Top 10 Data Center Stories for February 2013

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Facebook adopted Opscode's Private Chef to help manage its fast-growing infrastructure, like this data hall in the company's North Carolina data center.The new version of Chef has been rewritten to enhance its scalability. (Photo:Rich Miller)

February was a month for "big" news, such as Dell gaining a contract for 3 petabyte storage, a mysterious $1.5 billion project in Iowa, and Microsoft reaching the $15 billion benchmark in data center spending. But there was also levity with viral dance videos released by EMC and Rackspace. So here’s the line up of the most popular stories for February 2013, ranked by page views.

Dell To Build 3 Petabyte Storage Infrastructure For JAIST - February 8

Dell announced that Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST) has selected Dell Compellent arrays to provide high-performance and large capacity storage for its growing, private cloud environment that supports its students and researchers.

Facebook Scales Servers with Retooled Chef - February 4

Facebook was looking for improved tools to help it manage its growing armada of servers. The team at Opscode was looking for new ways to improve the scalability of its Chef tool for automating infrastructure.

$1.5 Billion Iowa Project is Still Alive. Is it Apple? - February 1

The mysterious $1.5 billion project known as Project Catapult is apparently back in play. Local officials in Altoona, Iowa this week revived a site plan for the project, which has been shrouded in secrecy as a large company has scouted sites in both Iowa and Nebraska.

Gangnam Style in the Data Center - February 8

It had to happen eventually: A “Gangnam Style” parody with IT professionals doing the Psy “horse dance” in the aisles of a data center. This “Oopa EMC Style” performance is brought to you via a YouTube video from “Chad Sakac and the EMC Giddyups.”

Superdome Infrastructure Eyed in Super Bowl Power Loss - February 4

It’s probably the most high-profile outage imaginable: A power loss at the stadium hosting the Super Bowl, in the middle of the game. How could this happen?

The Evolution of Microsoft’s Data Center Design - February 4

The dramatic changes in web-scale data center design in recent years can be seen in the evolution of the Internet infrastructure at Microsoft, which has been among the leading proponents of deploying servers on pre-fabricated modules rather than traditional data halls. The company says this shift has allowed it to deploy servers at a faster pace with lower cost.

Windows Azure Cloud Crashed by Expired SSL Certificate - February 25

Microsoft has spent more than $15 billion building one of the largest global cloud computing infrastructures. An SSL certificate can be had for as little as $70 a year from a commercial certificate authority, or can be effectively free if you issue your own, as Microsoft does.

Eucalyptus: We’ll Be More Open Than Other Open Clouds - February 12

In a landscape with dueling open clouds, which is the most open? Cloud software specialist Eucalyptus sees pushing boundaries of open clouds as an opportunity. This philosophy is driving changes at the company, with a sharper focus on its “open” roots from its origins in academia. Eucalyptus has open sourced its courseware and training, making all those materials available for free.

Rackspace Does The “Harlem Shake” - February 15

Rackspace, a cloud hosting provider, is known for its corporate culture. This week, it’s email and apps team demonstrated their energy and levity through their own version of the viral video hit, the “Harlem Shake.”

Video: LeaseWeb Migrates 3,000 Servers - February 12

What’s it like to move 3,000 servers into a new data center? As part of its expansion in the U.S. market, LeaseWeb recently migrated 100 server-filled racks into a new data center hall at the COPT6 facility in Manassas, Virginia.

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