Posts Tagged ‘data center solutions’

Considerations for Choosing a DCIM Solution

Thursday, February 9th, 2012

I recently gave a presentation at Data Center World about the importance of using Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) tools in your data center. At Consonus, we use nlyte Software for data center infrastructure management and capacity planning. But regardless of the vendor you choose, you should consider the following:

1) Data Collection Process – Should the collection process be automated? Agentless? The process of discovery should uncover ALL network physical assets and should provide accurate data, faster implementation, and reduce audit time.

2) Presentation Process – How is the information presented? Visually? The information shown should include: hotspot identification, optimal asset placement, connections, and power.

3) Modeling Capabilities – What type of modeling capabilities does the software have? Does it offer “What if” scenarios? It should address changes in power, space, heating, and cooling.

4) Control Process – How much automation is provided? What kind of scheduling capabilities are there? The software should improve service delivery, reduce server deployment time, and should enforce ITIL best practices.

5) Management Capabilities – What management-level dashboards are provided – standard and user-defined? The tool should include a daily measurement of operations, robust asset management and reporting capabilities.

6) Analysis Functions – The software should enable you to take a proactive stance to capacity planning, providing trend analysis to predict the lifespan of your data center. It should also include operational metrics for the entire datacenter including heat and cooling, space, and network connections.

Bottom line…using a DCIM solution can help you maximize your most expensive asset, the data center. Use it.

Bruce W. Cardos, PMP
Director, PMO
ITIL Foundation Certified

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What is a SAS70 Type II Data Center?

Sunday, February 5th, 2012

If you are in the data center business or have your information stored at a data center, you should know how SAS70 compliance relates to your business and how vital it is for a data center to demonstrate SAS70 compliance. For those who don’t know…here’s your primer.

In a nutshell, when a data center says they are SAS70 compliant, they are stating that adequate, internal controls and safeguards have been implemented to secure customer information in the data center. 

SAS70 is an internationally recognized auditing standard for service organizations. Specific areas for analysis and evaluation include:

  • Organization controls
  • Application development
  • Maintenance controls
  • Logical security
  • Access controls
  • Application controls
  • System maintenance controls
  • Data processing controls
  • Business continuity controls

Having the SAS70 guarantee is invaluable for creating trust between you and your data center partner. With this credential, you can rest assured that data center control policies utilize effective best practices and that physical access, IT infrastructure, data, and the network are protected against threats.

SAS70 audits are performed every year, not only to verify that rigorous controls are in place, but to ensure that they are maintained.

There are two types of SAS audits:

Type I: This is usually done when a company first begins the auditing process. The auditor evaluates to what degree the data center fairly represents its services in terms of internal controls.

Type II: In addition to the Type I report, Type II includes the auditor’s commentary about how effective these internal controls operate in a given period.

It’s important to note that SAS70 audits are based on expert opinion made by an auditor. This means, when you are looking for a SAS70 data center, you will also need to determine if the audit was performed by a reputable firm. Plus you will need to assess the individual data center’s audit report to see the internal control claims that were evaluated.

From 2007 to 2010, Consonus has received favorable SAS70 Type I and Type II audits. Results of these audits are offered freely to all current and prospective Consonus clients.

So now when you are comparing data centers or hosting partners and they say, “we’re SAS70 audited,” you can actually know what it means.

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Employee Spotlight: Sr Consultant Specialist in Virtualization and IT Strategy Stan Yarbrough

Thursday, July 29th, 2010

When he’s not advising, blogging, or speaking about virtualization projects, you can find Stan communing with nature on one of his many hiking and camping ventures.

As resident expert on virtualization solutions and related technologies, Senior Consultant Stan Yarbrough brings over twenty years of IT knowledge and an impressive skill set to Consonus. Based out of Charlotte, NC, Stan serves customers and partners nationwide, delivering strategic consulting and technology solutions in support of a targeted and comprehensive expansion of Consonus virtualization service offerings.

“Consonus is unique in that we have the delivery and fulfillment strengths of a VAR and the vendor agnosticism of a consulting firm,” says Stan.  “We can adapt the needs of our customers based upon their preferences instead of the labels on the boxes in our warehouses.”

Stan’s experience includes management and consulting in IT operations and IT strategic solutions for various client companies of North Highland Company and Katalyst Network Group, primarily Fortune 100 companies throughout the southeast. With an engineering background in complex networking, infrastructure, and data center architecture, Stan has worked with such companies as Cisco, EMC, Microsoft, Novell, Sun/Oracle, IBM and other top-tier network services vendors. Industry certifications include: CCDP, CCNP, MCSE, MCNE, and CISSP.

“Using the breadth of my experience, I am able to engage a client on many levels,” Stan explains.  “I can be a strategic consultant, providing high-level thought to market direction, solving a significant problem, and injecting new ideas into the leadership of an organization. Or I can be an engineering consultant designing the components to develop a comprehensive technical solution.  However, I prefer to act in both roles simultaneously.  I love being in the middle of everything, like the glue that holds the project together. Clients see me as a trusted advisor. I like that.”

One thing is for sure, though Stan’s job keeps him very busy, his main priority is definitely his family. As husband to wife Kim and father to five children, Stan is an active volunteer in the community and donates a significant amount of time to his church.  

And as if that’s not enough, Stan is also an accomplished drummer and bass player, often playing for local bands in the Lake Norman area.

Glad to have you on the Consonus team Stan!

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Employee Spotlight: Consonus HP Expert, Tara Huddleston

Tuesday, July 13th, 2010

Pronounced “Tear-ah” as in Scarlett’s mansion from Gone With the Wind, Tara Huddleston is new to Consonus but by no means a technology novice. She brings to Consonus over 20 years of enterprise-level sales and account management expertise and over a decade of experience selling Hewlett-Packard (HP) solutions.

As HP Program Manager and Senior Account Executive, Tara is the central point of contact for HP with responsibilities that involve deal coordination, translating HP messaging for products and services, plus training and communications. Current accounts include Premier, Lash Group, TIAA-CREF, Maersk, and American Tire Distributors.

“I have been selling HP enterprise-class products for most of my 20-plus-year career and have worked for HP for the last twelve, so I’m very knowledgeable and passionate about their products and services.  I hope to use this experience to make it as simple, and as painless as possible, for Consonus to become a very strong and successful HP Partner,” says Tara.

Clients and peers alike find her engaging as she is cheerful and approachable with always a story to tell. Working for Consonus has proven to be a good career match as Tara explains, “I was first attracted to Consonus by the strong portfolio mix of data center-focused solutions and by the strong sense of employee camaraderie I got when I interviewed.  Six months later I haven’t been disappointed in the least and I’m thrilled to be part of the team.”

A self-described “Navy brat,” Tara has lived all over the world, spending a majority of her time in Indiana prior to coming to Charlotte almost 14 years ago. She lives in the southern part of Charlotte with husband Tim, a freelance technical writer, and her two beautiful daughters with personalities that are completely opposite of one another – the dainty Savannah and the sporty Lucy. Add two rescued Labrador-mix mutts, two toads, and a parrot named Daisy to the mix, it’s a wonder she took up running — how else would she get any peace and quiet?!

Glad to have you aboard Tara!!!

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Data Centers and Earthquakes

Wednesday, April 7th, 2010

According to reports, the force from Easter Sunday’s 7.2 magnitude earthquake in Baja, California caused high-rise buildings to sway back and forth not only in surrounding southern California towns, but also 103 miles northwest in downtown Los Angeles and as far away as Las Vegas and Phoenix. Caltech officials reported that over 20 million people felt shaking related to the earthquake. And aftershocks are still occurring…some as high as 5.4 in magnitude.

Not only does an earthquake rattle nerves and shake buildings, but it can do devastating damage to data centers. It can vibrate and shudder racks of servers and equipment, rendering them useless. If you host at a data center with no natural disaster technology in place, chances are high that your mission-critical data will experience devastating damage too; unless, of course, your data center has earthquake-tolerant technology.

When you want to protect your most valuable business asset, information, look for data center providers that specifically address natural disasters via technologies that minimize risk. Earthquake gliders, friction pendulums, and base isolators are just some of the methods data centers use to safeguard information in the event of a natural catastrophe; some techniques involve only the equipment, while others focus on the entire facility.

For example, base isolation technology affects the entire structure. A fixed-base building–built directly into the ground–will move with an earthquake’s motion. As a result, the building can sustain extensive damage. However, when a building is built away—isolated–from the ground, resting on flexible bearings or pads known as base isolators, it will barely move during an earthquake. Your data is still safe and business can go on as normal.

Consonus has two data centers in Utah that are designed to remain fully operational during and after a 7.5 magnitude earthquake. Using base isolation, our data centers are constructed from the ground up to prevent and minimize damage during an earthquake.

But not every data center uses earthquake technology. Look for a data center with a history of delivering disaster recovery and business continuity solutions. This will give you peace of mind, even in the event of an earthquake.

And prepare yourself and your business BEFORE a disaster strikes. Governor Gary Herbert has designated April 4-10 as Earthquake Preparedness Week. Find out what you can do to prepare for an earthquake and its aftermath. Visit BeReadyUtah.gov for helpful tips and resources.

Rob Muir
Vice President Western Operations

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Posted in Business Continuity, IT Solutions | 1 Comment »

Data Center Solutions: The Answer is in the Question

Friday, March 5th, 2010

At Consonus, our corporate philosophy is simple: We solve business problems. Period.  Our highly respected and recognized team solves numerous business issues related to the data center.  We ask a lot of questions and find a lot of problems, solving our fair share of them along the way.

So what questions are you wrestling with?  Here are some examples of questions we are frequently asked:

Virtualization

  • Have I received all of the benefits I expected from my virtualization project?
  • I have virtualized a bunch of servers.  Now what?
  • How can I leverage virtualization technology in the “cloud”?

Data Protection

  • Am I in regulatory compliance regarding archived data?
  • I can back up my data – but when the time comes will I be able to recover everything?

Disaster Recovery

  • I do not have a formal business continuity plan – where do I start?
  • How can I leverage the cloud to improve my DR plan?
  • Have I identified appropriate Recovery Point (RPO) and recovery Time (RTO) Objectives?

Data Center Efficiency

  • What is the total cost of ownership of my data center?
  • Am I making the most efficient use of energy?
  • Should I build another data center or look at other options?

The solutions we provide begin with the questions we are asked.  It is in this vein that we have created a corporate blog—not to tell you how good we are, but to share with you the questions we are hearing and the problems we are solving.  Numerous experts from Consonus will be contributing to the blog – sharing their experiences and responding to your questions.

So consider this an open invitation:   Ask us a question…we’d love to share our thoughts.

Bob McCarthy
Co-President

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Posted in The Executive Desk | 2 Comments »