Charley Challenges Data Centers

Keeping the power running was the top priority for Florida data center managers this weekend as Hurricane Charley cut a swath of destruction across the state.

Parts of Florida were left without power when hundreds of transmission lines carrying electricity from generating plants were knocked out by the hurricane's 100 mph winds.

Charley passed directly over Web hosting firm ProNIC Solutions' Orlando data center shortly after 9 p.m. ET on Friday night. To keep the juice flowing, data center staff switched from AC to UPS, and then onto a generator, all within the span of a few minutes.

With local power companies fighting outages, ProNIC's data center is still running off its generator, according to a statement issued this morning. The company says the generator enabled its servers to remain fully operational, with no interruptions.

Military-style planning is key to surviving the worst storms. For Web hosting firm Peak 10, that meant implementing an emergency management plan.Peak 10's Tampa data center was right in the anticipated path of the hurricane. The eye of the storm veered to the east, leaving the data center unscathed, though executives at Peak 10 had left nothing to chance.

Last Thursday, the company implemented its emergency management plan, which is designed specifically for disasters such as Hurricane Charley. This involves making sure that the company's generators are "topped off" - filled with as much diesel as they can hold. The company also contacted its fuel suppliers to ensure that additional fuel would be available in the event of a prolonged power outage.

"Being located in the southeastern U.S., we're very aware of the hurricane situation," said Frank Mobley, Peak 10's VP of operations. "The planning is done well before [the hurricane hit.]"

This also meant ensuring that the OC3 and DS3 point-to-point private lines linking Tampa with the company's data centers in Jacksonville, Florida, and Raleigh and Charlotte, North Carolina, were constantly available. In the days leading up to the hurricane, Peak 10 also sought to ensure that it had multiple Internet connectivity providers in place.

But what of the human factor? Debra Curtiss, vice president and general manager for Peak 10's Tampa data center, said that in situations such as this, the welfare of staff and their families is the top priority. "When we noted that the storm was headed towards Tampa, we asked for non-local resources to come and assist us."Peak 10 staff from the Jacksonville data center and the company's Charlotte HQ were brought in to deal with the likes of customer service issues. This meant that local workers' schedules were freed up to take care of their personal affairs. "[The local staff] had to prepare their homes and plan evacuations for their families," added Curtiss.

The company had also made plans for key data center workers and any customers that needed access to the Tampa facility. Curtiss confirmed that Peak 10 had reserved 12 nearby hotel rooms for seven days and had also brought in ample supplies of blankets, towels, air mattresses, drinks, and military "meals ready-to-eat" (MREs).

James Rogers, Site Editor, Next-gen Data Center Forum