July 2006
The Fisher Plaza power outage was caused by a faulty switching mechanism between the generators and the main power feed that failed to activate as expected. The mechanism had to be manipulated manually in order to restore service. Fisher Plaza has replaced this mechanism and upgraded the controlling software for the generator set.
Upon deeper review, Adhost is satisfied that Fisher Plaza closely followed the manufacturers’ specifications for maintenance and testing of the entire power infrastructure. This particular component failed well outside of normal expectations. Adhost is working with Fisher Plaza to modify testing procedures to be more frequent and stringent than those required by the manufacturers of all of the various components so we can minimize the likelihood of similar events occurring in the future.
Also as a result of the outage, Adhost has conducted an extensive internal audit of our procedures and infrastructure and made several key changes to enhance both over the long term:
Procedurally, we are modifying our communications plans for customers during both planned and unplanned events. Please watch your email in the upcoming weeks for more details. A major component in this is how we communicate with customers if key systems are unavailable for any reason. We are also looking at scheduling additional testing of all critical components in our network and physical infrastructure to simulate failures and more fully test our systems’ ability to withstand predictable negative events in a controlled environment. We will, of course, announce all such tests.
To eliminate any infrastructure deficiencies, Adhost has replaced all of the batteries within our UPS well before the scheduled replacement date. It was also determined that load values being displayed on our UPS were no longer correct, and while we were still within the UPS’s capacity, we had exceeded our internal guidelines for maximum loading of the UPS unit. Since this discovery, Adhost has added additional, redundant UPS capacity. This not only reduces the load on our original system, it provides additional capacity for future anticipated growth. We have also modified our procedures by scheduling independent power audits that verify the exact amount of usage on the system as well as providing milestones for future maintenance and upgrades.
As a result of our strong growth, Adhost would like to take this opportunity to announce that we have recently added additional, redundant cooling capacity to our facility. We are confident that this will service our anticipated growth within the current data center for the foreseeable future. This represents the completion of a planned project that, due to unforeseen circumstances, was delayed a number of months longer than we had originally hoped.
We appreciate your patience and patronage during these events. We hope to reassure you of our dedication to providing unparalleled service to you in achieving your online objectives. If you have any questions, please contact us at support@adhost.com or through your sales representative. The Adhost Business Office will be closed on Tuesday, July 4 for the Independence Day Holiday; however, our technical services office will be on our regular 24 hour schedule. You can reach technical support by phone at 206-404-9500 or 1-888-234-6781 or by email at support@adhost.com. Search Engine News If you’re looking to get your products or services listed in local search engines and directories, check out the Local Search Guide which is sponsored by the Yellow Pages Association. The Guide profiles Internet Yellow Page sites, search engines, search tools and vertical directories.
To learn even more about local search, check out the Local Search Article Archive on the Clickz Network.
