PEER 1's 1981 Turbo Mercedes Diesel Race Car

If you’re following us on Twitter, you’ll know that some of our staff from our Atlanta and San Antonio offices hit the road this past Friday for the 24 Hours of Lemons.

I flew in from San Antonio to Atlanta the night before to cover the event and to join our Atlanta racers on their RV ride pulling the PEER 1 race car from the rear. We left early morning to start our long journey, take pictures, call one other for location updates, and post it all on my personal Twitter account. Members from both offices traveled to meet in the middle at the No Problem Raceway in Belle Rose, Louisiana.

The road trip for our racers traveling from Atlanta wasn’t an easy one. The plan was to leave Atlanta at 7 AM in order to make it to the event in time for tech which closed at 5:00pm. Due to an incompatible trailer wire harness, the trailer was coming off the RV’s hitch, so we weren’t able to leave Atlanta until 9 AM. Our racers were worried that they wouldn’t make it to the track on time to check in for tech and would get disqualified. This would mean turning right around and heading back to Atlanta.

Our San Antonio racers made it to the track with a couple of hours to spare, and let the 24 Hours of Lemons staff know the rest of the PEER 1 racers and car were on their way. At 4:55 PM, our RV pulling the PEER 1 race car made it… with five minutes to spare! We had just enough time to get through the gate of the event and hit tech. Now the problem was tech didn’t go so well. Our PEER 1 car made it halfway through tech, before we learned that there were a lot of things that needed to be done to the car before they would let our crew drive it in the race. Our racers spent most of the night wrenching and welding the PEER 1 car. On Saturday morning at 8:30 AM, I’m happy to say we passed tech and were given permission to race! Stay tuned for an update on our first day of racing at the 24 Hours of Lemons in Belle Rose, Louisiana.

We’ve mentioned previously on our blog that we’re headed to the track again for the 24 Hours of Lemons and we’ve challenged you to a race. Will we see you there?

Last year PEER 1 participated in the 24 Hours of Lemons event that took place in

PEER 1 at 24 Hours of Lemons - Kershaw, South Carolina 2008

Kershaw, South Carolina. We posted pictures and a video interview with Jay Lamm, “The Chief Perpetrator”of the event and we’ll be at it again this year at the “Laissez Les Crapheaps Roulez New Orleans” on June 6-7, 2009.

We’ll have employees from two of our office locations participating – PEER 1 Atlanta and ServerBeach San Antonio. PEER 1’s system administrator Kevin Lee will be leading the team again this year. Last year, we quoted him saying, “I spent so much time at junkyards, I never want to see another one again”. Well, this year he was back at it hitting the junkyards getting the PEER 1 1981 Turbo Diesel Mercedes ready for this years race.

To remind everyone what the 24 Hour of Lemons is all about:

Nasty. Brutish. Not Short Enough.

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The crowd. The spectacle. The pall of blue smoke and roasted clutch discs. In all motorsport, no event captures the universal human need to whale on old crapcans and hoover down greasy barbecue like the 24 Hours of LeMons.

Each LeMons race is for cars purchased, fixed up, and track-prepped for a total of 500 dollars or less. But before reaching the grid, you’ll have to survive trials like the Personal-Injury-Lawyer Anti-Slalom, the Marxist-Valet Parking Challenge, and the Wide Open Throttle Rodthrowapalooza. Twelve hours into the race, the car voted People’s Choice is called in and awarded a cash prize; simultaneously, the car voted People’s Curse is called in and summarily destroyed. At the end of 24 hours, a gala awards ceremony plies the survivors with trophies, plaques, and four-figure purses in canvas bags full of nickels. What’s not to like? — 24 Hours of Lemons Website

For requirements, rules, and fees, visit http://www.24hoursoflemons.com. For track information and location, please visit http://www.24hoursoflemons.com/events/noproblem09/

For more information on the PEER 1 race challenge, or if you’re in the neighborhood and would like to say hello, please contact:

Charnell Pugsley
PEER 1 Community Evangelist
cpugsley@peer1.com
210-798-4413

We’ve partnered with Lisa Sabin-Wilson, celebrity blogger and author of “WordPress for Dummies”, to offer free premium blog templates, valued at $1,200 each, designed exclusively for PEER 1 and ServerBeach.

With an estimated 133 million blogs worldwide and growing, social networking and blogging has become the fourth most popular activity on the Internet, surpassing even e-mail.* For those looking to join the fast-growing blogging community, or just wanting to spice up current blogs, PEER 1 is offering five free custom-designed WordPress themes as a download to anyone who visits the PEER 1 or ServerBeach Web site.

The templates won’t be around for long, available for download only until June 30. To view the different designs and download a favorite, visit the PEER 1 Web site http://www.peer1.com/resources/wordpress_themes.php or the ServerBeach Web site http://www.serverbeach.com/resources/wordpress_themes.php.

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To view the full press release, please visit http://www.peer1.com/aboutus/news.php?id=118

We’ve just recently launched SmartMonitoring^TM, a full suite of advanced monitoring solutions now available for our managed hosting customers. Utilizing the platform of partner, Absolute Performance Inc., SmartMonitoring provides in-depth data and analysis to better anticipate IT needs for business success. This offering, which will be expanded to all product lines later this year, represents strategic momentum in working together with best-of-breed companies to provide PEER 1 customers a valuable range of products and services.

“With the launch of SmartMonitoring, we are offering the best monitoring services available, while continuing to provide the advanced hosting services that are in greatest demand by our customers,” said Tim Varma, director of product management for PEER 1. “SmartMonitoring will help our customers increase efficiency and maximize IT resources, which is especially vital in today’s economy. With our fully scalable hosting solutions and services, PEER 1 adjusts to customers’ needs and helps them be more cost effective, to keep their businesses running smoothly.”

With SmartMonitoring, PEER 1 customers can choose the services and features, from basic to highly complex, that are most vital to their business success. These services are available through SmartMonitoring’s on-demand platform interface, which provides anyone in the organization, from CEO to system engineer, understandable, information on how application and system components are working together. This real-time data gives insight into potential issues so they can be proactively addressed in the most efficient and timely way.

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For more information and full press release, please see http://www.peer1.com/aboutus/news.php?id=117

PEER 1 announced today that we are building out on a 41,000 square foot green data center in the Toronto area. Our new facility will implement some of the most efficient products and technologies on the market, including the use of a local well for primary water supply with redundant connection to the city water system to reduce overall carbon footprint and provide lower energy consumption. The first stage is scheduled for completion in early 2010, and will include 7,500 square feet of data center space, and 8,000 square feet of office and staging area. The remaining 25,500 square feet will be dedicated to additional data center space and infrastructure which will be built out in three future phases.

We also announced our membership in The Green Grid. The Green Grid is a global consortium dedicated to advancing energy efficiency in data centers and business computing ecosystems. The Green Grid seeks to provide industry-wide recommendations on best practices, metrics and technologies that will improve overall data center and business computing energy efficiencies. By joining The Green Grid, we’re trying to do our part in helping influence both developers and end users of data center technology.

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Read press release

For the second straight year, PEER 1 is the proud headline sponsor of GigaOM’s Structure 09 event taking place on June 25. Structure 09 will bring industry experts together at San Francisco’s Mission Bay Conference Center to explore the Cloud Computing model and innovations of Internet infrastructure. PEER 1 is also hosting a workshop that focuses on the role of hardware within the cloud and the benefits of testing and incubation of technologies through our new CloudXcelerator Program.

The founder of Structure 09 and GigaOM networks, Om Malik, had this to say about our involvement:

“I am so very pleased to have PEER 1 with us again as a lead sponsor. PEER 1 espouses the same core values we have at Structure, thus making them an ideal partner for our flagship event. The last year has seen much progress in Cloud Computing and PEER 1 has become a vital part of that industry.”

We hope you will attend and participate.

Read press release

The BC Technology Industry Association (BCTIA) announced the finalists for the 2009 Technology Impact Awards and PEER 1 is one of two companies up for Company of the Year. Marking the awards’ 15th year, the 2009 finalists reaffirm British Columbia’s status as a global leader in innovative software solutions, mobile communications, and energy conservation technologies. We’re very excited and honored to be recognized by the association. More importantly, it is a testament to the hard work and tireless dedication of our staff throughout the years. Our congratulations to the other award finalist, Sierra Wireless. Winners will be announced on June 17th at the Technology Impact Awards Celebration, at the new state-of-the-art Vancouver Convention Centre, amongst 700 guest.

Read BCTIA press release

Here is a short clip from the PEER 1 exhibit at Internet World 2009 held April 28-30th at Earls Court in London. This was PEER 1 and ServerBeach’s official coming out party in the UK with the launch of our 16th data center located just outside London. “Let the sunshine in….”

A few months back I began a fun little project – exposing our customers and posted about it on our ServerBeach Blog. The goal of this project is to give your business some added exposure. It’s called “You’re on My Shirt”.

Every week I will post a picture of me wearing a client’s branded T-shirt along with a description of your business and a friendly link to your site or blog.

So what’s the catch, you ask? Nothing really. To be featured, all you have to do is be a current PEER 1 client and mail or courier me a T-shirt with your company name on the front and/or back… and that’s it! BTW, size MEDIUM please.

The PEER 1 Blog has a loyal following and is viewed daily by many online users. This new feature is a way for us to extend some love to our clients and get you some more free exposure.

You can view some of the ServerBeach “You’re On My Shirt” pictures and blog posts here: http://serverbeach.wordpress.com/?s=you%27re+on+my+shirt.

To get on my shirt, fire off an e-mail to me and I’ll reply back right away with some details and questions about your business, as well as an address to send me your T-shirt.

Be the first one to get featured!

Charnell Pugsley
Community Evangelist
cpugsley@peer1.com