It’s exciting times at GoGrid this week as we announce another milestone in our company’s history—the opening of our European Headquarters. GoGrid AMS BV is located in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and will provide our customers with fully integrated, on-demand, global cloud infrastructure services through any of GoGrid’s data centers, including our new Amsterdam location as well as San Francisco, CA, and Ashburn, VA.

Why now? Why Amsterdam?

The appetite for Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is rapidly growing worldwide. With Gartner predicting that the IaaS market will soon account for a quarter of the overall hosting department, the opportunity seemed ripe to take the next step in our continued global expansion. Amsterdam was the perfect choice when looking to set up our HQ thanks to its central geographic location, which makes it attractive to businesses operating or looking to operate within the EU, as well as its rich infrastructure, its reputation as a high-tech center, and its talented workforce.

Interested in learning more?

If you’re attending Cloud Expo Europetomorrow and/or Thursday, be sure to pop by the GoGrid booth (1013) where you can chat with me and other key members of the team: Craig DeMartini, head of sales, VP of Operations Bobby Brown, and Senior Product Manager Rupert Tagnipes. We can tell you more about the opening and the benefits that this expansion brings.

At the show there’ll also be the opportunity to hear about Condé Nast Digital Germany’s success hosting its magazine content on GoGrid’s infrastructure (25 January at 14.20 – Cloud and Virtualization Infrastructure and Platforms Theatre) and why Martini Media chose GoGrid’s cloud technology for its multi-data-center solution (25 January at 16.35 – Cloud and Virtualization Infrastructure and Platforms Theatre).

It’s set to be a great show, so we hope to see you there!

If you can’t make it down to Cloud Expo Europe, please contact GoGrid’s new European HQ at emea-sales@gogrid.com for more information. To learn how cloud computing can help your business and to access our Cloud Computing 101 Toolkit, go to http://go.gogrid.com/amsterdam_launch/.

Like many of you, I’m a huge fan of cloud computing. I’ve been lucky enough to see first-hand how the cloud has enabled thousands of companies worldwide get started without having to spend large amounts of CapEx or commit to long term OpEx contracts just to realize an idea or launch a product without any notion of whether it will be a bust or the next big thing.

I started working at GoGrid’s originating company ServePath in 2005 where our main product lines were dedicated servers and collocation services. ServePath was a pioneer in dedicated managed servers at a time when private networks and load balancing on shared network infrastructure were not yet productized.

John Keagy, GoGrid’s Founder & CEO (now Executive Chairman), was always pushing the boundaries within the four walls of our data center with his motto, “complex infrastructure made easy.” It was with this vision that GoGrid was developed and became a very successful provider of Infrastructure as a Service. However it’s also because of that same vision the GoGrid Ops team has spent countless hours at a whiteboard figuring out how to support “complex infrastructure made easy”.

In the six-plus years of building out our data centers and revamping them to support the constant growth of our cloud computing platform, one thing has stayed constant: power density continues to increase. When we first filled up our flagship San Francisco facility, we had power capacity to spare. As the growth of our dedicated server service became even more compelling over collocation, we started seeing an uptick in our power utilization per rack; power density was increasing from 2-3 kilowatts per rack up to 4-5 kilowatts per rack – that is when we first realized that power could become our limiting factor in our data center if this trend continued. In 2007 when GoGrid was being developed, we were asked to build out the infrastructure to support 7 – 10 kilowatts per rack, a 250% – 500% increase in power density per rack! At 2-3 kilowatts per rack, imagine you’re sitting in a small office with a space heater and you turn it on full blast, it can get a bit warm, however you can stay in the room and continue to work. When we were tasked to build racks at 7- 10 kilowatts, it was like adding 25 space heaters in the same size room; unless you make some changes to your cooling system and redesign your rack layout, you are going to feel the heat real fast. As you can imagine, not only did this create a challenge in regards to supporting that much power, cooling that much power became quite a challenge as well. But we have overcome these challenges and continue to grow.

You may be wondering how much is GoGrid’s power bill with that type of power density, and whether it is even economically scalable. Without breaking out the spreadsheets, I can assure you that one of the many benefits of cloud computing is power saving. You see, in the past, 20 servers could be supported by a dedicated server rack drawing 2 – 3 kilowatts of power, but now we can support over 2,000 virtual (multi-tenant) servers with the same rack drawing 7-10- kilowatts of power! Feel free to call me a bit of a geek, but it’s that type of efficiency that excites me to work at one of the world’s leading infrastructure as service companies.

There have been and will continue to be many challenges that the Ops Team will face as we transform our datacenters to support GoGrid’s cloud infrastructure, stories that I will be happy to share both the challenges and the benefits in future postings. For now, I hope I have given you a bit of insight into GoGrid and the power benefits that come with cloud computing.

So you’re looking at purchasing cloud infrastructure for your business? That’s great! While we believe cloud infrastructure is a viable solution for everybody, each company needs to find an implementation and provider that best meets their specific need. We call it crafting your “Cloud Fingerprint“. Every cloud infrastructure solution is unique to the business looking for a solution. If you choose a provider that tries to convince you that their solution is the only way to go, you might want to consider looking around for another vendor. Your cloud provider should really be your cloud partner. And, they should work with you in crafting your unique cloud solution, not try to jam a round peg into a square hole.

Before breaking out the checkbook there are several things to consider internally and questions you should ask your potential cloud provider to make sure you are getting the best solution for your business.

Internal Question for your Company

Cloud infrastructure comes in many different shapes and sizes. Having a clear understanding of how your organization will be using this infrastructure will help narrow down which providers will have solutions that fit your need. Here are some questions to ask yourself before approaching vendors:

1. What appliances (e.g., servers, load balancers, firewalls, networks, etc.) need to be supported?Every infrastructure topology is unique, just like your business. In order to create the best infrastructure solution, you need to consider what virtual and physical appliances are required or optional to your cloud solution.
2. What security requirements do you have? Is a shared environment acceptable or does your cloud infrastructure need to be single-tenant?Cloud computing can come in multi-tenant and single-tenant options. Single-tenant infrastructures are 100% dedicated to your company, but they do come with an additional price. And within public clouds, you can segment off a portion of your infrastructure (e.g., dedicated or colocated environments) that is single-tenant (see Hybrid Hosting).
3. What are some of the different use cases that need to be supported?Understanding how much computing power your company needs, when your company needs it (seasonal) and which departments will use cloud infrastructure is useful in selecting cloud infrastructure packages. Your first step is to clearly define these business models and use cases so that a custom solution can be created to meet your needs.
4. Who will manage the implementation?Many companies are happy with a do-it-yourself option in terms of creating a cloud infrastructure for their company. But there are plenty of time and cost constraints that come with these types of implementation. You can also choose a cloud provider that consults with you to understand and help you implement your environments in the most cost and time-effective way. And once the implementation is live, who will be there to support it? Your internal team or the cloud provider? (Be sure to look at SLAs as well.)
5. Are there regulatory requirements to consider?If there are compliance, regulatory requirements or unique/customer hardware considerations that are critical to your cloud implementation, be sure to map those out ahead of time.

Questions to Ask your Cloud Provider

Now that you know exactly what YOU are looking for, it’s time to find a cloud provider that builds solutions tailored to your needs. Simply sharing your business’s needs to an infrastructure-as-a-service vendor will get you recommendations and solutions, but they may come with some unexpected surprises. It’s a best practice to know the vendors process and procedure to make the purchase and implementation as smooth as possible. Here are some things to consider:

1. Is it a scalable solution from both a company-installation standpoint and an end-user usage standpoint?You need to be sure that whatever cloud provider (or partner) you choose can grow with your business, otherwise you do not get the advantages of cloud computing. Is your cloud partner large enough to scale with your needs? And can users of your cloud account scale the infrastructure as well on-demand and just pay for what they use? (Beware of the “false cloud” where you have to shell out money in terms of capital expenditure – buying hardware to power your cloud is NOT cloud computing.)
   
2. Are they simply a reseller of someone else’s technology or are they an innovator in the space?Several of the big players in the cloud space are simply resellers of Infrastructure as a Service. Or, they have an older infrastructure solution and they are simply slapping the word “cloud” in front of it (this is known as “cloud washing.”) If your needs are simple, they can be great partners. If your computing needs are more complex, it makes sense to partner with a company who is considered an innovator.
3. Do they require capital expenditures?Believe it or not, several cloud providers will require capital expenditure and on-site hardware. Again, it is not a cloud solution if you have to buy hardware to power it and then manage that infrastructure yourself (“false cloud”). Having to buy physical hardware to power and grow your company’s “cloud solution” really just causes more work for your IT staff and isn’t cloud computing.
4. Do they provide technical expertise when creating the implementation?The hardest part of cloud computing is the implementation or migration process. Make sure you have the support you need during the transition. Will your cloud partner help you overcome any technical hurdles or offer best practices?
5. Is their offering based on industry standards or are you required to architect your infrastructure design to meet THEIR requirements?This is big. Some cloud providers require you to re-architect your infrastructure design to meet the requirements of their stack. This can often lead to more work for your company.

We hope that these questions will help you find the right solution for your company when you are looking to acquire cloud infrastructure. We’ve identified even more considerations in our white paper, “Skydiving Through the Clouds”.

Download “Skydiving Through the Clouds”

As part of our continuing global expansion, today GoGrid announced a new partnership with Digital Realty Trust (DRT) and their 365 Main property in San Francisco.

The Press Release is available online as well as below:

GoGrid Continues Expansion with New West Coast Data Center

Accelerated Customer Demand fuels new facility at Digital Realty Trust’s 365 Main Street Facility in Downtown San Francisco

San Francisco, CA – February 28, 2011 – GoGrid, a leading cloud infrastructure provider, today announced its third data center expansion in six months with the extension of its platform into Digital Realty Trust’s 365 Main Street property. GoGrid is occupying a significant amount of data center space in 365 Main Street, which is adjacent to GoGrid’s headquarters. The new facility allows GoGrid to meet increasing demand for GoGrid infrastructure cloud solutions and also serves as a vehicle to offer new Cloud Computing services and management tools. The agreement between GoGrid and DRT includes the building of a new, direct and private fiber conduit linking GoGrid’s infrastructure in the two adjacent buildings.

“We’re pleased to be working with GoGrid on this important expansion of its data center infrastructure,” said Joe Goldsmith, Vice President of Sales at Digital Realty Trust. “While the supply of quality data center space is very limited in downtown San Francisco, 365 Main Street offers highly flexible space to support data center expansions for companies like GoGrid that are growing rapidly. We look forward to being a long-term data center partner of GoGrid.”

GoGrid will utilize 365 Main Street’s infrastructure that includes raised floor space, security, cooling, network, power, fire suppression and other state-of-the-art features. The new data center space in 365 Main Street provides GoGrid an increased data center footprint and close proximity to GoGrid’s corporate headquarters and primary San Francisco data center which in turn allows corporate customers to receive new and enhanced infrastructure services within the GoGrid technology network.

“With triple-digit growth from GoGrid cloud services the additional data center capacity provided by Digital Realty Trust will allow GoGrid to meet our customers’ needs head on — ensuring that we remain ahead of our skyrocketing growth curve,” said Mark Worsey, Chief Information Officer and Executive Vice President of Technology at GoGrid. “The 365 Main Street data center provides us with an ideal location to expand our presence as part of our global rollout.”

GoGrid currently operates a data center in San Francisco, CA. In February 2011, GoGrid announced the opening of a European data center and in June 2010, GoGrid announced expansion into an Equinix, Inc. data center located in Ashburn, VA.

About Digital Realty Trust, Inc.

Digital Realty Trust, Inc. enables customers to deliver critical business applications by providing secure, reliable and cost effective data center facilities. Digital Realty Trust’s customers include domestic and international companies across multiple industry verticals ranging from information technology and Internet enterprises, to manufacturing and financial services. Digital Realty Trust’s 96 properties, excluding two properties held as investments in unconsolidated joint ventures, comprise approximately 16.8 million square feet as of December 9, 2010, including 2.3 million square feet of space held for redevelopment. Digital Realty Trust’s portfolio is located in 28 markets throughout Europe, North America and Singapore. For additional information, please visit Digital Realty Trust’s website at http://www.digitalrealtytrust.com.

About GoGrid

Thousands of leading IT experts choose and rely on GoGrid’s Cloud infrastructure services. GoGrid enables sysadmins, developers, and IT professionals to create, deploy, and control cloud environments and complex virtual and physical server networks with full administrative control. GoGrid’s industry standard specifications and robust service offerings are powering thousands of businesses globally to achieve previously unrealized efficiencies. Deploying a GoGrid infrastructure solution using a Standard or Partner Server Image, free hardware F5 load balancing, Cloud Storage, private VLANs and much more takes minutes via a web interface, API, or iPhone application. GoGrid provides users the control and advanced capabilities of a data center environment with the flexibility and immediate scalability of the cloud. www.GoGrid.com

As always, please be sure to check our announcements page for other details coming from GoGrid.

This past weekend, cloud benchmarking site CloudHarmony released a case study of Service Level Agreements (SLAs) for public cloud services titled “Do SLAs Really Matter? A 1 Year Case Study of 38 Cloud Services” and GoGrid was notably featured at the top of SLAs provided in the marketplace.

The CloudHarmony Study

The study includes Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) vendors who provide services like cloud servers, cloud storage and CDNs as well as Platform as a Service (PaaS) vendors as well. For their study, they used Panopta (a monitoring, outage confirmation and availability service) as well as a manual process to confirm and document any outages that were greater than 5 minutes. The full result of CloudHarmony’s comprehensive documentation and audit of SLAs is included in their post.

From the survey, CloudHarmony writes:

“GoGrid: provides a 100x credit policy combined with 100% SLA for any hardware and network outages and no minimum thresholds (e.g. 1 hour outage = 100 hour credit). This is by far the most generous of the 38 IaaS vendors we evaluated. GoGrid’s service is also one of the most reliable IaaS services we currently monitor (100% US West and 99.999% US East)”

CloudHarmony discovered three general themes as a result of their study, specifically (from their site):

• Pro-rated Credit (Pro-rated): Credit is based on a simple pro-ration on the amount of downtime that exceeded the SLA guarantee. Credit is issued based on that calculated exceedance and a credit multiple ranging from 1X (Linode) to 100X (GoGrid) (e.g. with GoGrid a 1 hour outage gets a 100 hour service credit). Credit is capped at 100% of service fees (i.e. you can’t get more in credit than you paid for the service). Generally SLA credits are just that, service credit and not redeemable for a refund
• Threshold Credit (Threshold): Threshold-based SLAs may provide a high guaranteed availability, but credits are not valid until the outage exceeds a given threshold time (i.e. the vendor has a certain amount of time to fix the problem before you are entitled to a service credit). For example, SoftLayer provides a network 100% SLA, but only issues SLA credit for continuous network outages exceeding 30 minutes
• Percentage Credit (Percentage): This SLA credit policy discounts your next invoice X% based on the amount of downtime and the stated SLA. For example, EC2 provides a 10% monthly invoice credit when annual uptime falls below 99.5%

About GoGrid’s SLA

When we launched our Public Cloud service, we wanted our customers to be assured that they would have the most robust SLA in the cloud computing industry, not just limited to hosting. We stand by our SLA and work with our customers closely to ensure that they both understand it and can utilize it as appropriate.

We are proud that an independent and trusted benchmarking firm also recognizes not only the importance of having a vendor with a solid SLA but also a provider with “one of the most reliable IaaS services we currently monitor (100% US Web and 99.999% US East [uptime])”.

Do SLAs matter? We believe that they do! When you look to choose a cloud provider, be sure that their SLA and Uptime reflect what your business and your customers demand and don’t settle for anything less!