Here at RF Code, as in most office environments, we spend some of our work-time discussing topics that might not seem, at first glance, directly related to our immediate tasks. Not just the fantasy football league and comparisons of school districts and rush-hour horror stories—that's social bonding—but the state of the industry, stock prices, the latest iPhone release...
...and, this week, a TED talk recorded six years ago.
Shared with the group by the DevOps manager, it has spurred more than one conversation. The speaker proposes a “golden circle” for companies and individuals: What (do you do), How (do you do it), and, in the center, Why?
Why do we, RF Code, do what we do? That's a really good question.
What is easy: RF Code provides enterprise solutions for data center environmental monitoring and asset management. We help our customers measure, monitor, and manage their data center environments.
How isn't much harder. RC Code provides software that communicates with active RFID tags, gateways, and IR beacons in real-time. Want to know exactly which rack your half-a-million dollar server is in? We can help you do that. And let you know the temperature of that rack to the degree; or, if you prefer, just send you a message when it's not within an optimal temperature range. Audits are simpler if you can run reports that sort assets by their detected location; their stage in the asset life cycle; and the frequency or severity of alerts. And so on.
Why do we do what we do?
Because data centers are important! You can't just stick an Out of Order sign on a data center and expect people to find an alternative. In our modern world, a data center failure can have worldwide impact, and while not our customers are global, even the smallest serves a critical need. No one builds a data center for the fun of it; they do it because they need to be able to securely store and access that data.
The physical infrastructure of the data center must be appropriately maintained in order for the data to remain secure. That's why we exist. To keep funny cat videos intact, accessible and shareable.
And other critical information, of course.
The sales team talks about efficiency, about cost reduction, about reliability, service-level agreements and high availability. That's all true, certainly. But at heart, it's simple: we want to prevent data center failures, because we rely on that data, too.
For far more than just sharing a laugh about Maru conquering a swing. Though, really, isn't that reason enough?
