Location
• There are redundant 2500 amp main breakers at 480 volts giving us 122-watts/sq. ft. The current load on the highest phase of each 2500 amp breaker “A” & “B” is 290-amps and 415-amps respectively.
• There are currently 190 Collocated cabinets, 126 Collocated two post racks, 15 Collocated four post racks and 3,833 sq. ft. of Collocated cage space.
• The facility is approximately 18,000 sq.ft. with an estimated 14,000 sq.ft. devoted to Dedicated and Collocated web hosting.
• This facility is designed to facilitate our collocated (33%), dedicated (14%) and caged (53%) web hosting customers.

Power Systems
• The site is equipped with two Katolite 1500 kW diesel engine generators with 2,000 gallons of fuel each and a 5-second response in the event of a power disruption.
• Generators can run for 48hrs. and can be refueled while running thus providing non-stop power.
• There are nearly 100 30-amp APC UPS units providing power to our Dedicated Managed server cabinets & racks.
• The Collocated customers are fed primarily from a 225kVA United Power Static Transfer Switch (STS). The Load on the STS is 54%. The primary power source for the STS is a 240kVA APC Silcon UPS. The current load on the APC UPS is 52% or 155amps with a peak load of 257amps. The secondary power source for the STS is a 300kVA Powerware UPS. There is no load on the Powerware UPS as it is strictly for redundancy.
• Every cabinet is equipped with either a 30-amp or 20-amp circuit. Three additional 40kVA APC UPS systems are installed for 2N redundancy and future expansion.

Cooling Systems
• We have 17 Air Conditioning Units. Thirteen Liebert raised floor units providing 20 tons each of cooling for the computer load and 4 packaged units for the electrical and transport rooms totaling over 300 tons of cooling throughout the facility.
• Each Air Conditioning unit operates independently with dedicated Drycoolers Security Systems
• The facility is equipped with a security code keypad and card reader at the data center entrance to prevent unauthorized access and card readers at all other entrance/exit doors.
• There are surveillance cameras located throughout the facility to monitor all activity 24x7 and stored on tape.

Network Architecture
• The datacenter has multiple carrier providers with d-marks from XO, Verizon, MCI, & NEON. All access, distribution, and core switches are Enterasys N3-1s. The routers are Juniper M40’s. For access from the data center to the rest of the world we have an OC-12 from MCI to the UUNet Charleton, MA Pop and dark fiber connections from Neon which run to 800 Boylston St where we connect to Global NAPs and 300 Bent Street where we connect to Level 3.

Fire Suppression
• Fire detection above and below the floor with photo electric (flame detection) and Ionization (smoke detection) sensors below the floor and three separate beam detectors across the ceiling space.
• A single zone interlock pre-action sprinkler system exists with sprinkler heads discharging water when temperature reaches above 165 degrees.
• Water is supplied by the city.

Maintenance
• All preventative maintenance is performed under the national maintenance agreement between Allegiance Telecom and Edwards &Kelsey.
• Generators are maintained semi-annually.
• UPS Systems are maintained semi-annually.
• Fire Systems are maintained quarterly.
• HVAC cooling systems are maintained quarterly.

Машинный зал обеспечивает гибкий быстроскоростной доступ к серверам. Дублирующее кольцо маршрутизаторов обеспечивает подключение к IP используя каналы связи OC-48. Конечное соединение и сервис включают ATM, Frame Relay, местные линии, IP и локальные переключатели и обеспечивают доступ и контроль за рабоспособностью систем.

Каналы Мы используем несколько поставщиков каналов связи обеспечивая 100% запас пропускной способности. а так же разнесенные точки ввода кабелей предупреждая возможность чисто механических неполадок.

Безопасность

Круговая безопасность предусматривает:
Внешнее видеонаблюдение за помещениями
Внутреннее видеонаблюдение за помещениями
Двери с электронными замками
Ограничение доступа персонала в помещения
Инфракрасная система защиты блоков
"Кабинетная" система содержания техники
Противопожарная инфракрасная система безопасности

Контроль параметров окружающей среды

Мы конролируем температуру в машинном зале на уровне 18 градусов Цельсия и необходимую влажность используюя цех кондиционирования воздуха. Наши мощные кондиционеры и обогреватели держат установленные параметры невзирая на погоду.

Защита от возгорания конролируется автоматической системой противопожарной безопасности FM-200 использующей в качестве тушения инертный газ.

The Network

Physically diverse SONET connectivity to multiple Tier 1 carriers for low latency, high performance and high availability.

For the majority of our clientele the provision of high-speed, reliable, internet access is as necessary as the space in which they colocate their equipment. To ensure that the maximum level of service and reliability available.

CORE INFRASTRUCTURE
Edge access to customer equipment is provided via Enterasys N3 layer 2 switchgear. Each customer has the option of connecting via single or dual homed Ethernet connections. Each N3 switch is fed via gigabit Ethernet by a pair of Juniper M40 terrabit routers. Known for many times the capacity, reliability, and performance of other industry brands, using Juniper equipment ensures that under all conditions customer traffic is delivered over the most advantageous path and with the lowest latency.

UPSTREAM CONNECTIVITY
BDCI has chosen to purchase guaranteed network transit through established Tier 1 providers to provide Internet Access to its customers. With over 2 gigabits of transit available at any time, and connectivity to no less than two Tier 1 providers, BDCI guarantees the highest level of performance and reliability available in its published SLA.

NETWORK MONITORING
BDCI monitors for both uptime and performance every element in its network, from traffic levels to customer equipment to latency of packets leaving via each upstream provider. Real-time statistics are available to customers via secure, private web interfaces and include such items as data transfer based on traffic time, time of day, temperature of equipment, and over utilization on the BDCI network. Unusual activity is immediately flagged and customers are contacted.

The Facility

Boston Datacenters facility is a state of the art computer center in downtown Boston, and situated on the intersection of two power grids. The facility was designed with 100% uptime and customer convenience as its key requirements.

POWER
Boston Datacenters’ main hosting facility is located in Boston Massachusetts at the intersection of the Somerville and Boston power grids. BDCI is connected to both grids not only making it unique among New England based datacenters, but ensuring that even if one public utility power source suffers an outage there is still electricity provided to the facility. Both power grids have not suffered simultaneous outages since the separation of the systems over thirty years ago. Despite the best primary systems, it is still essential that a well designed datacenter have access to emergency backup power. BDCI maintains not one but two 1.5 megawatt diesel electric generators, either one of which is capable of supporting the entire center in the event of a complete loss of public utility power. Onsite fuel storage capability is sufficient for 7 days of continuous operation and contracts with several diesel delivery services guarantee additional fuel availability within 24-hours of request. These generators are started, run under load, and maintained twice monthly to ensure that they are available 100% of the time. Both the primary and backup power supplies are buffered through a pair of United Power 18000 amp hour Uninterruptible Power Supplies. During the 1-2 second transition between power grids or the 10-35 second generator spin up cycles, AC power is necessarily interrupted to the data center and battery systems must fill in for this short time period. These UPS systems ensure that even in the absence of AC power client equipment is supplied with electricity not just for 35 seconds but for up to nine hours regardless of primary of backup AC power availability.

ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL
Aside from power loss the data centers greatest enemy is heat build up. With modern filer servers getting smaller and smaller as well as hotter and hotter the amount of heat generated per square foot of datacenters space is almost 7 times that of what was common just a few years ago. BDCI has installed 13 Liebert Environmental Control Units to maintain proper temperature and humidity (too little humidity can cause static electric build up and damage equipment) of which only 9 are required for normal operation, leaving 4 units to provide N+1 backup. Further, the use of elevated flooring as a plenum airflow space (rather than for data cables) allows cool air to be dynamically directed wherever needed rather than relying on fixed ductwork. And finally, the use of 22 foot ceilings allows natural convection to carry heat up and away from equipment where is can partially dissipate before requiring cooling, a technique employed in government datacenters for over forty years. To ensure that new connections are made in a timely manner and that troubleshooting existing connections is as simple as possible, BDCI maintains over 4,700 feet of open grid data cable guide and 8,000 feet of pre-wired cable infrastructure. Suspended above customer cabinets, cages, and racks and divided into three levels, fiber optic, LAN data (Ethernet) and telecom (DS1/DS3), cable types are separated and easily accessible to technicians. Further, the installation of power under the elevated floor eliminates any need possibility of Electro Magnetic Interference with data signaling and addresses several safety and labor concerns that arise when data and electrical signaling are intermingled.

OUTSIDE WIRE AND CABLE PLANT
No matter how much planning and how much redundancy go into the inside construction of a datacenter, if connectivity to the outside world is interrupted it becomes [meaningless]. To prevent data outages BDCI has contracted for complete diverse dual entrances for its supporting fiber optic network. In place today, one path leaves the campus heading East towards downtown Boston, the other West via Somerville and Cambridge.

Full Open Rack

• Rack 8 feet high
• 10-30 AMPs AC on Dedicated UPS
• 24/7 Access
  

Half Open Rack

• Rack 4 feet high
• 10-30 AMPs AC on Dedicated UPS
• 24/7 Access

Third Open Rack

• Rack 2 1/2 feet high
• 10-30 AMPs AC on Dedicated UPS
• 24/7 Access

Options

• Redundant Power Feed
• Additional Ethernet Drop
• Additonal AC Amps
• Additonal DC Amps
• Tape Rotation (Nightly or Weekly)
• Port Monitoring
• Cross Connects
• and More ...

The Allegiance Telecom data center in Boston was repurchased in July by its original owners, the founders of HarvardNet.

Charlestown, MA (10-06-04) - In June, 2004, Bill Southworth and Vin Bono incorporated Boston Datacenters Inc. to re-purchase Boston's premier hosting facility from the Allegiance Telecom Bankruptcy Trust.

Bill Southworth founded HarvardNet in 1994 and grew the company as a bootstrapped, self-financed business to $6M in sales and an unsurpassed reputation for service.

HarvardNet had many firsts and even more accolades. It was the first company to offer DSL services in New England, first to offer automated self-signup web hosting, and first to have a guaranteed escalation response to assure that customers always could reach someone who could solve their problems.

When HarvardNet purchased an internet division from General Electric in 1996, Vin Bono, then heading the GE operation, became Vice President of Engineering for HarvardNet with responsibility for the expanded HarvardNet network. Vin was soon responsible for the design and building of one of the most advanced and reliable internet exchange points and hosting facilities ever built, the hosting facility at 500 Rutherford Avenue in Charlestown MA, a Boston neighborhood close to the heart of Boston's financial district and city government.

In 2001, HarvardNet, then with over 600 employees and $250M in investment, was acquired by Allegiance Telecom. The Charlestown Data Center housed Hosting.com, a division of Allegiance and the leading provider of internet hosting services. In May of 2004, Vin learned of the planned closing of the data center by bankrupt Allegiance. Together, Bill and Vin bid to purchase the facility and acquired the center from Allegiance Liquidation Trust on July 1, 2004.

In November of 2004, Robert (Bo) Bennett joined Bill and Vinny on the board of directors.

In 1994, Bo founded Adgrafix Corporation which was one of the first web hosting companies. He developed one of the very first web-based hosting control panels as well as the first known web-based affiliate programs.

In 2001, Adgrafix Corporation was bought by Allegiance Telecom the day before they bought HarvardNet. Shortly after, Bo left Allegiance and started Archieboy Holdings, LLC., a holding company for over 25 web hosting divisions.

Together, Bill, Vinny and Bo possess over 35 years of Internet and web hosting experience.

The facility is still a showpiece of internet engineering. The location of this facility was carefully selected for its proximity to two power grids. It sits on the nexus of the Somerville and Boston power systems and receives power from both, regulated by a multi-million dollar power management system. The two grids have not both suffered failure at the same time in nearly thirty years.

Multiple physical connections to the Internet were carefully trenched at diverse locations throughout the office complex to avoid single cut outages, particularly during the construction of the Big Dig.

Under the previous ownership, much of this careful infrastructure planning was abandoned over the past several years due to cost-cutting and mismanagement in the struggling Allegiance operation.

Boston Datacenters officially took possession of the data center at midnight on July 1, 2004. At 12:15, the dark fiber links to all of Boston's major Internet hubs and OC-12's to multiple Tier 1 providers were fired up.

While the infrastructure of the center was current and well maintained, the server and network equipment had been neglected and was in need of replacement. The new Boston Datacenters network is run by dual Juniper M4 terrabit routers and Enterasys N3 layer 2 switchgear.

The upgrading of the facility and network have paid off. In a major departure from most data centers, where your call may be directed across multiple continents to a call center halfway around the world, a Boston Datacenters customer can reach a network technician physically located in the data center 24 hours a day on the first phone call.

Boston Datacenters' Charlestown facility, located conveniently in downtown Boston, is accessible by car, MBTA or commuter rail.

Located at 500 Rutherford Avenue, in Charlestown, part of metropolitan Boston, Boston Datacenters' hosting facility is a short walk from Boston's financial district and city government. Conveniently located between the North Station and Sullivan Square MBTA stops, the facility also has free parking and delivery docks. Customers have 24/7 access to the facility, while the security of their installation is controlled by access cards, on-site security, and recorded video throughout the facility.

FROM WEST OF BOSTON
Take the Mass Turnpike (I 90) east towards Boston. Follow exit marked 24 A-B-C/I-93/S. STATION towards Concord NH. Continue on I-93 North until the Sullivan Square (RT-99) exit (#28), the first exit after Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge. Turn right at the bottom of the ramp. Take an immediate right at the lights. Proceed onto Sullivan Square rotary. Take the first exit from the rotary, immediately after the Brazilian Baptist Church, onto Rutherford Avenue. Enter parking lot at the Hood Business Center.

FROM NORTH OF BOSTON
Take I-93 South to the Mystic Avenue exit towards Charlestown/Sullivan Square,exit (#28). Proceed to Sullivan Square rotary (two lights). Take the first exit from the rotary, just after the Brazilian Baptist Church, onto Rutherford Avenue. Enter the Hood Business Center parking lot.

FROM SOUTH OF BOSTON
I-93 North until the Sullivan Square (RT-99) exit (#28), the first exit after Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge. Turn right at the bottom of the ramp. Take an immediate right at the lights. Proceed onto Sullivan Square rotary. Take the first exit from the rotary, immediately after the Brazilian Baptist Church, onto Rutherford Avenue. Enter parking lot at the Hood Business Center.

FROM DOWNTOWN BOSTON VIA MBTA
Take Orange Line to Bunker Hill Station and walk north on Rutherford Avenue past Bunker Hill Community College. Hood Business Park is immediately after.

FROM DOWNTOWN BOSTON, NORTH STATION (commuter trains)
Either take the Orange Line to Bunker Hill or Sullivan Square Station, or walk over the Washington Street Bridge to City Square and then follow Rutherford Avenue for about .5 mi.

FROM DOWNTOWN BOSTON VIA AUTOMOBILE
By car, take the Washington Street Bridge (near North Station), to Charlestown, City Square. North Washington Street becomes Rutherford Avenue as soon as you cross the Charles River. Proceed about .5 mi. Hood Office Park is on the left. Depending on the prevailing winds, you may need to go around the Sullivan Square rotary to get to the southbound side of Rutherford Avenue.

Our Commitment to Service

The management of Boston Datacenters built their reputations by providing service that is way beyond the ordinary. All Boston Datacenters management are available to address customer problems at all times. As a customer you have the option of escalating any technical or billing problem to BDC's President or Chairman at your discretion and at your convenience. A simple approach makes Boston Datacenters different from other internet providers: we answer when you call; we're located at the Data Center, not an offshore call center; we care enough to be sure your satisfied with our response. We are driven not by a corporate edict but by a personal passion to provide the best possible service at all times.

Our technical staff is well-trained and always supportive. We also are continually adding specialized staff to support emerging applications and technologies. As an example, we are investing in a High Performance Clustering team or programmers and mathematicians to provide the expertise needed to assist our customers in deploying clusters of 50 to 1000 processors working in tandem for hosting and computational applications.

We have trained specialists on staff for Windows hosting, Linux and FreeBSD hosting, Apple Xserve hosting, as well as application specialists for Perl, Python, Zope, and other web development tools.

What's different about Boston Datacenters? We answer your call and we respond. You can always reach someone at the center. You can always reach a company owner.

And that's something different from all the other hosting companies. When you call us you won't get a call center in India. You won't get a call center in Dallas. You'll get a knowledgeable technician at the data center. We won't tell you we'll get back to you within 48 hours. We'll answer you now.

Usually, to get the kind of service we offer, you'd need to compromise. For a high end facility with 100% uptime you'd expect to go to a large company with big company bureaucracy. We're a small company with Boston's finest Internet facility and finest support. Come and visit and see for yourself.

SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT

This Service Level Agreement specifies the standards to which Boston Datacenters, Inc. (BDCI) shall adhere while providing its contracted customers with any services.

1. NETWORK SERVICES
Network Services are provided as the means for BDCI Collocated and offsite customers to access the Internet
a. At no time will the round trip latency between customer equipment directly attached to the BDCI network and any of BDCI’s upstream, TIER-1 providers, exceed 23ms as calculated by ICMP pings.
b. At no time will less than two (2) TIER-1 internet providers be more than two (2) router hops away from the BDCI network.
c. At no time will utilization on the whole of the BDCI network exceed 85%.
d. At no time will the customer be unable to reach the majority of the public internet services outside the BDCI network.
e. Any violation of items 1.a through 1.d for longer than 15 contiguous minutes, other than during a Maintenance Event, shall be treated as “Downtime” for the purpose of BDCI contract credits.

2. POWER SERVICES
Power Services are provided to BDCI collocated customers in BDCI Datacenters.
a. AC UPS power shall be available to collocated customers 100% of the time at nominal voltage of 115VAC and frequency of 60Hz.
b. AC non-UPS power shall be available to collocated customers 100% of the time while public utility power is available and will be unavailable for no more than five (5) minutes in the event of a public utility power outage.
c. DC power shall be available to collocated customers on either the “A” provided leg or the “B” provided leg 100% of the time at nominal voltage of -48VDC. At no time either leg be unavailable for more than six (6) hours.
d. Any violation of items 2.a through 2.d, other than during a Maintenance Event, shall be treated as “Downtime” for the purpose of BDCI contract credits.

3. ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES
Environmental Services are provided to BDCI collocated customers in BDCI Datacenters.
a. The ambient temperature of any BDCI Datacenter shall be kept at no lower than fifty two (52) degrees Fahrenheit and no higher than Seventy Five (75) degrees Fahrenheit.
b. The relative humidity in a BDCI Datacenter will be kept at no less than 35% and no greater than 75%.
c. Any violation of items 3.a or 3.b for longer than two (2) contiguous hours, other than during a Maintenance Event, shall be treated as “Downtime” for the purpose of BDCI contract credits.

4. MAINTENANCE EVENTS
From time to time it is necessary to perform services and routing maintenance on the hardware, software, or configuration of either that are used to provide any services to BDCI customers. Maintenance Events are categorized into four groups as follows:
a. ROUTINE MAINTENANCE is defined as normal events or actions involved in the day-to-day operation of the Network, Datacenters, and supporting facilities which do not cause services provided to customers to become unavailable. Maintenance of this type may be performed at any time during the day or night depending on the specific nature of the work involved. Individual Customers may be notified of such events if they involve equipment that directly supports that Customer, and if so such notification will be no later than three (3) calendar days prior to the event.
b. PLANNED MAINTENANCE is defined as planned events which MAY cause services provided to customers to become unavailable. Maintenance of this type which MAY be service affecting will be performed in the BDCI maintenance window of 3:00AM to 6:00AM Eastern Standard Time. Customers will be notified of such events no later than twenty one (21) calendar days prior to the event. Every reasonable effort will be made to ensure that no BDCI provided services are affected or made unavailable during such events.
c. CRITICAL MAINTENANCE is defined as planned events which are intended to prevent and/or correct the unanticipated failure of any hardware, software, or the configuration of either, which is used to provide services to BDCI customers. Maintenance of this type will be performed in the BDCI maintenance window of 3:00AM to 6:00AM Eastern Standard Time. Customers will be notified of such events no later than (24) twenty four hours prior to the event. Every reasonable effort will be made to ensure that no BDCI provided services are affected or made unavailable during such events. Critical Maintenance must be authorized by BDCI Senior Staff.
d. EMERGENCY MAINTENANCE is defined as unplanned events which are intended to correct the failure or immanent failure of any hardware, software, or the configuration of either, which is used to provide services to BDCI customers. Maintenance of this type will be performed as soon as is practical and every reasonable effort with be made to notify Customers as soon as the decision to perform the event is made. Every reasonable effort will be made to ensure that no BDCI provided services are affected or made unavailable during such events. Emergency Maintenance must be authorized by BDCI Executive Staff.

Boston Datacenters, Inc.
Service Level Agreement
Revised 18 July 2004

ACCEPTABLE USE

This Acceptable Use Policy specifies the actions prohibited by Boston Datacenters, Inc. ("BDCI") to users of the BDCI Network and Datacenter Facilities. BDCI reserves the right to modify the Policy at any time, effective upon posting of the modified Policy to this page.

ILLEGAL USE

The BDCI Network and Datacenter Facilities may be used only for lawful purposes. Transmission, distribution or storage of any material in violation of any applicable law or regulation is prohibited.

ELECTRONIC (On the Network, on Collocated Storage devices, etc.)

This includes, without limitation, material protected by copyright, trademark, trade secret or other intellectual property right used without proper authorization, and material that is obscene, defamatory, constitutes an illegal threat, or violates export control laws.

PHYSICAL (In the Datacenters)

This includes, without limitation, controlled substances, firearms, explosives, or any other contraband, product, or material hazardous or otherwise, which is prohibited by any applicable law or regulation.

SYSTEM AND NETWORK SECURITY

Violations of system or network security are prohibited, and may result in criminal and civil liability. BDCI will investigate incidents involving such violations and may involve and will cooperate with law enforcement if a criminal violation is suspected. Examples of system or network security violations include, without limitation, the following:

ELECTRONIC (On the Network, on Collocated Storage devices, etc.)
• Unauthorized access to or use of data, systems or networks, including any attempt to probe, scan or test the vulnerability of a system or network or to breach security or authentication measures without express authorization of the owner of the system or network. • Unauthorized monitoring of data or traffic on any network or system without express authorization of the owner of the system or network.
• Interference with service to any user, host or network including, without limitation, mailbombing, flooding, deliberate attempts to overload a system and broadcast attacks.
• Forging of any TCP-IP packet header or any part of the header information in an email or a newsgroup posting.

PHYSICAL (In the Datacenters)
• Any attempts at accessing or tampering with BDCI equipment.
• Any attempts at accessing or tampering with other customers’ cabinets, cages, or racks.
• Any attempts at accessing or tampering with other customers other tenants’ premises at a BDCI location.

EMAIL

Sending unsolicited email messages, including, without limitation, commercial advertising and informational announcements, is explicitly prohibited.

All senders of “Opt-In” email solicitations must be able to provide, in the event of a complaint, documentation that a) a particular recipient did indeed opt to be placed on a particular mailing list and that b) customer has a clear and verifiable opt out policy and procedure.

A customer shall not use another party’s mail server to relay mail without the express permission of that party.

USENET

Posting the same or similar message to one or more newsgroups (excessive cross-posting or multiple-posting, also known as "SPAM") is explicitly prohibited.

INDIRECT OR ATTEMPTED VIOLATIONS OF THE POLICY, AND ACTUAL OR ATTEMPTED VIOLATIONS BY A THIRD PARTY ON BEHALF OF A BDCI CUSTOMER OR A CUSTOMER'S END USER, SHALL BE CONSIDERED VIOLATIONS OF THE POLICY BY SUCH CUSTOMER OR END USER.

Complaints regarding email, or USENET abuse, SPAM or Illegal Use or System or Network Security issues, should be sent to abuse@bostondatacenters.com