Tag Archive | risk management
Data centers and the vulnerable Texas power grid
As we all know the quality and availability of the data center stands or falls with the quality and availability of the power supply to the data center. But in Texas, a state with data centers of several notable IT companies, including WordPress.Com, Cisco, Rackspace and Host Gator, the power grid is on the edge […]
Power grid crisis: Japanese data centers hit again?
It looks like the feared scenario of last year, that all of Japan’s nuclear power plants would be offline within about one year, is becoming true. Currently only two of 54 reactors are still operating. Tokyo Electric’s last active reactor is set to go into maintenance on March 26, while Hokkaido Electric’s Tomari No. 3 […]
Amazon post mortem on Dublin DC outage reconfirms domino theory
As promised Amazon released a post mortem report on the data center outage in Dublin. It reconfirmed the domino theory: if one availability zone come under the influence of errors and outages, then other availability zone would follow in a domino effect. Amazon stated, as mentioned in an earlier blog entry about the Dublin outage, that the […]
Texas escaped rolling blackouts: Data centers and the power grid interdependency
In Texas, a state with data centers of several notable IT companies, including WordPress.Com, Cisco, Rackspace and Host Gator, the power grid company ERCOT have been working around the clock to keep the electricity flowing, and to avoid rolling blackouts as power demand reaches record levels. According to The Wallstreet Journal for the second year […]
Amazon and Microsoft in Dublin down, resiliency of cloud computing
A lightning strike in Dublin, Ireland, has caused downtime for many sites using Amazon’s EC2 cloud computing platform, as well as users of Microsoft’s BPOS. Amazon said that lightning struck a transformer near its data center, causing an explosion and fire that knocked out utility service and left it unable to start its generators, resulting […]
Power grid crisis: Japanese data centers, saved by the bell?
Ten days ago we spent some attention to the power grid crisis in Japan and the impact on data centers. More news has now became available. In the aftermath of the big earthquake in Japan power shortage remains a big problem in Japan. Tokyo’s government is concerned that the North will not be able to maintain […]
Power grid crisis Japan hits data centers
In the aftermath of the big earthquake in Japan it becomes more and more clear that the crisis in the critical power grid infrastructure isn’t over yet and is also hitting another critical infrastructure, data centers. Data released by the Japan Atomic Industry Forum showed that only 17 of Japan’s 54 nuclear power reactors were […]
Greener IT Can Form a Solid Base For a Low-Carbon Society
Precisely a year a go we launched the book Greening IT in print and online (free to download). And if I may say so, the book is still worth the effort of reading. The book aims at promoting awareness of the potential of Greening IT, such as Smart Grid, Cloud Computing, Thin Clients and Greening […]
Greetings from Lerwick, Shetlands: Colocation & Data Center Real Estate
Yes you read it right, Lerwick Shetland’s capital is set to be the location for the UK’s most northerly data center. Shetland Islands Council and developer Alchemy Plus has signed an exclusive Memorandum of Understanding and unveil plans to build a state-of-the-art 10,000 square foot data center powered entirely by renewable energy and using a powerful high-speed […]
Icelandic data centers: boom, boom, out goes the light?
“Iceland says its cool climate and abundant supply of geothermal and hydroelectric energy makes it a prime spot for IT data centers. But in the wake of a major volcanic eruption earlier this week, companies may be thinking twice about hosting core IT assets in a place where Mother Nature is known for being a […]
