical and mechanical equipment involved exacerbated supply chain problems. […]
Data center staffing — an ongoing struggle
/in Executive, Operations/by Dr. Paul Carton, Research Vice President, Uptime InstituteAttracting and retaining qualified data center staff has been a major industry challenge for years — and continues to cause substantial problems for operators worldwide. Uptime Institute’s 2022 Management and Operations Survey shows staffing and organization (54%) is the leading requirement cited by operators (see Figure 1). In an environment where rapid growth in data […]
Unravelling net zero
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Jay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Many digital infrastructure operators have set themselves carbon-neutral or net-zero emissions goals: some large hyperscale operators claim net-zero emissions for their current operating year. Signatories to the Climate Neutral Data Center Pact, a European organization for owners and operators, aim to be using 100% clean energy by 2030. All these proclamations appear laudable and seem […]
Is Google a credible enterprise cloud?
/in Executive, Operations/by Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Google was an underdog when it launched its infrastructure cloud in 2013. Amazon had already made a name for itself as a disruptive technology provider, having launched Amazon Web Services (AWS) seven years prior. Microsoft, a household name in commercial software, launched Azure in 2010. What chance did Google, a company known primarily for its […]
Higher data center costs unlikely to cause exodus to public cloud
/in Executive, Operations/by Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]A debate has been raging since cloud computing entered the mainstream: which is the cheaper venue for enterprise customers — cloud or on-premises data centers? This debate has proved futile for two reasons. First, the characteristics of any specific application will dictate which venue is more expensive — there is no simple, unequivocal answer. Second […]
First signs of federal data center reporting mandates appear in US
/in Executive, Operations/by Jay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, [email protected]The past year (2022) has seen regulators in many countries develop or mandate requirements to report data centers’ operating information and environmental performance metrics. The first of these, the European Commission (EC) Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) recast is currently under review by the European Parliament and is expected to become law in 2023. This directive […]
Rapid interconnectivity growth will add complexity and risk
/in Executive, Operations/by Lenny Simon, Senior Research Associate, Uptime InstituteRecent geopolitical concerns, predictions of a looming recession, and continued supply chain difficulties are unlikely to dampen growth in digital bandwidth on private networks according to Equinix’s 2022 Global Interconnection Index (GXI). Global interconnection bandwidth (the volume of data exchanged between companies directly, bypassing the public internet) is a barometer for digital infrastructure and sheds […]
Reports of cloud decline have been greatly exaggerated
/in Executive, Operations/by Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Cloud providers have experienced unprecedented growth over the past few years. CIOs the world over, often prompted by CFOs and CEOs, have been favoring the cloud over on-premises IT for new and major projects — with the result that the largest cloud provider, Amazon Web Services (AWS), has seen revenue increase by 30% to 40% […]
Major data center fire highlights criticality of IT services
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, [email protected]Uptime Institute’s outages database suggests data center fires are infrequent, and rarely have a significant impact on operations. Uptime has identified 14 publicly reported, high-profile data center outages caused by fire or fire suppression systems since 2020. The frequency of fires is not increasing relative to the IT load or number of data centers but, […]
Tweak to AWS Outposts reflects demand for greater cloud autonomy
/in Executive, Operations/by Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Amazon Web Services (AWS) has made a minor change to its private-cloud appliance, AWS Outposts, that could significantly impact resiliency. The cloud provider has enabled local access to cloud administration, removing the appliance’s reliance on the public cloud. In the event of a network failure between the public cloud and the user’s data center, the […]
Why are governments investigating cloud competitiveness?
/in Executive, Operations/by Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]In any market, fewer sellers or providers typically results in less choice for buyers. Where the number of sellers is very low this could, theoretically, lead to exploitation, through higher prices or lower-quality goods and services — with buyers having no choice but to accept such terms. Three hyperscale cloud providers — Amazon Web Services, […]
Users unprepared for inevitable cloud outages
/in Executive, Operations/by Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Organizations are becoming more confident in using the cloud for mission-critical workloads — partly due to a perception of improved visibility into operational resiliency. But many users aren’t taking basic steps to ensure their mission-critical applications can endure relatively frequent availability zone outages. Data from the 2022 Uptime Institute annual survey reflects this growing confidence in […]
Will high energy prices push operators to direct liquid cooling?
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Lenny Simon, Senior Research Associate, Uptime InstituteThe data center industry and other large power-consuming industries continue to feel pressure from skyrocketing electricity prices. In Germany and France, wholesale energy prices this August increased six-fold compared to prices from 2021. The US has fared better, but wholesale electricity prices have doubled this summer compared with last year’s prices. While leased data center […]
AWS price cuts: is serverless gaining momentum?
/in Executive, Operations/by Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]A serverless platform is an abstracted cloud computing service that executes a user’s code without the user needing to provision the underlying server or operating environment. The physical server, resources and operating environment used to execute the user’s code are managed by the cloud provider and are not accessible to the user (hence “serverless”). In […]
EU’s EED recast set to create reporting challenges
/in Executive, Operations/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]The European Commission’s (EC’s) proposed recast of its Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) sets out new and strict reporting requirements for data centers operating in the EU. If passed, data centers with 100 kilowatts or more total installed IT power demand (from server, storage and network equipment) will have to report their energy performance every year, […]
This Halloween, beware the vampire server
/in Executive, Operations/by Jay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Halloween brings joy to many in the form of tricks and treats. But to IT managers, Halloween is a stark reminder of the evil spirits that hide out of sight in data center cabinets and public cloud applications. Vampires, zombies and ghosts haunt the infrastructure, sucking valuable energy, space and resources. IT managers need to […]
Data centers weather solar storms
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Jacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, [email protected]The US Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) issued multiple geomagnetic storm watches throughout August and September 2022. Geomagnetic storms occur when solar storms interact with the Earth’s atmosphere and magnetic field, risking disruption to satellites, radio communications and the power grid. The strongest predicted storm earned the agency’s rating of G3 (“strong”) on a five-level […]
Sacrifice speed to cut cloud carbon and costs
/in Executive, Operations/by Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]New findings from research by Uptime Institute Intelligence reveals that organizations can cut both their cloud carbon emissions and costs by moving workloads to different regions. However, the trade off with this migration is an increase in latency. Cloud users choose regions based primarily on two factors: Locating the application close to end users improves […]
New server leasing models promise cloud-like flexibility
/in Executive, Operations/by Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]IT hardware vendors, such as Dell and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), are pivoting their revenue models away from product sales toward service-based subscriptions. The objective is to make hardware appear more flexible and cloud-like so buyers can retain servers in their choice of data center while receiving the critical benefit of the cloud: scalability. Much […]
Quantum computing is not a panacea yet
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Quantum computing promises a revolution in scientific discovery. Quantum computing’s main advantage over digital computing is in quickly solving highly complex problems that require significant time or resources to process. Currently, solutions to many complex problems can be estimated using supercomputers or pools of servers over days or weeks. Other problems are so complex that […]
Alternative clouds are vulnerable to demanding buyers
/in Executive, Operations/by Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Although big-name hyperscalers such as Amazon, Google and Microsoft dominate the cloud arena, other companies also believe they have a role to play. Vultr, OVHcloud, Linode, DigitalOcean, Bluehost and Scaleway, for example, don’t offer huge portfolios of cutting-edge products but their products focus on simplicity and low cost for smaller businesses with relatively straightforward requirements. […]
Data center operators cautiously support nuclear
/in Executive, Operations/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]The value, role and safety of nuclear power has strongly divided opinion, both in favor of and against, since the 1950s. This debate has now, in 2022, reached a critical point again as energy security and prices cause increasing concern globally (particularly in geographies such as Europe) and as the climate crisis requires energy producers […]
Is navigating cloud-native complexity worth the hassle?
/in Executive, Operations/by Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Last month 7,000 developers traveled to Valencia to attend the combined KubeCon and CloudNativeCon Europe 2022 conference, the event for Kubernetes and cloud-native software development. A further 10,000 developers joined the conference online. The event is organized by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), part of the non-profit Linux Foundation. The CNCF supports and promotes […]
Sustainability laws set to drive real change
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Nearly 15 years ago – in 2008 – Uptime Institute presented a paper titled “The gathering storm.” The paper was about the inevitability of a struggle against climate change and how this might play out for the power-hungry data center and IT sector. The issues were explored in more detail in the 2020 Uptime Institute […]
Equipment shortages may ease soon — but not for good reasons
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, [email protected]When Uptime Institute Intelligence surveyed data center infrastructure operators about supply chain issues in August 2021, more than two-thirds of respondents had experienced some shortages in the previous 18 months. Larger operations bore the brunt of disruptions, largely due to shortages or delays in sourcing major electrical equipment (such as switchgear, engine generators and uninterruptible […]
Who will win the cloud wars?
/in Executive, Operations/by Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Technology giants such as Microsoft or IBM didn’t view Amazon as a threat when it launched its cloud business unit Amazon Web Services (AWS) in 2006. As a result, AWS has a significant first to market advantage with more services, more variations in more regions and more cloud revenue than any other cloud provider. Today, […]
Costlier new cloud generations increase lock-in risk
/in Executive, Operations/by Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Cloud providers tend to adopt the latest server technologies early, often many months ahead of enterprise buyers, to stay competitive. Providers regularly launch new generations of virtual machines with identical quantities of resources (such as core counts, memory capacity, network and storage bandwidths) as the previous generation but powered by the latest technology. Usually, the […]
Extreme heat stress-tests European data centers – again
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, [email protected]An extreme heat wave swept across much of Western Europe on July 18 and 19, hitting some of the largest metropolitan areas such as Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam and Paris — which are also global data center hubs with hundreds of megawatts of capacity each. In the London area, temperatures at Heathrow Airport surpassed 40°C / […]
Crypto data centers: The good, the bad and the electric
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Lenny Simon, Senior Research Associate, Uptime InstituteA single tweet in May 2021 brought unprecedented public attention to a relatively unknown issue. Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted that because of the large energy consumption associated with the use of Bitcoin, Tesla would no longer accept it as currency. Instead, Tesla would favor other cryptocurrencies that use less than 1% of Bitcoin’s energy […]
Making sense of the outage numbers
/in Executive, Operations/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]In recent years, Uptime Institute has published regular reports examining both the rate and causes of data center and IT service outages. The reports, which have been widely read and reported in the media, paint a picture of an industry that is struggling with resiliency and reliability — and one where operators regularly suffer downtime, […]
Cloud price increases damage trust
/in Executive, Operations/by Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]In general, the prices of cloud services either remain level or decrease. There are occasional price increases, but these are typically restricted to specific features; blanket price increases across product families are rare. Price cuts are often the result of improved operating efficiencies. Through automation, slicker processes, Moore’s law improvements in hardware and economies of […]
Direct liquid cooling: pressure is rising but constraints remain
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, [email protected]Direct liquid cooling (DLC) is a collection of techniques that removes heat by circulating a coolant to IT electronics. Even though the process is far more efficient than using air, the move to liquid cooling has been largely confined to select applications in high-performance computing to cool extreme high-density IT systems. There are a few […]
The ultimate liquid cooling: heat rejection into water
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Jacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Uptime Institute’s data on power usage effectiveness (PUE) is a testament to the progress the data center industry has made in energy efficiency over the past 10 years. However, global average PUEs have been largely stalling at close to 1.6 since 2018, with only marginal gains. This makes sense: for the average figure to show […]
Cloud SLAs punish, not compensate
/in Executive, Operations/by Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]A service level agreement (SLA) is a contract between a cloud provider and a user. The SLA describes the provider’s minimum level of service, specified by performance metrics, and the compensation due to the user should the provider fail to deliver this service. In practice, however, this compensation is punitive. It seems designed to punish […]
Outages: understanding the human factor
/in Executive, Operations/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Analyzing human error — with a view to preventing it — has always been challenging for data center operators. The cause of a failure can lie in how well a process was taught, how tired, well trained or resourced the staff are, or whether the equipment itself was unnecessarily difficult to operate. There are also […]
Is concern over cloud and third-party outages increasing?
/in Executive, Operations/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]As a result of some high-profile outages and the growing interest in running critical services in a public cloud, the reliability — and transparency — of public cloud services has come under scrutiny. Cloud services are designed to operate with low failure rates. Large (at-scale) cloud and IT service providers, such as Amazon Web Services, […]
The weakest link dictates cloud outage compensation
/in Executive, Operations/by Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Cloud providers offer services that are assembled by users into applications. An outage of any single cloud service can render an application unavailable. Importantly, cloud providers guarantee the availability of individual services, not of entire applications. Even if a whole application becomes unresponsive due to a provider outage, compensation is only due for the individual […]
The shock waves from Ukraine
/in Executive, Operations/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]How is the Ukraine conflict affecting digital infrastructure and the data sector? In response to multiple queries, Uptime Institute Intelligence identified six main areas where operators and customers of digital infrastructure are experiencing effects from the conflict or will do so soon, not just in Europe but globally. (In Russia and Ukraine there are over […]
Cloud generations drive down prices
/in Executive, Operations/by Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Cloud providers need to deliver the newest capability to stay relevant. Few enterprises will accept working with outdated technology just because it’s consumable as a cloud service. However, existing cloud instances don’t migrate automatically. Similarly to on-premises server infrastructure, users need to refresh their cloud services regularly. Typically, cloud operators prefer product continuity between generations, […]
Industry consensus on sustainability looks fragile
/in Executive, Operations/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Pressed by a sense of urgency among scientists and the wider public, and by governments and investors who must fulfil promises made at COP (Conference of the Parties) summits, major businesses are facing ever more stringent sustainability reporting requirements. Big energy users, such as data centers, are in the firing line. Many of the reporting […]
Why cloud is a kludge of complexity
/in Executive, Operations/by Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]The cloud model was designed to be simple and nimble. Simple and nimble doesn’t necessarily mean fit for purpose. Over the past decade, new layers of capability have been added to cloud to address its shortcomings. While this has created more options and greater functionality, it has also meant greater complexity in its management. Today, […]
Direct liquid cooling bubbles to the surface
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Lenny Simon, Senior Research Associate, Uptime InstituteConditions will soon be ripe for widespread use of direct liquid cooling (DLC) — a collection of techniques that uses fluid to remove heat from IT electronics instead of air — and it may even become essential. Currently, air cooling is still dominant with DLC remaining a niche option — around 85% of enterprise IT […]
Data center operators ponder the nuclear option
/in Executive, Operations/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]As major businesses feel a growing sense of urgency to dramatically cut carbon emissions, opinions are starting to shift in favor of nuclear power, which is not classed as clean, but is a near-zero carbon energy source. The digital infrastructure industry, a major global consumer of energy, has a role to play in rehabilitating nuclear, […]
Flexibility drives cloud lock-in risk
/in Executive, Operations/by Dr. Owen Rogers, Research Director for Cloud Computing, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Vendor lock-in is regularly levied as a criticism of cloud services. But the reality of IT is, there has always been lock-in. Even before cloud, enterprises were locked into hardware, operating systems, database platforms, data centers and network providers. Practically, the lock-in challenge with cloud isn’t that moving from one location or platform is not […]
Data center operators give themselves a “Fail” for sustainability
/in Executive, Operations/by Lenny Simon, Senior Research Associate, Uptime InstituteThe global data center industry describes its own sustainability performance as average, compared with other industries — and most think efforts are not substantially reducing environmental impacts. A recent Uptime Institute global survey of over 400 data center owners and operators asked whether the industry’s environmental commitments are effective in curbing data center energy use, […]
Concerns over cloud concentration risk grow
/in Executive, Operations/by Rhonda Ascierto, Vice President, Research, Uptime InstituteControl over critical digital infrastructure is increasingly in the hands of a small number of major providers. While a public cloud provides a flexible, stable and distributed IT environment, there are growing concerns around its operational resiliency.
Bring on regulations for data center sustainability, say Europe and APAC
/in Design, Executive/by Jacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, [email protected]As the data center sector increases its focus on becoming more environmentally sustainable, regulators still have a part to play — the question is to what extent?
Are proof-of-work blockchains a corporate sustainability issue?
/in Executive, News/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]The data center and IT industry is a relatively minor — but nevertheless significant — contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.
Climate change: More operators prepare to weather the storms
/in Executive, Operations/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]To track changing attitudes and responses to climate change and the related threats to infrastructure, Uptime Institute Intelligence concluded two global surveys in the fourth quarters of 2020 and 2021, respectively.
Does the spread of direct liquid cooling make PUE less relevant?
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Jacqueline Davis, Research Analyst, Uptime Institute, [email protected]The power usage effectiveness (PUE) metric is predominant thanks to its universal applicability and its simplicity: energy used by the entire data center, divided by energy used by the IT equipment.
New ASHRAE guidelines challenge efficiency drive
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, [email protected]Earlier in 2021, ASHRAE’s Technical Committee 9.9 published an update — the fifth edition — of its Thermal Guidelines for Data Processing Environments.
Too big to fail? Facebook’s global outage
/in Executive, News, Operations/by Rhonda Ascierto, Vice President, Research, Uptime InstituteThe bigger the outage, the greater the need for explanations and, most importantly, for taking steps to avoid a repeat.
Vertiv’s DCIM ambitions wither on Trellis’ demise
/in Executive, News, Operations/by Rhonda Ascierto, Vice President, Research, Uptime InstituteOperators often say that data center infrastructure management (DCIM) software is a necessary evil. Modern facilities need centralized, real-time management and analytics, but DCIM is notoriously difficult to deploy.
Startups brew new chemistries for fresh battery types
/in Executive, Operations/by Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, [email protected]Widespread net-zero carbon emission pledges are spurring innovative data center battery technologies.
Eyeing an uptick in edge data center demand
/in Design, Executive/by Dr. Tomas Rahkonen, Research Director of Distributed Data Centers, Uptime InstituteData center end-user organizations and suppliers alike expect an uptick in edge data center demand in the near term.
Fastly outage underscores slow creep of digital services risk
/in Executive, News, Operations/by Daniel Bizo, Research Director, Uptime Institute Intelligence, [email protected]A recent outage at content delivery network Fastly took down thousands of websites in different countries, including big names, such as Amazon, Twitter and Spotify, for nearly an hour. It is the latest large outage highlighting the downside of a key trend in digital infrastructure: The growth in dependency on digital service providers can undermine […]
Green tariff renewable energy purchases
/in Design, Executive/by Jay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Until recently, power purchase agreements (PPAs) and unbundled renewable energy certificates (RECs) were the primary means for data center operators or managers to procure renewable electricity and RECs for their operations. Many companies are not comfortable with the eight-to-20-year length and financial risks of a PPA. Unbundled RECs are an ongoing expense and do not […]
Pandemic has driven up data center costs
/in Executive, Operations/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]As the pandemic began to make an impact in early 2020, it became clear that data center operators were going to have to invest more if they were to provide the services on which their customers were increasingly reliant. Short-term needs included protective equipment, deep cleaning and, it seemed likely, more spending to support extended […]
Renewable energy and data centers: Buyer, be aware
/in Executive, Operations/by Jay Dietrich, Research Director of Sustainability, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Across the world, data center owners and managers are striving to buy more renewable energy and reduce their dependence on fossil fuels. The global internet giants and the largest colocation companies have led the way with huge green energy purchases. But the impact of renewable energy on the grid operator’s economics, and on the critical […]
The insider threat: Social engineering is raising security risks
/in Executive, Operations/by Rhonda Ascierto, Vice President, Research, Uptime InstituteUptime Institute Members say one of their most vexing security concerns is the insider threat — authorized staff, vendors or visitors acting with malicious intent. In extreme examples, trusted individuals could power down servers and other equipment, damage network equipment, cut fiber paths, or steal data from servers or wipe the associated storage. Unfortunately, data […]
Data center insecurity: Online exposure threatens critical systems
/in Executive, Operations/by Rhonda Ascierto, Vice President, Research, Uptime InstituteIn early March 2021, a hacker group publicly exposed the username and password of an administrative account of a security camera vendor. The credentials enabled them to access 150,000 commercial security systems and, potentially, set up subsequent attacks on other critical equipment. A few weeks earlier, leaked credentials for the collaboration software TeamViewer gave hackers […]
Datacenter Fire Frequency
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]The catastrophic fire that occurred at OVHcloud’s SBG2 data center in Strasbourg, France (see last week’s blog about it) has led many operators to question their vulnerability to fires. Fires at data centers are a constant concern, but are rare. In almost all cases of data center fire, the source is quickly located, the equipment isolated, […]
Learning from the OVHcloud data center fire
/in Design, Executive/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]The fire that destroyed a data center (and damaged others) at the OVHcloud facility in Strasbourg, France, on March 10-11, 2021, has raised a multitude of questions from concerned data center operators and customers around the world. Chief among these is, “What was the main cause, and could it have been prevented?” Fires at data […]
How data center operators can transition to renewable energy
/in Executive/by David Mytton, Research Affiliate, Uptime InstituteTransitioning to renewable energy use is an important, but not easily achieved, goal. Although the past decade has seen significant improvements in IT energy efficiency, there are indications that this may not continue. Moore’s Law may be slowing, more people are coming online, and internet traffic is growing faster than ever before. As energy consumption […]
Extreme weather affects nearly half of data centers
/in Executive, Operations/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Recent extreme weather-related events in the US (the big freeze in Texas, fires on the west coast) have once again highlighted the need for data center operators to reassess their risks in the face of climate change. The topic is discussed in depth in the Uptime Institute report (available to Uptime Institute members) entitled, The gathering […]
Data center staff shortages don’t need to be a crisis
/in Executive/by Rhonda Ascierto, Vice President, Research, Uptime InstituteIn every region of the world, data center capacity is being dramatically expanded. Across the board, the scale of capacity growth is stretching the critical infrastructure sector’s talent supply. The availability (or lack) of specialist staff will be an increasing concern for all types of data centers, from mega-growth hyperscales to smaller private enterprise facilities. […]
Extreme cold — a neglected threat to availability?
/in Executive, Operations/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]In Uptime Institute’s recent report on preparing for the extreme effects of climate change, there were over a dozen references to the dangers of extremely hot weather, which can overwhelm cooling systems and trigger regional fires that disrupt power, connectivity and staff access. But the effects of extreme cold were discussed only in passing. The […]
Network problems causing ever more outages
/in Design, Executive/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Power failures have always been one of the top causes of serious IT service outages. The loss of power to a data center can be devastating, and its consequences have fully justified the huge expense and effort that go into preventing such events. But in recent years, other causes are catching up, with networking issues […]
Data center staff on-site: engineering specialists or generalists?
/in Executive, Operations/by Rhonda Ascierto, Vice President, Research, Uptime InstituteThe pandemic has led to a renewed interest by data center managers in remote monitoring, management and automation. Uptime Institute has fielded dozens of inquiries about these approaches in recent months, but one in particular stands out: What will operational automation and machine learning mean for on-site staff requirements? With greater automation, the expectation is […]
Ensuring physical security in uncertain times
/in Executive/by Rhonda Ascierto, Vice President, Research, Uptime InstituteRecent events have heightened concerns around physical security for many data center operators, and with good reason: the pandemic means many data centers may still be short-staffed, less time may have been available for review of and training on routine procedures, and vendor substitutes may be more common than under non-pandemic conditions. Add the usual […]
A Surge of Innovation
/in Design, Executive/by Rhonda Ascierto, Vice President, Research, Uptime InstituteData center operators (and enterprise IT) are generally cautious adopters of new technologies. Only a few (beyond hyperscale operators) try to gain a competitive advantage through their early use of technology. Rather, they have a strong preference toward technologies that are proven, reliable and well-supported. This reduces risks and costs, even if it means opportunities […]
Sustainability: More challenging, more transparent
/in Design, Executive/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Through 2021 and beyond, the world will begin to recover from its acute crisis — COVID-19 — and will turn its attention to other matters. Few if any of these issues will be as important as climate change, a chronic condition that will become more pressing and acute as each year passes. In the critical […]
Edge Computing – The Next Frontier
/in Design, Executive/by Rhonda Ascierto, Vice President, Research, Uptime InstituteOne of the most widely anticipated trends in IT and infrastructure is significant new demand for edge computing, fueled by technologies such as 5G, IoT and AI. To date, net new demand for edge computing — processing, storing and integrating data close to where it is generated — has built slowly. As a result, some […]
Accountability – the “new” imperative
/in Executive, Operations/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Outsourcing the requirement to own and operate data center capacity is the cornerstone of many digital transformation strategies, with almost every large enterprise spreading their workloads across their own data centers, colocation sites and public cloud. But ask any regulator, any chief executive, any customer: You can’t outsource responsibility — for incidents, outages, security breaches […]
Five Trends for 2021: accountability, automation, edge, sustainability, innovation
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Rhonda Ascierto, Vice President, Research, Uptime InstituteWhat we can expect for mission-critical digital infrastructure in 2021? Each autumn Uptime Institute, like many other organizations, puts together a list of some of the big trends and themes for the year ahead. This time, we have focused on five big trends that might not have been so obvious 12 months ago. Heading into […]
Rack Density is Rising
/in Design, Executive/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Density is rising The power density per rack (kilowatts [kW] per cabinet) is a critical number in data center design, capacity planning, and cooling and power provisioning. There have been industry warnings about a meteoric rise in IT equipment rack power density for the past decade (at least). One reason for this prediction is the […]
Common Factors for IT venue selection (Choosing In-house or Outsource)
/in Executive/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Data center capacity is rapidly expanding in outsourced, third-party IT venues, such as colocation data centers and public cloud. Whether measured in megawatts (MW) of uninterruptible power supply capacity or IT load (or by some other measure, such as square feet of white or leased space, or in units of compute or storage) overall capacity […]
COVID-19, air filtration and energy use
/in Design, Executive/by Todd TraverThe COVID-19 pandemic has caused concerns about data center HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) filtration. So many data center operators are adjusting filtration protocols, including upgrading to finer MERV (minimum efficiency reporting value) 13 filters, to better filter out aerosols and COVID-19 virus carriers.1 But there is no free lunch. Depending on the design […]
Why ASHRAE is concerned about edge data centers
/in Design, Executive/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]There are few organizations that have had as big an impact on data center design as ASHRAE — and specifically, their Technical Committee (TC) 9.9. ASHRAE’s 2004 publication Thermal guidelines for Data Processing Environments (now in its fourth edition) described the optimal environmental operating conditions for the electronics in a data center, and in doing so, effectively […]
PUE: The golden metric is looking rusty
/in Executive, Operations/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]When the PUE (power usage effectiveness) metric was first discussed at a meeting of The Green Grid in Santa Clara, back in 2007, a microphone stand was placed in each aisle of the auditorium. The importance of the initiative was understood even then: experts, including the founders of Uptime Institute, formed lines to give their […]
Why data center operators are investing in more redundancy
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]When Uptime Institute recently asked over 300 data center managers how the pandemic would change their operations, one answer stood out: Two-thirds expect to increase the resiliency of their core data center(s) in the years ahead. Many said they expected their costs to increase as a result. The reasoning is clear: the pandemic — or […]
Job Projections, 2019-2029, Macro shifts, Gig work and the Baby-Boomers
/in Executive/by Mark HarrisIn mid-September 2020, The US Bureau of Labor and Statistics published their updated 2019-2029 Employment Projection summary news release and the associated handbook which discusses various job roles and hiring and salary expectations over the next decade. It identified a number of easy to consume trends which caught my attention and perhaps worth your consideration. In the […]
Increasing data center temperatures to reduce energy costs
/in Design, Executive/by Mark HarrisPeriodically we get questions about data center temperatures and energy savings. The questions usually ask about possible energy savings in commercial data centers by raising the temperature of the data hall. Some form of this question surfaces regularly over time because it just seems to be a common sense opportunity. But there is alot to […]
Infographic: Data Center Industry Staffing Shortage is Getting Worse
/in Executive, Operations/by Rhonda Ascierto, Vice President, Research, Uptime InstituteData Centers and Thunder, Lightning, Wind and Rain
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Chris Brown, Chief Technical Officer, Uptime InstituteData centers are built and sited to withstand all that Mother Nature can throw at them — or at least, is likely to throw at them — during their lifecycle. This has long been a given, practiced and understood by designers, planners and regulators. But climate change is changing everything. Recent weather events have led […]
Will the pandemic accelerate the move to public cloud?
/in Executive, Operations/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]As the COVID-19 pandemic has unfolded, many people have suggested that the business case for enterprises to move more workloads to the public cloud has been strengthened. Some have argued that the pandemic will accelerate the decline of the enterprise data center. Is this actually the case? And if so, why? This is one of […]
Data Centers and Wildfires
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]As will be discussed in our upcoming note about managing data center with the severe weather caused by climate change, we continue to highlight the need for data center managers to not only review existing emergency plans but also anticipate previously unforeseen challenges. The need to understand the new ‘Normal’ Which brings us to wildfires… […]
Pandemics: Operators plan to be ready next time
/in Executive, Operations/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Data center managers, on both the facilities and the IT side of operations, are known for their preparedness. Even so, the pandemic caught most by surprise. Few had an effective pandemic plan in place, and most had to react and adapt on the fly, as best as they could. A small but significant number suffered […]
Lithium-ion batteries in the Data Center: An ethical dimension?
/in Design, Executive/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]One of the emerging trends in data centers is the use of lithium ion (Li-ion) batteries, both for distributed and centralized uninterruptible power supplies. Research by Uptime Institute and others predicts high levels of adoption in the years ahead. The primary reasons for this are technical, relating to energy density, rechargeability and management. But Li-ion […]
Data center workforce diversity makes good business sense
/in Executive, Operations/by Rhonda Ascierto, Vice President, Research, Uptime InstituteIncreasingly, data centers cannot find qualified candidates for open jobs. Companies that commit to diverse and inclusive workplaces are more likely to have better financial performance; greater innovation and productivity; and higher employee-ambassador recruitment, employee retention and employee job satisfaction rates.
Uptime Institute’s 10th Annual Data Center Survey is here!
/in Executive/by Mark HarrisIt’s HERE!!! Every year, Uptime Institute reaches out to thousands of industry leaders, enterprises and suppliers to ask them about their view of where the data center and digital infrastructure industry is going and what kinds of challenges they are dealing with today and expect in the future. We ask about trends and migrations, tactics […]
The pandemic, outages and the internet giants
/in Executive/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]In a recent Uptime Institute Intelligence analysis we considered a question that Uptime Institute has been asked many times since COVID-19 lockdowns began: Has the pandemic caused any increase in outages? The question arose because the pandemic has caused staff shortages, extended shifts, delays to maintenance, and a shortage of parts for at least some operators. […]
Best-in-class data center provisioning: Simplify, Standardize, Repeat
/in Design, Executive/by Rhonda Ascierto, Vice President, Research, Uptime InstituteDemand for IT capacity continues to grow rapidly across the globe, which has driven the need for more industrialized approaches to data center provisioning including construction and component assembly. Large operators and their partners have scrambled to apply new processes and disciplines, expand and re-organize supply chains, deploy prefabricated components, and, where possible, reduce cost […]
COVID-19: Critical impact and legacy
/in Executive, News, Operations/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]What will be the long-lasting impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the digital critical infrastructure industry? It may be too soon to ask the question given that, at the time of writing, the virus is taking its toll at scale across the world. But Uptime Institute has been asked this question many times, and it’s […]
Enterprises’ need for control and visibility still slows cloud adoption
/in Executive/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]During the current COVID-19 crisis, enterprise dependency on cloud platform providers (Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform) and on software as a service (Salesforce, Zoom, Teams) has increased. Operators report booming demand, with Microsoft’s Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella saying, “We have seen two years’ worth of digital transformation in two months.” This […]
Data Center cleaning and sanitization: detail, cost and effectiveness
/in Executive, Operations/by Kevin HeslinFear of the coronavirus or confirmed exposure has caused about half (49%) of data center owners to increase the frequency of regular cleanings, according to a recent Uptime Institute flash survey. Even more (66%) have increased the frequency of sanitization (disinfection) to eliminate (however transitorily) any possible presence of the novel coronavirus in their facilities. […]
COVID-19: What worries data center management the most?
/in Executive, Operations/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]To date, the critical infrastructure industry has mostly managed effectively with reduced staff, deferred maintenance, social distancing and new patterns of demand. While there have been some serious incidents and outages directly related to the pandemic, these have been few. But what worries operators for the months ahead? Clearly, the situation is changing all the […]
Pandemic is causing some outages and slowdowns
/in Executive, Operations/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]To date, media coverage of the impact of COVID-19 and the lockdowns has been largely laudatory. There have been few high profile or serious outages (perhaps fewer than normal) and for the most part, internet traffic flow analysis shows that a sudden jump in demand, along with a shift toward the residential edge and busy […]
Data center PUEs flat since 2013
/in Executive, Operations/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]The average power usage effectiveness (PUE) ratio for a data center in 2020 is 1.58, only marginally better than 7 years ago, according to the latest annual Uptime Institute survey (findings to be published shortly). PUE, an international standard first developed by The Green Grid and others in 2007, is the most widely accepted way […]
COVID-19: Q&A (Part 3): Deferred Maintenance, Remote Work, Supply Chain, Long-Term Outlook
/in Executive, Operations/by Rhonda Ascierto, Vice President, Research, Uptime InstituteThe final installment of our Q&A regarding digital infrastructure considerations during the COVID19 crisis includes Deferred Maintenance, Remote Word, Supply Chain, Tier Standard and Long-Term Outlook Below is Part 3 of the Q&A responses brought up during our recent series of webinars about managing operational risk during the COVID19 crisis. (Part 1 dealt with Staffing and […]
COVID-19: Q&A (Part 2): Site Sanitation and Security
/in Executive, Operations/by Rhonda Ascierto, Vice President, Research, Uptime InstituteHere is Part 2 of our Q&A regarding digital infrastructure considerations during the COVID19 crisis. Keep in mind that we are all handling this crisis in varied ways, and learning from each other along the way. In that process, we really ARE all finding our own “New Normal” and ultimately we will come out of […]
COVID-19: Q&A (Part 1): Staff Management
/in Executive, Operations/by Rhonda Ascierto, Vice President, Research, Uptime InstituteWe are all in this together. We are all finding our own “New Normal”. We are all learning from each other and will come out of this crisis stronger due to the renewed focus on operational effectiveness, risk avoidance and contingency planning. To this end, Uptime Institute has been creating many types of guidance and […]
Are IT Infrastructure Outages Getting Longer?
/in Executive, Operations/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]One of the findings of Uptime Institute’s recently published report Annual outage analysis 2020 is that the most serious categories of outages — those that cause a significant disruption in services — are becoming more severe and more costly. This isn’t entirely surprising: individuals and businesses alike are becoming ever more dependent on IT, and it is […]
COVID-19: IT organizations move from planning to implementation
/in Executive, News, Operations/by Sandra VailOver the past few weeks, Uptime Institute held multiple customer roundtables to discuss the impact of the COVID-19 virus on data center operations and potential operational responses to its spread. We gathered our communities insights and best practices, we combined with our own 25 years worth of infrastructure operational management knowledge and we are now […]
Pay-as-you-go model spreads to critical components
/in Executive, Operations/by Rhonda Ascierto, Vice President, Research, Uptime InstituteAs enterprises continue to move from a focus on capital expenditures to operating expenditures, more data center components will also be consumed on a pay-as-you-go, “as a service” basis. “-aaS” goes mainstream The trend toward everything “as a service” (XaaS) is now mainstream in IT, ranging from cloud (infrastructure-aaS) and software-aaS (SaaS) to newer offerings, […]
Phasing Out Data Center Hot Work
/in Executive, Operations/by Kevin HeslinDespite years of discussion, warnings and strict regulations in some countries, data center hot work remains a contentious issue in the data center industry. Hot work is the practice of working on energized electrical circuits (voltage limits differ regionally) — and it is usually done, in spite of the risks, to reduce the possibility of […]
The spectre of ransomware
/in Executive, Operations/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Uptime Institute Intelligence plans to release its 2019/2020 outages report shortly. This report will examine the types, causes and impacts of public outages, as well as further analyze the results of a recent Uptime survey on outages and impacts. The data will once again show that serious IT service interruptions are common and costly, with […]
Micro data centers: An explosion in demand, in slow motion
/in Design, Executive/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]A wave of new technologies, from 5G to the internet of things (IoT) to artificial intelligence (AI), means much more computing and much more data will be needed near the point of use. That means many more small data centers will be required. But there will be no sudden mass deployment, no single standout use […]
Optimizing server refresh cycles with an aging Moore’s law
/in Executive, Operations/by Rabih BashroushHardware refresh is the process of replacing older, less efficient servers with newer, more efficient ones with more compute capacity. However, there is a complication to the refresh cycle that is relatively recent: the slowing down of Moore’s law. There is still a very strong case for savings in energy when replacing servers that are […]
Outages drive authorities and businesses to act
/in Executive/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Big IT outages are occurring with growing regularity, many with severe consequences. Executives, industry authorities and governments alike are responding with more rules, calls for more transparency and a more formal approach to end-to-end, holistic resiliency. Creeping criticality IT outages and data center downtime can cause huge disruption. That is hardly news: veterans with long […]
Data center energy use goes up and up and up
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Rabih BashroushEnergy use by data centers and IT will continue to rise, putting pressure on energy infrastructure and raising questions about carbon emissions. The drivers for more energy use are simply too great to be offset by efficiency gains. Drivers Demand for digital services has seen sustained, exceptional growth over the past few years — and […]
Capital inflow boosts the data center market
/in Executive/by Rhonda Ascierto, Vice President, Research, Uptime InstituteData centers are no longer a niche or exotic investment among mainstream institutional buyers, which are swarming to the sector. There is now a buyer for almost every type of data center — including traditional-infrastructure investors and sovereign wealth funds. How might this new mix of capital sources change the broader data center sector? Traditional […]
Surveillance Capitalism and DCIM
/in Executive, Operations/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]In her book “Surveillance Capitalism,” the Harvard scholar Shoshana Zuboff describes how some software and service providers have been collecting vast amounts of data, with the goal of tracking, anticipating, shaping and even controlling the behavior of individuals. She sees it as a threat to individual freedom, to business and to democracy. Zuboff outlines the […]
Data centers without diesel generators: The groundwork is being laid…
/in Design, Executive/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]In 2012, Microsoft announced that it planned to eliminate engine generators at its big data center campus in Quincey, Oregon. Six years later the same group, with much the same aspirations, filed for permission to install 72 diesel generators, which have an expected life of at least a decade. This example illustrates clearly just how […]
Top-10 Digital Infrastructure Trends for 2020
/in Executive, News/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]The digital infrastructure industry continues to grow and change at a striking price. Across the world, a thriving community of investors, designers, owners and operators are grappling with many of the same issues: resiliency and risk, the impact of cloud, the move to the edge, rapid innovation, and unpredictable (although mostly upward) demand. What should […]
Non-production IT can hinder mission-critical operations
/in Executive, Operations/by Kevin HeslinSeparating production and non-production assets should be an operational requirement for most organizations. By definition, production assets support high-priority IT loads — servers that are critical to a business or business unit. In most organizations, IT will have sufficient discretion to place these assets where they have redundant power supplies, sufficient cooling and high levels of […]
99 Red Flags
/in Executive, Operations/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]One of the most widely cited metrics in the IT industry is for availability, expressed in the form of a number of nines: three nines for 99.9% availability (minutes of downtime per year), extending to six nines — 99.9999% — or even, very rarely, seven nines. What this should mean in practice is show in […]
Big Tech Regulations: an UPSIDE for Cloud customers?
/in Executive, Operations/by Rhonda Ascierto, Vice President, Research, Uptime InstituteRegulation of Internet giants has focused so far mostly on data privacy, where concerns are relatively well understood by lawmakers and the general public. At the same time, the threat of antitrust action is growing. Congressional hearings in the US with Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google have begun, and governments in Europe, India and elsewhere […]
Outage Reporting in Financial Services
/in Executive, Operations/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]In the movie “Mary Poppins,” Mr. Banks sings that a British bank must be run with precision, and that “Tradition, discipline and rules must be the tools.” Otherwise, he warns, “Disorder! Chaos!” will ensue. One rule, introduced by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in 2018, suggests that disorder and chaos might be quite common […]
How to Avoid Outages – Part Deux
/in Executive, Operations/by Kevin HeslinA previous Uptime Intelligence Note suggested that avoiding data center outages might be as simple as trying harder. The Note suggested that management failures are the main reason that enterprises continue to experience downtime incidents, even in fault tolerant facilities. “The Intelligence Trap,” a new book by David Robson, sheds light on why management mistakes continue to […]
Why do some industries and organizations suffer more serious, high profile outages than others?
/in Executive/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]In a recent Uptime Institute Intelligence note, we considered a June 2019 report issued by the US General Accounting Office (GAO) on the IT resiliency of US airlines. The GAO wanted to better understand if the all-too-frequent IT outages and resultant chaos passengers face have any common causes and if so, how they could be […]
How to avoid outages: Try harder!
/in Executive, Operations/by Kevin HeslinUptime Institute has spent years analyzing the roots causes for data center and service outages, surveying thousands of IT professionals throughout the year on this topic. According to the data, the vast majority of data center failures are caused by human error. Some industry experts report numbers as high as 75%, but Uptime Institute generally reports […]
Troubling for operators: Capacity forecasting and maintaining cost competitiveness
/in Executive, Operations/by Rabih BashroushIn the recently published 2019 Uptime Institute supplier survey, participants told us they are witnessing higher than normal data center spending patterns. This is in line with general market trends, driven by the demand for data and digital services. It is also a welcome sign for those suppliers who witnessed a downturn two to three […]
Data Center Free Air Cooling Trends
/in Design, Executive/by Rabih BashroushWith the recent expansion of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers’ (ASHRAE’s) acceptable data center operating temperature and humidity ranges — taken as an industry-standard best practice by many operators — the case for free air cooling has become much stronger. Free air cooling is an economical method of using low external […]
IT Outages in the Airline Industry, A New Report by the GAO
/in Executive, Operations/by Kevin HeslinUptime Institute’s Annual outage analysis, published early this year, called attention to the persistent problem of IT service and data center outages. Coupled with our annual survey data on outages, the analysis explains, to a degree, why investments to date have not greatly reduced the outage problem — at least from an end-to-end service view. Gathering […]
Data center AI: Start with the end in mind
/in Executive, Operations/by Rhonda Ascierto, Vice President, Research, Uptime InstituteAn artificial intelligence (AI) strategy for data center management and operation requires more than just data and some very smart humans. Selecting specific use cases and understanding the types of data that influence AI outcomes — and then validating those outcomes — will be key if the needs of the business are to be met. […]
Open19 expects 2019 to be the year of “Accelerated Adoption”
/in Design, Executive/by Kevin HeslinWe have heard for a dozen years about the Open Computing Project (OCP) and their non-traditional approach to computing hardware, from the racks to the servers, storage and networking. And over the last few years to the Open19 Foundation started to promote their alternative platform which resembles the more traditional 19-inch rack approach we have […]
PG&E Turns Power Off (a.k.a. Climate Change and the Data Center)
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Kevin HeslinIn our October 2018 report, A mission-critical industry unprepared for climate change, Uptime Institute Intelligence urged data center operators and owners to plan for the effects of climate change. We specifically encouraged data center owners and operators to meet with government officials and utility executives to learn about local and regional disaster preparation and response plans. […]
Enterprise IT and the public cloud: What the numbers tell us
/in Executive/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]The spectacular growth of the public cloud has many drivers, only one of which is the deployment, redevelopment or migration of enterprise IT into the cloud. But many groups within the industry — data center builders and operators, hardware and software suppliers, networking companies, and providers of skills and services alike — are closely watching […]
Artificial Intelligence in the Data Center: Myth versus Reality
/in Executive, Operations/by Rhonda Ascierto, Vice President, Research, Uptime InstituteIt is still very early days, but it is clear that artificial intelligence (AI) is set to transform the way data centers are designed, managed and operated — eventually. There has been a lot of misrepresentation and hype around AI, and it’s not always clear how it will be applied, and when. The Uptime Institute […]
Renewed Pressure for Renewables to Power the Data Center
/in Design, Executive/by Kevin HeslinIn a recent presentation at the Energy Smart data center conference in Stockholm, Gary Cook, the Greenpeace activist who has tracked data center carbon emissions for a decade, showed a slide of logos, indicating companies that have made a commitment to use 100 percent renewable energy for their IT. Cook showed the commitment started with […]
The Data Center Staffing and Skills Shortage is here NOW!
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Sandra VailSometimes it can be hard to get people to talk about their issues — other times, it can be hard to keep them quiet. A recent Uptime Institute Network member’s meeting began as an open discussion but was soon dominated by one issue: data center staffing. The members’ concerns reflect the growing disquiet in the […]
Is PUE actually going UP?
/in Executive, Operations/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]One of the more intriguing results of the Uptime Institute Global Data Center Survey 2019 concerned energy efficiency. For years, data centers have become ever more efficient, with power usage effectiveness (PUE) ratings across the industry (apparently) falling. Big operators, such as hyperscale cloud companies and big colos, regularly claim annual or design PUE figures […]
Comparing the severity of IT service outages: Uptime Institute’s Outage Severity Rating
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Andy Lawrence, Executive Director of Research, Uptime Institute, [email protected]Avoiding IT service outages is a big concern for any operator or service provider, especially one providing a business-critical service. But when an outage does occur, the business impact can vary from “barely noticeable” to “huge and expensive.” Anticipating and modeling the impact of a service interruption should be a part of incident planning and is key […]
Data Center AI (Artificial Intelligence) Creates New Risks
/in Executive, Operations/by Rhonda Ascierto, Vice President, Research, Uptime InstituteArtificial intelligence (AI) is being used in data centers to drive up efficiencies and drive down risks and costs. But it also creates new types of risks. This is one of the findings from a recent Uptime Intelligence research report #25, “Very smart data centers: How artificial intelligence will power operational decisions”, published in April […]
“Think Globally, Act Locally”: Re-Evaluating Data Center Resiliency in the Face of Climate Change
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Kevin HeslinThe 1970s-era environmental phrase “Think globally, act locally,” is an apt way for data center operators to consider the best approach to understand and address the effects of climate change on their facilities and IT operations TODAY. Globally, we all hear that climate change threatens to bring warmer temperatures, stronger storms, rising sea levels, and […]
NEXTDC: Obsessed with the details so our customers’ business is always available
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Brett RidleyThis is a guest post written by Brett Ridley, Head of Central Operations and Facility Management for NEXTDC.NEXTDC is Australia’s leading independent data centre operator with a nationwide network of Uptime Institute certified Tier III and Tier IV facilities. NEXTDC provides enterprise-class colocation services to local and international organisations. If you are interested in participating in […]
Application Resiliency vs. Infrastructure Resiliency
/in Design, Executive/by Todd TraverSoftware enabled application resiliency is now playing a significant and increasing role in bolstering applications availability and reliability across the enterprise, reducing risk to the business. No longer are clients solely reliant upon the stability provided by the electrical and mechanical systems in their data center. By utilizing new software techniques, enterprises are now able […]
Mission Critical Computing Fabric
/in Executive, Operations/by Mark HarrisWe’ve entered an era where our IT infrastructures are now becoming a compilation of capacity that is spread out and running upon a wide range of platforms; some we completely control, some we control partially and some we don’t control at all. No longer should our IT services discussions start with ‘And in the data center […]
How Edge Computing Is Transforming IT Infrastructure
/in Executive/by Mark HarrisNew technologies such as IoT and cloud architectures are driving computing to the edge. Companies must embrace this trend in order to survive. The definition of computing infrastructure is changing. While large traditional data centers have been the mainstay of information technology for the past 60 years, we’re seeing a perfect storm today where mobility, […]
Hacking the Physical Data Center – Not just for Hollywood Movies
/in Executive/by Mark HarrisWe have all seen big headline stories for years about overseas network hackers who are able to extract millions of account details and social security numbers from the retail, financial and a litany of other industries. And Hollywood has done a great job of painting the picture about bad guys physically breaking into data centers […]
As Data Center Footprint shrinks, the Importance of the Data Center Grows!
/in Executive, Frontpage Article/by Mark HarrisToday, your data center is more important and essential than it has ever been! Let me explain. We are at a cross-roads in thinking for IT Infrastructures. For nearly 40 years (about the time when the first connected computing systems came into being), bigger has always been better. Bigger processors, bigger disk drives, bigger servers, […]
Delivering IT in 2018 is All About Accountability!
/in Executive/by Mark HarrisIt has always been incredibly difficult to align an organization’s business needs and strategies with the underlying information technologies required to get there. For many years, the long-tenured IT organization was given a tremendous amount of leeway due to the complex nature of delivering IT. IT was viewed as an almost magical discipline, something that […]
Myths and Misconceptions Regarding the Uptime Institute’s Tier Certification System
/in Design, Executive/by Kevin HeslinTrue or false? When it comes to Tier Certification, just ask Uptime Institute By Uptime Institute Staff Uptime Institute’s Tier Classification System for data centers has reached the two-decade mark. Since its creation in the mid-1990s, Tiers has evolved from a shared industry terminology into the global standard for third-party validation of data center critical […]
Top Considerations for Addressing Data Center Facilities Management Risks
/in Executive, Operations/by Kevin HeslinUptime Institute recently published “Top Considerations for Addressing Data Center Facilities Management Risks,” a guide for reducing data center risks in enterprise IT organizations . The guide comprises 14 top considerations useful for designing and running an enterprise-grade data center facilities management program. The full guide is available for download on the Uptime Institute website. […]
Japan’s Biggest Provider of Critical IT Services Earns M&O Stamp of Approval
/in Executive, Operations/by Kevin HeslinNearly perfect M&O Stamp of Approval scores prove that NRI’s data centers operations are world class By Kevin Heslin Nomura Research Institute, Ltd. (NRI), a ¥18 billion ($US169 million) company that provides consulting, financial IT solutions, industrial IT solutions, and IT platform services mainly to a global financial marketplace, has earned Uptime Institute Management and […]
Highlights from Uptime Institute Symposium: Shanghai
/in Events, Executive/by Matt StansberryThis week, Uptime Institute hosted its first major event in China, Uptime Institute Symposium: Shanghai. Over 400 invite-only attendees joined Uptime Institute for a day of collaborative learning at the Grand Hyatt. The photos below illustrate some highlights from the the day. Stay tuned to the Symposium website for updates on our events in North […]
CenturyLink Benefits from Its Commitment to Excellence
/in Executive/by Kevin HeslinDavid Meredith says that CenturyLink’s involvement, including the M&O Stamp of Approval, with Uptime Institute provides mutual benefits. Uptime Institute’s Risk Journal for IT Infrastructure is the most recent example. CenturyLink’s commitment to operational excellence has become one of the company’s competitive advantages, and David Meredith, a senior VP at CenturyLink, has been an enthusiastic […]
Luxembourg Colo Provides Multi-Tier Options
/in Design, Executive/by Kevin HeslinLuxconnect obtains different Tier Certifications to meet the needs of the changing market demands By Christine De Ridder LuxConnect, a multi-tenant, multi-tier data center and dark fiber network operator based in Luxembourg, developed an innovative strategy using Uptime Institute Tiers to differentiate the services and pricing it offers to key customer groups. In doing so, […]
When an Australian Government Department Required Operational Sustainability, Metronode Delivered
/in Executive, Operations/by Kevin HeslinSenior facility manager calls achieving Tier Certification of Operational Sustainability “a dream” By Kevin Heslin The New South Wales (NSW) Department of Finance, Services and Innovation (DFSI) is a government service provider and regulator for the southeastern Australian state. DFSI supports many government functions, including sustainable government finances, major public works and maintenance programs, government […]
LinkedIn’s Oregon Data Center Goes Live, Gains EIT Stamp of Approval
/in Executive, Operations/by Kevin HeslinUptime Institute recently awarded its Efficient IT (EIT) Stamp of Approval to LinkedIn for its new data center in Infomart Portland, signaling that the modern new facility had exceeded extremely high standards for enterprise leadership, operations, and computing infrastructure. These standards are designed to help organizations lower costs and increase efficiency, and leverage technology for […]
Airline Outages FAQ: How to Keep Your Company Out of the Headlines
/in Executive, Operations/by Kevin HeslinUptime Institute has prepared this brief airline outages FAQ to help the industry, media, and general public understand the reasons that data centers fail. The failure of a power control module on Monday, August 8, 2016, at a Delta Airlines data center caused hundreds of flight cancellations, inconvenienced thousands of customers, and cost the airline […]
Tier III Certified Facilities Prove Critical to Norwegian Colo’s Client Appeal
/in Executive/by Kevin HeslinGreen Mountain melds sustainability, reliability, competitive pricing, and independent certifications to attract international colo customers By Kevin Heslin Green Mountain operates two unique colo facilities in Norway, having a total potential capacity of several hundred megawatts. Though each facility has its own strengths, both embody the company’s commitment to providing secure, high-quality service in an […]
Top 10 Considerations for Enterprises Progressing to Cloud
/in Executive/by Matt StansberryIndustry data from Uptime Institute and 451 Research evidence a rapid rate of cloud computing adoption for enterprise IT departments. Organizations weigh cloud benefits and risks, and also evaluate how cloud will impact their existing and future data center infrastructure investment. In this video, Uptime Institute COO Julian Kudritzki and Andrew Reichman, Research Director at […]
FORTRUST Gains Competitive Advantage from Management and Operations
/in Executive, Operations/by Kevin HeslinFORTRUST regards management and operations as a core competency that helps it win new clients and control capital and operating expenses Shortly after receiving word that FORTRUST had earned Uptime Institute’s Tier Certification for Operational Sustainability (Gold) for Phase 7 of its Denver data center, Rob McClary, the company’s executive vice president and general manager, […]
Reduce Data Center Insurance Premiums
/in Executive/by Matt StansberryUptime Institute President Lee Kirby and Stephen Douglas, Risk Control Director for CNA, an insurance and risk control provider for the software and IT services industry recently coauthored an article for Data Center Knowledge: Lowering Your Data Center’s Exposure to Insurance Claims. In this follow on, Kirby discusses how companies can reduce insurance premiums by […]
Identifying Lurking Vulnerabilities in the World’s Best-Run Data Centers
/in Executive, Operations/by Kevin HeslinPeer-based critiques drive continuous improvement, identify lurking data center vulnerabilities By Kevin Heslin Shared information is one of the distinctive features of the Uptime Institute Network and its activities. Under non-disclosure agreements, Network members not only share information, but they also collaborate on projects of mutual interest. Uptime Institute facilitates the information sharing and helps […]
Ignore Data Center Water Consumption at Your Own Peril
/in Executive/by Kevin HeslinWill drought dry up the digital economy? With water scarcity a pressing concern, data center owners are re-examining water consumption for cooling. By Ryan Orr and Keith Klesner In the midst of a historic drought in the western U.S., 70% of California experienced “extreme” drought in 2015, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. The state’s […]
Bank of Canada Achieves Operational Excellence
/in Executive, Operations/by Kevin HeslinThe team approach helped the Bank earn Uptime Institute’s M&O Stamp of Approval By Matt Stansberry The Bank of Canada is the nation’s central bank. The Bank acts as the fiscal agent of the Canadian government, managing its public debt programs and foreign exchange reserves and setting its monetary policy. It also designs, issues, and […]
IT Sustainability Supports Enterprise-Wide Efforts
/in Executive/by Kevin HeslinRaytheon integrates corporate sustainability to achieve savings and recognition By Brian J. Moore With a history of innovation spanning 92 years, Raytheon Company provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration, and other capabilities in the areas of sensing, effects, command, control, communications, and intelligence systems, as well as a broad range of mission support services in […]
Tier Certification for Modular and Phased Construction
/in Executive/by Kevin HeslinSpecial care must be taken on modular and phased construction projects to avoid compromising reliability goals. Shared system coordination could defeat your Tier Certification objective By Chris Brown Today, we often see data center owners taking a modular or phased construction approach to reduce the costs of design, construction, and operation and build time. Taking […]
Failure Doesn’t Keep Business Hours: 24×7 Coverage
/in Executive, Operations/by Kevin HeslinA statistical justification for 24×7 coverage By Richard Van Loo As a result of performing numerous operational assessments at data centers around the world, Uptime Institute has observed that staffing levels at data centers vary greatly from site to site. This observation is discouraging, but not surprising, because while staffing is an important function for […]
Examining and Learning from Complex Systems Failures
/in Executive/by Kevin HeslinConventional wisdom blames “human error” for the majority of outages, but those failures are incorrectly attributed to front-line operator errors, rather than management mistakes By Julian Kudritzki, with Anne Corning Data centers, oil rigs, ships, power plants, and airplanes may seem like vastly different entities, but all are large and complex systems that can be […]
IT Chargeback Drives Efficiency
/in Executive/by Kevin HeslinAllocating IT costs to internal customers improves accountability, cuts waste By Scott Killian You’ve heard the complaints many times before: IT costs too much. I have no idea what I’m paying for. I can’t accurately budget for IT costs. I can do better getting IT services myself. The problem is that end-user departments and organizations […]
AIG Tells How It Raised Its Level of Operations Excellence
/in Executive, Operations/by Kevin HeslinBy Kevin Heslin and Lee Kirby Driving operational excellence across multiple data centers is exponentially more difficult than managing just one. Technical complexity multiplies as you move to different sites, regions, and countries where codes, cultures, climates, and other factors are different. Organizational complexity further complicates matters when the data centers in your portfolio have […]
Meeting the M&O Challenge of Managing a Diverse Data Center Footprint: John Sheputis and Don Jenkins, Infomart
/in Executive, Operations/by Kevin HeslinBy Matt Stansberry and Lee Kirby Driving operational excellence across multiple data centers is exponentially more difficult than managing just one. Technical complexity multiplies as you move to different sites, regions, and countries where codes, cultures, climates and other factors are different. Organizational complexity further complicates matters when the data centers in your portfolio have […]
The Calibrated Data Center: Using Predictive Modeling
/in Executive, Operations/by Kevin HeslinBetter information leads to better decisions By Jose Ruiz New tools have dramatically enhanced the ability of data center operators to base decisions regarding capacity planning and operational performance like move, adds, and changes on actual data. The combined use of modeling technologies to effectively calibrate the data center during the commissioning process and the […]
Avoiding Data Center Construction Problems
/in Design, Executive/by Kevin HeslinExperience, teamwork, and third-party verification are keys to avoiding data center construction problems By Keith Klesner In 2014, Uptime Institute spoke to the common conflicts between data center owners and designers. In our paper, “Resolving Conflicts Between Data Center Owners and Designers” [The Uptime Institute Journal, Volume 3, p 111], we noted that both the […]
Improve Project Success Through Mission Critical Commissioning
/in Design, Executive/by Kevin HeslinRigorous testing of data center components should be a continuous process By Ryan Orr, with Chris Brown and Ed Rafter Many data center owners and others commonly believe that commissioning takes place only in the last few days before the facility enters into operation. In reality, data center commissioning is a continuous process that, when […]
Data center design goals and certification of proven achievement are not the same
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Matt StansberryOn March 13, 2015, Data Center Knowledge published an article “ViaWest Accused of Misleading Customers in Las Vegas”. The following is excerpted from the article. ViaWest, the Shaw Communications-owned data center service provider, is being accused of misleading customers about reliability of its Las Vegas data center. Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt’s office has asked […]
Proper Data Center Staffing is Key to Reliable Operations
/in Executive/by Kevin HeslinThe care and feeding of a data center By Richard F. Van Loo Managing and operating a data center comprises a wide variety of activities, including the maintenance of all the equipment and systems in the data center, housekeeping, training, and capacity management for space power and cooling. These functions have one requirement in common: […]
Empowering the Data Center Professional
/in Executive/by Kevin HeslinFive questions to ask yourself, and five to ask your team By Fred Dickerman When Uptime Institute invited me to present at Symposium this year, I noticed that the event theme was Empowering the Data Center Professional. Furthermore, I noted that Uptime Institute described the Symposium as “providing attendees with the information to make better […]
RagingWire’s Jason Weckworth Discusses the Execution of IT Strategy
/in Executive/by Kevin HeslinIn this series, Uptime Institute asked three of the industry’s most well recognized and innovative leaders to describe the problems facing enterprise IT organizations. Jason Weckworth examined the often-overlooked issue of server hugging; Mark Thiele suggested that service offerings often did not fit the customer’s long-term needs; and Fred Dickerman found customers and providers at […]
Mark Thiele from Switch examines the options in today’s data center industry
/in Executive/by Kevin HeslinIn this series, three of the industry’s most well-recognized and innovative leaders describe the problems facing enterprise IT organizations today. In this part, Switch’s Mark Thiele suggests that service offerings often don’t fit customer’s long-term needs. Customers in the data center market have a wide range of options. They can choose to do something internally, […]
Annual Data Center Industry Survey 2014
/in Design, Executive, Operations/by Kevin HeslinThe fourth annual Uptime Institute Data Center Industry Survey provides an overview of global industry trends by surveying 1,000 data center operators and IT practitioners. Uptime Institute collected responses via email February through April 2014 and presented preliminary results in May 2014 at the 9th Uptime Institute Symposium: Empowering the Data Center Professional. To immediately […]
Data Center Cooling: CRAC/CRAH redundancy, capacity, and selection metrics
/in Executive/by Kevin HeslinStriking the appropriate balance between cost and reliability is a business decision that requires metrics By Dr. Hussein Shehata This paper focuses on cooling limitations of down-flow computer room air conditioners/air handlers (CRACs/CRAHs) with dedicated heat extraction solutions in high-density data center cooling applications. The paper also explains how higher redundancy can increase total cost […]
Executive Perspectives on the Colocation and Wholesale Markets
/in Executive/by Kevin HeslinAn interview with CenturyLink’s David Meredith and Drew Leonard By Matt Stansberry Through our survey data and interactions with global Network members, Uptime Institute has noted large enterprise companies that have gone from running their own data centers exclusively to augmenting with some form of outsourced infrastructure. Does this match your experience? Do you see […]
A Holistic Approach to Reducing Cost and Resource Consumption
/in Executive/by Kevin HeslinData center operators need to move beyond PUE and address the underlying factors driving poor IT efficiency. By Matt Stansberry and Julian Kudritzki, with Scott Killian Since the early 2000s, when the public and IT practitioners began to understand the financial and environmental repercussions of IT resource consumption, the data center industry has focused obsessively […]
Explaining the Uptime Institute’s Tier Classification System (April 2021 Update)
/in Executive/by Matt StansberryNote: This is an April 2021 update to an article previously published. Uptime Institute’s Tier Standard and its Tier Classification System for data centers have been applied by owners and operators of data centers for nearly 30 years. Since its creation in the mid-1990s, the system has evolved from a shared industry terminology into the […]
Start With the End in Mind!
/in Executive/by Mark HarrisInvolving operations at the beginning of a data center capital project is a good way to reduce TCO and gain other benefits By Lee Kirby As the data center industry grows in geographic breadth and technological sophistication, it is natural that design professionals, owners and operators pay attention to the capital-intensive effort of designing and […]
Resolving the Data Center Staffing Shortage
/in Executive/by Kevin HeslinThe availability of qualified candidates is just part of the problem with data center staffing; the industry also lacks training and clear career paths attractive to recruits. The data center industry is experiencing a shortage of personnel. Uptime Institute Founder Ken Brill, as always, was among the first to note a trend, mentioning it more […]
Resolving Conflicts between Data Center Owners and Designers
/in Design, Executive/by Kevin HeslinImproving communication between the enterprise and design engineers during a capital project For over 10 years, Uptime Institute has sought to improve the relationship between data center design engineers and data center owners. Yet, it is clear that issues remain. Uptime Institute’s uniquely unbiased position—it does not design, construct, commission, operate, or provision equipment to […]
Decommissioning as a Discipline: Server Roundup Winners Share Success
/in Executive/by Kevin HeslinHow did these six enterprises find and eliminate so much waste? Comatose IT equipment, servers long abandoned by application owners and users but still racked and running, are hiding in plain sight within even the most sophisticated IT organizations. Obsolete or unused servers represent a double threat in terms of energy waste—squandering power at the […]
Data Center Cost Myths: SCALE
/in Executive/by Kevin HeslinWhat happens when economies of scale is a false promise? By Chris Crosby Chris Crosby is a recognized visionary and leader in the data center space, Founder and CEO of Compass Datacenters. Mr. Crosby has more than 20 years of technology experience and 10 years of real estate and investment experience. Previously, he served […]
The data center in 2020 and beyond
/in Executive/by Matt StansberryIn this keynote video from 2014 Uptime Institute Symposium, Andy Lawrence, Research Director at 451 Research, provides an overview of what a data center might look like in 2020 and beyond. This presentation covers how all the various new technologies might be combined with new data center services, along with extrapolated improvements in processing, storage […]
Designing Netflix’s Content Delivery Network
/in Executive/by Matt StansberryDavid Fullagar, Director of Content Delivery Architecture at Netflix, presents at Uptime Institute Symposium 2014. In his presentation, Fullagar discusses the hardware design and open source software components of Netflix Open Connect, the custom-designed content delivery network that enables Netflix to handle its massive video-streaming demands, and explains how these designs are well-suited to other […]
How FORCSS Works: Case Study 1
/in Executive/by Kevin HeslinThis paper launches the Uptime Institute FORCSS Case Study Series and introduces the FORCSS Index Uptime Institute FORCSS is a means to capture, compare, prioritize, and communicate the benefits, costs, and impacts of multiple IT deployment alternatives. Deployment alternatives may include owned/existing data centers, commercial data centers (wholesale, retail, colocation, managed service), or IaaS (including […]
2014 Uptime Institute Data Center Survey Results
/in Executive/by Mark HarrisUptime Institute Director of Content and Publications, Matt Stansberry, delivers the opening keynote from Uptime Institute Symposium 2014: Empowering the Data Center Professional. This is Uptime Institute’s fourth annual survey, and looks at data center budgets, energy efficiency metrics, and adoption trends in colocation and cloud computing.
Introducing Uptime Institute’s FORCSS System
/in Executive/by Matt StansberryA new process to compare IT deployment options across both in-house and outsourced alternatives By Julian Kudritzki and Matt Stansberry, Uptime Institute Uptime Institute FORCSS™ is an original system to capture, compare, and prioritize the various impacts to the many IT deployment alternatives. On an ongoing basis, enterprise organizations decide to deploy IT assets in […]
Building a data center facilities management team from scratch
/in Executive/by Matt StansberryThe Dream Job By Fred Dickerman Editor’s note: Mr. Dickerman’s feature on the challenges of starting a Facilities Team breaks new and unexpected ground, as Mr. Dickerman adapts the new FORCSS methodology to help resolve a staffing question in a hypothetical case. The Uptime Institute did not anticipate this use of FORCSS as it developed […]