Archive for May, 2009
Lost in Vera Land
Monday, May 25th, 2009Soyuz Readied for 6:34 AM EDT Wednesday
Monday, May 25th, 2009In a picture….
Monday, May 25th, 2009Our AG Candidates Memorial Day Statements
Monday, May 25th, 2009Endeavour Go for 13 June 7:17 AM Launch
Monday, May 25th, 2009Gubernatorial Candidate Moran Supports Launch of Astronauts from Virginia
Monday, May 25th, 2009Virginia Spaceport Ready for Next Step!
Monday, May 25th, 2009Memorial Day
Monday, May 25th, 2009The Torch Be Yours
Sunday, May 24th, 2009The coming boom in server farms
Sunday, May 24th, 2009Here is a story about the state of North Carolina trying to entice Apple to place a 100 job server farm in the state. With unemployment in North Carolina nudging 11%, state officials are smart to try to attract Knowledge Economy businesses, and server farms are a growth industry. The massive amounts of data being stored "online" have to reside in a physical place, and the companies that are making a business out of this (e.g. Apple, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and many smaller firms) have several requirements.
They have to spread these data centers out for security reasons--fires, floods, and terrorism can happen almost anywhere, so no reputable firm wants to store all its data in one place. So they have multiple data centers, each storing complete copies of all the data. Second, spreading the centers out helps speed data to and from its destination. Different data centers will deliver data to customers based on customer location.
When picking sites for these server farms, these companies are, of course, looking for tax benefits, but your community won't get on the short list unless you have local fiber, good fiber routes out to major Internet switchpoints, and reliable electric power.
All things that are relatively easy to get started on if you want businesses of the future.
Retired Navy Commander Paul Galanti Endorses John Brownlee
Friday, May 22nd, 2009Dartmouth College Class of 44
Friday, May 22nd, 2009“How Would You Fix the Economy?”
Wednesday, May 20th, 2009Let the netbook wars begin
Wednesday, May 20th, 2009Connectivity via the cellular network is also appealing, as the long hyped vision of massive WiFi clouds everywhere and universal net access via WiFi has never materialized. Airports are particularly aggravating, with a range of options--at one end, you have the excellent free WiFi in the Roanoke airport to places like Atlanta where you have a choice of several overpriced commercial WiFi services that offer poor service. And hotels are another trouble spot for travelers, with budget hotels offering free but often slow service and high-priced hotels charging extra for service that is often worse than the their competitor's free service. I'm still trying to figure that one out.
But it all adds up to using the cellular phone network for Internet access. The iPhone has spiked a huge increase in mobile access because of the excellent design and great software, and one of the nicest things about the iPhone, compared to a laptop, is that it works almost everywhere because of the cellular data connection.
But as more and more users migrate to the cellular data services, the cellular networks will overload quickly. AT&T's heavily advertised 3G network is nearly useless, and I don't even bother to turn it on, because I usually get dropped calls and slower data speeds than the slower but more reliable Edge service. Wireless remains an expensive business, with steep operating costs. But we all want mobility access to the network. Communities planning broadband infrastructure have to be thoughtful about wireless investments, because it's possible to spend a lot of money on wireless broadband and not have very much when you are finished.