Status on HG in regards to Hurricane Rita

[stakano]

HG staff,

Please state what your plans are to keep running and to weather this storm.

Thanks.

[TeeJa]

I'm sure HG is praying like all of us.
The data center is a long way from the coast, and unless the lines to it are damaged, the center will keep running with there own generators. Hope a lot of there lines are under ground?
But then there is a lot of other issues that are beyond all our control, as Houston is a major center also, where a large part of the Backbone for routing is.

But far as Dallas goes, a lot of wind & rain, but not 175 mph stuff, less than 70 would be my guess.
I just hope we get a little rain here for my lawn from it.

[fuzzfree]

I just looked into SM/TP forums and I paste the announcement plus 2 answers of SM/TP staff...


Here is the announcement from THE PLANET

As we monitor the situation in the Gulf of Mexico, we would like to remind our customers that we are exceptionally equipped to handle disaster. While the Dallas area is not expected to take a substantial hit, we are fully prepared for any weather-related issues. Our fully redundant network and power infrastructure are in place to ensure high availability offerings. Our main datacenter is state-of-the-art in both security and design and is one of the only datacenters rated to withstand an F5 grade tornado. Our facility and network engineers are on site 24/7 to monitor the impact of Hurricane Rita and will be able to address any unforeseen issues immediately. We will also have additional staff scheduled throughout this time.

Additionally, our Business Continuance Center is also poised and ready for any customers who have secured that option as part of their disaster plan. With 3,500 square feet of flexible space equipped with all the necessities to keep any business up and running, we are very proud to offer this critical service to our customers.

We are closely monitoring the situation and will keep you updated on any developments.

Some answers from the staff

We run regular generator tests and our datacenters are built to widthstand the kind of punishment thats coming our way. And as James said the storm will be much weaker by the time it gets to Dallas. We'll be fine. Smile

Most of Houston is above sea level. I'm sure the storm itself will do quite a bit of damage, but I wouldn't expect to see the kind of flooding that New Orleans got.

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Dallas is located in a part of Texas called the Blackland Praries. It ranges between 450-1000 ft above sea level and is about 300 miles from the Gulf Coast. Those interested can check a map here. There are floodplains the the west and south of downtown Dallas (ref: Google Maps). As Hogie said we haven't had much of any rain this season, and the ground should be able to soak up quite a bit.

D2 is located approximately 2,500 ft northeast of the nearest flood plain. IIRC the building is built to widthstand a level 3 tornado (I need to check with facilities on this to be sure). D4 is located in downtown Dallas about 3,000 northeast of the closest floodplain. The building is an old federal and is built like a fortress. D3 and D5 are located in the Infomart. It's across I-35 from the D2 facility. I don't know the structural details, but I'm sure a "technology community" has a decent facility. Smile All facilities have generator backups that are tested regularly.