Oct. 31, 2012 (1:28 pm) By: Matthew Humphries
New York is a major hub of data center activity. Google even went so far as to spend $1.9 billion buying the 111th 8th Avenue building in Manhattan. But with Hurricane Sandy causing chaos throughout the city, leaving millions without power, and flooding key transport links, it’s not surprising to see data centers in the area struggling. They all need plenty of power to keep on running, and reserves must be in short supply or inaccessible at least.
Some companies are determined to keep their servers running, however, and the 75 Broad Street building in Lower Manhattan is one such example of that. Employees from Peer 1 Hosting, Squarespace, and Fog Creek Software either run or rely on the data center and currently have it running off backup generators. The problem is, those generators run on diesel and are located on the 17th floor.
With no power there’s no access to elevators and the pumps that usually take the diesel from the building’s basement are apparently submerged and inaccessible for now. So employees have gone back to basics. You’ll find a group of 25 of them regularly carrying 5 gallon buckets of diesel up the 17 flights of stairs to the generators ensuring they don’t run out of gas. They’ve been doing this since yesterday, and will continue to do so until the basement is clear and the main fuel pump can be engaged.
If you rely on any services offered by Peer 1 Hosting, then know that your access to those services is currently in the hands of this bucket brigade. Now that’s dedication for you!
More at Squarespace and Data Center Knowledge