Month: August 2019

Evocative Data Centers Bolsters Its Green Energy Initiative, Significantly Reducing PUE In Its Silicon Valley Facilities

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Evocative Data Centers Bolsters Its Green Energy Initiative, Significantly Reducing PUE In Its Silicon Valley Facilities

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Evocative, Inc shifts towards greener energy solutions in their Northern California data centers with the recent installation of airside economization units in Emeryville, and the installation of high-efficiency precision cooling systems in San Jose.

"As of this quarter, PUE levels have improved by 38% in our Emeryville facility."

Evocative Site Manager, Rory Armijo

Built-in the early 2000s at the end of the “.com” era, Evocative’s Emeryville and San Jose facilities are considered 2nd generation data centers. Back then, data center operators placed greater emphasis on reliability and availability when operating and building facilities. This meant that 2nd generation data centers were not built to Today’s standards in efficiency, resulting in higher PUE levels (Power Usage Effectiveness) with their total facility energy usage much higher than the total energy consumed by IT equipment.

Although emphasizing reliability has earned these facilities over 18 years of uptime, Evocative is actively making changes towards greater efficiency by installing new modifications such as energy-saving lighting and airside economizers in its Emeryville data center, and precision cooling systems in San Jose.

Less than 0.25 miles from the San Francisco Bay with a constant year-round cool climate, Evocative’s Emeryville Data Center was a prime candidate for an airside economization system. With the new airside economizers, cool air is drawn in from the outside environment using large ductwork and fans. After filtering out external particles, the air is then directed into a series of CRAC units to reduce the intake temperature (Partial Economization). If the air is already at the target cooling temperature, it is applied directly to the data center to reduce its heat load (Full Economization). Additionally, if the outside air exceeds the current return temperature in the Data Center, then the Economizer shuts down. This process eliminates the need for mechanical cooling during cooler climate periods, which will significantly lower the PUE ratio and further cut air conditioning costs for data centers.

Since the installation in late October 2018, Evocative’s Emeryville location has seen a reduction in the PUE by 38 %. This accomplishment, coupled with its recent retrofitting of the existing traditional fluorescent bulb lighting to a modern LED system, is just the beginning for Evocative Data Centers.

Currently, Evocative is overseeing the installation of two new Liebert DSE 85 high-efficiency precision cooling systems in their San Jose data center.

"Because of this retrofit PUE levels in San Jose are predicted to be 40% more efficient between the late spring and summer months and up to 1000% more efficient in the winter months.“

VP of Data Center Operations, Jay Smith

With a similar function to Emeryville’s airside economizers, the DSE 85 systems utilize a pumped refrigerant economizer that varies cooling and airflow in translation to data center workload requirements all without the use of water. This not only reduces cost, but it increases overall facility efficiency while saving billions of gallons of water each year.

Evocative is very excited about its green initiative, with many anticipated changes to come by the year 2020, including the addition of four more Liebert DSE 85 systems in San Jose, and the replacement of existing AC systems in their Virginia data center. These retrofits to their aging data center infrastructure affirm that Evocative is taking the pivotal steps necessary in being a more eco-friendly, forward-thinking, Data Center Operator.

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From Marine to SE: VPLS Welcomes Ali Hussain

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From Marine to SE: VPLS Welcomes Ali Hussain

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Recently, the VPLS team has welcomed a new addition to the growing team. Senior Systems Engineer, Ali Hussain, joins VPLS after 8 dedicated years in the United States Marine Corps. In this blog, we had the privilege to sit down with a true American hero to further understand his transition from the military base to the VPLS headquarters.

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VPLS: What motivated you to join the military?

AH: “I was actually born in Pakistan with my twin brother who was diagnosed with down syndrome as well as two holes in his heart. Seeking better medical practices, my family came to the U.S. in 1998. When we arrived here, through various government funded programs, my brother received the best treatment that he possibly could have. Throughout all of this, I always felt like I wanted to give something back to the nation that did so much for my family and that way was through the military.”

VPLS: What inspired you to enlist for the Marines?

AH: “Well, because the Air Force and Navy office were always closed. But in all honesty, a Marine recruiter came up to me and asked me what I valued. I told him job security, financial security, and camaraderie. He then broke down each value I chose and explained how it relates to the Marine corps and from that moment I was sold; I knew I wanted to be a part of this team.”

Boot Camp and Training

After enlistment Ali’s original plan was to join the Counterintelligence ranks of the Marines hoping to then join the Covert Operations team (as the next James Bond). However, a last-minute seat to boot camp was available and Ali wasted no time jumping on the opportunity. 24 hours later, he was on his way to boot camp for 12 weeks with the hopes of now becoming a Cyber Operator for the United States Marines. After the completion of boot camp and combat training, the next step for Ali was to take on Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) School to become a cyber operator. He spent a few weeks at Camp Pendleton and some time at Twentynine Palms where he then graduated from Communications School doing Cyber Administration specializing in Windows Servers, as well as Cisco routers and switches.

new hire vpls military boot camp

Moving Across the World

After graduating Comm School, Ali was sent to Okinawa, Japan where he spent a good portion of his service time. He describes it as a beautiful island off the coast of Japan, rich in diversity. He also admires the fact that it is also an integral part of history for the WWII island hopper campaigns. Okinawa will always hold a special place in his heart with that being the birthplace of his first child. The other places Ali has been stationed at included Thailand, Philippines, Australia, South Korea, and Iraq. Additionally, Ali is proud to have contributed to the humanitarian efforts for many of these missions.

Tackling New Challenges

Ali is most proud of his promotion to Sergeant. He ultimately ended his career as a Staff Sergeant; however, it is when he acquired his Sergeant rank is where he truly believes he took his biggest step in his journey as a Marine. He explains it as this; “I was now in my first supervisory role now taking the first few steps in becoming the subject matter expert in cyber operations. Marines were now coming to me with their professional problems, technical problems, educational problems, and personal problems. In this position, you really can have an impact on younger Marines by the way you lead and in turn by the way you mentor.”

End of An Accomplished Era

After eight years of serving in the Marines, Ali knew it was time to settle down with his family. Having his son now starting kindergarten, he wants to be able to experience being a dad to the fullest. He is very proud and excited as he can now coach his son on his first football team. Ali celebrated this new chapter in life with an emotional and heart-felt send–off thrown by the Marines he worked with for many years.

Ali was honored with the Navy Commendation Medal, an award that recognizes sustained acts of heroism or meritorious service. He attributes this award to his dedicated unit as this was his first unit as a Staff Non-Commissioned Officer whose responsibility was to help lead his team successfully with proper guidance and tactics.

From the Military HQ to the VPLS HQ

Ali has now joined the VPLS team as a Senior Systems Engineer. Ali was excited to work at VPLS especially because we are an MSP. As an experienced VMware administrator, he could not wait to work on cloud-based projects. He explains that the transition from military to civilian life can be challenging and many veterans feel a deep sense of loneliness since they are no longer surrounded by their comrades. However, Ali has come to find that this is where VPLS is unique; “The people here really interact with one other, cracking jokes, talking tech, and reaching out to me to help. It has definitely made my transition a lot easier.”

VPLS: Were you more nervous first day at boot camp or first day at VPLS?

AH: “Honestly, I wasn’t nervous at VPLS and that’s because of what the Marines taught me: Maintain bearing, maintain posture, maintain composure; three components of being a leader in the Marine Corps.”

VPLS: What do you wish civilians understood about the military?

AH: “When people take the time away from their lives to say thank you for your service, it really does make a difference in my life. It not only makes me proud of the time I served, but it makes me want to thank them for their support.”

Ali, from all of us here at VPLS, we want to thank you for your service. We are grateful for what you have done for our country and excited to see what you can do for our team.

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As a worldwide leader in internet infrastructure and computing, VPLS partners with businesses to solve their most complex technology challenges. Have a question about the article? Contact our team at [email protected].
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VPLS Completes SOC 2 and HIPAA Audits

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VPLS Completes SOC 2 and HIPAA Audits

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Orange, CA – August 2019 – VPLS, a network, cloud, and bare-metal server hosting company, today announced that it has completed its SOC 2 Type II and HIPAA Security Rule audits. This SOC 2 Type II attestation verifies that VPLS has the proper internal controls and processes in place to deliver high quality services to its clients, and this independent review of their information security control structure demonstrates their compliance with the HIPAA Security Rule.

SOC 2 engagements are based on the AICPA’s Trust Services Criteria. SOC 2 service auditor reports focus on a service organization’s non-financial reporting controls as they relate to security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy of a system. KirkpatrickPrice’s service auditor report verifies the suitability of the design and operating effectiveness of VPLS’ controls to meet the standards for these criteria.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) sets a national standard for the protection of consumers’ Protected Health Information (PHI) and electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI) by mandating risk management best practices and physical, administrative, and technical safeguards. The goal of the Security Rule is to create security for ePHI by ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of ePHI, protecting against threats, protecting against unpermitted disclosures, and ensuring workforce compliance.

“The completion of these audits is an attestation of our commitment to our customers in ensuring the confidentiality, integrity and availability of their data. This accomplishment was made possible thanks to the diligence of our highly-skilled engineering team who are constantly learning and applying their knowledge to help keep VPLS and our customers up to date with current industry standards,” said Tim Mektrakarn, COO of VPLS, Inc.

“Many of VPLS’ clients rely on them to protect consumer information,” said Joseph Kirkpatrick, President of KirkpatrickPrice. “As a result, VPLS has implemented best practice controls demanded by their customers to address information security and compliance risks. Our third-party opinion validates these controls and the tests we perform provide assurance regarding the managed solutions provided by VPLS.”

About VPLS
VPLS Inc., is a worldwide leader in dedicated cloud and managed services, hosting well over 15,000 servers and 5 million websites. We offer the latest in technology services with affordable pricing, to businesses all over Orange County and Los Angeles County, California. The VPLS portfolio of products and services covers a wide selection of IT services, such as Infrastructure Management, Public and Private Cloud Deployments, Disaster Recovery and Backups, IT Support Services and Management, Networking, Cyber Security, Data Storage, Web Design and much more.

About KirkpatrickPrice
KirkpatrickPrice is a licensed CPA firm, PCI QSA, and a HITRUST CSF Assessor, registered with the PCAOB, providing assurance services to over 900 clients in more than 48 states, Canada, Asia, and Europe. The firm has more than a decade of experience in information security and compliance assurance by performing assessments, audits, and tests that strengthen information security and internal controls. KirkpatrickPrice most commonly provides advice on SOC 1, SOC 2, PCI DSS, HIPAA, HITRUST CSF, GDPR, ISO 27001, FISMA, and CFPB frameworks. For more information, visit www.kirkpatrickprice.com, follow KirkpatrickPrice on Twitter (@KPAudit), or connect with KirkpatrickPrice on LinkedIn.

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As a worldwide leader in internet infrastructure and computing, VPLS partners with businesses to solve their most complex technology challenges. Have a question about the article? Contact our team at [email protected].
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VPLS’ Ironman – Mond Pengpipat

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VPLS’ Ironman – Mond Pengpipat

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vpls employee iromman

We would like to give a special shout-out to VPLS Thailand Web Manager, Mond Pengpipat for completing this year’s Ironman Triathlon in Zurich, Switzerland.

It was about three years ago when Mond ran his first triathlon and has been an avid participant ever since. This time around, however, Mond wanted to try something more challenging, thus making the decision to sign up for his first Ironman that took place this past July. Because of the physical demand of this race (a 2.4-mile (3.86 km) swim, a 112-mile (180.25 km) bike ride, along with a 26.22-mile (42.20 km) run), Mond began training in March to ensure that he would be more than ready for his big day.

When asked what kept him motivated during intense training and the actual race, Mond simply said, “Knowing I can do it and then challenging myself to go harder keeps me motivated.” Mond goes on to advise anyone who is thinking about joining something like this is to know that anything is possible if you push and train yourself; “part of this success is training.”

The Ups and the Downs

Mond described one of the worst parts of his experience is when he had to swim in a lake along with 2500 other triathletes. Part way through the swimming portion, a fellow swimmer knocked off his googles causing Mond to stop and retrieve his googles. Fortunately, this was just a minor setback to an overall amazing experience. The best part of the race according to Mond was crossing the finish line 15.41 hours after starting and hearing the MC announced, “You are now an Ironman.”

The next race he will be training for will be either Ironman USA or Taiwan taking place in 2020. One similarity Mond found between work and the triathlon is how much perseverance is involved in both areas; when you have a specific target or goal in mind, you should continue to keep pushing yourself to learn more and to do more, no matter how discouraging it can seem at the moment. In the end, all the hours invested will definitely be worth it once you see the final result.

Congratulations Mond! We are so proud of you, Ironman!

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Exclusively Yours: Krypt’s August Cloud Promo!

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Exclusively Yours: Krypt’s August Cloud Promo!

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Krypt Cloud Promotion

Krypt cloud servers are among the most reliable and best-performing machines in the industry, and this month we’re giving you some extra incentive to procure one or more servers to handle all your computing needs. There has never been a better time to take advantage of discount pricing so you can enjoy the reliability and the blazing-fast speed of Krypt cloud servers.

Benefits of Krypt Cloud Servers

The first thing everyone inquires about is uptime availability, which is understandable, because an offline business is one which is constantly losing money. Our Krypt cloud servers are guaranteed to be online at a 99.9% available rate, which means you can pretty much forget about any downtime. In terms of conversion, we can migrate all your physical servers over to Krypt cloud servers, transferring all your company data in just a few hours, which means you’ll have a seamless migration to the cloud.

Once you’re up and running, you’ll love the advantages provided by some of the fastest machines in creation, with SAN storage that allows for super high-speed data transfers and shields you from single drive failures. Solid state drives and RAID-10 architecture ensures that the disk failures of the past remain in the past, and never intrude on your computing. If for any reason, you are unhappy with the Krypt cloud servers, you would have the option of upgrading to a comparable bare metal server which is from the same approximate price range.

The Krypt VMware cloud servers provide a cloud computing platform which is at once highly effective and extremely agile. Allowing you to run, store, and use applications right on-site, the VMware configuration also enables you to utilize all kinds of different applications of your choosing. Our Krypt cloud server hosting also allows you to backup all your business-critical data and applications to a redundant center at another physical location. Knowing that you have all your important data backed up at a safe location will let you sleep easier at night, and will prove invaluable in the event of any kind of disaster which requires that you restore data from a recent backup. 

Special August Promotion

August is definitely the month to act, if you’re interested in securing a great price on all G2 and C2-cloud SIN and LAX machines. We’re offering a one-month limited pricing schedule which includes 20% off for one-month and a whopping 40% off for three months or above. When you order, you should use Coupon Code JKN491JDES in order to receive the special discount. If ordering online, all you’ll have to do is choose the operating system you prefer, the number of IP addresses you’d like to have, and the type of Control Panel you desire, if any.

You’ll also have the option of choosing from among several other features to enhance performance. If you like, you can opt for: Cloud Flare, Load Balancing, Managed Server, Endpoint Security, Anti-DDoS, Edge Firewalls, Private LAN, and 24x7x8-hour response support. If you have any custom options you want included, those can be specified in an instruction area provided in the online order form. This will allow you to end up with exactly what you want, and at a price lower by 40%, of what you might expect to pay somewhere else! 

Don’t miss your chance on this special offer; contact Krypt today!

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As a worldwide leader in internet infrastructure and computing, VPLS partners with businesses to solve their most complex technology challenges. Have a question about the article? Contact our team at [email protected].
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Google Ransomware Map

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Google Ransomware Map

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Did you know? Every 40 seconds, a business is targeted with a ransomware attack!

Google Maps displays ransomware attacks against medical, educational and governmental organizations as reported across the US with the Ransomware War Map. This map provides users with the name and industry type of the attacked organization, the location of where the event took place, in addition to the date and time the incident occurred. Also provided with the map is information on whether a ransom was paid to the attacker in the aftermath as well as a link to the full story for those who want to learn more about the attack.

Google Maps Ransomware War Map

google maps ransomware us

What is Ransomware?

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) defines ransomware as, “a type of malicious software, or malware, designed to deny access to a computer system or data until a ransom is paid.” Ransomware has become one of the biggest challenges for security analysts today and is currently one of the most dangerous malware attack platforms actively in use on a global scale. Recovering files has become very difficult resulting in some organizations having to pay the ransom to recover files with no guarantee of regaining access.

How can you protect your organization in addition to utilizing this map?

VPLS offers a full breadth of Managed Security Services to protect your organization. Whether that be in the form of a total Managed SOC Solution or employee training to become human firewalls, we are ready to protect your organization from the inevitable malware attack, so contact us today!

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As a worldwide leader in internet infrastructure and computing, VPLS partners with businesses to solve their most complex technology challenges. Have a question about the article? Contact our team at [email protected].
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Emeryville Data Center Outside

Evocative Data Centers Bolsters Its Green Energy Initiative, Significantly Reducing PUE In Its Silicon Valley Facilities

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EMERYVILLE, California August 15, 2019

Evocative, Inc shifts towards greener energy solutions in their Northern California data centers with the recent installation of airside economization units in Emeryville, and the installation of high-efficiency precision cooling systems in San Jose. “As of this quarter, PUE levels have improved by 38% in our Emeryville facility” states Evocative’s Emeryville Site Manager Rory Armijo.

Built-in the early 2000s at the end of the “.com” era, Evocative’s Emeryville and San Jose facilities are considered 2nd generation data centers. Back then, data center operators placed greater emphasis on reliability and availability when operating and building facilities. This meant that 2nd generation data centers were not built to Today’s standards in efficiency, resulting in higher PUE levels (Power Usage Effectiveness) with their total facility energy usage much higher than the total energy consumed by IT equipment.

Although emphasizing reliability has earned these facilities over 18 years of uptime, Evocative is actively making changes towards greater efficiency by installing new modifications such as energy-saving lighting and airside economizers in its Emeryville data center, and precision cooling systems in San Jose.

less than 0.25 miles from the San Francisco Bay with a constant year-round cool climate, Evocative’s Emeryville Data Center was a prime candidate for an airside economization system. With the new airside economizers, cool air is drawn in from the outside environment using large ductwork and fans. After filtering out external particles, the air is then directed into a series of CRAC units to reduce the intake temperature (Partial Economization). If the air is already at the target cooling temperature, it is applied directly to the data center to reduce its heat load (Full Economization). Additionally, if the outside air exceeds the current return temperature in the Data Center, then the Economizer shuts down. This process eliminates the need for mechanical cooling during cooler climate periods, which will significantly lower the PUE ratio and further cut air conditioning costs for data centers.

Since the installation in late October 2018, Evocative’s Emeryville location has seen a reduction in the PUE by 38 %. This accomplishment, coupled with its recent retrofitting of the existing traditional fluorescent bulb lighting to a modern LED system, is just the beginning for Evocative Data Centers.

Currently, Evocative is overseeing the installation of two new Liebert DSE 85 high-efficiency precision cooling systems in their San Jose data center.

“Because of this retrofit PUE levels in San Jose are predicted to be 40% more efficient between the late spring and summer months,” States VP of Data Center Operations Jay Smith, “and up to 1000% more efficient in the winter months.“

With a similar function to Emeryville’s airside economizers, the DSE 85 systems utilize a pumped refrigerant economizer that varies cooling and airflow in translation to data center workload requirements all without the use of water. This not only reduces cost, but it increases overall facility efficiency while saving billions of gallons of water each year.

Evocative is very excited about its green initiative, with many anticipated changes to come by the year 2020, including the addition of four more Liebert DSE 85 systems in San Jose, and the replacement of existing AC systems in their Virginia data center. These retrofits to their aging data center infrastructure affirm that Evocative is taking the pivotal steps necessary in being a more eco-friendly, forward-thinking, Data Center Operator.

About Evocative
Evocative is a leading national provider of secure, compliant hybrid and multi-cloud Internet services company. Evocative provides Network, Colocation, Hosting and multi-cloud services in 5 markets Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Dallas and Reston, VA. For additional information on our services, please visit http://www.evocative.com/

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