Inside the Cloud Giants Rackspace's UK cloud datacentre:
[image: Inline image 3] Rackspace's Slough-based datacentre houses the hardware for its UK cloud, along with the other servers rented by its customers. It has 1,600 racks in place, of which 120 support its cloud. http://www.zdnet.com/inside-rackspaces-uk-cloud-datacentre/<http://www.zdnet.com/inside-rackspaces-uk-cloud-datacentre-3040092968/> [image: Inline image 2] "The data center industry is flourishing in Oregon, drawn by relatively cheap power and by "enterprise zone" tax breaks that can save a big project several millions of dollars -- or more -- annually by exempting their expensive computers from property taxes that other businesses pay." 'Rackspace near $2 million deal to buy 99 acres for data center at the Port of Morrow' http://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-forest/rackspace/<http://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-forest/index.ssf/2012/08/rackspace_near_2_million_deal.html> [image: Inline image 1] Rackspace: http://www.rackspace.com/ "Rackspace Inc. is an IT hosting company based in San Antonio, Texas, USA. The company also has offices in Australia, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Israel, The Netherlands and Hong Kong, and data centers operating in Texas, Illinois, Virginia, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Hong Kong. The company's email and apps division operates from Blacksburg, VA; other offices are located in Austin, TX and San Francisco, CA." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rackspace On Tue, Dec 31, 2013 at 8:38 AM, Richard Williams <pundits...@gmail.com>wrote: Data Centers - The Cloud > > [image: Inline image 1] > > Data centers adhere to the same rules as any electronic secret black box - > the first rule of any data center is : "Don't talk about the data centers." > This is typical hush-hush and can also carry over to people's mental ideas > of other types the internet infrastructure such as networks, exchange > points, the web, cables and "the cloud." Very few people know where their > data is stored - sure you have a hard drive on your computer or a flash > drive where you store your data, or even a few blue ethernet cables lying > around the house. > > But, other locations are mysterious - for example, your online mail, bank > information or your Amazon account. So, where is the data? In Oregon or > Alaska? Where is the data center and what makes a data center work? If it's > not really in the cloud, where is it? And, how many copies of your data are > out there, stored out there, somewhere in the back of beyond. According to > Blum, there is a physical infrastructure. > > "So why all the secrecy about data centers? A data center if the > storehouse of information, the closest the internet has to a physical > vault. Exchange points are merely transient places, where information > passes through (and fast!). But in data centers it's relatively static, and > physically contained in equipment that needs to be protected, and which > itself has enormous value. Yet more often the secrecy isn't because of > concerns over privacy or theft, but competition. Knowing how big a data > center is, how much power it uses, and precisely what's inside is the kind > of proprietary information technology companies are eager to keep under > wraps." > > Work cited: > > 'Tubes: A Journey to the Center of the Internet' > by Andrew Blum > Ecco, 2012 > p. 238 > > Other links of interest: > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_center > > Performance Cloud Servers: > http://www.rackspace.com/ > > > On Mon, Dec 30, 2013 at 7:56 AM, Richard Williams <pundits...@gmail.com>wrote: > >> Tubes: A Journey to the Center of the Internet >> >> Tubes, by Andrew Blum, looks behind the scenes of our digital lives at he >> physical heart of the internet itself. These tubes are the real places on >> the map: their sounds and smells, their storied past, their physical >> details, and the people who live there. Sharing tales of his on-the-ground >> reporting, along with lucid explanations about how the role of technology >> in our lives. >> >> Excerpt: >> >> "According to TeleGeography, the most heavily trafficked international >> Internet route is between New York and London, as if the cities were the >> two ends of the Internet's brightest tube of light. For the Internet, as >> for so much else, London is the hinge between east and west, the place >> where the networks reaching across the Atlantic link up with those >> extending from Europe, from Africa and India. A bit from Mumbai to Chicago >> will go through London and then New York, as will one from Madrid to Sao >> Paulo and Lagos to Dallas. >> >> The cities' enjoined gravity pulls in the light, as it pulls in so much >> else. But despite that, the Internet's physical manifestation in the two >> cities is completely different. I had started out with the assumption that >> London is the old world and New York the new. But with the Internet, the >> opposite turned out to be true. If in Amsterdam the Internet was hidden >> away in low industrial buildings on the cities' ragged edges, and in New >> York it colonized art deco palaces, in London it formed a single, >> concentrated, self-contained district - an office "estate," in the British >> term - just east of Canary Wharf and the City, known formally as East India >> Quay but by network engineers, and most else, as just "Docklands." It was a >> massive agglomeration, an entire Internet neighborhood. I wondered what was >> at its heart. And how far into its center I could go." >> >> 'Tubes: A Journey to the Center of the Internet' >> by Andrew Blum >> Ecco, 2012 >> >> >> On Sun, Dec 29, 2013 at 7:08 PM, Richard Williams >> <pundits...@gmail.com>wrote: >> >>> It's almost breath taking in it's scope! >>> >>> Imagine the BIOS of your computer hacked by the feds BEFORE it even >>> reaches the stockroom of your local computer store. The BIOS - that's where >>> you want to be if you are a spy agency. Forget tracing your calls; forget >>> meta data warehousing; forget call monitoring; forget putting duck tape >>> over laptop web cam. If they already have BIOS implants in your DELL or HP >>> or whatever brand computer, you are doomed and the game is already over. >>> >>> Here is a simple test: Power up your laptop and leave it on; then exit >>> the room for a few minutes. When you come back, check to see if your >>> weather location is local or Arlington, VA. >>> >>> And, you think you can trick them by simply removing the battery in your >>> cell phone? What if you own one that doesn't have a removable battery? Why >>> do you think they are doing away with cell phones with removable batteries? >>> >>> "The ANT division does not just manufacture surveillance hardware. It >>> also develops software for special tasks. The ANT developers have a clear >>> preference for planting their malicious code in so-called BIOS, software >>> located on a computer's motherboard that is the first thing to load when a >>> computer is turned on." >>> >>> Read more: >>> >>> NSA reportedly intercepting laptops purchased online to install spy >>> malware' >>> >>> http://www.theverge.com/2013/12/29/5253226/nsa-cia-fbi-laptop-usb-plant-spy >>> >>> >>> On Thu, Dec 26, 2013 at 8:02 AM, Richard Williams >>> <pundits...@gmail.com>wrote: >>> >>>> Arrest him and book him! >>>> >>>> You are fired for lying to the American people. Clear out your desk and >>>> leave the building! Officer, arrest this man and book him for serial lying. >>>> Bailiff, put this man in chains and take him for the perp walk,immediately! >>>> Mr. Biden, get on the phone with that Snowden fellow and get his pardon >>>> ready,NOW! Do it! >>>> >>>> It's not easy to pick the year's most transparent lie from the >>>> self-styled "most transparent administration in history." There are so many >>>> to choose from--such a richness of embarrassment. >>>> >>>> For my money, the biggest presidential lie of the year came on June 7, >>>> the week after former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden >>>> revealed the agency's secret collection of call records data on millions of >>>> Americans. "I welcome this debate," Obama proclaimed--even as his >>>> administration was hunting down the whistleblower who started it and >>>> preparing to hit him with 30 years of Espionage Act charges." >>>> >>>> Read more: >>>> >>>> 'Obama's Epic Fib About the NSA' >>>> http://reason.com/archives/2013/12/24/obamas-epic-fibs-about-the-nsa >>>> >>>> >>>> On Fri, Oct 18, 2013 at 7:55 AM, Richard Williams <pundits...@gmail.com >>>> > wrote: >>>> >>>>> The ObamaCare disaster is not just a management failure, it's a firing >>>>> incident. Where I used to work, a system failure this large would be a >>>>> cause for instant dismissal: >>>>> >>>>> *"Clean off your desk and get out, you're fired! Officer, escort this >>>>> person off the premises. And, don't you ever come back! You'll never work >>>>> in this town again. You fuckin' idiot!"* >>>>> >>>>> [image: Inline image 1] >>>>> >>>>> 'In Defense of Kathleen Sebelius' >>>>> http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/<http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303680404579141473117316190> >>>>> >>>> >>>> >>> >> >
