One of the often overlooked issues in colocation cabinets is cabling. When a company is hurrying to move equipment into a facility, cable management is not usually at the top of its list for concerns. IT staff members are more worried about just getting their infrastructure operational rather than focusing on the aesthetics of the cabling in their cabinet(s). Even if the cabling is managed effectively day one, it is very common to see a gradual “rats nest” develop over time as equipment is added or replaced.

Cable management is more than about cosmetics though, and a lot of IT professionals have come to appreciate the value of clearly labeled and organized cabling. What a lot of people fail to consider is the effect cabling can have on proper equipment cooling. That may sound odd, but visualize for a moment a tangled web of cables at the back of a cabinet. What happens is the cables each take up a certain volume of space and effectively reduce the path for hot air rejected from equipment to properly exhaust out the back of the cabinet.

Hot air that should have been easily transferred to the hot aisle now becomes trapped within the cabinet and then recirculates. This causes in-cabinet ambient temperatures to rise and can lead to equipment temperature increases and possibly even unnecessary failure.

Many companies are turning to renewable energy to power their facilities and decrease their carbon footprints. With data centers being one of the largest users of energy, turning to renewable energy may be in the near future. But is this plausible? Renewable energy must first scale to accommodate data centers to meet their power requirements. Secondly, renewable energy must be cost-effective solution for data centers because even one center per kilowatt hour (kWhr) higher in a data center is a considerable strain on profits. Finally in order to rely solely on renewable energy it has to be a reliable option.

We won’t get there without research and baby steps in the right direction, coupled with innovation incentives to entrepreneurs and researchers to keep driving them towards creating better solutions.

To learn more about data centers and renewable energy visit datacenterknowledge.com

Here is a special feature about Umzuzu, detailing who its clients are, how it is associated with 1102 GRAND and why it does business in Kansas City.

Company Description: Umzuzu – We are Cloud Brokers specializing in Google Apps and the Google Solutions Marketplace. We help companies eliminate on premise hardware.

Who are its clients: Any business currently using email. Commonly we help people migrate off legacy platforms like Exchange 2010.

How it is associated with 1102 GRAND: We use the flexible bandwidth resources of 1102 GRAND to migrate large volumes of data to the cloud. When faced with a client that has low bandwidth to their offices, we copy the data locally, then “sneaker-net” it over to 1102 GRAND where it can be liberated to the cloud.

Why Kansas City: Cost of living. Entrepreneurial hotbed of activity.

Best Part of Doing Business in Kansas City: The community isn’t so large that you get lost. You can grow your reputation and live on it. The same names often come up, you get to know the people in town that can get a job done.

Benefits of Working in Kansas City: BBQ. Interesting diversity of culture and food in the KC area. The professional landscape is diverse as well, from manufacturing to professional services, it is hard to pigeonhole KC into a particular market (like aviation for Wichita.)

With the first hurricane of the season already here and gone, 1102 GRAND, Kansas City’s Data Center and Midwestern Internet hub, reviewed disaster recovery tips for companies at risk for earthquakes, hurricanes, blackouts, wildfires, tornados, ice storms, or the most common disaster risk of them all – people themselves.

Here are tips for disaster recovery.

1. Ensure you disaster recovery plan is flexible and scalable

2. Right size the solution to meet requirements and budget

3. Don’t assume – establish requirements with management

4. Prioritize recovery initiatives to meet company objectives

5. Document, document and document some more

6. Do not forget about redundancy with passwords – store them offsite too

7. Schedule semi-annual or annual requirement reviews

8. Disaster recovery is not “set it and forget it” – test regularly

9. Disaster recovery is more than just data – think through all facets of operations

10. Ensure at least two team members know each recovery procedure

1102 GRAND, Kansas City’s Data Center and Midwestern Internet Hub, hosted its 5th Annual Technology Golf Tournament at Deer Creek Country Club Tuesday, June 8, 2010 from 11 a.m. – 7 p.m. The event was organized for technology companies and IT professionals who wanted to reconnect with colleagues and network.

Bill Cameron, Director of Engineering Services at ATNI, and one of many participants said, “”We enjoy the trip from Denver to Kansas City for the golf tournament. We like networking with new people who are leaders in the technology business and who want the industry to grow. The core community we have done business with through 1102 Grand have always be reputable and reliable.”

Rex Schick, owner of K&W Underground, has sponsored many of 1102 GRAND’s events over the years and said, “1102 GRAND does an excellent job connecting the technology community and other related businesses. It helps us stay connected to our current customers and meet new potential customers. We like to show our support by sponsoring events important to this group.”

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 carriers and service providers including AT&T, Level (3), Verizon Business, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communication, and Qwest.