Partner Spotlight: Qi ict
April 17, 2013 | 
Author In order to deliver the best possible service, EvoSwitch works with various IT partners, including IT infrastructure specialist Qi ict – with whom we’ve been working successfully for over two years.
We recently caught up with Rik van Winzum, Qi ict’s director of strategy and businesses development, to discuss the partnership.
Rik, tell us a bit more about Qi ict.
Rik: “As a system integrator we operate in areas of storage, security, networks and connectivity. We integrate solutions from different manufacturers into one overall offering and provide solutions to companies in various sectors, such as the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries, the public sector and the broadcasting sector.
“Our motto is ‘Living Uptime’. Every activity within our organization is focused on ensuring the highest possible uptime of our customers’ IT infrastructures. We make sure that our customers’ equipment is always up and running and that we have spare equipment which can be rolled out on location whenever needed. In the case of a technical fault, we transfer the configuration of the equipment at the time of the fault to the spare equipment. As a result, we’re able to minimize down-time for our clients.”
How did your partnership with EvoSwitch come into being?
Rik: “For our services we require data centers with high uptime. We came into contact with EvoSwitch two years ago when looking for an alternative data center location for one of our customers. The AMS1 data center of EvoSwitch in Haarlem was very conveniently located for that customer and at the time, EvoSwitch happened to be looking for partners in the field of system integration as well. We were very impressed by the size of the halls, EvoSwitch’s portfolio and the green characteristics of the company during our first tour through the data center.
“We’re very aware that green entrepreneurship is becoming increasingly important. For example: a client of ours recently chose one particular solution because of its highly efficient equipment, which consumes very little energy.”
Which factors are important for you when choosing a data center?
Rik: “We offer our customers ‘twin data center structures’, which means we offer them an alternative location if any faults occur in their own data center. Thus, the uptime of a data center is an essential pre-condition for us. On top of that, the location is important because we offer our services including fiber. The longer the fiber, the more expensive the link. Therefore, it’s important that the primary data center is not too far from the secondary data center.
Furthermore, EvoSwitch is a very friendly partner to do business with and has all the important certificates, such as the NEN, PCI and ISO certificates. For some of our customers, these certificates are required in order to be able to do business. EvoSwitch ensures that all quality and security requirements are met.”
What are the results of your collaboration so far?
Rik: “Several leads have come to us via EvoSwitch, and vice versa. Our experience has been that our customers are sold on EvoSwitch just as quickly as we were when they visit the data center. One example of a client whom we’ve been able to welcome thanks to EvoSwitch is, a leading supplier of heating equipment and installation material with over 50 facilities throughout the country. In many cases, customers experience faults and suffer down-time before they opt for a twin data center structure. This particular customer however, decided to work on their disaster recovery scenario proactively.”
What makes the twin data center structure so profitable?
Rik: “We have noticed a shift in the general trend surrounding the availability of infrastructures with the arrival of flexible working: availability of IT infrastructure is becoming increasingly important and more and more companies demand 24/7 access to their data. With a twin data center structure, companies are working towards a situation in which they can switch from their primary to their secondary data center in real time. In order to guarantee such high uptime, you need a reliable partner.”
EvoSwitch helps the Quanza ISP Kart Competition go Carbon Neutral
The Quanza ISP Kart Competition, to be held on Saturday 23rd March 2013, uses various energy sources to power the activity of the event sponsors and the karts themselves. Prior to the event, EvoSwitch approached the event coordinators to address the event’s carbon footprint. To make it more sustainable, EvoSwitch offered to offset the carbon footprint of the competition.
Energy importance: Sector-wide
“The Quanza ISP Kart Competition was established as a networking event for the ISP sector, a sector which is linked to the data center industry, with an equally high dependence on energy and high power requirements,” said Eric Boonstra, Managing Director at EvoSwitch. “We believe energy efficiency to be of sector-wide importance and therefore think a networking event should not only be successful in bringing together those with mutual interests but also in terms of minimizing the impact on the environment”.
Simple
Furthermore, EvoSwitch wanted to demonstrate how easy it can be for any company to address its carbon dioxide emissions: “for example, by opting for energy-efficient servers or by looking at how you deal with data that is only occasionally being accessed” said Boonstra.
‘Footprint’
A carbon footprint is an ecological footprint that can be expressed as a number. This figure shows how many square meters biologically productive land and water area is used to attain a certain level of consumption and to process the associated waste of this consumption. The number can be calculated per country for a whole year, but also per family, company, product or activity.
Compensation
“The calculated carbon footprint can then be compensated through certain companies, such as the Climate Neutral Group – an organization EvoSwitch works with,” explains Boonstra. “These agencies typically ensure that the money donated to offset carbon dioxide emissions are used to invest in sustainable energy projects like biogas and renewable energy.”
Certificate
EvoSwitch carried out extensive calculations ahead of the kart competition to determine the amount of additional carbon dioxide emitted due to the event. “We included the transport of all 800-1000 participants to and from the event, assuming the average travel distance would be 150 kilometers back and forth (and included the consumption of lots of food and drink into the equation). This allowed us to arrange for the entire event to be carbon neutral, not just the racing part. Our partner which executed the calculation and ensured the compensation of emissions gave us a special certificate of carbon neutrality for the event. As such, the Quanza ISP Kart Competition is able to be label itself as a carbon neutral event.”
Mayors of Amsterdam and Haarlem visit EvoSwitch
At the end of November we welcomed a delegation of the Mayors of Amsterdam and Haarlem, as well as heads of 18 regional companies, to our AMS1 carbon neutral data center in the Netherlands.
Eberhard van der Laan, Mayor of Amsterdam and Chair of the Amsterdam Economic Board, joined Bernt Schneiders, Mayor of Haarlem and our Managing Director Eric Boonstra to discuss drivers for economic growth in the Greater Amsterdam region.
Mayor of Amsterdam visits EvoSwitch
Job opening: Datacenter Project Manager
As our project manager datacenters you are on top of all phases of the project cycle, work hand in hand with the EvoSwitch team and are responsible for the result / outcome of the project. You are responsible for designing project content based on management priorities, planning, managing and execute projects with colleagues from EvoSwitch Directors, Operations and Datacenter Development. Projects vary in size and type and relate to (re)building of EvoSwitch datacenter(s) and infrastructure.
Tags: Amsterdam, budget planning, Datacenter, development, dutch, english, Job, project manager, smart, technology, Vacancy | 
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Our press anniversary press release in Klingon
qoSchaj vaghDIch lulopmeH, qawmoHmeH vagh nagh beQ Qolta’ EvoSwitch bov chu’ De’wI’ghom waw’
tera’ muD QIHbe’bogh waw”e’ beq Qu’ motlh ‘agh naghmey beQ.
De’wI’ghom waw’ ‘Itlh ‘oH EvoSwitch’e’. tera’ muDDaq nIn meQ SIp Qob’e’ lughurmoH De’wI’ghommey motlh, ‘ach lughurmoHbe’ EvoSwitch.
tera’ Qanbogh beq’e’ ‘agh mIlloghmey’e’ ‘aghta’bogh.
yIqIm: DIvI’ Hol DamaSchugh, ghItlh mughlu’ta’bogh tu’lu’.
HoD QonoS chovnatlh: Eric Boonstra (DevwI”a’)
vagh ben lengmajvam wItaghta’. Qu’maj: taHlaHmeH ‘ej muD QIHbe’meH neDerlan De’wI’ghom waw”e’ maH nIv law’ Hoch nIv puS. nom SachtaH De’wI’ghom waw’vam, ‘ej SachtaHghach vIqelDI’, ngoQmey potlh vIghovchu’. tIghvam wIpabnIS:
HoS lo’laHchu’meH mIwmey chu’ DI’oghtaH
jIjtaH DIvI’ SuDqu’** (DIvI’ Hol: ”Green Grid”), beqmaj je. DIvI’vam lumuvta’ wa’vatlh SochmaH vagh malja’mey. HoS lulo’laHchu’meH De’wI’ghom waw’mey vumtaH. vaj cham, ghojmoHmeH Dochmey je ‘oghtaH.
jIjtaH je muD choQmeH cham SuDqu’ ghom (DH: ”Climate Neutral Group and GreenIT”), beqmaj je. muD choqbogh cham’e’ ‘oghtaHmeH ‘ej DubtaHmeH Sepmey law’Daq jInmolmey ta’wI’pu’ QaH yej’anvam.
Huch buSbe’bogh ‘ej je’wI’pu’ ‘oSbogh yo’ nIvqu”e’ ‘oH ‘oH EMEA De’wI’ghom tIq’e’ (DH: “EMEA Datacenter Pulse”). QeDpInma’, De’wI’ghom loHwI’ma’ je ghaH Jan Wiersma’e’. yo’vam qummeH yej, quprIp, DevwI’ ghom je muvta’ batlh ‘e’ wIvlu’ta’.
EvoSwitch: The Next Generation Datacenter jettisons five commemorative photos to mark fifth birthday
Photos of the crew reveal day-to-day working of the carbon neutral datacenter
EvoSwitch: The next generation, carbon-neutral datacenter has released five images of its crew protecting Earth from harmful Co2.
Please note: This release is also available in Klingon.
Captain’s log extract: Eric Boonstra (MD)
It’s been five years since we embarked on our mission to be the most sustainable, carbon-neutral datacenter in the Netherlands. As I reflect on the datacenter’s rapid expansion, it’s clear that EvoSwitch needs to continue to:
Explore new methods of energy efficiency 
Our crew will continue to support the Green Grid, an organization with 175 members,which develops technical and educational tools to improve the efficiency of datacenters, the Climate Neutral Group and GreenIT, a consortium that supports international initiatives that advance green IT. Our science officer (technical manager), Jan Wiersma also serves as a board member, director and elder of EMEA Datacenter Pulse, the largest non-profit fleet of end-user datacenters.
Wanted: Account and Partner Manager Evoswitch
Location: Netherlands
Tags: account management, channel, Datacenter, sales, smart, strategy, system integrator, vacature | No Comments »
Our take-outs from the latest #KNGS Green Application Hosting workshop from Jan Wiersma
Last Tuesday (May 8th) I attended a workshop around Green Application Hosting organized by the Knowledge Network Green Software (otherwise known as #KNGS).
The #KNGS shares knowledge and creates awareness of the potential of green software, thus creating a demand-driven market. The organization was founded by TNO, VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam GreenIT, SIG along with the Dutch Government and AgentschapNL. Offering a great opportunity for EvoSwitch to further its contribution to a green, climate-neutral environment, we’re delighted to be involved.
The workshop on Tuesday featured the following three perspectives:
1. The supplier perspective: What incentives currently exist for datacenters to reduce the energy footprint of their customers’ software applications?
2. The measurement perspective: How can energy consumption in the datacenter be reliably attributed to individual software applications?
3. The billing perspective: What billing models enable application owners to benefit financially from energy-optimization?
Guest post by www.greenhost.nl : A brand new server
Last month we installed a new server. While this new hardware is great news for us nerds, some may see it as running slightly counter to our green commitment. Our preference is to optimize all our equipment to extend the useful life of the hardware. But now it really was time for a new server.
In order to alleviate our somewhat mixed feelings about this new addition to our array of hardware, we chose to travel by electric car to the data center 
in order to install the equipment. Since it was launched in Amsterdam some months ago, an electric Smart car sharing scheme has become very popular among several employees of Greenhost. The driving range of an electric Smart car proved to be more than adequate for a return trip to Haarlem
The server, which just about fit in the trunk, is an IBM X3550 M3 server with 144GB memory and 8 CPU cores. These types of machine
are used for our virtualization layer and form the basic building blocks of our network. The machines are fitted with an in-memory file system for the virtualization software, thereby doing away with the need for hard disks (and yielding additional energy savings). The virtual machines (with SAN or NAS storage) that will run on this hardware will eventually be responsible for hosting websites, databases or e-mail.
We opted for IBM systems due to their low energy usage and the minimal amount of heavy metals and other toxic substances in their hardware. Additionally, IBM is a class A brand and supplies ultra-reliable hardware.
For more information on Greenhost and their environmental thoughts and vision please visit their website or contact their sales department!