Getting to know us – Caleb
June 19, 2012 by Patrick Gill · Leave a Comment
We at Data Cave think a large portion of what sets us apart from other data centers is our people. We truly love what we do, which we’ve talked about before. We thought it would be nice for you to get to know us a little better.
This is the first in a series of blogs that will let you into our lives a little more so you can see what we’ve worked on in the past, what we’re doing right now, and what we’re focused on for the future.
Let’s start at the top with our president, Caleb Tennis. Caleb has been interested in computers and everything surrounding them for almost his entire life. When he was only three, Caleb’s family got a Tandy TRS-80 and he fell “in like” (because who loves a Tandy, really?) At five years young, Caleb was hacking with BASIC on MS-DOS and by 10 he had written his first commercial program that was sold to the online service, Delphi.
Throughout his life, Caleb has had a huge interest in electronics. It fascinated him and became one of his passions. During high school, he took four years of electronics classes and also did electronics repair work along with computer and network support for his high school. At the time, the school didn’t have resources to hire someone for the school corporation who could, or would do that sort of thing. Caleb fit the job perfectly.
He went on to study computer science at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, but quickly changed to an Electrical Engineering major when he decided it was quite a bit more interesting to him. He personally felt he already knew a lot about all computer related things, but lacked a lot of understanding of the deeper fundamentals of engineering. Ever the one for a challenge and a knowledge seeker, Caleb immersed himself in the major.
After graduating from college, Caleb ended up landing a full-time position at Analytical Engineering, Inc. (AEI) for which he was an intern during his college career in 1999 and 2000. AEI is an engine testing facility here in Columbus, Indiana. Caleb began developing a complex network control system for running and analyzing diesel engine test performance data after realizing the company’s need for it. The program is still the core of the system they use today.
Caleb decided he wasn’t busy enough and while working full-time and teaching part-time, spent two and half years pursing his masters degree in Electrical Engineering at Purdue University.
Over the years, he has worked in a variety of roles including teaching Linux classes at Ivy Tech Community College, written two books, Rapid GUI Development with QTRuby ,in which you saw how to use the powerful Qt3 library to create cross-platform GUI applications for Linux and OS X in Ruby, and A Peek at Computer Electronics wherein “From basic electronics to advanced computer hardware, you’ll learn the magic behind the gear that makes it all run.” He was also a Gentoo developer who helped maintain hundreds of packages within the Gentoo portage tree – no easy task.
Caleb also keeps himself busy with speaking appearances and by hacking on various open source projects, which you can see and get involved with at github. He also has a passion for flying and received his pilot’s license in 2010. He has been flying his single engine around the counties of Indiana, which he blogs about. In 2012, he became a member of the local airport aviation board.
Caleb is married with a son and most recently welcomed a baby girl in April 2012.
Customize Your Data Center Space
January 3, 2012 by Kara Manon · Leave a Comment
How many data centers allow you to customize your space? All the way down to the layout of the duct work? At Data Cave, you aren’t just renting space from another giant data center. By breaking down our 86,000 square foot space into 1,300 square foot suites, we are able to provide a high level of security and customization. In data centers with one big room, other data center customers and vendors will always be around your equipment. In that situation, the equipment maintaining the space may also be accessible, leaving the possibility of accidental damage or even tampering.
Let me give you an example. You have 50 racks of equipment and you are looking for a data center. You can rent an entire suite at Data Cave which allows you and your staff to be the only ones with access to that room (except our staff, or course). Not only that, but you can decide the layout of the racks and duct work. You can also choose which CRAC units and PDUs you would like. While our facility is 2N redundant, meaning there is two of everything (and I do mean everything), you can even choose the level of redundancy you desire. We are so flexible that Olympic gymnasts are jealous.
The other design feature of note is that the equipment that maintains your space (CRAC units, PDUs, generators, chillers, etc) are all outside of the areas that customers and vendors are able to access. No one could be within an arms reach of this equipment without being escorted by Data Cave personnel.
Every door within Data Cave has a key card scanner (with exception of the bathrooms and offices). The hallway accessing the customer suites also has a biometric hand scanner. The hand scan and key card must match in order to gain entry. We are serious about security and monitor anyone coming and going from the building.
Data Cave was designed and purposefully built as a data center. While deciding on a layout, our CEO, Angie and President, Caleb went on a number of data center tours and did a great deal of research. What they found was that having individual customer areas (or suites) made the most sense. A smaller space means heating and cooling is easier to monitor and control, the area is highly secure and customers still have the ability to only pay for what they use.
It’s always better to see it for yourself. Contact us or call 866-514-2283 for a tour.
Accomplishments
October 15, 2008 by admin · Leave a Comment
I’m happy to announce that I now have a CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate) certification.