Vocus buying Maxnet

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#629142 22-May-2012 20:00

jevvv:

... I remember when Quintin came around from the "office" in Snells Beach and set up my Maxnet account :D

Yea, remember him too. What's he doing these days?

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#629501 23-May-2012 15:39

coffeebaron:
jevvv:

... I remember when Quintin came around from the "office" in Snells Beach and set up my Maxnet account :D

Yea, remember him too. What's he doing these days?

He's off in the UK perusing his other passions, you can find him on linkedin

I've actually got a video compilation of various media stories which were run in the early days showing him getting doped off by his mum to setup dialup users etc.

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#629831 24-May-2012 12:36

And on Facebook. Currently studying something in the UK, with a cute family too :)

<- don't ask me where I am - I haven't a clue: its a tech thing ;)
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#675941 23-Aug-2012 14:09

Just received:

As part of its plan to bring better internet and data centre services to New Zealand, Trans-Tasman telecommunications provider Vocus Communications Ltd has announced it is formally rebranding its recent acquisition and wholly owned subsidiary Maxnet.

From 27 August, the two Maxnet data centres, website, and other company collateral will be rebranded as Vocus Communications. The company will keep the Maxnet brand for its New Zealand retail ISP business.

Jade Software and Konica Minolta will be two of the first New Zealand-based companies to use the newly branded Vocus services, with the former recently signing a major data centre contract. Konica Minolta, an existing Maxnet customer, will be launching a new cloud document management service hosted on Vocus cloud technology.

Since acquiring Maxnet in June 2012, Vocus CEO James Spenceley says a number of fast-growing Australian customers have started using the company’s New Zealand data centres.

“We are excited to be bringing together all of our data centre, international connectivity and cloud services into the Vocus brand,” says Vocus CEO James Spenceley. “This will make it easier for our customers on both sides of the Tasman to access services in the different countries.”

Vocus has been supplying international capacity to New Zealand and Australian telecommunication companies and Internet Service Providers for five years. During this time, the company has been responsible for dramatically decreasing the cost of connecting New Zealand to the rest of the world by offering competitive international internet connectivity and affordable Trans-Tasman connectivity.

“We have a reputation of breaking down industry barriers, and we are excited about the opportunities to do the same in New Zealand - and the best way to carry on doing this is to align our customers, products and staff under the one Trans-Tasman brand," says Mr Spenceley.

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#675978 23-Aug-2012 15:24

I'm interested to know if it really is worth having a data centre further South close to the lakes for power saving purposes? How much is the transmission charge or is it even relevant with Huntly so close?

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oxnsox

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#676006 23-Aug-2012 16:14

Zeon: I'm interested to know if it really is worth having a data centre further South close to the lakes for power saving purposes? How much is the transmission charge or is it even relevant with Huntly so close?

Can't see how that would save power?

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#676029 23-Aug-2012 16:54

Zeon: I'm interested to know if it really is worth having a data centre further South close to the lakes for power saving purposes? How much is the transmission charge or is it even relevant with Huntly so close?

Probably a bigger advantage for a data centre is the savings on aircon from the lower temperatures further South.
The Tiwai Point smelter is way down South to save on power bills by being closer to the hydro source - however they use waaayyyyy more than I can imagine any data centre in NZ using.

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#676050 23-Aug-2012 17:20

oxnsox:
Zeon: I'm interested to know if it really is worth having a data centre further South close to the lakes for power saving purposes? How much is the transmission charge or is it even relevant with Huntly so close?

Can't see how that would save power?

Lower cost of transmission, less power loss and close to a very cheap and reliable supply of power. Lets say they had 1000 racks at 30kw in a render farm......

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#677212 26-Aug-2012 18:45

A risk in Auckland which is never mentioned anywhere is that Auckland is going to lose the Waikato River some time. That means Auckland will lose nearly all electricity and much of the water supply [which is taken from the hills around Auckland but also from the Waikato river].

The central volcanic region is a catastrophe waiting for the day when the magma chambers are reloaded enough to overcome the downward pressure. There is a 1:10 chance of Taupo going up in any lifetime. That's a risk too high for me, but hordes of people live within the death zone with huge property investment.

Neither is it a low risk with time to evacuate if there are lots of rumblings. Taupo is a colossal geyser type volcano which goes bang in minutes and hours rather than over days and weeks [which the scoria cones of Auckland do, after much rumbling as magma slowly rises].

Maxnet could keep diesel supplies for electricity with imports from the pipeline from Marsden Point so service could be uninterrupted. Diesel supplies would probably be adequate as there would be greatly reduced demand for diesel for road transport with the southern motorway shut due to Waikato River basin destruction.

Christchurch has a bit of a problem at present, but it's trivial compared with the scale of Taupo blowing.

Auckland should have a nuclear reactor, or thermal power station using coal.

CO2 emissions are not a problem, contrary to the current fears about Global Warming. CO2 at 500 parts per million is a good thing, not a bad thing, and it will take 100 years to get to 450 parts per million. Reglaciation starting in 2020 is a more likely risk than Global Warming, and the south island is going to be a cold place again.

NZ depends on crops growing. With more CO2, crop production goes up. Farmers buy and burn carbon to provide CO2 and warmth to their glass houses.

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#677270 26-Aug-2012 20:36

To be honest, if taupo ever blew up, the very last thing i'd care about would be keeping a data centre in auckland up. I'm not that experienced when it comes to volcanoes but i imagine a significant chunk of the north island would be heavily affected directly.

Or if the waikato rivers flow to hydroelectric dams etc was affected significantly, once again, my care factor for a data centre in auckland would be extremely low.

I suppose they do want to supply mission critical services internationally, but one would think half the country going up in ash, lava and smoke would be the scale of disaster where everything else is no longer a priority.

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#677350 27-Aug-2012 00:34

insane:
I've actually got a video compilation of various media stories which were run in the early days showing him getting doped off by his mum to setup dialup users etc.

the lengths some mums will go to....

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insane

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#677351 27-Aug-2012 01:19

Regs:
insane:
I've actually got a video compilation of various media stories which were run in the early days showing him getting doped off by his mum to setup dialup users etc.

the lengths some mums will go to....

Haha nice find, I'm surprised no one picked that up sooner :)

As for placing DC's closer to Hydro Power... while it *may* save on power I suspect you'll find that there would be several drawbacks, off the top of my head the obvious ones I can think of:

Further away from customers
Further away from major fiber routes
Increased Backhaul costs
Added latency for majority of the population
Harder to find skilled staff

Not sure if the pros outweigh the cons on that argument.

MauriceWinn

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#677359 27-Aug-2012 02:54

The thing about planning is to do it BEFORE the problem knowing that the problem COULD happen and at an inconvenient time:

eXDee: if taupo ever blew up, the very last thing i'd care about would be keeping a data centre in auckland up. I'm not that experienced when it comes to volcanoes but i imagine a significant chunk of the north island would be heavily affected directly.

Or if the waikato rivers flow to hydroelectric dams etc was affected significantly, once again, my care factor for a data centre in auckland would be extremely low.

I suppose they do want to supply mission critical services internationally, but one would think half the country going up in ash, lava and smoke would be the scale of disaster where everything else is no longer a priority.

When [not if] Taupo blows, people will in fact give a very high priority to their internet connections. Other than water [and food after a few days], there isn't much of a higher priority. By sensible planning, many problems can be avoided if allowed for beforehand, and often at a very low cost.

Designing a city to collapse when a known known inevitable event happens is tending towards unwise. While there's nothing to be done about many effects of the Taupo eruption, some bad things can be avoided. For example water will be in good enough supply thanks to Mangatangi, Huia and other local water supplies which can be rationed [by price] so nobody needs to go without water. The power stations down the Waikato will all be dead and some of them buried. Roads south will not be open for years.

Keeping Vocus going at Albany would be easy. The main problem will be customers out of electricity.

"Heavily affected" would be an understatement. "Ceases to exist" would be a more apt description as it will be just a vast layer of pumice with nothing to see but pumice. Several metres under our house at Matua in Tauranga, was a thick lot of pumice, which must have blown across from Taupo, so it's not just the local Taupo area - with prevailing westerlies, it will be pretty much the whole centre and east.

People running the data centre should give priority to keeping it running. Not treat it as the very last thing to worry about.

When Japanese rescuers were in Christchurch and the tsunami hit their country, the very first thing the Japanese did was use Zenbu to connect to Cyberspace to find out what the heck was going on and to communicate and to plan for an emergency trip back to Japan. They would not have wanted Zenbu or Maxnet to go off-line because of poor planning. The same thing for Taupo - people will need internet connections as a top priority.

When 911 destroyed Cantor Fitzgerald's Twin Towers operation, they were able to switch straight over with their surviving staff to remain in operation. That's good planning for high value activity. When things go very extremely seriously wrong, that's when survival mode kicks in and vital systems are essential.

Vocus Albany has diesel generators and 3 fibres in so can stay on-line through most disasters [other than right there on site].

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#677376 27-Aug-2012 07:31

Will the trout be ok?

insane

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#677862 27-Aug-2012 22:14

MauriceWinn:

....Keeping Vocus going at Albany would be easy. The main problem will be customers out of electricity.

....Vocus Albany has diesel generators and 3 fibres in so can stay on-line through most disasters [other than right there on site].

That info could do with an update..

Power is 2N end-to-end, ie supplied from diverse: substations, underground cables, transformers, switchboards, generators (x3), in line UPSs and, power distribution right down to the A and B PDUs in the racks. (HA Colo)

Cooling system is also 2N with a double cooling loop and a rather large tank of chilled water in case something truly unfortunate happens.

Network connectivity come via a few more than just three fibers now, unsurprisingly that's also all diverse etc, ie each vendor's pairs running down both sides of the street.

I suspect like most systems designed for maximum availability that human error would be more likely to account for an issue than a volcano :)

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