Regional Datacenter Lab

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West Texas Datacenter and Technology Lab Google Group - please join!

The idea is a Regional Datacenter Lab that houses servers, networking, storage, etc. for the purpose of allowing school districts, government offices, businesses, etc. to gain knowledge and experience of various technologies without needing a large initial investment upfront to purchase their own hardware for testing.

Not only could it be used for demoing and testing, but companies such as Dell, HP, Cisco, etc. could come and do training and likely get more regional "potential customers" to attend than they might when offering training in Austin, Dallas, or somewhere else.


Contents

[edit] Uses for the Lab

  • Vendor Technology Training
The Lab could host vendors such as Dell, HP, Cisco, etc, to provide training sessions. More likely to have school districts and others attend than making a trip to Dallas, Austin, or other?
  • General Technology Training
General technology workshops and demos. This could increase the technology training for our regional school district technology staff as well as other regional technology staff
  • Proof of Concept
Lab resources could be used by vendors to show proof of concepts, or a smaller entities could use the lab for an exclusive proof of concept.
  • Demo/Testing
Similar to proof of concept, but school districts, businesses, et al. could schedule use of the Lab for testing a particular technology without needing to purchase hardware upfront. Also similar to training in that the entity could practice installing and setting up servers and software.
  • Temporary Disaster Recover Site
Lab could be utilized as a disaster recovery site when needed. The Datacenter Lab could be scheduled out so that it temporarily operates exclusively as a school district's, businesses', etc. datacenter during a DR period.

[edit] Potential Hardware Vendors that might be interested

Would this be something that would interest some of the hardware vendors? They would have a more regionally-local location to offer training, which could likely increase their customer base by getting more of the regional entities to attend (that wouldn't, otherwise) than they might have when offering training in Austin, Dallas, or somewhere else. Would schools be more likely to send someone to the Regional Datacenter Lab for training vs. to Dallas or Austin? YES. Would it be cheaper for the schools?

  • Dell
  • Cisco
  • Hewlett-Packard
  • EMC
  • IBM

[edit] Potential Sponsors

Would there be an interest of various hardware, software, and service vendors to provide sponsorship? What would need to be in place for this?

  • Same as Hardware Vendors above
  • Universities
  • Goodfellow Air Force Base
  • Canonical
  • Rackspace
  • Intel
  • Google
  • Microsoft
  • Local Foundations
  • Local businesses

[edit] Potential locations for hosting sites

[edit] Blocking Factors

  • Money
Would it be easier to fund by doing the leasing option? Or should the hardware be purchased?
Where does the money come from?
  • Time
I think the time aspect really relates to having people available to setup/tear-down hardware and be available during Lab sessions.
There's also the need for management and maintenance of the Lab
Time sort of blends in with Staffing
  • Staffing
Staffing could likely be solved by virtue of where the lab is located, such as a university, college, or existing business. However, is this something that would require 8a-5p dedicated staff? Student workers?
  • Administrative support/backing
Would the regional businesses, education institutions, etc be in support of such an idea?

[edit] Infrastructure

....

[edit] Potential Funding Resources

West Texas Coalition for Innovation and Commercialization provides funds for businesses through the Emerging Technology Fund for technology commercialization and technology research.
SanAngeloEcoDev on Twitter
  • Hardware vendors
  • Local sponsors such as businesses, educational institutions
Could something be worked out with ASU, Howard, Goodfellow, Texas State Data Center (and others?) where they "rent" dedicated space for training or other? Somewhat of a sponsorship?

[edit] Partnerships

What partnerships could be formed?

  • Angelo State University
  • Howard College
  • West Texas Training Center
  • Education Service Center XV
  • San Angelo ISD
  • City of San Angelo
  • Tom Green County
  • Goodfellow AFB
  • other San Angelo area businesses, institutions, and facilities
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