Field Notes

Insights from the floor

Practical writing on data center operations, migration, and the Canadian colocation market — from engineers who spend their days on the floor.

Operations·August 11, 2026·8 min read

Data Center Power: A/B Feeds, Redundancy Tiers, and Capacity Planning Without Guesswork

How A/B power feeds, N+1 and 2N redundancy, and per-rack capacity planning actually work in a colocation cage — and the wiring habits that quietly defeat them.

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Local·August 10, 2026·7 min read

Remote Hands and Smart Hands in Vancouver: A Practical Guide for Colocation Clients

What remote hands and smart hands services actually cover, which Vancouver colocation facilities and suburbs StackTrue serves, and how to choose the right level of on-site support for your data center.

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Operations·August 8, 2026·8 min read

Server Decommissioning and NIST 800-88: A Practical Guide to Data Destruction

How to decommission data center equipment without leaving data behind. A plain-language guide to NIST 800-88 sanitization, chain of custody, certificates of destruction, and Canadian privacy obligations.

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Operations·August 6, 2026·8 min read

Structured Cabling in the Data Center: Standards, Testing, and the Mistakes That Cost You Later

How ANSI/TIA-568 and TIA-942 shape data center cabling, what Cat6A and OM4 actually buy you, and how certification testing separates a real install from a tidy-looking one.

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Vancouver·July 31, 2026·7 min read

Remote Hands Services in Vancouver: What to Expect, What to Ask, What It Costs

A practical guide to hiring remote hands support in Vancouver and the Lower Mainland — response times, scope, escalation, and the questions to ask before you sign.

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Operations·July 21, 2026·6 min read

Rack & Stack and As-Built Documentation: Why the Handover Matters More Than the Install

A rack install is only as good as the documentation handed over afterward. How StackTrue standardizes Rack & Stack, BICSI-002 cable discipline, and Fluke-verified as-builts.

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AI Infrastructure·July 20, 2026·7 min read

AI Data Centers in Canada: What Enterprise Teams Should Know in 2026

GPU density, liquid cooling, and power constraints are reshaping enterprise data center strategy. A practical primer on where AI workloads fit in Canadian colocation and enterprise environments.

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Markets·July 15, 2026·8 min read

Colocation in Vancouver: A 2026 Buyer's Guide to BC's Data Center Facilities

A practical, vendor-neutral guide to choosing colocation in Vancouver and British Columbia — facility options, cross-connect ecosystems, power costs, and what to check before you sign.

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Operations·July 1, 2026·6 min read

Remote Hands vs Smart Hands: Which One Do You Actually Need?

The difference between Remote Hands and Smart Hands is more than semantics — it decides how fast your incident closes and how much a change window costs. Here is a practical breakdown for Canadian colocation clients.

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Migration·June 24, 2026·9 min read

The Data Center Migration Checklist for Canadian Enterprises

A field-tested checklist for migrating servers, storage, and network gear between Canadian data centers — from initial audit through cutover and decommissioning.

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Contracts·June 17, 2026·7 min read

What to Negotiate in a Colocation SLA (Beyond Uptime)

Uptime percentage is the least interesting number in your colocation SLA. Here are the clauses that actually determine what happens when things break.

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Markets·June 10, 2026·6 min read

Why Vancouver Is Quietly Becoming Canada's Most Interesting Data Center Market

Toronto and Montreal get the headlines, but Vancouver's Pacific cable landings, hydro power mix, and climate make it a serious contender for latency-sensitive and sustainable workloads.

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