HP Logo Is Prominent in New DAS Data Center

Hewlett-Packard gave reporters a tour of a new data center it designed in Atlanta for Diversified Agency Services (DAS), a marketing services firm. The 2,470-square foot data center is housed in a data center hosting company called Quality Technology Services.

B.G. Naran, general manager of operations for DAS, gives tech reporters and bloggers a tour of its new data center in Atlanta. The data center features HP servers, storage and networking equipment, but also a few pieces of equipment from HP’s networking rival Cisco Systems.

Visitors tour a new data center developed by HP in Atlanta for Diversified Agency Services, a unit of Omnicon. The data center, scheduled to go online Oct. 19, is similar to one DAS already operates in Phoenix, while a third facility is under construction in London.

A key component of the HP-based data center coming online in Atlanta is this A-12518 model core network switch. The data center, built for the marketing services firm DAS, also features a series of A5830 and A5900 top-of-rack switches, 119 HP ProLiant servers and HP storage hardware.

Tech reporters and bloggers examine servers and networking equipment from HP just installed in a new data center in Atlanta. The 2,740-square-foot facility is housed within a hosting company facility called Quality Technology Services.

While HP and Cisco Systems are fierce rivals in the networking space, HP actually recommended that some Cisco equipment be included in the new data center, like this Cisco Catalyst 4900M switch. DAS executives also recommended keeping Cisco switches at the offices of some of the 165 companies owned by parent company, Omnicon, a marketing and advertising firm.

Bundles of blue cabling run through the ceiling of the DAS data center in Atlanta built by HP. DAS created a new company called Consolidated Data Services to manage the 18-month project to develop this data center, along with another in Phoenix, which consolidate IT assets scattered across 165 companies owned by Omnicom.

Looking like clotheslines, Ethernet cable that had been shipped in spools is allowed to stretch out before being installed in the DAS data center in Atlanta developed by HP. The network includes gigabit Ethernet (GbE), 10GbE and 40GbE connectivity to a series of ProLiant servers, HP disk and tape storage and other equipment.

A tech blogger takes a look at a row of server racks at the DAS data center in Atlanta built by HP. In order to get employee buy-in for the data center project, DAS created a committee of 24 employees from throughout parent company Omnicon’s agencies to keep them informed about the project and solicit their input.

The DAS data center in Atlanta includes storage controller equipment from 3PAR, a company HP acquired in 2010. The data center also houses HP StoreOnce Backup Systems, for data protection during migration and consolidation, along with an HP ESL G3 Tape Library.

Massive chillers stand outside the 990,000-square-foot Quality Technical Services data center in Atlanta, which hosts the 2,740-square-foot Diversified Agency Services (DAS) data center. DAS executives say they chose Atlanta because it had a lower risk of natural disasters compared to the chance of hurricanes in Florida, floods in New Orleans or earthquakes in California.