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Facebook Power: Real-Time Efficiency

Palo Alto, California — April 18, 2013

Facebook launches two dashboards that monitor the efficiency of their data centers in real-time

Real-time dashboard for Facebook's Prineville data center.

In 2011, Facebook started the Open Compute Project with the aim of building one of the most efficient computing infrastructures at the lowest possible cost. Staying true to their hacker roots, they decided to redesign and rebuild their data centers, servers and the software that controls them from the ground up – and best of all, share these technologies through this open source project.

Today the Facebook data centers are 38% more efficient and 24% less expensive to build and run than other state-of-the-art data centers.

Facebook engaged AREA 17 to design and develop two real-time interactive dashboards for their Prineville and Forest City data centers so that you can see for yourself the impact and efficiency of all your Facebook activity as it happens. On these dashboards, we take the power usage effectiveness (PUE) and the water usage efficiency (WUE), along with humidity and temperature data and display them in real-time on a visual and interactive chart. You can also see historical numbers from the past 24 hours, week, quarter or even the past year.

We are thrilled to be geeking out over data these days and thankful to Facebook for giving us the opportunity to play with their massive amounts of it – from America Votes 2012 to Facebook Trends and now this pioneering effort of transparency.

See also
Facebook.com/PrinevilleDataCenter
Off The Charts

New York, NY — January 26, 2013

The new Billboard website is live, designed by AREA 17

The new Billboard.com

For over 70 years, Billboard Magazine has charted the the latest artists, songs, albums, and musical trends of the moment. Today, music fans have something new to celebrate with the launch of a bold new design for the magazine’s website.

Last year when Billboard approached AREA 17 to evolve its digital brand, we jumped at the challenge to rethink the delivery of its vast archive of charts and exclusive content for a consumer audience. The new site, designed by AREA 17 and developed by Billboard, integrates news, photos and video directly into the charts—transforming the listing into a one-stop destination for discovering the best in music. With the chart at the center of the experience, the new site offers playable charts, fan ratings, enhanced media galleries and a whole new artist hub. As a companion to the consumer site, AREA 17 also redesigned Billboard.biz.

The launch of Billboard.com and Billboard.biz coincide with the rebranding and redesign of the print magazine by Pentagram, as well as a new iPad app produced by Billboard’s in-house team—all poised and ready to bring what many call “the Bible of the music business” to the next generation of music lovers.

Congratulations to the team and all involved!

Work → Billboard Website

See also
Billboard.com
Interdisciplinary vs. Multidisciplinary
New York City — January 25, 2013

A Panel Discussion on the Adapting Relationship Between Marketing, Design and Technology
How many folks does it take to make a website?

Marketer, designer, technologist. Which hat do you wear? If you’re building mobile apps and web products these days, you’re probably sporting all three in some capacity. The lines between these disciplines are blurring and rightfully so.

As the old adage goes, “actions speak louder than words” and in an (inter)active space, it is actions, not words that build brands. It is the sum of all interactions that define today’s brands, making the Internet the purest form of branding.

By looking at the work we do in these terms, there is little difference between the role of marketer and technologist, except of course the tools we use. And it is the role of design to create the bridge between the two — putting an (inter)face to a set of actions—or rather, behaviors—outlined by the marketer and brought to life by the technologist.

About the Event

AREA 17 will host a panel discussion to explore the combining fields of study—blending the practices of marketing, design and technology into a newly-formed, yet unnamed discipline. We will discuss the ongoing evolution of each individual discipline with the focus of finding common ground.

The discussion will start with short presentations from each panelist, followed by a moderated discussion. All attendees will be given the opportunity to ask questions and share their own perspective and experiences.

Beer and wine will be provided to grease the wheels of the conversation!

Panelists:
- Robin Chase, Founder, Zipcar
- Jon Lander, Creative Director, Domani Studios
- Jessica Allen, UX Design Lead, Engine Yard
- Josh Teixeira, VP of Product Strategy, Big Spaceship
- Andrew Bell, Technology Research Fellow, The Barbarian Group
- Phil Jeffs, Creative Technologist, AREA 17
The discussion will be moderated by George Eid, founder and partner of AREA 17.

Presented in partnership with Engine Yard and The Webby Awards

Join Us

Interdisciplinary vs. Multidisciplinary
The Adapting Relationship Between Marketing, Design and Technology
Wednesday, February 6th at 7-10pm

For more information, visit opticalcortex.eventbrite.com.

AREA 17
99 RIchardson Street
2nd Floor
Brooklyn, NY 11211

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