opus:interactive | If These Servers Could Talk

It’s been years since I’ve been to an industry convention like this. I was reminded how big the vendors do things—large booths, gimmicks, booth girls, etc. I do like swag though!

Many of the vendors, and the show in general, seemed to focus more on Corporate IT than on an xSP like us. But that’s not uncommon. A lot of vendors tailor their products to Corporate IT, and we have to find a product that will work in a service provider environment.

I found many vendors offering network monitoring and management software and appliances. This is something we will be looking at in the near future for our own internal network management and compliance needs. It was a good way to get familiar with some of the vendors in that market.
These are the vendors at the show that are now added to the list to research when we get more serious about this type of product:

The U.S. is behind the rest of the world in migrating towards IPv6. There is an opportunity to get ahead and differentiate ourselves by adopting IPv6—lots of opportunity.

• Network Instruments
• NetQoS
• Niksun
• Wild Packets
• ArcSight
• cPackets
• Cymphonix
• Netscout
• Network General
• Solera Networks

I can’t say I learned anything new at the sessions we attended. It really just confirmed what we already know about data center design and the direction we’re already headed. It also made us even more confident in our selection of APC products and the places they are going with them.

It was great to talk with some of our existing vendors: GTA, Ironport and Array Networks were all at the show. The CEOs of GTA and Array Networks were there, so we got to speak with them directly. We talked about their company and let them know how much we support their products. We even gave Ironport some props to a guy who was at their booth researching their products.

The most exciting product I discovered at the show was SolidDNS by a company called InfoWeapons. It is a DNS server software/appliance management by a GUI interface. What’s interesting is that it’s based on their own flavor of FreeBSD called SolidBSD. It uses Bind for its DNS daemon and pf for its local firewall. That’s exactly where I would like to take the opus:interactive DNS platform. In addition, the SolidDNS product is dual-stack, meaning it resolves DNS for both IPv4 and IPv6 networks. InfoWeapons also is working on additional dual-stack products like firewalls and IPAM devices.

This kind of kick-started me on the IPv6 idea. The U.S. is behind the rest of the world in migrating towards IPv6. There is an opportunity to get ahead and differentiate ourselves by adopting IPv6—lots of opportunity.

by Jeremy Sherwood

Walking into Interop in Las Vegas reminded me very much of a big kids’ Disneyland. The lights, the overly large gimmicks that scream “Look at me! Look at me!” It really was sensory overload. Looking back on the event I can still remember the booths that really made an impression. There was a lot of good swag, and of course the cheap booths that attempt to persuade you with a simple little 25-cent plastic clapper (although my 1-year-old digs the plastic clapper).

Booths that made a lasting impression despite the products or services they were selling were the booths that didn’t make you feel like you were dealing with trashy used car salesmen.

I think the booths that made a lasting impression despite the products or services they were selling were the booths that didn’t make you feel like you were dealing with trashy used car salesmen. A good example is Qwest. Although they are a big player they really invited you over to their booth to play multiplayer Half-Life2, which Eric and I played for multiple rounds, fragging each other as well as 12 strangers. (The opus boys were in the top five every game we played.) The booth was very inviting, with no real sales hook to buy or sign up for anything. It was just “come and experience what Qwest broadband can do for you and your business.” The speaker was optional, and most of it was about Qwest providing bandwidth to the whole conference. I thought it was really well done.

A different aspect of Interop that was really nice was the opportunity to meet face-to-face with the vendors we work with. After spending almost two whole days with David from GTA on the phone/RDP completing our Firewall certifications, it was nice to put a face with a name and experience. The other great thing about meeting with GTA was speaking with their president. He was very personable, but more than that he was very interested in the things we wanted changed for the better. He truly expressed the desire to receive negative as well as positive feedback. That really reassured me that they are a great partner to have.

All in all, Interop itself really brought home that we are doing the right things and heading in the right direction. There wasn’t anything that jumped out and said, “Oh man, you better do this or change this. You are behind the curve.” In reality, most everything said, “ You guys are ahead of the curve.” Which is great to hear.

Last but not least: Las Vegas. What an interesting place. Where the people are proud to say, “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.” I never thought that would be something to be proud of. We saw Old Town Vegas, spray paint artists, and the million-LED walkway (cool technology, poor use of it). We almost got Nuss to take his picture with two guys from Chippendales to send home— now that would have been funny. We rode one too many monorails, walked more than any human should have to, ate way to much heavy food, never slept enough, inhaled well beyond some legal limit of second-hand smoke, and, most importantly, enjoyed every minute of it.

by Eric Hulbert

Wow! The booth babes were incredible. These shows never cease to amaze me. Every other booth had models sporting ultra slinky spandex wear showing off their products trying to draw you in to their booths. It works!

I took this pic of the opus Director of Ops and one of the Blackcat booth babes.

I was very happy to see that we are well ahead of the curve in almost all areas of the IT lifecycle and daily managed services sustainability practices.

We met with existing vendors, like Ironport, Cisco, Network Hardware Resale, Array Networks and GTA, and it confirmed to me that we have made great decisions in our vendors and partners.

We found a new vendor to replace Intermedia for our Hosted Exchange offering. We talked at length with their COO about their offerings, their network, their solution overall and their technical infrastructure.

The In-Row RP and RC air conditioning units from APC are awesome. This is for sure the design we will go with next year.

We also looked at more of the APC Infrastruxure line and it continued to assure us that their solution/product is the correct answer for us when we build-out/expand next year. They make a newer, same-footprint modular UPS that has 25KVA power modules versus the 10KVA power modules we have now. We are limited to 100KVA for that zone. The new UPS will allow 250KVA scalable to 500KVA. It is a very impressive product and will continue to be the front-runner for our next UPS solution. Their in-row cooling products are incredible. We watched a demo on the Chatsworth CPI Passive Cooling solution and I must say I was not impressed. It was limited by the static pressure available under the raised floor in the facility (a design principle we want to move away from in the future). The In-Row RP and RC air conditioning units from APC are awesome. Chilled water or glycol can be chosen for the configuration and can be combined with their HACS (hot aisle containment system) for the ultimate in high density. This is for sure the design we will go with next year.

Factoids:

• Learned how to play craps. That game is pretty fun. Also played a bunch of limit hold’em, blackjack and roulette. Always good to get in a little gambling time when in vegas!
• Saw KA at the MGM. Wow that was pretty sweet. The drinks were quite nice!
• Watched Jason Nuss drive a simulated Formula One car at Caesar’s Palace. That was intense.
• Great steak at Nine Fine Irishmen at NYNY.
• Absolutely the craziest cab rides. We took a cab from the airport, and the guy was insane—very bitter about Vegas cab drivers. Late in the week, we took a cab from Fremont Street back to the MGM and the driver was NUTS. He just wouldn’t stop talking, and he drove us through the dark section of Vegas and talked about drug runs he took, and how he met Cuba Gooding Jr. and how he was cheating on his wife, etc., etc.

Nuts.