Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
11 - 30 - 09
By Greg Elliott
I’ve had many discussions with people involved in the software and IT industries and the topics that usually come up are:
-Where can I find good employees?
-Where can I find other software or IT Professionals to network with?
-Is there an organization that has resources that can help my software or IT company?
My answers to these questions are, “yes,” through the Software and Information Technology Association of Kansas (SITAKS). I was able to visit with Miriam Ubben, president of SITAKS, and here’s what she had to say about this worthwhile organization.
Q: What is SITAKS all about?
A: The Software and Information Technology Association of Kansas was launched in June 2008 to provide support to Kansas’ burgeoning software and information technology (IT) industry. SITAKS is a corporate membership group designed to support Kansas’ 3,200 software and IT companies, as well as companies with large IT departments. We provide state level advocacy, workforce development, capital formation and management level education and networking to our members. You will find value in SITAKS membership if your company has an interest in building connections and establishing your presence within the software and IT sector.
Q: What impact has SITAKS had on the IT Community?
A: The SITAKS membership has grown to 100 member companies in just 18 short months. During this time, SITAKS has hosted over 30 educational and networking events that have brought together software/IT executives that are now leveraging each others’ products and services.
Many of our events center on helping to improve your bottom line. Our events are customized to the software/IT management environment and include such topics as utilizing state and federal R&D tax credits for software development, protecting your company’s IP, securing federal contracts and tapping into state funding programs.
Next February 2010, SITAKS is hosting the first annual Kansas Technology Awards featuring awards in nine categories. This event is designed to bring prominence to our member companies and the sector. We are also rolling out our state legislative platform in December, 2009 which focuses primarily on improving the business environment for software and IT companies.
Q: What opportunities are there to become involved with SITAKS?
A: In addition to attending events and board participation, members have the opportunity to serve on the following SITAKS committees: 1) Public Policy Committee; 2) Workforce Committee; 3) Events Committee; and 4) Membership Committee. Committees meet monthly and provide networking opportunities and an opportunity to provide direction to the organization.
Thank you, Miriam, for taking the time to share about SITAKS! Feel free to contact me via email at Greg@1102Grand.com for questions about SITAKS. Let me know if there are other topics you would like to see discussed here at Nfrastructure EXchange, and I would be happy to look into it. We are currently working on topics that delve into the Healthcare IT and Call Center verticals. Stay tuned!
SITAKS Bio
The Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation (KTEC)*, as part of its mission to promote technology based economic development, launched SITAKS on June 11, 2008 to support Kansas’ software and information technology companies. SITAKS is located in Lenexa, KS at the Enterprise Center of Johnson County. Current members include small to large companies. Founding companies include Garmin, Freightquote, LSI, DSI, Perceptive Software, Deloitte, cBIZ and 1102Grand. Membership is based on number of employees in your company. Visit www.sitaks.com to learn more and to become involved!
11 - 27 - 09
By Darren Bonawitz
It’s not always easy to admit when you don’t know something or that you need help, but as this article from the WHIR shows, setting ego aside can pay huge dividends. Data center managers either need to acquire knowledge or seek those who possess it regarding greening their IT operations. The cost of not doing so is simply too high. A reputable and qualified consultant can yield savings that offset the costs of obtaining their expertise. Keep in mind, the return on the investment increases month after month as savings are continually realized. At 1102 GRAND, I’ll admit we don’t utilize a lot of consultants because Todd, our director of operations, enjoys staying on top of trends and testing new products or solutions. He says learning and researching best practices and reading up on new or emerging technologies is half of the fun of his job. If that sounds like you, then maybe a consultant is not necessary. I guess my point is, the key is having a strategy and successfully implementing it consistently.
For example, just a few weeks ago Todd was able to apply a combination of things he learned at a conference, networking with other data center professionals and researching topics online to improve the under floor static pressure in raised floor data centers. It took him a couple of days to dial everything in (and some time to research, of course), but his answer was being able to shut off CRAC units that were no longer necessary with the current heat load in multiple collocation areas at our building. The result: savings of an estimated $20,000 per year, plus a reduction in our current carbon footprint. As I mentioned in a previous post, don’t look for million dollar savings. Find smaller savings that will result in incremental increases in both efficiency and cost savings.
In addition to seeking knowledge (on your own or through trusted advisors), and watching for new technologies that fit your data center environment, don’t forget to look for incentives. This is one I’ll admit nearly passed us by until I was researching something totally unrelated on our electric utility company’s website. I’m still looking into the opportunities and seeing how they’ll fit our current and future plans, but I think there are some definite opportunities. Stay tuned for more on that in a future post. As always, if you have experiences to share about utility company incentives, please let me know.
Bluestone Helps MA Data Center Earn Energy Efficiency Rebate
(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Engineering service firm Bluestone Energy Services (www.bluestoneenergy.com) recently helped a biotech firm to receive incentives from the local utility for achieving energy efficiency measures in its Boston area-based data center, according to a report by DatacenterDynamics.
(Read more)
11 - 25 - 09
Welcome to Greg Elliott’s weekly podcast featuring local IT, VOIP and data center opportunities.
By Greg Elliott
Hi, I’m Greg Elliott with 1102 GRAND, Kansas City’s Carrier Hotel and collocation facility. What we want to try to do with these podcasts is just to share with you some real world experiences that we’re seeing here in Kansas City, across the nation and around the world. We have customers from Kansas City, and as far away as the Philippines and Germany. We’re seeing a good cross-section of what’s going on out there in the collocation world. I wanted to share with you specifically a customer that recently came to us…
10 - 20 - 09
I recently came across this article from last year about how the healthcare industry is increasing its reliance on data centers. The architecture and design publication emphasizes that as hospitals and the healthcare industry becomes more efficient, data centers and internet hubs are increasingly more crucial. Data centers are not simply used for insurance and personnel records anymore, but for the day-to-day operations of a global business. Whether it be implementing new software, supporting video teleconferences, transferring clinical records or for data security, addresses like 1102 GRAND are going to be more and more essential to the current and future needs of the industry.
From the article:“The goal for a data center is to maximize reliability and minimize dollars spent, all while maintaining future flexibility. To do this most efficiently, each system should be supported to its level of recommended reliability—but no more.” There’s also this graphic of the type of dual-active approach that Healthcare Design says is most effective for hospitals, stating that “this approach may provide more reliability to the end user at a smaller price tag. Using this concept, hospitals can also get some value out of old data centers, which can act as a second active backup site to support the most critical applications. This will allow a facility to operate if there is a major problem with the communications grid.”
Check out the full article here
08 - 25 - 09
KANSAS CITY, MO–(Marketwire – August 24, 2009) – Data centers across the U.S. are attempting to green their IT operations, and a major Midwest Internet hub and thought leader is reviewing its historic landmark building for opportunities. Data center and Internet hub 1102 GRAND is reviewing green IT solutions for their building, which is not likely to be considered truly green without LEED certification, an unlikely option for a historic landmark.
Download the whitepaper on Selecting a Data Center: Space Series Part 1
Read the full press release at Marketwire.
08 - 10 - 09
It’s no secret the economy has been tough recently and cost cutting is a natural, knee-jerk reaction during periods of economic contraction. Regardless of the industry, cutting costs can be a potentially dangerous situation if not carefully analyzed and executed. This holds true when it comes to your data management.
Think of it this way: If you change widget suppliers to reduce overhead, quality may suffer leading to increased customer returns, decreased customer satisfaction or worse yet, losing the customer and their future sales altogether. The same is true when it comes to collocation. It is imperative to remember that collocation is not a commodity, contrary to what a real estate broker representing a large tier 1 carrier recently tried unsuccessfully to convince me.
When searching for your next collocation facility, pay heed to some old adages and clichés such as “you get what you pay for” and “if it is too good to be true, it probably is.” The bottom line is that there are real costs that facility providers have to pay whether it is the cost of cabinets, cooling units, or electricity. They can only lower their price to a certain level before it becomes unprofitable. Then they either price themselves out of business or find things to cut corners on like preventative maintenance in order to stay afloat.
07 - 22 - 09
No matter the size of the business or vertical market, protecting data is imperative not only to success but to survival. According to Hewlett Packard, 70 percent of small firms that experience a major data loss go out of business within one year and 43 percent of companies that experience a catastrophic data loss never reopen. Many companies turn to collocation as part of their data protection plan thanks to the increased reliability and likely reduction in operating overhead. When determining where to collocate networking equipment, there are dozens of factors that need to be considered. After breaking these criteria into groups, five emerge: space, power, cooling, connectivity and services. The space portion of the decision making process is critical as it will largely influence many of the other factors to be considered.
Click to download whitepaper
