Return home

info@1102grand.com

noc@1102grand.com

Home Colocation Services Connectivity 1102 Overview Blog Contact Us

Join 1102 Grandon

1102 GRAND Updates and Announcements

Address:
1102 Grand Ave., Suite 2000
Kansas City, MO 64106
816-471-7872

View Larger Map

Bios

Darren Bonawitz
Darren Bonawitz attended Kansas State University where he majored in Electrical Engineering with an emphasis in Communication Systems.

Greg Elliott
Greg joined 1102 GRAND in 2008 where he has been active in attracting bootstrapping startups to Inc. 500 and Fortune 500 companies from around the region and the world

Press Contact

Valerie Jennings
816-221-1040
valerie@jenningssocialmedia.com
To submit a story idea to our blog email valerie@jenningssocialmedia.com

Tags

Technology & Science Blogs - Blog Catalog Blog Directory

Web Directory

Kansas City Data Center, 1102 GRAND, Reviews Data Center Temperature

By: Darren Bonawitz, principal of 1102 GRAND

Here is an article that I think our customers will find interesting. For those who haven’t followed the topic, this is a trend that has been consistent over the past few years. Three years ago, we raised our temperature threshold from 68 to the 72 – 74 degrees Fahrenheit range.

There are challenges to taking the temperature up higher in a public data center. For example, as the temperature goes up in the data center so does the ambient noise level as equipment fans operate at a higher RPM. A second example is customer perception. Many customers still have an expectation of very cool temperatures experienced in the past. If it is not noticeably cool in a colocation room, often times customers assume there is an issue. Finally, equipment also needs to be in sync with the data center temperature changes.

Therefore, public data centers have to walk a fine line. We want to save energy by increasing temperatures in the data center, but we do so at the risk of losing business if customers falsely believe their equipment is at risk. We have to strike a balance and do what we can to educate customers about current data center trends to ensure that we are all on the same page.

Read the article here

Share and Enjoy:

Kansas City Data Center, 1102 GRAND, Reviews Virtualization

Posted By: Darren Bonawitz, principal of 1102 GRAND

Virtualization is very common in today’s data center environment and in companies of all sizes and vertical markets. While this can potentially be a great cost-savings strategy due to the inherent benefits, there are some “gotchas” to watch out for including security. If you are thinking about virtualization or are already actively utilizing it, I encourage you to check out the following article, written by Jon Brodkin of Network World, which discusses how security risks can be mitigated in virtualized systems.

Burning question: How can security risks be mitigated in virtualized systems?

“Virtualization is not inherently insecure. However, most virtualized workloads are being deployed insecurely.”

That’s what Gartner analyst Neil MacDonald wrote earlier this year in a report titled “Addressing the Most Common Security Risks in Data Center Virtualization Projects.”

Planning for virtualization projects should always include the information security team, but according to Gartner survey data about 40% of virtualization projects were undertaken without the security team’s involvement in initial architecture and planning stages.

Virtualization Kansas City Data Center, 1102 GRAND, Reviews Virtualization

Share and Enjoy:

Kansas City Data Center, 1102 GRAND, Reviews Power Tips

Posted by: Darren Bonawitz, principal of 1102 GRAND

It is no secret that power is a vital component in data centers and collocation environments. Every once in a while, we will see customers make critical mistakes with regard to power within their cabinets and cages. There is nothing worse

than paying for redundant power only to find yourself facing a power outage as a result of poor power housekeeping.

Here are a few tips to help ensure the desired power redundancy is there when you need it-

1. Label cabinet level power distribution units (PDUs) with the circuit information (number of amps, circuit purpose/name, etc.) and whether it is primary power (A feed) or redundant power (B feed). If you load balance across two circuits, label them circuit A1 and circuit A2 for example.

2. Ensure that equipment is connected to the appropriate PDU. Redundant power will not do you any good if both power supplies are connected to the primary feed, and it goes down whether planned or unplanned.

3. Plan ahead before ordering equipment and ensure you have enough power to support the additional load. If you are at your limit, either order additional power from your collocation provider or look for ways to reduce your existing load (turning off equipment you do not need, virtualizing, etc.). Remeber the 80 percent rule on circuits delivered to your cabinet too. We have seen numerous customers just plug additional equipment in only to learn they were beyond the circuits limit when the breaker popped taking down all of the equipment connected to the same circuit.

4. Document your power. It does not have to be anything fancy, but a simple drawing showing what equipment is connected to which circuits can be a lifesaver in an emergency. Just remember that you may not always be the person working within the cabinet, and a little documentation can go a long way.

Kansas City Data Center, 1102 GRAND, Reviews Power Tips

Share and Enjoy:

Kansas City Data Center’s, Darren Bonawitz, Reviews Convergence & Voice in Podcast

By: Darren Bonawitz, principal of 1102 GRAND

In the past five to 10 years, for a lot of organizations, there were always two different camps. There was the telecom person and the IT person. In a lot of cases, unfortunately, these two people did not always see eye to eye on things.

In the economic down turn about 10 years ago, there was a lot of technical personnel restructuring as businesses decided how to do more with less. In a lot of cases, it was the telecom guy who was let go. The front side of it seemed like the IT guy won because they got to retain their job. Unfortunately, that was pretty short lived. They realized that they were now responsible for voice. Suddenly they were expected to be the resident guru in their organization on a platform they really didn’t know a lot about. That is because for a long time the communication infrastructure had been kept separate from IT. Now as time has gone by, these technologies have converged to a large extent.

During this transition, IT leaders had to learn the nuances of voice and the associated impact on their environment especially in voice over IP or VOIP deployments. So after technology improved and issues around reliability and performance were resolved, voice became data. The IT teams became more comfortable in meeting the needs of their respective enterprise organization. They gave communication as a service which seems to have had a really strong momentum but weaned a little bit. Now seems like a prime time for it to resurge with latency and jitter issues being addressed by vendors. Over the last few years, virtualized voice has really improved greatly and now seems that most vendors do have some flavor of a virtualized, unified communications platform.

In addition to virtualization, the cloud is also playing a role too. There is no doubt that the cloud is a major topic in enterprises around the globe and datacenter industry itself. As I have mentioned in previous blog posts, the cloud is not a silver bullet for technology. You cannot move a whole datacenter into the cloud and call it good. There are a lot of things that have to be considered from application performance to security. Ultimately, cloud does have its place but it has limitations as well. With that said, I still firmly believe that the right solution for most enterprises is some form of a hybrid datacenter or colocation provider with a cloud component.

One of the top applications that makes since moving into the cloud is voice. The cost of on-premise communication equipment is simply not worth the maintenance or management. If you start to look at this and want to determine if it is the right move for your organization, you have to remember if your organization moves to the cloud or a hosted communication provider, it is still critical to fully understand how that place is going to fit in your organization’s overall IT strategy.

This combination of moving voice into a cloud environment is a perfect example of why so many people will turn to 1102 GRAND. As a carrier hotel, we bring together the carriers service providers and the enterprise customer into one place so that they can interconnect in an efficient manner. Enterprise customers can utilize our datacenter infrastructure for the applications not well-suited for the cloud. However, they can still have the ability to connect with tenants of ours who offer cloud services. It is the most bang for the buck and the most customization and control over what they want to do in their organization. Essentially, they get to tailor a solution while reducing capital and operating expenses and simultaneously improve performance and reliability of their overall platform.

For more information visit www.1102grand.com or email questions to info@1102grand.com.

Share and Enjoy:

Hurricane Electric, Internet Backbone and Colocation Provider, Establishes PoP at 1102 GRAND, Kansas City’s Data Center & Internet Hub

Posted by: Darren Bonawitz

1102 GRAND, Kansas City’s Data Center and Internet Hub, announced today that Hurricane Electric, the world’s largest IPv6-native Internet backbone and leading colocation provider, recently established a PoP at 1102 GRAND’s Meet Me Room.

The new PoP allows Hurricane Electric to offer 1102 GRAND’s customers greater bandwidth, reduced latency and improved quality of service.

Darren Bonawitz, principal of 1102 GRAND said, “Hurricane Electric is a terrific addition to our Meet Me Room, and we enthusiastically welcome them to our facility. Hurricane Electric’s pricing model and robust IPv6 enabled global IP network will help to cost-effectively solve the network challenges facing our service provider and enterprise colocation customers alike,” said Bonawitz.

“We are pleased to have established a presence at 1102 GRAND’s Meet Me Room,” said Mike Leber, president of Hurricane Electric. “1102 GRAND’s enterprise customers and telecom providers will be well serviced as they begin implementing IPv6 services and utilize our global Internet backbone.”

Hurricane Electric is a leading Internet Backbone and Colocation Provider. Hurricane Electric operates its own global IPv4 and IPv6 network and owns several data centers in Fremont, California, running multiple N-by-10 Gbps links throughout North America, Europe and Asia. Founded by Mike Leber in his garage in 1994, Hurricane Electric now operates the largest IPv6 Internet Backbone in the world as measured by the number of networks connected. Additional information can be found at http://www.he.net.

1102 GRAND is a Midwestern carrier hotel and network neutral collocation facility specifically enhanced with the infrastructure to host and provide services to an array of global network operators including carriers, service providers and enterprise customers who demand highly secure and connected, customized solutions for their core networking equipment. 1102 GRAND offers a wide array of collocation options including cabinets, cage space, suites and space for private data centers, all of which are connected to a carrier neutral Meet Me Room, housing nearly 30 carriers and service providers (http://1102grand.com/) Twitter @1102grand.

Share and Enjoy:

Top Ten Data Center Trends of 2011

Posted By: Darren Bonawitz

Data centers are constantly evolving due to new, faster and better technology. In a recent article from SearchDataCenters.com, writers Alex Barrett and Matt Stansberry, unveil the newest data center trends for 2011.

Top Ten Data Center Trends of 2011

Data Center Trends for 2011-

X86 everywhere
The data center has always been a heterogeneous place, but not for long. Slowly but surely, the variety of microprocessors that used to characterize our compute centers is giving way to homogenous hordes of x86 processors — mostly from Intel, with a smattering of AMD thrown in for good measure. In and of itself, x86’s increased presence is nothing new — x86 boxes have long outsold Unix and mainframes on a units-shipped basis. But in 2010, x86 servers represented the majority of server revenue as a whole, estimated by IDC at 66.1% in Q310. Expect that trend to continue, not abate.

The waning days of Unix
The corrolary to x86’s increased data center dominance is the decline of Unix, which data center buyers demoted to a legacy platform in 2010. Oracle, with its purchase of Sun Microsystems in 2009, appears to be hastening Unix’s demise, driving data center managers away with product cancellations and predatory support pricing, although other reports show Oracle/Sun sales holding steady.

Don’t just virtualize, automate!
Of course, part of the reason for x86’s increased data center dominance is virtualization, which has arguably been the defining data center trend of the last decade. But there are signs that all the virtualization hustle and bustle is coming to a close, as IT departments come to the end of the list of workloads they are willing to virtualize. With the bulk of the raw migration work behind them, many IT organizations want to build on the foundational layer they have built, and will introduce automation, a.k.a. private cloud computing, on top of their virtual infrastructure. The hope is to minimize manual tasks such as ensuring compliance, taking inventory, running reports, provisioning new workloads and testing disaster recovery plans. But while it all sounds good on paper, early adopters say they’ve had trouble getting buy-in for automation and private cloud outside the confines of IT.

Storage, data networks converge
Take a look at the average enterprise server, and hanging out the back you’ll find cables going to a handful of Gigabit Ethernet network interface cards (NICs) and a couple of Fibre Channel host bus adapters (HBAs) going to a SAN. That’s all changing with the availability of 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE), as data center managers take advantage of the 10 GbE’s superior bandwidth plus new network protocols to transfer both data and storage traffic over a single, tidy link. But while converged networks are the topic du jour for network and storage vendors, plenty of hurdles remain. Most existing storage systems, for one, don’t natively attach to Ethernet, requiring the use of intermediary bridging equipment. Further, most IT organizations aren’t set up for network and storage personnel to work together. An intermediary step toward converged networks may be to take advantage of existing IP storage technologies, like tried-and-true NAS and iSCSI.

Storage is exploding, still
File this under “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” IT professionals continue to grapple with modern applications’ seemingly limitless ability to generate data — and regulators’ unwavering demand that it be stored ad infinitum. In fact, Gartner estimates that storage capacity in the data center will grow 800% this year. Making matters worse is virtualization, which requires that storage be networked to enable live migration. To get a handle on out-of-control storage growth, data center managers must explore technologies like archiving and deduplication, or risk drowning their data centers — and budgets — in a sea of storage.

Share and Enjoy:

Kansas City’s Data Center & Internet Hub Increases Website Traffic With Social Media and Cuts 75% of Google Adwords Budget

1102 GRAND, Kansas City’s data center and Internet hub, saw a 200-300 percent increase in its website and blog traffic, and cut 75 percent of its Google Adwords budget. The marketing ROI is part of an ongoing social media campaign with Jennings Social Media Marketing (www.jenningssocialmedia.com).

Darren Bonawitz, principal of 1102 GRAND, said that Jennings Social Media Marketing helped 1102 GRAND have a better perspective of online marketing strategies. “We were in need of marketing experts and that is exactly what we found in Jennings Social Media Marketing. We have worked with Jennings Social Media Marketing for approximately two years. In that time 1102 GRAND has had an increase in website traffic, saved 75 percent of the budget on the Google Adwords campaign, been requested for more interviews than we can handle and been able to realize significant quantifiable results through additional revenue,” said Bonawitz.

Bonawitz added that the focus on social media is extremely beneficial. “Jennings Social Media Marketing implemented many facets of social media marketing including Facebook, Twitter, e-newsletters, blog, case studies, organic search engine optimized press releases and Web videos. Social media is such a vital tool because it is constantly working. We have had so many great results, and it is hard to argue with results,” said Bonawitz.

Jennings Social Media Marketing is a full service company that utilizes the art of online storytelling with the science of measuring quantifiable results. Jennings creates comprehensive social media marketing and Web advertising strategies from website design and development to viral videos. The company represents publicly traded to medium-sized businesses across the U.S. and overseas including technology, sports, sustainability, entertainment, travel, financial, health care and real estate.

Share and Enjoy:

Carrier / Provider Profile – Zayo Enterprise Networks

Share and Enjoy:

1102 GRAND, Kansas City’s Data Center & Internet Hub Wishes a Happy New Year for 2011!

Posted By: Darren Bonawitz

So 2011 is officially in full swing, and before getting too far into the year, I wanted to take a quick moment to thank everyone for their ongoing support of 1102 GRAND. As in years past, our team met a lot of new people in 2010 and is fortunate that many have become customers. We appreciate the new business as well as the ongoing business from our existing customer base, and we look forward to working with everyone going forward. Thank you again for your confidence in 1102 GRAND!

Now, bear with my non-economist perspective on the economy. Although there is still uncertainty with the economy as a whole, from talking with several companies, it is becoming increasingly clear to me that things are better than they were a year ago. Businesses continue to see a lot of pent up demand, but that demand is slowly starting to release. Current and prospective customers alike are telling us they are starting to see the same thing although it is still not rapidly accelerating and not a guarantee month-to-month. So most companies do not appear to be seeing a flood of new activity, and I am certain the improvement occurring is not across the board for all companies or vertical markets. So no hate mail, please. I’m not saying that we’re back to “good times” yet or that everyone is “winning”. My point is that we should all be thankful for any improvement no matter how incremental or insignificant it may seem. Not going backwards is the first step forward.

If most of us can meet or exceed even the most modest growth targets for 2011, the results will be meaningful and the year will be far better than we’ve seen is a while. It is more than just about the numbers on the financial statements too. I’m convinced it is more important from a customer and employee confidence standpoint. It is so easy for people at all ranks within a company to go through the days and weeks on “bad economy cruise control”. As we start the New Year, I think it is time to shake the dust off, and find a little bit of the swagger from the good times. At 1102 GRAND, we are ready to go, and 2011 is going to be a good year! We hope you feel the same and are right there with us. All the best for a fun and profitable 2011!

Share and Enjoy:

InformationWeek.com Announces IT Management Challenges For The Social Security Administration’s Data Center

Posted By: Darren Bonawitz

I would like to comment on an article from InformationWeek.com, written by Elizabeth Montalbano, highlighting the many IT management challenges facing the Social Security Administration in the near future.

The article is in response to a report by the Social Security Administration’s Inspector General Patrick P. O’Carroll Jr., stating the IT concerns that the Social Security Administration has in the upcoming new year. Montalbano primarily focuses on the SSA’s transition to a new data center from the outdated National Computer Center (NCC). The article also reviews concerns with modernizing business applications and the transition from traditional customer service to web-based.

Click Here to read the full article:

I think it is a safe bet that we all knew that Social Security was in trouble. What I don’t think we realized is that when discussing its collapse, it actually pertained to the physical structure of their data center. Unfortunately, although very scary to consider, the issues and challenges they are facing with regard to their data center infrastructure are not unique. It is not even isolated to the government sector. Many companies are facing similar issues with their existing privately owned and operated data centers albeit at different levels of scale.

Companies need to step back and take a look at the big picture and carefully evaluate all of the options. Just because owning and operating a data center made sense in the past, it does not mean it is the best solution going forward. The requirements of the business itself may have changed and certainly the alternatives available have whether it is collocation, hosted environments, cloud services, or a hybrid solution.

Share and Enjoy:

1102 GRAND Updates and Announcements

Bios

Pages

Categories

Archives

BlogRoll

Press Contact

Tags

Kansas City Data Center, 1102 GRAND, Reviews Data Center Temperature

By: Darren Bonawitz, principal of 1102 GRAND

Kansas City Data Center, 1102 GRAND, Reviews Virtualization

Kansas City Data Center, 1102 GRAND, Reviews Power Tips

Kansas City Data Center’s, Darren Bonawitz, Reviews Convergence & Voice in Podcast

Hurricane Electric, Internet Backbone and Colocation Provider, Establishes PoP at 1102 GRAND, Kansas City’s Data Center & Internet Hub

Top Ten Data Center Trends of 2011

Kansas City’s Data Center & Internet Hub Increases Website Traffic With Social Media and Cuts 75% of Google Adwords Budget

Carrier / Provider Profile – Zayo Enterprise Networks

1102 GRAND, Kansas City’s Data Center & Internet Hub Wishes a Happy New Year for 2011!

InformationWeek.com Announces IT Management Challenges For The Social Security Administration’s Data Center