New NSA “spy” data center adding up the staff

January 17, 2011 Dave Ohara

DefenseSystems.com discusses the new NSA “spy” data center.

Work commences on $1B NSA 'spy' center

Cyber intelligence data center reportedly will support the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative

By Henry Kenyon

Jan 07, 2011

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers broke ground this week on a massive new National Security Agency cyber intelligence center in Utah. Located at Camp Williams, 25 miles south of Salt Lake City, the $1.2 billion facility — officially known as the Utah Data Center — will be responsible for collecting and aggregating incoming intelligence data.

According to USACE, the center will have 100,000 square feet of raised-floor data center space and more than 900,000 square feet of technical support and administrative space. Support facilities will include an electrical substation, a vehicle inspection facility and visitor control center, fuel storage, water storage, and a chiller plant. Camp Williams is a National Guard training site operated by the Utah National Guard.

Salt Lake City news, Desert News also writes about the employment #’s.

Utah's $1.5 billion cyber-security center under way

Published: Thursday, Jan. 6, 2011 1:10 a.m. MST

By Steve Fidel, Deseret News

45 comments

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CAMP WILLIAMS — Thursday's groundbreaking for a $1.5 billion National Security Agency data center is being billed as important in the short term for construction jobs and important in the long term for Utah's reputation as a technology center.

"This will bring 5,000 to 10,000 new jobs during its construction and development phase," Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said on Wednesday. "Once completed, it will support 100 to 200 permanent high-paid employees."

See all 5 photos | Click to enlarge

Stuart Johnson, Deseret News

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and National Security Agency host a joint groundbreaking ceremony for the first Intelligence Community Comprehensive National Cyber-security Initiative (CNCI) Data Center Thursday, Jan. 6, 2011, at Camp Williams. Construction of the $1.2 billion Data Center is scheduled to be completed in October 2013.

But, something doesn’t add up. 100 to 200 staff to support 100,000 sq ft of NSA type of white space is plausible. But, 900,000 sq ft for technical support and administrative space means there is 4,500 – 9,000 sq ft per employee.

What data center do you know of has 1/10 dedicated to white space and 9/10 for support?

Something doesn’t add up in terms of what is in the NSA “spy” data center unless there are a lot more people there.

Verizon’s Cloud Services expand Data Centers WW

October 3, 2010 Dave Ohara

Verizon announced expansion of its Data Centers WW to support its cloud offering.

Verizon Business Furthers Cloud Strategy Through Global Data Center Expansion

Expanded Facilities to Accommodate Increased Customer Demand for Public, Private and Hybrid Cloud Services

September 30, 2010

BASKING RIDGE, N.J. - To meet the increasing demand for the full range of cloud services, Verizon Business is enhancing its data centers around the globe. Within the next year, Verizon Business will expand its flagship cloud computing services suite - Computing as a Service (CaaS) - into centers in San Jose, Calif.; London; and Canberra, Australia. In addition, CaaS data centers to serve U.S. government customers will come online in Miami and Culpeper, Va., during the first quarter of 2011.

Here are some of the details on how much expansion Verizon plans.

As part of this infrastructure enhancement project, more than 5,500 additional server cabinets for enterprise clients also will be added to Verizon Business premium Internet data centers in Paris, Dublin, London, Frankfurt, Belgium, Canberra, Hong Kong and throughout the U.S. The expansion further enables the delivery of private clouds via more than 200 global data centers connected to Verizon's MPLS network, Private IP.

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Verizon Enterprise-Class CaaS Solutions Lead Market in Performance, Security

Verizon's cloud computing solutions suite, Computing as a Service, offers enterprises on-demand computing resources, including server, network and storage capacity, with high-performance and built-in security that are ideally suited to the complex needs of large enterprises. Enterprises have a choice between Verizon's flagship CaaS offering of its hybrid solution, CaaS enabled VMware vCloud™ Datacenter, which facilitates moving applications from a private to a public cloud setting. Clients can configure their enterprise cloud using Verizon's Private IP network or its global IP network.

Today, the company has CaaS data centers in Amsterdam and the U.S. A third center in Hong Kong will come online in October.

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Some of the customers are.

Early adopters of Verizon's cloud services include Modevity, Celstream, iSOFT, ISID and GWR Medical and Intelenet.. Many are using cloud computing to drive further efficiencies within their operations as well as a way to provide corporatewide access to applications while delivering enhanced ease-of-use for end-users.

And VMware is part of the Verizon partnership.

Verizon Builds Hybrid Cloud with VMware vCloud Datacenter

The widgetry won’t be quite as secure as Verizon’s existing Computing as a Service (CaaS) – but pretty close

…

Verizon is trusting the solution will get its target accounts up off their collective arse and into the cloud.

Right now the thing, whose clumsy handle is Computing as a Service (CaaS) enabled by VMware vCloud Datacenter, is in field-test with the big International Hotel Group (IHG), a company whose business inherently sees peaks and troughs, expecting to widen the beta before the stuff goes GA in Q1.

While the high-end CaaS enterprise is priced à la carte, the Datacenter version will be available on both a utility model and a reservation model.

The company says it hasn't worked out the numbers yet but that's how it wants to price it; the first for transient trade, the latter for those with predictable workloads that want guaranteed resources.

Where are Facebook's data centers? Follow the money

September 16, 2010 Dave Ohara

RichMiller at DataCenterKnowledge has a good post that answers a question of where are Facebook's data centers?

Facebook: $50 Million A Year on Data Centers
September 16th, 2010 : Rich Miller

A look at the fully-packed racks inside a Facebook data center facility.

An analysis of Facebook’s spending with data center developers indicates that the company is now paying about $50 million a year to lease data center space, compared to about $20 million when we last analyzed its leases in May 2009.

When you spend $50 million a year, you can follow the money trail.

Facebook is paying $18.13 million a year for 135,000 square feet of space in data center space it leases from Digital Realty Trust (DLR) in Silicon Valley and Virginia, according to data from the landlord’s June 30 quarterly report to investors.

The social network is also leasing data center space in Ashburn, Virginia from DuPont Fabros Technology (DFT). Although the landlord has not published the details of Facebook’s leases, data on the company’s largest tenants reveals that Facebook represents about 15 percent of DFT’s annualized base rent, which works out to about $21.8 million per year.

...

Environmental Impact of Data Center Diesel Generators - Quincy, WA

September 14, 2010 Dave Ohara

DataCenterKnowledge has a post about Washington State's Department of Ecology studying the environmental impact of Data Center Diesel Generator operation in Quincy, WA.

Quincy Generator Cluster Draws Scrutiny
September 13th, 2010 : Rich Miller

An aerial view of the Microsoft data center in Quincy, Washington

Economic development officials love clusters of huge Internet data centers. But environmental officials are less enthused about large clusters of diesel generators. The town of Quincy, Washington has both, serving as home to major data centers for Microsoft, Yahoo and Intuit (with another project from Sabey Corp. on the way).

As much as the big data center operators would like to not discuss any data center details, there is a social and environmental impact the public has the right to review.

The Washington State Department of Ecology has approved Microsoft’s additional permit, but has also scheduled a public hearing in Quincy on Sept. 28 to hear from residents on the topic. The Ecology department conducted an evaluation of the health risks from diesel engine exhaust particulates, and found that the Microsoft expansion, viewed in isolation, is not likely to impact public health.

State officials and Microsoft are required to appear at a public meeting to present and discuss the generator expansion. The Department of Ecology took the opportunity to seek feedback from area residents, citing the growing concentration of data centers.

“Due to the interest expressed by other data companies to expand or build in the Quincy area, Ecology was concerned that the cumulative effect of diesel engine emissions should be assessed,” the state said in announcing the meeting.

Being green means more than your PUE and energy efficiency of equipment.

Here is the presentation referenced. Gary Palcisko is the presenter.

And note this slide for potential future requirements.