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Datagram Recovers From 'Apocalyptic' Flooding During Sandy

Posted by Unknown on from the mother-nature-wants-you-to-die dept.

1sockchuck writes "During SuperStorm Sandy, few data centers faced a bigger challenge than the Datagram facility in lower Manhattan. The storm surge from Sandy flooded its basement, disabling critical pumps. 'It was apocalyptic,' said CEO Alex Reppen. 'It was like a tidal wave over lower Manhattan.' While companies like CoreSite dealt primarily with the loss of ConEd power, the Datagram team sought to recover operations in an active flood zone. Why was mission-critical equipment in the basement? Because city officials restrict placing fuel tanks on rooftops and upper floors, citing concerns about diesel emerging from the 9-11 attacks."

5 of 114 comments (clear)

  1. Smart thinking by Qzukk · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Everyone knows that flying airplanes into the tops of buildings happens more often than floods in the basement. Gotta keep the priorities straight.

    --
    If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
    1. Re:Smart thinking by sumdumass · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Well, if gravity....

      Never mind. I doubt you will understand.

      The problems with fuel taken away from 9/11 wasn't that planes will fly into the roof. It's that fuel is a liquid and it is subject to gravity which means anything puncturing the tanks will cause it to leak down the building whether it is on fire or not. So imagine a lightning strike happens and years the side of the tank out. It caught fire and is now seeping down the stair well and over the sides of the building and through the crack in the roof that got there by the initial explosion caused by the lightning. This can quickly engulf a building and make escape routes impassable.

      Lightning, contractor errors, equipment malfunctions, sabotage, all happen more then floods.

  2. Why? by NetNinja · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If you questioned why and you still placed your companies life in that data center you should be fired for stupidity.

    It's the same reason I won't place my companies data at a DC in a crowded downtown area. Sporting events, politcial events, terrorist events.

    If you say you don't have a choice then you haven't thought of alternative means. Cloud, managed hosting, or a more weather stable state.

    Lower Manhattan is pretty much land filled area and 911 showed how vulnerable the WTC was below ground. They were extremely concenred about the Hudson flooding lower Manhattan.

    Again if you placed your companies data at a DC in lower Manhattan you should be fired.

    1. Re:Why? by l00sr · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Again if you placed your companies data at a DC in lower Manhattan you should be fired.

      I don't know anything about Datagram, but there are legitimate reasons to have a DC in lower Manhattan... For instance, for latency-limited high-frequency trading operations. I don't know if this is the particular case with Datagram's clients, but the fact that DCs exist in a ludicrously high-rent area means that they probably exist there for a good reason.

  3. Re:Just the tanks, generators, servers, data ... by pepty · · Score: 3, Insightful

    In this context doesn't it mean "your company’s information is safe, duplicated and available immediately and at any time."?