Backup Anytime

Video podcasts. created by many, seen by few.

I got an email today suggesting 4 ways to strive for a greener data centre. I was hooked, or so I thought. I clicked the link in the email which brought me to the parent media website. This site asked me if I wanted to view the content I had already demonstrated I indeed did want to view. I answered in the affirmative and was presented with a form to fill in. I closed the browser window. This offer was akin to the following.

Would you like a biscuit.
Yes please.
OK, open the biscuit tin.
Biscuit tin opened.
Great, now just fill out the acceptance form in the tin with your personal details and I will tell you where the biscuits really are.
No thanks.

Aim: To acquire information.

Guise: Offer information.

Likelihood of succeeding: Very low.

Net result: Upset people and lose trust.

If you want to share content by email, include the content if it small or a one click link if it requires downloading. Any deviation from this reduces the number of actual viewers by a factor of I do not know what but it must be very high indeed. Am I a crank or is this the reality? I’d like to know if at least one other person sees it this way.

I actually went through the entire process once before to acquire a copy of a well marketed (the original email was very enticing) but poorly rehashed document detailing online backup service concerns for end users. When I eventually got to the supposedly compelling information it was a simple one pager which a child could have written. Alongside it was an add for an online backup company. All in all one would not have to be cynical to believe the purpose may not have been to provide me with information but to provide an online backup company with a list of people interested enough in online backup to fill out a form in order to acquire supposedly good information.

In summary.

If you want to give information and leave people feeling pleased with you, give them the information without looking for any in return.

Photo smartie 2742 photobucket

In the cloud cu-cu land
Have you tried acquiring data centre space recently?
Have you been monitoring the price of Amazon S3 data storage?

If you have been doing both you will know that data centres are now charging a premium and conversely Amazon storage is so cheap it demands a second glance from the most staunch anti-amazonian.

Data centre prices are effectively being prevented from falling due to a shortage. This shortage has more to do with power than physical space or infrastructure. Just about every non power cost has fallen (as is the norm) but the issue of power currently (and this is not a medium term issue) outweighs everything else.

This is followable and logical. The S3 prices are an exception which demand further attention.
Some very basic research (simple Google search) shows Amazon have had issues of their own this year. Much of this is sadly the norm with cloud data and stands out in the case of Amazon not because of any weakness specific to them but because of the amount of data in the Amazon cloud and consequently the number of people who are alerted immediately should an issue arise at even a sectional level.
Put simply, a company can surely only be blamed for issues they cause or issues they could prevent and fail to prevent. The cloud by it’s nature may have numerous levels of redundancy but it also has many dependencies. One simple router issue could cause a storm of protest to be directed at an obvious but not necessarily guilty party.

The advantage of the Amazon cloud is that it is very much affordable. The decision regarding specialist online backup or commercial storage versus Amazon storage is one based on price. If you go for the cheap seat don’t complain about the view. If you insist on a premium seat don’t expect it for nothing. It is here that the similarities with theatre seat pricing end. In the online storage business it is cheap or premium. No person can tell you which you should use. It is not a service you are putting a value on. It is not a potential provider you are putting a value on. You are putting a value on your data.

Irish data centres have enjoyed much success over the past five seven years. Prior to that, despite the strength of the economy there was a shortage of data centre awareness in Ireland and this conversely lead to a large amount of Irish data centre needs being outsourced initially to the United States and later to India.

About five years ago, the requirement for Irish data centre space increased from a number of quarters. Irish companies sought to retain their data in Ireland. Irish sub host or host contractors sought Irish data centre partnerships. The Governments came under pressure to formulate a plan which would assist in acquiring a connectivity level appropriate to the economy and the use of data centres for online backup became a reality for even small companies.

The situation today is a complicated myriad of negatives and positives.

The economy has undoubtedly gone south. Weather this is a large and frightening blip as a consequence of fear (which the media have fed well on) or the start of a long Irish recession after a long hot boom it’s hard to tell but most quarters agree that we are looking at 12 to eighteen months anyway of a very different economy.

Add to this the low dollar (which is winning back clients for U.S. data centres and the increase in energy costs and the recipe looks unpleasant.

Ireland however despite recent difficulties still has a very good name as a democracy, economy and safe region from a natural catastrophe standpoint and given the infrastructure and wealth created in the past decade should consider itself well positioned compared to the 80s recession.

Increasing numbers of Irish companies are requiring their data backup to be retained in Ireland despite the savings elsewhere. This is partly because of the confidence in Irish Data centres and to a lesser extent to a belief that all data must by law be retained in Ireland. In the case of online backup this is not technically correct as given the data is encrypted there is currently nothing in Irish or European law requiring Irish companies to backup in Ireland only.

In summary, the infrastructure is in place, the consumer confidence in Irish data centres is high. Ireland has a very good name from a data centre point of view. There are considerable price competition issues and many of these depend on world events. Currently, efficiency and quality of service is the future of Irish data centres.

VM Ware sponsored survey points to high virtuialisation uptake.

The heading of this article may make you grin but in fairness the survey was completed
by independents and the results are not just belevable but all too predictable.

The survey points to 90 uptake of virtualisation. Detail on the categories queried is
scetchy but these figures would hold up in a data centre environment. While the figures
show great uptake of virtualisation they do not detail the split of brands used but
given vmware are the major player it is in fairness likely that they have the lions share
of the smart money.

The survey focuses on Europe and demonstrates that as early as 2007, over one third of
data centres used virtualisation. We are heading to over 50% this year.

virtualisation can offer cost effectiveness and greater redundancy while allowing
increased performance from the data centre while helping to keep it safe.

The report on the survey shows that the uptake of virtualisation is not purelt the
domain of large organisations and that while medium size company uptake is somewhat
behind, that market is increasingly making use of virtualisation.

The survey by IDC also points out that most traditional benchmarking tools will
underscore virtualisation as these tools focus on physical resource. The make it clear
that suitable performance and ROI measurement tools are on the way.

Despite the fact that this report is sponsored by vmware, the survey was conducted by
a third party and the results are in line with industry figures.

VMWARE (and virtualsation in general) has much to offer the data centre environment and
any reluctance to deploy virtualisation is likely to have a significant negative effect
on compeditiveness without any definitive tangible benefit from VMWARE abstinence.

There was for a period (and still is) some concerns in the industry that the use of
virtualisation was a software solution to a hardware resource issue. Some sectors in
the earlier days likened it to using software as a RAM substitute as was tried in the
mid nineties. This concern led to late uptake in data centres where the ethos was
correctly geared towards the “keep it safe” argument. Time has passed and virtualisation
 has passed the test with VMWARE taking the number one seat.