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NYC Data Center Needs Focus On Fuel
Nerval's Lobster writes "Who knew that the most critical element of operating a data center in New York City was ensuring a steady supply of diesel fuel? In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, the challenges facing data center operators in the affected zones include pumping water from basements, waiting for utility power to be restored, and managing fuel-truck deliveries. And it's become increasingly clear which companies had the resources and foresight to plan for a disaster like Sandy, and which are simply reacting. Here's the latest on providers around the New York area." And remember, having fuel for machines sometimes only means it's time to start the manual labor.
Once refined, it degrades. Oxidation, bacteria. Algae. Amazing things grow in diesel. You can add preservatives, but these only go so far. Keep it too long, and it's unusable. If you don't use it, you have to dispose of it. There's a large disincentive to keep diesel around.
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
You also need to make sure to bolt the damn tank down. Fuel and air are more buoyant than water or mud. More than a few flooded gas stations have suffered damage only because the tanked popped out of the ground.
This is one of those situations where the invisible hand of the free market fails miserably:
Company A: plans properly for contingencies, but has to charge $10 more per customer.
Company B: thinks they have planned for contingencies as well as A (but accredit the cheaper pricetag to their managerial prowess), makes the same claims about uptime as company A, and undercuts company A.
Company A goes out of business as B steals all of A's customers.
Disaster hits, but due to company A having gone out of business 2 years ago, B can legitimately say "no one could have planned for this!" and likely gets away with it...