Roundup: SGI, Intel, Level 3, CoSentry

Here’s a roundup of more of this week’s headlines from the data center and hosting industry:

Brocade opens new data center. Brocade announced the opening of its state-of-the-art data center and engineering labs in a 75,000 square foot space at its new San Jose headquarters. The new data center will consolidate three area data centers into a single 5,000 square foot facility, thus decreasing the overall footprint by 30 percent and reducing energy consumption by 37 percent. “Brocade’s new cutting-edge data center incorporates design features that are directly linked to our Brocade One™ vision – unmatched simplicity, investment protection, non-stop networking and optimized applications,” said Michael Hirahara, Vice President, Global Real Estate, Facilities and Services at Brocade. “Our data center and R&D lab go beyond just being functional spaces. They are a testament to Brocade’s technological expertise, corporate vision and core values.” Brocade shows off the facility in this YouTube video, and explains that the campus and data center will exceed the California Energy Code requirements by 16 percent.

SGI selected by Stanford. SGI announced that the Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory Solar Observatories Group at Stanford University has selected SGI server and storage infrastructure to support the Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO) group's critical research on the origin of solar variability.  SDO has developed and deployed a hybrid Hierarchical Storage Management System (HSM) to handle the 1.4 Terabytes of raw data that is sent back to earth each day for processing into high-definition images for study. The SGI storage and tape library products combined will provide three petabytes of total online and near-line storage.  "HPC involves much more than just computing power, especially for such a data intensive program. With Stanford's selection of SGI, we add a renowned scientific organization to our list of customers on the cutting edge of exploration," said Dr. Eng Lim Goh, senior vice president and CTO at SGI.

Intel aquires McAfee. Intel (INTC) announced Thursday that they have entered into a definitive agreement to acquire McAfee, Inc., through the purchase of all the company's common stock at $48 per share in cash, for approximately $7.68 billion.  “In the past, energy-efficient performance and connectivity have defined computing requirements. Looking forward, security will join those as a third pillar of what people demand from all computing experiences," said Paul Otellini, Intel president and CEO. The move lets Intel in the side door of the huge market for mobile devices and securing mobile phones connecting to the Internet or accessing the cloud. Stocks for both companies took a hit Thursday, as it was speculated that there was really no reason for Intel to own McAfee, where a strategic partnership already existed.

Level 3 expands with CoSentry. Level 3 Communications (LVLT) announced it has signed an expanded agreement with CoSentry to provide the company with wavelength and high-speed Internet protocol (HSIP) services that will facilitate broadband connectivity for CoSentry's enterprise customers in the Americas, Australia, and Europe.   The expanded three year agreement will give a 10 Gigabit wavelengths and two Gigabit HSIP wavelengths to CoSentry.  "Today's global business environment demands high-quality communications services," said Dan Cullen, vice president and general manager for CoSentry. "Our common solution service platform (CSSP) for cloud and software as a service (SaaS)-based enterprises require reliable, efficient communications systems to optimize and protect their business architecture. Working with Level 3 has enabled us to meet this demand and provide our customers with a first-class experience."