BALYASNY ASSET MANAGEMENT LLC
Stock Option (right to buy) (@ $7.50 and $10 )
Expiration Date: 6/21/2008
Saturday, June 7, 2008
PhoneMag - Samsung Instinct unboxing and Hands-on video!
A very nice comment on Immersion haptic technology:
>>As far as the responsiveness of the touch screen — it’s damn awesome. I never thought I’d ever say this, but the localized haptic feedback works a lot better than I’d imagine or expected. Great work Samsung.
...
I’m super thrilled that the Instinct features localized haptic feedback, a faint vibration to indicate you’ve pushed a button. Haptic feedback is one major feature missing from the iPhone, which we all hope Apple will implement into iPhone 2.0.
>>As far as the responsiveness of the touch screen — it’s damn awesome. I never thought I’d ever say this, but the localized haptic feedback works a lot better than I’d imagine or expected. Great work Samsung.
...
I’m super thrilled that the Instinct features localized haptic feedback, a faint vibration to indicate you’ve pushed a button. Haptic feedback is one major feature missing from the iPhone, which we all hope Apple will implement into iPhone 2.0.
INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY - Intuitive, Accuray Jockey For Position In Robotics Sector
A few comments on Accuray technology, and a comparison to Intuitive Surgical:
>>It's the battle of the robots.
>>It's the battle of the robots.
Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) and Accuray (ARAY) are both pioneers in robotic technologies to treat cancer and other diseases.
The companies are located just three miles apart in Sunnyvale, Calif. Both were founded in 1999. Both integrate sophisticated imaging with their own science. And both find their systems are used more for treatment of prostate cancer than any other disease.
That's where the similarities end.
Friday, June 6, 2008
No Major Consolidation In The CDN Market Anytime Soon
Dan Rayburn's take on the CDN market:
>>I keep reading a lot of reports and quotes by people who all agree that there are lots of CDN providers in the U.S. and as a result, that must mean that industry consolidation is inevitable. The problem is, right now, very few CDNs have enough revenue to make them worth anything. And with many of the new CDNs not focusing on applications and IP, why would we see consolidation when there is nothing yet to acquire?
>>I keep reading a lot of reports and quotes by people who all agree that there are lots of CDN providers in the U.S. and as a result, that must mean that industry consolidation is inevitable. The problem is, right now, very few CDNs have enough revenue to make them worth anything. And with many of the new CDNs not focusing on applications and IP, why would we see consolidation when there is nothing yet to acquire?
Thursday, June 5, 2008
'Net traffic: Knowing what we don’t know
>>Determining how fast the Internet is growing is almost a parlor game among pundits these days. Part of the reason is simple practicality: Companies that depend for their livelihoods on supplying or using Internet infrastructure want to better understand growth trends so they can plan investments and growth curves accurately.
Nobody knows how fast the Internet is growing. Another opinion, from IDG News Service:
>>Why didn't we know this until recently? Because there's no system for monitoring and measuring traffic in the 'Net. Individual carriers look inside their own networks, and peering providers (such as Equinix) examine characteristics of traffic that crosses peering points. But although many individual researchers and research institutions are attempting to monitor Internet traffic, none has a panoramic view.
Nobody knows how fast the Internet is growing. Another opinion, from IDG News Service:
>>Why didn't we know this until recently? Because there's no system for monitoring and measuring traffic in the 'Net. Individual carriers look inside their own networks, and peering providers (such as Equinix) examine characteristics of traffic that crosses peering points. But although many individual researchers and research institutions are attempting to monitor Internet traffic, none has a panoramic view.
... The best guess, according to experts who attended a conference with me recently, is somewhere between 75% and 100% per year -- but that could be off by as much as 2X (that is, it could be as low as 50% or as high as 200%). One of the foremost researchers in the field, the University of Minnesota's Dr. Andrew Odlyzko, estimates it's between 50% and 60%. The folks at Equinix figure more like 75%. And my own firm recently conducted a study modeling Internet demand at 100%. But the truth is, nobody really knows.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Immersion SH Meeting
from the IV board:
>>Just got back.
Nothing really noteworthy to say but the biggest take away is in regards to Clent.
Going into it I was a little concerned that he was a "typical sales" guy. Completely not the case. He is a seasoned veteran who is more of a sergeant then a softy. He looks you in the eye, speaks very well and is very thoughtful and personable. Yet there is a no BS side to him that you can tell right away that he will not be standing still if performance can be better. He seems very hands on and detailed but knows he needs the right team to execute. If I worked there I would now be on notice and know that I can’t bs my way around him.
I had the opportunity after the meeting to spend ten minutes talking with him. Spoke about Apple a little and TIVO and the experiences there and how they parallel some of the challenges at IMMR. I understand why he lasted so long in Steve's regime. He is an execution guy that also understands strategy and structures for fulfillment.
He understands the shareholders’ frustrations and said is he working quickly with what is in place to continue to the execution and to better focus effort in the most profitable areas. He said organic growth is going to be good but that he was not hired to do that and is working hard to take this to the next level. Very passionate about the areas of opportunity. I asked about Vic’s comments regarding the two future phone contracts and he said they are working on executing and that is the focus and would have to leave it at that.
Very few shareholders there, Maybe 6 to 8 with lots of IMMR members. Good to have the time with them just to get a check on their moods. All seemed fairly fired up about what the future product line….but of course no specifics. So I don’t know anything about Apple or RIM cars etc.
I asked Clent about future guidance and he said that it will remain the same for now with no guidance. He did say he is setting it up so Canadian investors and I think he said UK investors can invest. He has met with 27(I think…? Any way a decent number) of the largest institutional shareholders and will expand the investor relations department to bring more potential buyers to the table. Lastly he said that some of the new/future hires on the medical side will help them better control the sales process and at better margins. He was bullish on medical.
Take away….another 6-9 months for some Show Me on the revenue side with some the expectation of some announcements for new deals between now and then, so I will stay 100% in for the announcement(s) pop.
>>Just got back.
Nothing really noteworthy to say but the biggest take away is in regards to Clent.
Going into it I was a little concerned that he was a "typical sales" guy. Completely not the case. He is a seasoned veteran who is more of a sergeant then a softy. He looks you in the eye, speaks very well and is very thoughtful and personable. Yet there is a no BS side to him that you can tell right away that he will not be standing still if performance can be better. He seems very hands on and detailed but knows he needs the right team to execute. If I worked there I would now be on notice and know that I can’t bs my way around him.
I had the opportunity after the meeting to spend ten minutes talking with him. Spoke about Apple a little and TIVO and the experiences there and how they parallel some of the challenges at IMMR. I understand why he lasted so long in Steve's regime. He is an execution guy that also understands strategy and structures for fulfillment.
He understands the shareholders’ frustrations and said is he working quickly with what is in place to continue to the execution and to better focus effort in the most profitable areas. He said organic growth is going to be good but that he was not hired to do that and is working hard to take this to the next level. Very passionate about the areas of opportunity. I asked about Vic’s comments regarding the two future phone contracts and he said they are working on executing and that is the focus and would have to leave it at that.
Very few shareholders there, Maybe 6 to 8 with lots of IMMR members. Good to have the time with them just to get a check on their moods. All seemed fairly fired up about what the future product line….but of course no specifics. So I don’t know anything about Apple or RIM cars etc.
I asked Clent about future guidance and he said that it will remain the same for now with no guidance. He did say he is setting it up so Canadian investors and I think he said UK investors can invest. He has met with 27(I think…? Any way a decent number) of the largest institutional shareholders and will expand the investor relations department to bring more potential buyers to the table. Lastly he said that some of the new/future hires on the medical side will help them better control the sales process and at better margins. He was bullish on medical.
Take away….another 6-9 months for some Show Me on the revenue side with some the expectation of some announcements for new deals between now and then, so I will stay 100% in for the announcement(s) pop.
Bit Gravity, TATA - Global Strategic Partnership
The background:
>> Communications Arm of Tata Group to Leverage its Tier-1 IP Network and International Presence to Offer BitGravity’s Technology Platform as Key Strategy in Value-Added Services Offering
>>While there is no official announcement yet, this is big news for the video market. We had earlier reported Tata Comm and BitGravity, a CDN solutions provider based out of California, partnering to resell the technology platform in Europe and Asia. The service is now live with Tata entering the market currently dominated by Akamai (NSDQ: AKAM) and recently intruded on by edge distribution competitor Limelight (NSDQ: LLNW).
Found via cdnevangelist
>> Communications Arm of Tata Group to Leverage its Tier-1 IP Network and International Presence to Offer BitGravity’s Technology Platform as Key Strategy in Value-Added Services Offering
MUMBAI, India and BURLINGAME, Calif., March 5, 2008 – Tata Communications, (NYSE: TCL) a leading provider of the new world of communications, and BitGravity, Inc., the pioneer in Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) for interactive broadcasting, announced today a strategic partnership. Tata Communications will co-brand, resell and jointly market BitGravity’s technology platform worldwide as part of a value-added services offering on top of Tata Global Network.
As part of the arrangement, Tata Communications, with a global presence in more than 200 countries across 300 PoPs will provide tight integration with BitGravity’s platform and their carrier-grade infrastructure, including collocation and IP-network capacity, and local sales presence in each region for the CDN offering. BitGravity will provide technology and manage the content delivery operation. The service will be sold in Europe and Asia and branded as Tata Communications’ CDN Powered by BitGravity.
This is from ContentSutra (Mon 02 Jun 2008):>>While there is no official announcement yet, this is big news for the video market. We had earlier reported Tata Comm and BitGravity, a CDN solutions provider based out of California, partnering to resell the technology platform in Europe and Asia. The service is now live with Tata entering the market currently dominated by Akamai (NSDQ: AKAM) and recently intruded on by edge distribution competitor Limelight (NSDQ: LLNW).
Found via cdnevangelist
Minnesota Internet Traffic Studies (MINTS)
Some interesting data:
Estimates for Australia and Hong Kong are based on official government statistics, while that of Japan is derived from cooperative ISP data collection in that country. In all cases, extrapolations were made to provide estimates for year-end 2007. Figures for other countries are based on snippets of information of varying degrees of reliability, as well as confidential reports by some service providers.
| Current (year-end 2007) annual Internet traffic growth rates | |
| U.S. | 50-60% |
| World | 50-60% |
| Year-end 2007 monthly Internet traffic estimate | |
| U.S. | 750-1250 PB (PetaByte = 1015 bytes) |
| World | 3000-5000 PB (PetaByte = 1015 bytes) |
| Year-end 2007 estimates for monthly Internet traffic (GB per capita) | |
| Australia | 1.0 |
| Western Europe | 2.3 |
| Japan | 2.6 |
| U.S. | 3.0 |
| Hong Kong | 17.0 |
| South Korea | 17.0 |
Level 3: Our CDN Business Is Growing
With an interesting video, an article from Data Center Knowledge:Level 3: Our CDN Business Is Growing
Pipe International will be delivering services to both the San Jose and Sydney Equinix facilities
On their recent trip to the US, the Pipe International team attended a site visit to the Equinix San Jose SV1 Facility. This is one of many Equinix datacentre facilities worldwide that offers telehousing to large content providers, smaller providers, telecommunications carriers, and corporate customers. Pipe International will be delivering services to both the San Jose and Sydney Equinix facilities for some of the initial PPC-1 customers. More photos courtesy of Equinix are on our gallery under "Facilities".
June 17th - uWink is having our LA Geek Dinner beta test their new Hollywood & Highland location
Ladies & Gentlemen gather round and lend a helpful hand back to the community. uWink is having our LA Geek Dinner beta test their new Hollywood & Highland location.
What’s uWink? uWink is a new restaurant concept by Nolan Bushnell, the man that bestowed upon us Atari & Chuck E Cheese, when we so needed it the most. We’ve tested their Woodland Hills location a number of times and are very excited to try this one.
This will be a pay for your own meal event. Looking for the right sponsor.
June 17th, 8pm
uWink, Hollywood & Highland
Official RSVP on upcoming and for those of you who want to spread the love, rsvp available on facebook too.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
CyberKnife Exceeds Gamma Knife non-invasive procedure to treat tumors
An article mentioning Accuray's CyberKnife:
>>In 2001 a new device called CyberKnife was approved by the FDA to treat tumors anywhere in the body. This new device provides a non-invasive procedure to treat tumors that are in-operable by traditional open-surgery. Unlike Gamma Knife, CyberKnife does not require the use of stereotactic gear because of its robotic arm that positions itself according to the patient’s placement. It also re-corrects itself according to the patient’s movements during the procedure. .... Individually, the rays are very weak but when the rays gather at the targeted point, they are very powerful and yet the device still manages to leave the surrounding healthy tissue undamaged. The recovery time with Cyber Knife is very short just as it is with Gamma Knife.
There is a link to a blog:
http://corporateblog.morsecyberknife.com/
that has an interesting video about CyberKnife
>>In 2001 a new device called CyberKnife was approved by the FDA to treat tumors anywhere in the body. This new device provides a non-invasive procedure to treat tumors that are in-operable by traditional open-surgery. Unlike Gamma Knife, CyberKnife does not require the use of stereotactic gear because of its robotic arm that positions itself according to the patient’s placement. It also re-corrects itself according to the patient’s movements during the procedure. .... Individually, the rays are very weak but when the rays gather at the targeted point, they are very powerful and yet the device still manages to leave the surrounding healthy tissue undamaged. The recovery time with Cyber Knife is very short just as it is with Gamma Knife.
There is a link to a blog:
http://corporateblog.morsecyberknife.com/
that has an interesting video about CyberKnife
CyberKnife Video
September 17th, 2007CyberKnife Expert James G. Schwade, an internationally recognized Radiation Oncologist with over 20 years of clinical experience cures cancer patients using non invasive surgery called the Cyberknife.
Updates on the 2 latest locations - Uwink
http://peakstocks.com has been following uWink for a while and is now updating with the latest information about the openings:
....
Bottom LineEverything looks good and is on track for uWink to have 3 total restaurant locations up and running by the end of the summer.
This still leaves time for perhaps 1-2 more locations either via stand alone, or franchisee deals, before the end of the year.
In the mean time, uWink has released their latest earnings for all of 2007 which now gives us a chance to compare quarterly sales at the only location that they have, which has been open for over 1 year, among other items such as margins, etc.
Look for that complete update in the coming weeks.
Alentus Expands Into Europe Acquiring London-based Areti Internet Limited
LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif. - (Business Wire) Alentus Corporation (Pink Sheets: ALNS), a leading provider of web hosting and managed services, is pleased to announce it has acquired London, UK-based Areti Internet Limited.
The acquisition will add approximately $1.5M in annual revenue and position Alentus in the fast growing European market.
Founded in 1996, Areti Internet focuses on managed Co-Location, Dedicated Server, Internet Access with national UK xDSL and Leased Line, Virtual/Shared Hosting, and specialist data-center virtualization solutions. Areti brings a long term stable client base to the Alentus platform.
Areti operates extensive multi-cabinet private cages/suites within the following five data centers – Telecity Sovereign House and Telecity Harbour Exchange in London, Equinix in Slough, IFL I and IFL II in Manchester, UK, and Telehouse America in New York. All locations are connected to Areti’s Cisco powered redundant network featuring BGP4 carrier resiliency.
“The UK is our 2nd largest market behind North America – a strategic network expansion into Europe was inevitable. Areti has a very strong technical workforce, this combined with our sales and marketing team, should enable UK sales to be quickly on par with our North American operations,” said William King, Alentus Corporation CEO.
Alentus Corporation CTO, John Macleod, comments on the technical benefits to current Alentus and Areti clients. “It is important to be able to bring your clients solutions as close to the viewing public and their customers as possible. This allows us to build geographically redundant solutions between continents, and expand our global network to the next level. Very few hosting and managed services providers can offer a redundant presence in the US, Canada and Europe and all connected to their own global network.”
All Areti Internet employees were retained in the acquisition.
Financial details of the cash and stock transaction were not disclosed.
Logicworks Selects Equinix’s Premier Colocation Facilities for Data Center Expansion
Logicworks Selects Equinix’s Premier Colocation Facilities for Data Center Expansion
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Logicworks, a leading provider of high-availability hosting solutions to support business-critical applications and content, today announced it has expanded into Equinix’s New York-4 (NY4) Internet Business Exchange (IBX®) center in Secaucus, New Jersey to deliver its complex managed hosting services and solutions.
The new NY4 center is Equinix’s fourth in the New York Metro area and its largest in the United States. At 340,000 square feet, the new center is the size of five football fields. Designed to ensure optimal conditions for equipment operation, the Heating/Ventilation/Air Conditioning (HVAC) system provides appropriate airflow, temperature and humidity throughout the center.
“Equinix’s facility includes the most modern design, power, cooling and security provisioning, all of which were deciding factors in our facilities expansion,” said Kenneth Ziegler, president and COO of Logicworks. “Our clients require the highest level of system availability. Equinix understands facility management and capacity planning at a level we can appreciate given our experience utilizing these services. Their new facilities are a natural fit with Logicworks’ core mission of keeping our complex hosting clients up and running 100% of the time.”
Logicworks’ designs fully fault-tolerant systems for its growing client base, and will deploy rack-mountable servers, storage arrays, network and other devices to serve the needs of its growing client base throughout the world.
Logicworks plans to expand into Equinix’s West Coast facilities later this year.
About Logicworks
Founded in 1993, Logicworks exclusively delivers managed services and high-availability hosting solutions to savvy, high-growth customers in need of maximum uptime for their applications and content. Through its High-Availability Hosting and No Transactions Lost Database Services, Logicworks offers unmatched technology expertise to its diverse client base, which includes Fortune 500 companies in a multitude of industries. For additional information, visit www.logicworks.net or call 866-FOR-LOGIC.
Terremark Worldwide - Earnings Call Transcript
Some highlights for the conference call, thanks to Seeking Alpha transcripts:
>>Manuel Medina
First our fiscal 2008 results were exceptional. We met our guidance for the year. ... Our pipeline is very strong and our Q4 bookings were the best ever. In short, business is booming and based on our strong contract executions to date, we are raising guidance for fiscal year 2009.
We reported record Q4 bookings of $29.6 million, 70% of which were derived from existing customers.
Jose Segrera
Additionally we are seeing a healthy pricing environment for both our collocation and managed services. Our bookings for the March quarter were evenly distributed between collocation and managed hosting deals and as we look out over the next quarter we continue to see strong demand for the two product lines.
Jose Segrera
From a pricing standpoint the pricing environment is really comparable to what we’ve seen over the past quarter or two, it’s strong. We’re not seeing any downward pressures. We’re seeing strong pricing as we’re very happy with the prices and the price points that we’re getting as we’re signing up customers now ... and we’re seeing the same trends on the managed services side. Aren’t really seeing any downward pressure ...
>>Manuel Medina
First our fiscal 2008 results were exceptional. We met our guidance for the year. ... Our pipeline is very strong and our Q4 bookings were the best ever. In short, business is booming and based on our strong contract executions to date, we are raising guidance for fiscal year 2009.
We reported record Q4 bookings of $29.6 million, 70% of which were derived from existing customers.
Jose Segrera
Additionally we are seeing a healthy pricing environment for both our collocation and managed services. Our bookings for the March quarter were evenly distributed between collocation and managed hosting deals and as we look out over the next quarter we continue to see strong demand for the two product lines.
Tom Watts – SC Cowen & Co.
Some of the other companies in the sector, virtually everybody has seen very strong demand for COLO but some companies have experienced a slowing of sales cycle for managed hosting, have you seen any impact of the economy in areas of your business?
Manuel Medina
We have not ...Jose Segrera
From a pricing standpoint the pricing environment is really comparable to what we’ve seen over the past quarter or two, it’s strong. We’re not seeing any downward pressures. We’re seeing strong pricing as we’re very happy with the prices and the price points that we’re getting as we’re signing up customers now ... and we’re seeing the same trends on the managed services side. Aren’t really seeing any downward pressure ...
GoDaddy.com - Equinix Ashburn
GoDaddy is now peering at Equinix Ashburn (info from peeringdb):
| Company Information | |
| Company Name | GoDaddy.com |
| Also Known As | |
| Company Website | http://www.godaddy.com |
| Primary ASN | 26496 |
Private Peering Facilities | ||||||
| Facility Name | ASN | City | Country | SONET | Ethr | ATM |
| Downtown Phoenix Technology Exchange | 26496 | Phoenix | US | |||
| Equinix Ashburn | 26496 | Ashburn | US | |||
Monday, June 2, 2008
Atrium Network joins Equinix Financial eXchange
London - 2 June 2008
Atrium Network, provider of smarter connectivity for the financial community, and Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX), the leading global provider of network-neutral data centres and Internet exchange services, announced today that Atrium Network has joined the Equinix Financial eXchange by co-locating in Equinix datacentres in both London and Frankfurt. Members of the Atrium Network extranet community will be able to further reduce their latency benefiting from Atrium Network’s exchange proximity. Atrium Network has co-located their POP with Deutsche Boerse, NYSE Euronext LIFFE, Borsa Italiana, OMX exchanges, BME, Chi-X Europe, and, when live, Turquoise. Equinix Financial eXchange customers can now access even more liquidity pools and benefit from resilient ‘back haul’ through their single point of connectivity with the Atrium Network extranet.
Equinix Financial eXchange is a community of common interest, consisting of capital market participants such as execution venues, buy and sell side firms, market data providers, technology utilities and network service providers, that locate operations within Equinix data centers in order to implement a high-performance, low latency connectivity infrastructure within a neutral environment.
Commenting on joining Equinix Financial eXchange, Emmanuel Carjat, CEO at Atrium Network said, “Since the introduction of MiFID, we have been focusing on minimizing latencies between clients and both the traditional and emerging pools of liquidity. In addition, we see back haul and crossover between the liquidity pools as a key challenge. Customers have identified varied challenges in pulling data back from execution venues and see this as a potential area of risk. We are pleased that by proximity hosting and becoming a member of Equinix Financial eXchange we have been able to deliver resiliency for our customers and confidence that as new MTFs come to market, data haul will be fully resilient.
Petrina Steele, VP Business Development, Equinix added, “We are delighted to welcome Atrium Network and its extensive global customer base to Equinix Financial eXchange. We have been impressed with Atrium Network’s focus on addressing their clients’ needs to address the data haul challenge and we welcome such innovators to the Equinix Financial eXchange membership.”
Mountain View restaurant location - uWink
On May 23, 2008, following receipt of final California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control approval, the Company closed escrow on the acquisition of certain restaurant equipment and a liquor license (for use at its new restaurant location at 401 Castro Street, Mountain View, California) from Miyake Foods, Inc., the former occupant of the space leased by the Company in Mountain View. The consideration for this asset acquisition was $250,000 in cash. The Company currently estimates that the Mountain View restaurant location will open in late July 2008, although there can be no assurance that factors outside of the Company's control (including, among other things, certain city and landlord approvals) will not cause a delay in the estimated opening timeline.
Grand Opening uWink Hollywood (Hollywood and Highland)
Grand Opening uWink Hollywood (Hollywood and Highland)
Reply to: robertf@uwink.com
Date: 2008-05-31, 12:00PM PDT
uWink, www.uwink.com, a new entertainment-dining concept, is now accepting applications for servers, hosts, line cooks and food runners. Candidates will need to be available for training in Hollywood beginning on 6/9 for opening on 6/17.
This exciting company is opening its second Los Angeles area store in the prestigious Hollywood and Highland center.
uWink is a destination where playful, adventurous and empowered people enjoy food, cocktails and connection in a comfortable and engaging environment.
Apply in person at 6801 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood CA Monday - Friday 2-5pm, online at www.uwink.com or send your resume to
robertf@uwink.com
uWink 6801 Hollywood Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90028
- Location: Hollywood and Highland
- Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
- Please, no phone calls about this job!
- Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.
PostingID: 702535058
via Investors Hub
the Planet - outage, part 2
A nice summary of what happened is available at Data Center Knowledge:
>>Damage from Saturday night's explosion at The Planet's Houston data center was more extensive than initially believed, the company said late Sunday. CEO Doug Erwin reported that the explosion and fire destroyed the cabling under the first floor of the data center, known as H1. The Planet expects to have servers on the second floor of the facility back online early Monday, but Erwin said the downtime will be longer for 3,000 servers housed on the first floor.
LINX in London, as well, had a few problems:
The London Internet Exchange (LINX), one of the world's busiest peering points, was off-line for about an hour last Tuesday. The Register has the details on the incident, which was the second outage at LINX in the past month.
'Extensive' Damage at The Planet's Data Center
>>Damage from Saturday night's explosion at The Planet's Houston data center was more extensive than initially believed, the company said late Sunday. CEO Doug Erwin reported that the explosion and fire destroyed the cabling under the first floor of the data center, known as H1. The Planet expects to have servers on the second floor of the facility back online early Monday, but Erwin said the downtime will be longer for 3,000 servers housed on the first floor.
LINX in London, as well, had a few problems:
The London Internet Exchange (LINX), one of the world's busiest peering points, was off-line for about an hour last Tuesday. The Register has the details on the incident, which was the second outage at LINX in the past month.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Limelight Networks - patent
From the recent conference call:
>>Finally, we're pleased to announce that we received our company's first U.S. patent award, one for digital rights management technology.
transcript by Seeking Alpha - www.SeekingAlpha.com
Digital rights management license delivery system and method
Abstract
>>Finally, we're pleased to announce that we received our company's first U.S. patent award, one for digital rights management technology.
transcript by Seeking Alpha - www.SeekingAlpha.com
| United States Patent | 7,310,729 |
| Gordon , et al. | December 18, 2007 |
Digital rights management license delivery system and method
A system for Digital Rights Management (DRM) license delivery is presented in which the license and encrypted content is accessed from a unique download URL address for each unit of encrypted content for each subscriber. The license is delivered only a limited number of times from each URL (typically once, but optionally more than once) and is delivered to the client system that first accesses the URL (or if more than one license delivery is authorized by the content owner or distributor) to the same or different client system that accesses the URL up to the maximum number of license delivery events authorized.. When the subscriber is ready to view the content, the subscriber clicks on the download URL to cause the browser for the subscriber client system to request the web page located at the unique URL location. In response to the request, the host system delivers a license and the encrypted content to the subscriber client system that accessed the URL. If the unique download URL is accessed subsequent times, the host system delivers the encrypted content, but does not re-deliver the license. Since the subscriber client system has already stored the license, if the subscriber client system re-accesses the site, it will be able to download and play the media content for so long as the terms of the license permit. However, if another client system accesses the unique URL address, for example if the subscriber e-mails the URL address to another user, the content can be downloaded but will not be played by the subsequent client system because the license is not re-delivered.
| Inventors: | Gordon; Michael (Paradise Valley, AZ), Raciborski; Nathan (Phoenix, AZ) |
| Assignee: | Limelight Networks, Inc. (Tempe, AZ) |
| Appl. No.: | 10/386,766 |
| Filed: | March 12, 2003 |
The Planet - outage
The Planet is currently experiencing an outage which is effecting a number of customers' servers. This issue may also be affecting customers' ability to get through to our call center.
....
Today at approximately 5:45 p.m., a transformer in our H1 data center in Houston caught fire, thus requiring us to take down all generators as instructed by the fire department. All servers are down.
We are working with the fire department, with our facilities staff on site, to assess the situation.
....
We have determined that no servers in the data center have been damaged. Nonetheless, they are down because power is out. Teams across the board are working to take appropriate action.
....
We have just been allowed into the building to physically inspect the damage. Early indications are that the short was in a high-volume wire conduit. We were not allowed to activate our backup generator plan based on instructions from the fire department.
This is a significant outage, impacting approximately 9,000 servers and 7,500 customers. All members of our support team are in, and all vendors who supply us with data center equipment are on site. Our initial assessment, although early, points to being able to have some service restored by mid-afternoon on Sunday. Rest assured we are working around the clock.
We are in the process of communicating with all affected customers. we are planning to post updates every hour via our forum and in our customer portal. Our interactive voice response system is updating customers as well.
There is no impact in any of our other five data centers.
I am sorry that this accident has occurred and I apologize for the impact.
....
As you know, we have vendors onsite at the H1 data center. With their help, we’ve created a list of equipment that will be required, and we’re already dealing with those manufacturers to find the gear. Since it’s Saturday night, we do have a few challenges.
We are prioritizing issues as follows:
Our UNIX and development team continue to work to restore service to both ServerCommand and EV1 DNS. Based on current information, 4 of the 8 DNS servers are in service and we expect the remaining DNS servers to come online within the next 180 minutes. The same approx. time line holds true for ServerCommand. The server farm has been relocated to another data center and development is currently working on bringing the services back online.
In terms of the facility, we do not have a firm ETR at the moment. Facilities continues to work with our on-site vendors to acquire replacement equipment and get it installed to bring service back online.
We do not have an Estimated Time to Repair at present. Our staff and management continue to work through the night and we will continue to provide hourly updates.
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The networking teams are ensuring connectivity to bring ServerCommand back online. Please expect another update on ServerCommand shortly. We are seeing fewer DNS issues as the new addresses continue to propagate.
Our primary focus is to hit our 5:00pm CDT initial power test and all necessary staff are onsite and are working diligently to hit this deadline. Additional staff and spare server hardware is being delivered in on site in preparation for bringing customer servers online pending a successful power test.
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Today at approximately 5:45 p.m., a transformer in our H1 data center in Houston caught fire, thus requiring us to take down all generators as instructed by the fire department. All servers are down.
We are working with the fire department, with our facilities staff on site, to assess the situation.
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We have determined that no servers in the data center have been damaged. Nonetheless, they are down because power is out. Teams across the board are working to take appropriate action.
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We have just been allowed into the building to physically inspect the damage. Early indications are that the short was in a high-volume wire conduit. We were not allowed to activate our backup generator plan based on instructions from the fire department.
This is a significant outage, impacting approximately 9,000 servers and 7,500 customers. All members of our support team are in, and all vendors who supply us with data center equipment are on site. Our initial assessment, although early, points to being able to have some service restored by mid-afternoon on Sunday. Rest assured we are working around the clock.
We are in the process of communicating with all affected customers. we are planning to post updates every hour via our forum and in our customer portal. Our interactive voice response system is updating customers as well.
There is no impact in any of our other five data centers.
I am sorry that this accident has occurred and I apologize for the impact.
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As you know, we have vendors onsite at the H1 data center. With their help, we’ve created a list of equipment that will be required, and we’re already dealing with those manufacturers to find the gear. Since it’s Saturday night, we do have a few challenges.
We are prioritizing issues as follows:
- Getting the network up at H1 is first and foremost. We’re pulling components from our five other data centers – including Dallas – which will be an all-night effort.
- Getting power back to the data center is key, though it is too early to establish success there.
- Because ServerCommand is in H1, our legacy EV1 customers are blinded about this incident. We are in the process of moving the ServerCommand servers to other Houston data centers so that we’re able to loop them into communications.
- We absolutely intend to live up to our SLA agreements, and we will proactively credit accounts once we understand full outage times. Right now, getting customers back online is the most critical.
Our UNIX and development team continue to work to restore service to both ServerCommand and EV1 DNS. Based on current information, 4 of the 8 DNS servers are in service and we expect the remaining DNS servers to come online within the next 180 minutes. The same approx. time line holds true for ServerCommand. The server farm has been relocated to another data center and development is currently working on bringing the services back online.
In terms of the facility, we do not have a firm ETR at the moment. Facilities continues to work with our on-site vendors to acquire replacement equipment and get it installed to bring service back online.
We do not have an Estimated Time to Repair at present. Our staff and management continue to work through the night and we will continue to provide hourly updates.
....
The networking teams are ensuring connectivity to bring ServerCommand back online. Please expect another update on ServerCommand shortly. We are seeing fewer DNS issues as the new addresses continue to propagate.
Our primary focus is to hit our 5:00pm CDT initial power test and all necessary staff are onsite and are working diligently to hit this deadline. Additional staff and spare server hardware is being delivered in on site in preparation for bringing customer servers online pending a successful power test.
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