Howdy do, TurnKey Lovers?

How long has it been? It feels like it has been a few years. I was actually supposed to write to you guys and ladies last week, but I wasn’t feeling inspired. I didn’t want to just write any ol’ thing for you, and have it not be the top-notch blogging that you’ve come to expect from me. Was that last one a little too much? Sorry, I’m still working out the blogging jitters.

So, as I already mentioned, I was having a bit of a hard time coming up with something to write about for you. Co-workers have made suggestions, with FTP being one of them, but sadly, none of this got me riled up to chat with ya for a bit. Well, the other night as I was about to fall asleep, the idea hit me: the environment and Parkour. You may be saying to yourself, “Huh? How does that have anything to do with TurnKey Internet?” Well my friends, I will explain it to you.

You see, about two and a half years ago, I started this EPIC journey called Parkour. Now, you may not be familiar with the word Parkour, as some refer to it as “freerunning”, “tricking”, or even just “jumping around”. I like to refer to it as a path to improving ones belief in one’s self through playful activities outside or in a gym. For a more straight-forward definition, Parkour is getting from point A to point B in the most efficient way possible. It can be learned by anyone and everyone, and you only need a pair of sneakers to start. Right now it sounds like I’m writing an article purely advocating Parkour, but stay with me. It will all tie in.

Around the same time I started Parkour, I started working at TurnKey Internet. When I think back, if it wasn’t for Parkour, I probably wouldn’t have even started at TurnKey Internet or progressed so far. Stop, Jeremy, you’re getting off-topic. Ah yes, when I first started Parkour and began working at TurnKey Internet, things were very different. I could barely do a pull-up outside and could barely understand all the inner nuances that make up a IT solutions provider. Well, just like with my training, things kept improving. Soon enough, I could do 8 pull-ups straight and could provision a server from start to finish with no outside assistance.

The team–TurnKey Internet–was still colocating with Time Warner when I came on board, but now we have our very own data center that we built from scratch. We progressed forward, gaining bits of knowledge along the way. We progressed so far that, as of recently, we are no longer using gas to help power the data center. We’re now 100% running off renewable resources. That’s a hugeeee accomplishment for a data center in this day and age. Not only are we helping to reduce our carbon footprint, but we’re also incorporating new technologies.

For someone who loves to play outside, I’m all for working somewhere that helps to ensure that we have a great place to live, work, and play in the future.

This is quite a fascinating time, to say the least. On top of everything else, we’re now ENERGY STAR certified. I can’t say I can name any other public data centers off the top of my head that can make that claim. Sure, they might exist, but as of right now, I personally only know of TurnKey. You see, I started this article mentioning my love for Parkour and how has been attached to my progress at TurnKey. The best thing that I have learned from Parkour, which helps me every day at TurnKey is that progress is progress. Whether it’s a small step today or a large step, progress is progress.

When I first started, TurnKey was co-locating and now we have our very own, very GREEN data center. Needless to say, I’m quite proud of that progress and it is no small feat.

Until next time, TurnKey lovers

More big news, more exciting news, more green news!

We are thrilled to announce that our green data center in Latham, NY has been named an ENERGY STAR® certified data center by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This is no small feat, everyone. Since the day we opened our doors at this facility, we have been undergoing an energy efficiency audit. That’s 12 long months’ worth of reviews, inspections, assessments, etc.—I’m sure you get the idea. Finally, the process has reached its end, and we are officially an ENERGY STAR® certified data center!

There are several requirements for an ENERGY STAR® certification. A commercial facility must use an average of 35% less energy than traditional facilities, and release 35% less CO2 into the atmosphere. Not to toot our own horn, but—OK, to toot our own horn really loud and aggressively—with our zero carbon footprint, we’ve actually surpassed the EPA requirements to become an ENERGY STAR® certified data center… and pretty significantly, at that.

Another reason we are so excited about this accomplishment is that we are one of only two ENERGY STAR® certified data centers in the entirety of New York State! New York is ENORMOUS. There are loads of data centers in New York. We are also one of less than 50 in the entire US! 39 data centers are ENERGY STAR® certified, to be exact. That averages less than 1 ENERGY STAR® certified data center per state. This sets the bar pretty high… if we do say so ourselves (and we do).

Here’s what Adam, the man on top, had to say:

“We are delighted to have completed the ENERGY STAR® certification process. Through the ultra-efficient design of our data center and our use of green renewable energy, TurnKey has catapulted past the industry standard. We are one of only two data centers in the entire state of New York that has received this exclusive certification from the EPA. Since data centers are expected to be larger polluters than the airline industry by 2020, I can confidently say that TurnKey Internet is among the best of the best for energy efficiency in the data center space.”

This year has been packed full of exciting news like this, and it’s not even June yet! From our SSAE 16 Type 2 certification in February, to our ReCharge New York installation last month, across everything in between, our fingers are crossed in hopes that the trend continues!

Read the full press release on our company news page!

Remember when I told you that April is Earth Month at TurnKey Internet? Well, I’m back with some very exciting Earth Month news. Two different pieces of Earth Month news, actually–both green; both awesome.

First of all, we are now part of NYS Gov. Cuomo’s ReCharge New York program. Do you know what this means? DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS?! This means that TurnKey Internet is now powered by 100% renewable resources! Being awarded this system means a lot to us, and it should mean a lot to you too, because being nice to the Earth should mean a lot to everybody. This hydroelectric power system draws energy directly from Niagara Falls, and extends the portion of our power that we were already drawing from renewable sources to a full 100%.

We were selected for the ReCharge New York installation in recognition of the jobs we are creating in New York State as TurnKey Internet expands. Here’s a fun fact: We have more than doubled our staff in the past two years. Isn’t that crazy? Crazy in the best way possible, of course.

Do you know what else this ReCharge New York system means for us? I told you there were two pieces of Earth Month news, didn’t I? Get ready, I saved the best for last… If you haven’t yet heard, or are impartial to reading titles and/or press releases, our Latham, NY data center now has a zero carbon footprint! This accomplishment is all but unheard of in our industry, so we’re more than a little proud and excited. We feel, and hope you agree, that this accomplishment really sets us apart from the other guys.

If you’re interested in a little more light reading, you can find the press release in our Company News section.

Pssst… Between you and me, we are  running an OUTRAGEOUS sale right now. If you’re interested–and I would recommend being interested–jump on Live Sales Chat. Our Sales Department will tell you what’s up. *cough–HUGE DISCOUNT–cough* …excuse me.

First things first, I do not consider myself a “car guy” whatsoever. I don’t know if Porsche is really pronounced “porsh” or “porsh-a”, I have no idea where Lexuses are manufactured, and I couldn’t tell you what’s under the hood of my dear Subaru that I named “Seabiscuit.” In fact, now that I think about it, I may even be overdue for an oil change…

However, here at TurnKey Internet, we are all about speed and keeping things green and sustainable. That is why I’d like to share some electric cars that are not only stylish, but easy on the environment, crazy-fast, and make me think that the future has arrived!

Now, let’s start with something basic…

The Chevy Volt was officially released in 2011. It may not be the coolest-looking in this bunch, but it’s probably the most affordable. The first one was placed in the General Motors Heritage Center for display, but the second one was auctioned off for $250,000. This money went to help fund math and science programs for Detroit public schools, which is absolutely worth mentioning and very stylish in its own way! The 2013 model will be out this August, and priced at around $40,000.

This next one is pretty darn cool-looking, but probably not the most efficient… and you won’t be able to get your hands on one until 2014. Feast your eyes on the Infiniti Emerg-E Concept—0-60 MPH in 4 seconds, but after 30 miles, be ready to pull over for another charge.

Next, we have the Fisker! While, style-wise, it might be one of my favorites, word has it that they have been cutting some jobs lately, and are supposedly close to going bankrupt. Regardless, here is the Fisker Karma. I wonder what could have brought them to bankruptcy!

A prime competitor of Fisker (if they survive) is a company by the name of Tesla. After ending the Roadster’s production in 2012, Tesla released the Model S. This car can get you 180 miles to 300 miles per charge, depending on the battery. The starting price for one of these bad boys is right around $95,000, and can easily exceed $100,000—but, hey… it costs around $650 to charge it for an entire year!

While I like the old Roadster better, the Model S has a weird, generic car “look”. It’s kind of like a Nissan Altima, if it got with Aston Martin and made a 4-wheeled love-child. In other words, it’s definitely classy-looking, but I’m not quite convinced I like it yet. Don’t get me wrong, if someone wants to buy me one, I’ll drive it.

Check out the Tesla Model S:

I will admit that I enjoy some fairly odd styles. I like paisley ties, and shirts like this. I’d probably even wear them together!

That being said, the electric car at the top of my list is the Mercedes- Benz SLS AMG E-Cell. As far as I could find, it is still in its final stages, and doesn’t have a set release date yet. It can make it to almost 100 miles per charge, and will cost you a couple-hundred-thousand bucks to purchase, but I can just imagine riding alongside 2 Chainz, and “pullin’ up to the scene with”… the majority of the “ceiling missin’”, in this:

Now, like I said, I am not a car kind of dude, so let me know if you think of anything else I can add to my wish-list before I send it off to Santa this year!

Remember, Earth Day is coming up quickly, so please stay green, and, of course, stay classy!

Well, everyone, we are officially one week into April. A business week, anyway. But still, can you believe it? 2013 is flying for us at TurnKey Internet, and it shows no signs of slowing down any time soon, if at all.

Did you survive April Fool’s Day? Surprisingly, it didn’t get too out of hand here. I say “surprisingly”, since, although the TurnKey team may appear to be comprised of seriously awesome, talented, amazing, incredible, terrific, extraordinary, fabulous, additional adjective meaning “great” (because, why not?), super-charged IT heroes—that’s what we appear to be comprised of, right? RIGHT?! Right.—we’re all just a bunch of goofballs and jokesters at heart. Did anyone get you good (or bad) with an April Fool’s Day prank? Did you get anyone? If so, feel free to share… I need some ammunition for next year.

April Fool’s Day is fun, but we love April for dozens of reasons. Aside from a day devoted to being silly, there are, let’s see, blooming flowers… warmer weather—Hey! A girl from Upstate NY can hope, can’t she? My fingers are crossed, yours should be too, and I refuse to acknowledge the fact that it snowed twice this week.

Anyway, there is also Earth Day in the month of April. When you’re green IT fanatics like we are, April’s Earth Day morphs into a month-long celebration of sustainability and the environment. April, for TurnKey Internet and our community, has become Earth Month, if you will. And you will, because we’re devoting the entire month to showing you how cool it is to be green.

If you’re unfamiliar with the TurnKey Internet green initiative, we can’t imagine how, because we love to talk about it. Regardless—and since we love to talk about it—you can read our press release about it all right here.

Check in from time to time this month for green news, stories, announcements, and more, from here, there, and everywhere. We have lots to share!

Are you planning to celebrate Earth Day this month? How do you do your part for the environment? It’s so, incredibly important to take care of the planet. We LIVE here. All of us.

Happy Earth Month!

Okay, TurnKey fans, we need your help and we need it fast!

This month, our friends over at OurEarth.org have been running an amazing campaign. This campaign has been pumping up awareness and enthusiasm for a group of Earth-loving organizations (also amazing) in their efforts to earn some well-deserved cash in Chase’s Community Giving Contest. Basically, OurEarth.org and these charities joined together and collectively devised a goal of scoring $500,000 of Chase’s $5 Million total. OurEarth.org is calling this campaign “Vote for the Planet”, but in the interest of time, laziness, and my own propensity for acronyms, let’s call it V4TP. I’m glad we got that out of the way.

Over the past few weeks, V4TP has been putting up a serious fight against the competition. Out of a participant pool that is nothing short of massive, multiple V4TP organizations are looking at hefty winnings. Particularly noteworthy, is the fact that it’s not just the charity with the most votes that benefits from V4TP. All charities that rank within the top 196 of the total Chase Community Giving vote counts will be given a grant. If you jump over to the “Ranking” page on the V4TP website, you’ll find a quick-look at where your votes stand to make the biggest splash. For instance, bumping the Save the Manatee Club up just one spot would mean a difference of thousands of dollars! Or, pushing The American Hiking Society into the top 196 would, quite literally, make or break it for them in this contest.

Here’s where the sense of urgency comes in: V4TP is ending soon. How soon, you ask? Well, tonight-soon. 12am, EST-soon. Thankfully, the voting process is incredibly easy. There are more details and instructions on the V4TP website, here. Oh, and do you want to hear something really exciting? You are not limited to just one vote. Each participant can earn up to three voting credits on Facebook alone. Are you a Chase customer? If so, you have a little extra pull, and we encourage you to use it!

Lastly, don’t forget to check out the “Done Voting?” page when you’re –wait for it—DONE VOTING. There, you will find a list of ways you can help raise awareness or get involved with the V4TP organizations after all is said and done.

As of 6am today, the V4TP organizations stood to win $290,000. Think we can push them a little higher? I’m sure you, like me, have been told that more is not always better… In this case, it so is.

Green Business Initiatives!

Business success is relying increasingly more on proper computing software and hardware. Regardless of the type of business, computing plays a role of some sort. Small contracting service type businesses use computing for accounting  and to market to their clients, while a larger business with hundreds of staff members manage computer networks to carry out all of the various processes of their respective business.

One of the common denominators  I have seen in many of today’s  businesses is the promotion of green initiatives and making environmentally correct changes  in their business as an image builder to their clients. These green practices range from energy efficient lighting to utilizing biodegradable cleaning products. Most of these businesses make sure it is well known and promoted that they are doing their part in protecting our environment. It has become almost a necessity for many industries that they promote green initiatives to be accepted by their customer base.

As someone knowledgeable with both computing and how we can all do our part to protect the environment, I question the sincerity of many business managers that on one hand self-promote when they make a decision to switch to something like recycled paper while their computing infrastructure is having an increasingly negative effect on the environment. I am not saying they should eliminate their computers and just use recycled paper to run their business. I am suggesting they should become educated on the effects outdated computing has on our environment and make the appropriate decisions to upgrade their computing infrastructure to one that is more technologically advanced and more energy efficient.

The latest studies have revealed that the average PC which is 3-5 years old uses approximately 176 Kilowatt hours of electricity at a cost of about $.17 per kilowatt hour or $30 a month. A server for the average office would generate about double the cost and electrical usage of the PC. To succeed business managers need to keep both costs in line as well as do what seems to be politically and environmentally correct. What many are considering  is moving some or all of their computing infrastructure to an energy conscious green data center. Cloud Computing as it is referred to is growing in record numbers for several reasons such as cost savings, security, accessibility as well as being the right thing to do environmentally. So depending on the amount of computers your company utilizes you could easily determine your savings along with the numerous other benefits of moving to cloud computing.

At Turnkey Internet’s company owned data center we feel we have done as much as we could have regarding green initiatives. We utilized the latest technology that would allow the systems we put in place to be the most energy efficient available. You can learn more about just how we managed this by viewing a short video about our data center. Additionally the electricity we use to power all of our systems comes from 100% renewable resources. We utilize our own rooftop solar system along with hydro-electric power fed directly from Niagara Falls.

So if you are considering moving to cloud computing for your business, I would hope you consider Turnkey Internet not only for the technology, service and security we could provide for your company’s computing needs, but also because you would also be making an environmentally correct choice.

Great News, Due to popular demand – our GREEN celebration revolving around Earth Day 2012, and the grand unveiling of our new green datacenter has been extended through June 1st, 2012!.

There has been so much great feedback about our new GREEN datacenter cloud-hosted products and services – and we wanted to thank everyone for helping us make people aware of how cloud-sourcing, and especially cloud-sourcing at TurnKey Internet’s datacenter can help your business be green too!

Our new green datacenter has its own on-site solar power generation plant, coupled with Hydro Electric and our Cold Containment Pod technology to make for the most energy efficient datacenter of its size anywhere! In just the last few weeks,  thousands of people have signed up and taken advantage of making their computer usage, and company carbon foot prints more green with TurnKey!

If you missed out previously, you can still get your 75% off for life and $100 visa gift card bonus deal through June 1st, 2012!  Be one of the thousands taking advantage of this offer, don’t sit back and miss out on these great deals – and best yet, you can learn more about how to decrease your energy usage for your company’s computer usage by cloud-sourcing!

You can learn more about how to make your businesses IT green, at http://www.turnkeyinternet.net/green

For more info, and to see all the promotions related to this offer please visit http://www.turnkeyinternet.net/cashback to see how you can Get Green for going Green and receive a $100 Visa Gift card bonus!

Former Latham New York U.S. Post Office
This building once stood as the U.S. Post Office serving as a communication hub for thousands of residents here in Colonie. Today it now stands as a modern hub from which millions of people communicate from across the globe.

TurnKey Internet purchases this vacant U.S. Government building in 2010 which had been previously used for 35+ years as the Post Office for Latham, New York. After invested millions in retrofitting the facility with high capacity redundant power, fiber optic and cooling systems to make it a state of the art of Datacenter – TurnKey Internet launched it as their new flagship GREEN Datacenter in 2012.  The official ribbon cutting was April 18th, 2012 – and here is the video of the entire event, as well as the transcript of the speech from our CEO, Adam Wills.

Thank you Mark, thank you for the kind words, appreciate it.  Thank you everyone for coming out here today.  I really want to thank the partners that helped make this happen.  Jim Conroy from NYBDC, Kevin Catalano from the Technology Accelerator Fund, Phil Engborg from M&T Bank – These guys helped see the vision to assist us in getting this project done.  Thank you guys, you stood up and helped get to the vision we had, and I really appreciate that.  National Grid and NYSERDA you were very helpful in funding some of the green technologies we were able to bring to the project that has helped set TurnKey aside from others in this industry.

This building at one time back in the 1970’s was the U.S. Post office.  It used to be the communications hub for about 8,000 residents here in Colonie, NY.  Today, it sits as the modern communications hub for millions of people across the globe.  Clients from 100 different countries access their data through this facility right now.  It’s the old vs the new, it’s the way people communicate today – its very different. 

Up above us on the roof is our own dedicated solar power plant.  We are producing clean renewable energy that is powering up to 75% of our facility right this very second.  We are focused on green technologies not because it’s just the ‘in thing’, but to be sustainable in this business for the next 20, 50, 100 years you have to look to these types of green clean efficient uses of technology. 

We have made significant multi-million dollar investments here in special green cold containment pods, smart aisle precision cooling, and many other things that you will have the chance to see when you go in for a tour.  All of these make this datacenter among the most green, the most efficient you will find not only in New York state but across the globe.

New York’s Tech Valley region has talked about being the leader in Green Business.  I really feel this facility, with the partners that helped make this happen; the Chambers, the funding partners, NYSERDA, National Grid; you have all shown the commitment to making Green businesses happen here in Tech Valley, and I think this facility is a monument to that.

Thank you all for coming today.

It began April 17th, 2012 – Greenpeace ran it’s story about How Clean is your Cloud taking to task some of the industry giants such as Microsoft, Apple, Google and Dell – for not being as forthcoming about their energy consumption and lack of green technologies being utilized to their potential. This story set off a chain reaction of events from Apple, and even GreenPeace activists bringing awareness across the globe about Datacenters and energy utilization. It is currently leading to public protests in front of Amazon and Microsoft’s headquarters to bring awareness on the subject.

Just 18 hours later, after GreenPeace ran it’s report, TurnKey Internet unveiled it’s new Green Datacenter in New York’s Tech Valley Region showing off the latest in both Renewable Energy (both Solar, and HydroElectric) as well as massive investments in new state of the art technology that reduces energy consumption by up to 33% versus other datacenters across the globe. TurnKey Internet had already been working on this new Green Datacenter for over 12 months to release it, but the timing couldn’t be better to help everyone understand the importance of utilizing Green based technology for your “Cloud” and Datacenter.

Datacenters use massive quantities of energy, by 2020 the datacenter and Cloud Services industry will be as big of a polluter as the airline industry. Datacenters centralize power consumption, and help businesses greatly reduce their energy consumption through virtualization and shared/scaling of their Cloud resources- but as you place 100,000’s of businesses into a datacenter that makes that datacenter now consume the power of a small city or town all in one small location. True, that datacenter will still net huge savings on power consumption versus those same 100,000’s of businesses running their own office services or power consumption desktop pc’s all the time – but that doesn’t mean the Datacenter its self is exempt from being both efficient and leveraging every possible modern green technology and renewable energy resource available.

So how does this impact you directly? Well GreenPeace has fired the first bullet quite frankly, publicly shedding light on this subject to help promote awareness for Earth Day 2012. GreenPeace has now gone as far as to bring public demonstrations to protest the lack of green efficient technologies and lack of utilization of renewable energies for some of the biggest datacenter players world wide. GreenPeace’s message is simple:

■ Be more transparent about their energy usage and carbon footprint, and to share innovative solutions so that the rest of the sector can improve;

■ Develop a siting policy that demonstrates a preference to build data centers in areas where clean energy can power the facility;

■ Invest in or directly purchase renewable energy;

■ Demand that governments and electric utilities increase the amount of renewable electricity available on the grid.

We, at TurnKey also share this same vision. Knowing full well that our business model for providing Cloud Services is all about helping businesses to leverage lower cost, higher performing resources in The Cloud to replace their expensive, power-hungry in-office IT solutions of today is only 1 part of the equation. It’s vital every Cloud Service provider be leveraging advanced Green Technologies, and renewable energy or they will be part of the problem (and by 2020, among the worst polluters on the planet!).

So if your business is hosting with one of the ‘dirty’ Clouds as Greenpeace terms it – you better talk to your Cloud provider and tell them what you want, or find a Cloud provider that has made investments in the future, to responsibly provide for your IT needs now, and by 2020!