SoftLayer Blog » Phil’s DC

PHIL’s DC: SoftLayer Data Center Tour

PHIL — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 15:45:50 +0000

When I was chosen by Lance to manage a “special project,” I knew I had my work cut out for me. My mission is to redefine how data centers are built, so before I get too far in the creation of my data center facility, I thought it would be a good idea to get a quick refresher about how SoftLayer builds and runs its data centers:

You can disregard the references to Lance “requiring” me to go on the tour … and the formality of Jon having to sign a note that said I successfully completed the tour. The references to those were just for dramatic effect since Lance and I are pretty much eye-to-eye about everything that needs to happen for PHIL’s DC to succeed, and we both thought it would be good to have signed documentation that I went on a tour.

As I mentioned at the end of the tour, I didn’t find the tour to be a complete waste of time because I was able to observe some of the biggest hurdles in building and maintaining a data center. Is redundancy really necessary … or is it just redundant? What the heck did Jon say in the UPS room? How fast does a person have to run on a single treadmill for that treadmill to power 40,000 servers?

While I try to source my own “PHIL’s DC” rack identifiers, my adoring public can take time to go through this video with a fine-toothed comb to suggest any potential data center innovations that you think I may have overlooked. I already have the most innovative and efficient data center designed in my head, but I’ll consider crediting you if you share an idea … even if (and by if, I mean “when”) I’ve already thought of it.

I’ve got a hot lead on some slightly used hardware, so the next time you see me, the PHIL’s DC inventory area should be fully stocked and ready for my own truck day.

-PHIL

PHIL’s DC: HostingCon

PHIL — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 15:00:47 +0000

HostingCon 2011 in San Diego may have been a huge success for SoftLayer, but I walked away with a different experience following my intense pursuit of building the PHIL’s DC brand. Apparently, the hosting industry wants to see my data center succeed before they believe it, and I think it’s really just fear rearing its ugly head. People are afraid of what they don’t understand, so the uninitiated would probably be terrified as they try to learn what I’m doing.

In an effort to help some of the bigger names in the hosting industry get in on the ground floor of PHIL’s DC, I took a stroll down the HostingCon aisles. Vendors like Parallels and cPanel were obvious choices to discuss business partnerships, and I was sure TheWHIR wanted the scoop on the next big thing in hosting, so I made sure to give them all a chance to speak with me. The documentary film team I hired (the guy I met outside the San Diego Convention Center who said he’d follow me with a camera for $3.50/hour) recorded our interactions for posterity’s sake:

I’d like send shouts out to thank Candice Rodriguez from TheWHIR, Aaron Phillips from cPanel and John McCarrick from Parallels for agreeing to let us film our organic interactions. They’ve further inspired me to build a data center that will make these apparent “snubs” and “rejections” a thing of the past. To Summer and Natalie at the SoftLayer booth: Please stop making fun of my Server Challenge attempt every time you see me at the office … I think I had something in my eye when I was competing, so it wasn’t a fair measure of my skillz.

Oh, and if you didn’t get a chance to attend our “Geeks Gone Wild” party at HostingCon, you’d probably be interested in seeing video from The Dan Band’s performance of “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” cPanel posted it here: http://www.vimeo.com/28160105 (NSFW language, The Dan Band take artistic license with profanity)

-PHIL

PHIL’s DC: A Tour of the Facility

PHIL — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 20:30:43 +0000

In the second episode of my self-made documentary series about the birth of a revolution in hosting, I explained how Lance and I mutually decided that a better course of action would be to build a data center for the future’s future, and I sketched out the basics of effective data centering. Lance sent the keys to the new non-traditional facility, and I jumped at the chance to give a tour of the amazing digs.

Because I wanted to make sure to document as much of the process as I could for this documentary film (I’m coming for you, The Social Network), you’re experiencing the tour as I explore the space for the first time, so I hope you find it as magical as I did. Note: I took the liberty of acquiring suitable transportation to give you the most professional “tour” experience.

You’ll note that the facility features several important characteristics of the best data center environments:

Heightened Exterior Security
Data Center Operations Area
Weather Tracking Station
Tech Support Center
CEO Suite
Redundant Bandwidth Providers
Multi-phase Power
Power Generator
Built-in Cooling
Crash Cart Station
Vaulted Ceilings (for warm air circulation)

Now that I’ve got the lay of the land, it’s just a matter of drawing up some plans for server racks, plugging in some servers and getting some customers to experience the newest wave of hosting innovation!

-PHIL

PHIL’s DC: Fine-Tuning the Idea

PHIL — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 14:00:24 +0000

When Lance opened the floor for SoftLayer employees to present their ideas for “innovative” approaches to the Internet, I put together a pretty ambitious proposal. As it turns out, the idea wasn’t as fully baked as I may have wanted it to be, but I came to the decision to change gears a little and take a different approach.

Completely unrelated to that personal decision to adjust the direction of the project, I had a nice little chat with Lance on the phone. We decided that the world was underready for a revolution and that a more traditional nontraditional approach was in order:

The Internet needs data centers to hold all of your pictures. SoftLayer does a great job at being a data center, but I feel like there’s still an opportunity for a revolution in data center design. I have a few ideas about how the world of web hosting can be completely redefined, and with the unique resources Lance has put at my disposal, I’m fairly confident that I’ll be able to create a stellar hosting platform with an unbeatable discount price structure. PHIL’s DC is the future of web hosting.

- PHIL