let's talk about services

[Jeremy Fluhmann]

Now that we're into 20+ members, I wanted to try and get a conversation going about thoughts, ideas, and expectations of what a West Texas Datacenter and Technology Lab would likely offer.  If you've read the wiki page, then you have an idea about some of my thoughts.  I would like to hear everyone else's thoughts.

Some of what I had put on the wiki, plus some additional

• General Technology Training
• Vendor-specific Technology Training
• Proof-of-concept
• Demos, testing, and experimenting
• temporary disaster recovery infrastructure
• Hosted servers (virtual and physical)
• Co-location
• Cloud infrastructure
• Storage hosting (off-site backups, general storage)

Thoughts?  What are some of the other services you would expect or use?  What services would be most beneficial?

Thanks,
Jeremy

[Bobby Bruner]

If you established some type of "self funding" model such as Colocation and
Server/Storage hosting, it would help fund the requirements for Technology
(software and hardware), plus pay for ongoing facilities cost.

Providing DR service is another excellent suggestion for helping fund the
ongoing maintenance required to run such a facility. DR services do not
require as much additional gear on site, depending upon the level of
service provided to the customer. We might also work with Angelo Archive in
effort around this topic. Sungard might be another company to approach,
very good about providing backroom services.

Many vendors such as SUN, IBM, CISCO, Dell and yes even Microsoft have
money and equipment/software available for creation of such "labs". It does
require quite a bit of effort to get them to let loose, but it can be done.
Dedicated staff!

Although Web site hosting is almost free in the market place, you might be
able to provide some type of Web hosting services. As part of that service
you could look into building and supporting on an ongoing effort for local
businesses, support personnel.

The big question is which of the local businesses might support which
services. Maybe we ask the local Chamber to quiz their members. Ask the
businesses what might sell best, then focus on that to help start up
funding.

The facility cost is going to be the biggest issue at start up. If your
going to sell/provide data center services, you had better make sure your
facility is up to spec. So, we might want to look at any local "money" that
would be interested in "investing" or covering the build cost. UPS systems,
Generators, CRACs, PDU and such are not cheap, but might be required if you
get heavily into providing higher end production services. Maybe some grant
money is available, but I'm not as close to that type thing.

All of this is of course is dependant on if you are looking at low end or
mid-tier services. The lower end of course would require less worry about
the facility being hardened to support the work. Once you get into the mid
to upper tier, the facility cost will rise quickly.

Anyway, I expect I have not told you anything you don't already know, but
this would be a nice additional to San Angelo!
Thanks...
Bobby Bruner
325-947-4240
bbr...@us.ibm.com

From: Jeremy Fluhmann <fluh...@gmail.com>

To: west-texas...@googlegroups.com

Date: 11/11/2009 03:58 PM

Subject: let's talk about services

Sent by: west-texas...@googlegroups.com

[Jeremy Fluhmann]

On Thu, Nov 12, 2009 at 5:33 PM, Bobby Bruner <bbr...@us.ibm.com> wrote:

If you established some type of "self funding" model such as Colocation and
Server/Storage hosting, it would help fund the requirements for Technology
(software and hardware), plus pay for ongoing facilities cost.

I've seen a few similar datacenters implement a cost-recovery model which I'm understanding operate this way.

Providing DR service is another excellent suggestion for helping fund the
ongoing maintenance required to run such a facility. DR services do not
require as much additional gear on site, depending upon the level of
service provided to the customer. We might also work with Angelo Archive in
effort around this topic. Sungard might be another company to approach,
very good about providing backroom services.

Indeed!  My thoughts have been to provide a subscription-based DR service.  I haven't thought through any of the service levels yet, so I would love to hear some discussion from the group about possible levels.  My hope would be that a subscription service would provide a steady flow of income (however large or small) that would help support the center.

Many vendors such as SUN, IBM, CISCO, Dell and yes even Microsoft have
money and equipment/software available for creation of such "labs". It does
require quite a bit of effort to get them to let loose, but it can be done.
Dedicated staff!

I was also curious about vendor-specific training as a way to try and help them "let loose" of some hardware.  I'm kind of anxious to start talking to some vendors to get their thoughts and feedback about it.  It would be nice to start collecting contacts for these various vendors so that we would have them when we start reaching out to them.

 

Although Web site hosting is almost free in the market place, you might be
able to provide some type of Web hosting services. As part of that service
you could look into building and supporting on an ongoing effort for local
businesses, support personnel.

I think part of that, too, is being able to provide extended services such as bridging their website with their existing infrastructure (or maybe connecting to some of their infrastructure that could be hosted at the DC).

The big question is which of the local businesses might support which
services. Maybe we ask the local Chamber to quiz their members. Ask the
businesses what might sell best, then focus on that to help start up
funding.

That sounds great!  What would be the best way of starting that?  I think it would also give us some initial ideas about organizations or businesses interested in investing (as you mentioned below).  Seems like a lot of it will likely be determined by the interested parties and participating individuals.  At some point I would like us all to meet in person (this group and the interested parties) to discuss things in an open forum.  I'll try to start planning for something.