Being an avid pinball player I was pleased to see this make it onto/. I thought I would post some other great pinball events in California.
Already occured (but will happen again next year)
Pin A Go Go http://www.pinagogo.com/ May 14-16 Dixon California
California Extreme http://www.caextreme.org/ July 17-18 2010 Santa Clara California
All of them are great shows and we're lucky here in northern California to have 3 great pinball conventions.
Also anyone else interested in pinball in the northern California area there is the Bay Area Pinball Association (BAPA) http://www.bayareapinball.org/
There are a number of players in our league who compete in our local tournaments, as well as the various California Tournaments, and even national and international tournaments. In fact the #2 player at PAPA A division was from our league (Andrei).
Pinballers are a dying breed. Play while you can...join a league...have fun.
Ipsilon was the company that eventually was aquired and is now the foundation for the Nokia/Checkpoint OS (which I think is a FreeBSD variant).
I was visiting in about 1997 looking at their fast flow setup switch (I dont recall the product name at this point). Esentially it was a PC gateway hooked up to an ATM switch. The PC handled the flow setup, and then programmed the switch. I'm sure someone else can correct my recollection if necessary.
While I was there, one guy had walls and a roof structure built of wood around his cube. Apparently they had to install a sprinkler in the top of the roof on the inside to meet fire safety codes. The structure itself was a pretty solid design.
SiteSmith was a managed services company that was aquired by MFN to be their Managed Services arm.
When I was at SiteSmith around 2000 we had one guy who put a roof on his cube as well but I believe HR or Facilities made him take it down. I think this one was more decorated, but not for Xmas.
I belong to a local pinball league BAPA in the bay area. Quite fun for those of us who like pinball. There are leagues in most major metropolitan areas. So if you truely want to play, you can find like minded people pretty easily. Google is your friend.
We've actually had a larger turnout recently, but I don't think it's due to pinball coming back. It's definately harder to find places that have them (and then to find them in good working order).
The number of companies who are making pinball games has pretty much dwindled down to 1. The replacement parts for the older games are no longer being made. All the parts you get now are usually older ones people stockpiled. Hopefully someone will pick up the ball on that one.
Pinball is definately dwindling, but for those of us who like it, I'm sure we will always be able to find it. I personally own 3 pins and those will probably last me a long time even if they are scarce to find out in the public.
Maybe if someone could come up with DDR Pinball there would be renewed interest...
I have that episode as well, and while it is mostly about fan service, the plot point about the casters (which I always thought it was spelled castors...like in castor oil) was worth the whole episode in my opinion.
I had seen the whole cartoon network run of Outlaw star 2 or 3 times, and after watching that episode it made much more sense. The name, why they were so rare, and why they were able to defeat the pirates' magic.
Escaflowne online has a site about the editing/censoring that The Cartoon Network has done on one of their shows Outlaw Star.
It's quite interesting the changes that were made. Some are simple digital edits that add clothing for nude characters, removal of blood, to whole scene cuts, and even in one case an episode cut.
Cartoon network has changed a lot of the series they show (DBZ's Mr. Satan to Hercule...even digitally changed on some of the signs the fans hold up). Some are for good reasons, some are probably them being over cautious.
Don't forget the REAL service that cartoon network is serving in exposing people to other forms of animation that they may end up liking. Some of the big anime conventions like Fanime and Anime Expo have gained a whole new fan base because anime has been shown on Cartoon Channel (and even Fox when it was showing Escaflowne).
Someone earlier slammed Robotech, and some of the earlier anime which was brought to the US by Harmony Gold, but without it, a number of us may have missed out on a whole genre that is quite appealing.
If Cartoon Network is going to censor stuff, let them. If you dont want to see their censored versions, go out and buy some of the multitudes of anime dvd's you can find for sale. And believe me there are many more great series out there that Cartoon Network won't be showing. Not because they don't want to, but there's just so much to choose from.
I've worked a number of years in the colocation business. Choosing a good one depends on your definition of 'good'.
Many people are solely concerned with price, and what that really comes back to is the old saying you get what you pay for.
That being said, many people have pointed out some of the more obvious (atleast to us) questions to ask.
Bandwidth is usually the first concern. People mentioned peering and how big the pipes are, but a very important factor to find out is how utilized they are. Some company might say they have 20Gb of available bandwidth (they may say 40Gb if they double their number because its full duplex). Then they say they are using only 10Gb of that 20.
Wow great, that's plenty of space left over. Unfortunately usage of the available bandwidth is not distributed that evenly. There are usually a handfull of peers which take the brunt of the traffic. If those links are at 95% all the time, you're going to see problems. Colo's always have underutilized DS-3's and OC-3's to ISP's which they may only do a few megs of traffic to.
It is also important where the traffic goes. If the colo is peered with a Tier 1 backbone, you will want to make sure the peers are to different locations on that backbone. It's much less likely to get congested, and much less likely to affect you in event of a backbone failure. How much of their traffic goes to a public NAP? These places can often be a black hole from which packets never return.
And depending on who you are, find out where the majority of your customer base is. If you are a B2B business, and you're getting or sending feeds to yahoo news, then maybe you should be on GlobalCenter's network where those servers live? Or lets say all your clients are coming from AOL, maybe a colo facility with lots of underused AOL bandwidth is right for you. Obviously these conditions change, but it's good to look at them.
A number of people mentioned physical security. It is definately good to have, but it's by no means any type of guarentee. Having things in a nice locked cage or cabinet is often more percieved security and showcasing than anything else.
Colo facilities do not have Elite Special Ops guys posted at all doors. These are underpaid security guards. So your servers are as secure as any of the items in Radio Shack in the mall. Not to say physical security is a waste, it IS good to have things locked and protected. And it's not like there are people just wandering around the datacenters looking to swipe things. But many times security is boasted upon, but behind the scenes it's kinda hokey.
Equinix is a datacenter which goes all out on security and facility. So far they have done a good job at it, though their network is second on the priority list as opposed to their facilities. There have been cases when physical security has been an issue for a site, but there are usually far easier ways to harm a site than bashing the server through a cage with the end of a broomstick.
The infrastructure the Colo run's on is important if you are looking for certain things. Network wise a switched 10/100 port is pretty standard, but remember, while it is switched, the uplink bandwidth from that switch to the core routers is shared. You are competing for bandwidth at some points. So make sure you have options. Can you upgrade to a router port directly? Can you multi home to different switches? Can you get HSRP or VRRP for redundant uplinks? Can you use IBGP or BGP for load balancing uplinks? Does the colo have their own backbone? Or is it leased from someone else?
The rest of these many people don't think about until it's far too late to change. Can you bring in an outside circuit of your own? Can you manage that connection yourself? Can you get a phone line into the cage?
One thing I have noticed more and more is that Colo's have increased the number of core, and border routers to provide additional redundancy for the customer. Unfortunately this has also vastly increased the complexity of the layer2 and layer3 fabrics as a whole. So little problems often times have a ripple effect on the whole thing with results that may degrade or bring everything down.
More facility related ones are: How much power do I get? Is that included in the price? Can I get additional power later (or do I need to order it now?) Is there additional rack/cage space near me that I can expand to? Do I have first right of refusal on that space?
Is there adequate power for the whole facility? Is there adequate UPS? Is there adequate generators for when UPS fails? Are there extra generators incase one/all of the primary generators fail? How much AC is there? Can it support the whole facility (this is important because of the popularity of 1 and 2U servers which suck up more power and put out more heat per rack).
What are the plans for current local expansion of data center space? Where do you have other large datacenters? How are they connected? How much peering does each datacenter have (remember no datacenter is an island)?
The next major piece is managed services. What this means is what will they do for you that you could do yourself but don't want to. Some colo's offer this (Exodus, Globalcenter), and some do not (Abovenet, Equinix). Bandwidth and space are becoming easier to come by, and may not always be the limiting factor in a sites growth.
Most all of them do offer some basic services such as a NOC, remote hands capability, and some basic troubleshooting. There are some people in the various operation centers who are VERY sharp, the majority of them are people fresh out of HS, or doing it as a second job to get by.
Someone mentioned earlier the little fish, big pond case. Unfortunately this seems to ring true of the colo's that offer managed services. If you're the little fish, it's very likely all of the smart people who do managed services for a large colo are busy with the bigger fish (say ebay, hotmail, geocities, yahoo, etc) than with you. You're likely to get basic services, but nothing special or out of the ordinary.
You can look back in the trade mags about 10 months and see the slamming Exodus got for customer service because they had more business than they knew what to do with. Fortunately this has gotten better, but there is way more business in the market than colo's know what to do with.
AboveNet and Equinix just plain don't have an offering in those areas. They usually partner and recommend other people who are experts in that space. Companies like SiteSmith, Emanage, MimEcom or Lante offer outsourced managed services for colo customers. Designing a scalable fault tolerant site, implementing it, and running it so the customer doesn't have to. Unless these types of colo providers develop their own managed services, the options are to outsource, or do it yourself.
No site is an island, which is why managed services become more and more important. The tier 1 colo's are all experiencing a bit of commoditization of the space and bandwidth. As a few people have already noted, many of the colo's are all starting to seem the same. Some people have personal preferences one way or another, and there are also usually niche type reasons why one is better suited for a certain customer.
Good managed services provide a way to scale a site to more users, higher levels of fault tolerance, and all over reliability. It's often hard to find people with these skills in house (or its hard to make them divide their time from whatever their primary job focus is). This is why people look for managed services from their colo, or from another managed services provider.
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Being an avid pinball player I was pleased to see this make it onto /. I thought I would post some other great pinball events in California.
Already occured (but will happen again next year)
Pin A Go Go http://www.pinagogo.com/ May 14-16 Dixon California
California Extreme http://www.caextreme.org/ July 17-18 2010 Santa Clara California
Upcoming
Pacific Pinball Expo http://www.pacificpinball.org/ Oct 1-3 2010
All of them are great shows and we're lucky here in northern California to have 3 great pinball conventions.
Also anyone else interested in pinball in the northern California area there is the Bay Area Pinball Association (BAPA) http://www.bayareapinball.org/
There are a number of players in our league who compete in our local tournaments, as well as the various California Tournaments, and even national and international tournaments. In fact the #2 player at PAPA A division was from our league (Andrei).
Pinballers are a dying breed. Play while you can...join a league...have fun.
-Alex
Ipsilon was the company that eventually was aquired and is now the foundation for the Nokia/Checkpoint OS (which I think is a FreeBSD variant).
I was visiting in about 1997 looking at their fast flow setup switch (I dont recall the product name at this point). Esentially it was a PC gateway hooked up to an ATM switch. The PC handled the flow setup, and then programmed the switch. I'm sure someone else can correct my recollection if necessary.
While I was there, one guy had walls and a roof structure built of wood around his cube. Apparently they had to install a sprinkler in the top of the roof on the inside to meet fire safety codes. The structure itself was a pretty solid design.
SiteSmith was a managed services company that was aquired by MFN to be their Managed Services arm.
When I was at SiteSmith around 2000 we had one guy who put a roof on his cube as well but I believe HR or Facilities made him take it down. I think this one was more decorated, but not for Xmas.
I belong to a local pinball league BAPA in the bay area. Quite fun for those of us who like pinball. There are leagues in most major metropolitan areas. So if you truely want to play, you can find like minded people pretty easily. Google is your friend.
We've actually had a larger turnout recently, but I don't think it's due to pinball coming back. It's definately harder to find places that have them (and then to find them in good working order).
The number of companies who are making pinball games has pretty much dwindled down to 1. The replacement parts for the older games are no longer being made. All the parts you get now are usually older ones people stockpiled. Hopefully someone will pick up the ball on that one.
Pinball is definately dwindling, but for those of us who like it, I'm sure we will always be able to find it. I personally own 3 pins and those will probably last me a long time even if they are scarce to find out in the public.
Maybe if someone could come up with DDR Pinball there would be renewed interest...
-Alex
These particular signs were not in japanese. I've seen the originals and they say in big letters
'SATAN'
Which is funny as long as you have thick enough skin to handle it.
-Alex
I have that episode as well, and while it is mostly about fan service, the plot point about the casters
(which I always thought it was spelled castors...like in castor oil) was worth the whole episode in my opinion.
I had seen the whole cartoon network run of Outlaw star 2 or 3 times, and after watching that episode it made much more sense. The name, why they were so rare, and why they were able to defeat the pirates' magic.
-Alex
Escaflowne online has a site about the editing/censoring that
The Cartoon Network has done on one of their shows Outlaw Star.
It's quite interesting the changes that were made. Some are simple digital edits that add clothing for nude characters, removal of blood, to whole scene cuts, and even in one case an episode cut.
Cartoon network has changed a lot of the series they show (DBZ's Mr. Satan to Hercule...even digitally changed on some of the signs the fans hold up). Some are for good reasons, some are probably them being over cautious.
Don't forget the REAL service that cartoon network is serving in exposing people to other forms of animation that they may end up liking. Some of the big anime conventions like Fanime and Anime Expo have gained a whole new fan base because anime has been shown on Cartoon Channel (and even Fox when it was showing Escaflowne).
Someone earlier slammed Robotech, and some of the earlier anime which was brought to the US by Harmony Gold, but without it, a number of us may have missed out on a whole genre that is quite appealing.
If Cartoon Network is going to censor stuff, let them. If you dont want to see their censored versions, go out and buy some of the multitudes of anime dvd's you can find for sale. And believe me there are many more great series out there that Cartoon Network won't be showing. Not because they don't want to, but there's just so much to choose from.
-Alex
I've worked a number of years in the colocation business. Choosing a good one depends on your definition of 'good'.
Many people are solely concerned with price, and what that really comes back to is the old saying you get what you pay for.
That being said, many people have pointed out some of the more obvious (atleast to us) questions to ask.
Bandwidth is usually the first concern. People mentioned peering and how big the pipes are, but a very important factor to find out is how utilized they are. Some company might say they have 20Gb of available bandwidth (they may say 40Gb if they double their number because its full duplex). Then they say they are using only 10Gb of that 20.
Wow great, that's plenty of space left over. Unfortunately usage of the available bandwidth is not distributed that evenly. There are usually a handfull of peers which take the brunt of the traffic. If those links are at 95% all the time, you're going to see problems. Colo's always have underutilized DS-3's and OC-3's to ISP's which they may only do a few megs of traffic to.
It is also important where the traffic goes. If the colo is peered with a Tier 1 backbone, you will want to make sure the peers are to different locations on that backbone. It's much less likely to get congested, and much less likely to affect you in event of a backbone failure. How much of their traffic goes to a public NAP? These places can often be a black hole from which packets never return.
And depending on who you are, find out where the majority of your customer base is. If you are a B2B business, and you're getting or sending feeds to yahoo news, then maybe you should be on GlobalCenter's network where those servers live? Or lets say all your clients are coming from AOL, maybe a colo facility with lots of underused AOL bandwidth is right for you. Obviously these conditions change, but it's good to look at them.
A number of people mentioned physical security. It is definately good to have, but it's by no means any type of guarentee. Having things in a nice locked cage or cabinet is often more percieved security and showcasing than anything else.
Colo facilities do not have Elite Special Ops guys posted at all doors. These are underpaid security guards. So your servers are as secure as any of the items in Radio Shack in the mall. Not to say physical security is a waste, it IS good to have things locked and protected. And it's not like there are people just wandering around the datacenters looking to swipe things. But many times security is boasted upon, but behind the scenes it's kinda hokey.
Equinix is a datacenter which goes all out on security and facility. So far they have done a good job at it, though their network is second on the priority list as opposed to their facilities. There have been cases when physical security has been an issue for a site, but there are usually far easier ways to harm a site than bashing the server through a cage with the end of a broomstick.
The infrastructure the Colo run's on is important if you are looking for certain things. Network wise a switched 10/100 port is pretty standard, but remember, while it is switched, the uplink bandwidth from that switch to the core routers is shared. You are competing for bandwidth at some points. So make sure you have options. Can you upgrade to a router port directly? Can you multi home to different switches? Can you get HSRP or VRRP for redundant uplinks? Can you use IBGP or BGP for load balancing uplinks? Does the colo have their own backbone? Or is it leased from someone else?
The rest of these many people don't think about until it's far too late to change. Can you bring in an outside circuit of your own? Can you manage that connection yourself? Can you get a phone line into the cage?
One thing I have noticed more and more is that Colo's have increased the number of core, and border routers to provide additional redundancy for the customer. Unfortunately this has also vastly increased the complexity of the layer2 and layer3 fabrics as a whole. So little problems often times have a ripple effect on the whole thing with results that may degrade or bring everything down.
More facility related ones are: How much power do I get? Is that included in the price? Can I get additional power later (or do I need to order it now?) Is there additional rack/cage space near me that I can expand to? Do I have first right of refusal on that space?
Is there adequate power for the whole facility? Is there adequate UPS? Is there adequate generators for when UPS fails? Are there extra generators incase one/all of the primary generators fail? How much AC is there? Can it support the whole facility (this is important because of the popularity of 1 and 2U servers which suck up more power and put out more heat per rack).
What are the plans for current local expansion of data center space? Where do you have other large datacenters? How are they connected? How much peering does each datacenter have (remember no datacenter is an island)?
The next major piece is managed services. What this means is what will they do for you that you could do yourself but don't want to. Some colo's offer this (Exodus, Globalcenter), and some do not (Abovenet, Equinix). Bandwidth and space are becoming easier to come by, and may not always be the limiting factor in a sites growth.
Most all of them do offer some basic services such as a NOC, remote hands capability, and some basic troubleshooting. There are some people in the various operation centers who are VERY sharp, the majority of them are people fresh out of HS, or doing it as a second job to get by.
Someone mentioned earlier the little fish, big pond case. Unfortunately this seems to ring true of the colo's that offer managed services. If you're the little fish, it's very likely all of the smart people who do managed services for a large colo are busy with the bigger fish (say ebay, hotmail, geocities, yahoo, etc) than with you. You're likely to get basic services, but nothing special or out of the ordinary.
You can look back in the trade mags about 10 months and see the slamming Exodus got for customer service because they had more business than they knew what to do with. Fortunately this has gotten better, but there is way more business in the market than colo's know what to do with.
AboveNet and Equinix just plain don't have an offering in those areas. They usually partner and recommend other people who are experts in that space. Companies like SiteSmith, Emanage, MimEcom or Lante offer outsourced managed services for colo customers. Designing a scalable fault tolerant site, implementing it, and running it so the customer doesn't have to. Unless these types of colo providers develop their own managed services, the options are to outsource, or do it yourself.
No site is an island, which is why managed services become more and more important. The tier 1 colo's are all experiencing a bit of commoditization of the space and bandwidth. As a few people have already noted, many of the colo's are all starting to seem the same. Some people have personal preferences one way or another, and there are also usually niche type reasons why one is better suited for a certain customer.
Good managed services provide a way to scale a site to more users, higher levels of fault tolerance, and all over reliability. It's often hard to find people with these skills in house (or its hard to make them divide their time from whatever their primary job focus is). This is why people look for managed services from their colo, or from another managed services provider.
-Alex