Facebook’s Prineville Data Center: Helping you Like, Comment, Share

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Mark ZuckerbergFacebook is a superpower, affecting the globe on a daily basis. If Facebook were to disappear, most people would not know what to do; too many people depend on it to get through the day. There are over 1 billion worldwide members! As of 2011, the earth’s population was 6.974 billion. One seventh of the world’s population is on Facebook. Can you believe that? Just imagine all those status updates!

 

Due to the large amount of users and data, Facebook always aims to improve its infrastructure. It is going through what many analysts call an “infrastructure boom”, a massive operation to improve server capacity, improve web services and setting a precedent for building energy-efficient data centers that use less power and money.

 

Currently, Facebook has two data centers in the United States, one in Prineville, Oregon and the other in Forest City, North Carolina. This summer, they will be building a third just outside of Des Moines, Iowa. All three data centers cover different geographical regions in the country. Prineville helps the infrastructure out west, Forest City handles the east and the third will help pump Facebook blood throughout the Midwest.

 

Each data center utilizes the region’s strength as well as unique technology to conserve energy, such as new types of cooling systems, solar panel fields and water spray systems. These data centers are remarkable examples of energy-efficient engineering, construction and ambition. From top to bottom, Facebook is steamrolling into the future, and we are going along for the ride!

 

Construction Protection Systems played a small part in the construction of the data center in Prineville. We are proud to have played a role in Facebook’s growth as it brings the world closer together in an energy-efficient way. If you have any questions about our products or services, including our patented 1-2-3 Door Shield®, please contact us!

 

–Rick

 

*Image courtesy of Guillaume Paumier, via Wikipedia

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The George W. Bush Presidential Library and Construction Protection Systems

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Former President George W. BushThursday this week will mark the ceremonial opening of the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum. President Obama, along with the living ex-presidents, will head to Dallas to partake in the festivities.

 

Presidential libraries are priceless parts of America’s collective memory and are to be cherished, no matter where you stand on political issues or whether you are a Bush supporter or not. They are a way for our citizens to experience a president’s life as well as the most important moments of his presidency and their place in the history of our country.

 

The George W. Bush Presidential Library is the 13th presidential library. According to the official website, The George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum “serves as a resource for the study of the life and career of George W. Bush, while also promoting a better understanding of the Presidency, American history, and important issues of public policy. The library and museum accomplishes its mission by preserving and providing access to Presidential records and other donated collections, hosting public programs, creating educational initiatives, preserving artifacts, and producing innovative museum exhibits.” It is a noble mission statement, not to mention illuminating. While the library will educate the public on the inner workings of the government and country, it will also help us to reassess George W. Bush’s legacy.

 

Presidential libraries are patron-friendly and very interactive. It is as if you are falling into a living and breathing textbook, a presidential term shooting back into fiery relevance. We should always experience history in that manner, as a raucous roller coaster ride. The George W. Bush Library will be no exception. Will you be booking a trip to Dallas?

 

Of course, we may be demonstrating some bias, as Construction Protection Systems played a small part in the construction of this landmark project. We are proud to take part in the creation of American history. If you have any questions about our products or services, including our patented 1-2-3 Door Shield®, please contact us!

 

–Rick

 

*Image courtesy of http://www.defenselink.mil/photos/newsphoto.aspx?newsphotoid=4269

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Hey Batter, Batter: The Los Angeles Dodgers and the 1-2-3 Door Shield®?

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The crack of the bat, the roar of the crowd and the smell of hot dogs…

 

Los Angeles DodgersYes, baseball season is upon us! Major League Baseball Opening Day was March 31. One of the most popular teams in all of American professional sports is set to have a great year. The storied Los Angeles Dodgers of the National League West division have won 6 World Series titles and 21 National League pennants. While we at Construction Protection Systems LLC support the home town Rockies, like all baseball fans in America we are excited to see Matt Kemp and Clayton Kershaw. Will they make it 7 World Series titles this year?

 

In 2012, a group that included LA Laker-great Magic Johnson purchased the team. Money began to pour into the franchise, and this past winter the Dodgers undertook the renovation of Dodger Stadium to be ready in time for opening day 2013. There have been $100 million worth of renovations done to the stadium, including updated restrooms, high-definition video boards, wider concourses, new entry plazas and children play areas. Not only that, there will soon be cell-phone support and Wi-Fi! It would be an understatement to say that the stadium is state of the art, and we are proud to have been a part of of the renovation process.

 

You may be wondering, what do the Dodgers and Construction Protection Systems, LLC have in common? Construction Protection Systems, LLC is proud that 1-2-3 Door Shield® was used to protect the high traffic doors during the renovation. To think that we are now a part of a storied franchise that includes Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella and Sandy Koufax!

 

Baseball and spring. It is like Mom and apple pie. You can add the 1-2-3 Door Shield® to the list.

 

–Rick

 

*Image courtesy of King of Hearts at en.wikipedia

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A New Colorado Housing Boom On the Horizon

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Colorado’s supercharged upswing

In a reversal from the last few years, the housing market in several of Colorado’s resort counties is booming like never before. Propelled forward by a particularly good month at the end of 2012, Colorado is seeing rising prices and a steady influx of new home buyers. In fact, December of 2012 was the best month for the Colorado housing market in 5 years.

 

Although one of the contributors to this rise may have been the uncertainty about changes to the tax code in 2013, the house market has shown no signs of slowly down a quarter of the way into the year. Although the market at a whole is not where it was in 2007, experts say that things are looking positive in a big way.  In addition, a large market has opened up for new housing projects. Any time sales are good, developers are not far behind. An improving housing market goes hand-in-hand with construction projects, for both family homes and businesses.

 

In the article, “Colorado resorts’ housing market rebounds,” Jason Blevins of The Denver Post writes, “Realtors say the rebound was supercharged in the last few months of the year, with December sales ranking as one of the strongest since the boom times of 2007.” While we are not at the boom times, the area market does seem to be on a supercharged upswing of sorts.

 

Telluride, a ski resort, experienced a momentous December. Longtime broker T.D. Smith said, “There is definitely a recognition by people that they can buy in this market and they are not going to get hurt. People are tired of being tired. They are ready to move on and teach their children and grandchildren how to ski and fly-fish and be a part of the mountain environment.” Families want to move on with their lives, go onto the next chapter. They are sick of the uncertainty. Who can blame them? There is nothing more disheartening than a lack of construction in one’s life, physically and emotionally. We all long for progression and mobility. Thankfully, the market is improving. Let the construction begin!

 

What this means for 1-2-3 Door Shield®

An improving market means that housing construction projects should steadily rise throughout the rest of 2013 and beyond. With no much construction on the horizon, there has never been a better time to invest in re-usable construction protection systems.

 

One aspect that many do not consider is the protection of doors in the construction process, particularly in the final stages. Doors are vulnerable in every step of the construction process. By construction’s end, if not properly taken care of, they may show signs of wear and tear. This is no way to end a lengthy and costly building process. It is not a good feeling having a lengthy construction process tainted because of a banged-up door.

 

At Construction Protection Systems LLC, we have a variety of re-usable door shields that are perfect for any project. If you are in the Colorado area and are eager to begin this new era of housing development, contact our team for more information. We can provide you with the high level of protection that you demand for your construction projects.

 

For more information on the Colorado real estate market, you can find Blevins’ article here.

 

–Rick

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Surface Protection – The Stealth Profit Center

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123 door shield - stealth profit centerOver the past several years we have talked with hundreds and hundreds of construction professionals about surface protection. Many of these professionals recognize the need for surface protection during construction but it is such a small part of the overall project cost that it gets ignored or, in some cases, pulled from the budget as change orders start to squeeze the final budget. However, when surface protection is left out of a project there are a number of important areas that can be affected: schedules can be pushed back as damaged finishes are replaced or repaired and budgets can be affected because there is a real cost to the replace or repair finished surfaces damaged during construction. In addition, there is a “hassle-factor” as areas of the project already completed must re-worked. And finally, the carefully crafted image of a construction firm can be marred as stakeholders question a firm’s commitment to quality standards.

 

Here we want to look at just one of the factors affected: the budget. We were approached by Company A concerning a major project they were building. The team had recently completed a very similar project and was concerned with one specific problem – door protection. In the recently completed project they chose not to protect the doors and jambs during construction. When they looked at the overall project after completion they discovered that they had spent $500,000 to repair and replace damaged doors and frames. They asked if we could help them eliminate this unbudgeted expense on the new project.

 

We suggested two products that could help them – The Protector Series Door Shield® and jamb protectors. The cost to properly protect the large quantity of doors in the project was about $60,000.00 on a project with an overall budget in excess of $500 million. Using Door Shields and jamb protectors to protect doors from damage during construction had a specific identifiable cost which eliminated what our client expected to be an unbudgeted expense of $500,000, a savings of $440,000 when compared to the previous, comparable project.

 

Like many contractors, our client generates profit equal to about 1.5% of the total budget. That $440,000 savings resulting from their decision to protect their doors during construction was the same as if they had been awarded a contract to build a new $30 million project. Surface protection, many times an afterthought in construction, can have a major impact on profitability.  The cost to protect doors, jambs, finished floor surfaces and the like is really low-cost insurance that can improve overall bottom line profit.

 

–Rick

 

*Image courtesy of Charles Rondeau

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