Environmentally-Friendly Web Hosting Company Uses Water Cooling to Go Beyond PV Panels and Maximize Solar Energy

Romoland, CA – March 4, 2009 — AISO.net launches its new website and brand identity with the announcement of the “Total Eco Web Server”™, or TEWS™ as it has been nicknamed. AISO.net, the first and only 100 percent solar-powered web hosting company, launched its new brand identity, symbolizing its commitment to the environment.

“Our new logo and brand identity shows the transformation from being just solar-powered to having a complete hosting ecosystem that is environmentally friendly. This new look reflects the values that AISO.net has been known for in the business community, while also representing our new strategic direction for a complete environmentally-friendly hosting solution,” says Phil Nail, CTO of AISO.net.

AISO.net is located in Romoland, CA, a few miles south of Riverside, CA, where the annual rainfall is minimal and the sun is out over 70 percent of the year. “We have been able to power our office and servers without using the local energy grid via on-site solar power. Even cloudy days can collect the sun’s power and with the new TEWS setup we combine solar power, recycled rain water to cool the data center, air for Internet conductivity, virtualized servers, and other great eco-friendly technologies,” says Nail.

AISO.net recently added four 2,500 gallon water tanks behind the data center to harvest the annual rainfall and nightly condensation. The tanks were installed 20 days ago and they have already harvested 6,000 gallons of rainwater. AISO.net has plans for adding four more tanks which will result in over 20,000 gallons of water collected. The water collected will be used for two things: landscaping and cooling the data center. Special air units from Coolerado use this recycled rain water which acts as a cooling agent to cool the hot desert air down to a cool 67 degrees all using less than 600 watts of power.

“To stay ahead of the industry we have to act and look like rock stars,” states Nail, who always seems to have a smile and his sunglasses. “That is why we chose Thunk to help with our re-brand and strategic business development. They get it. The IT industry is not a glamorous world but we believe our way is how data should move through the Internet. It’s logical and environmental, and that thinking has helped give us exposure. We are in a sweet spot right now because our infrastructure is built on solar panels so the more energy we can get out of 120 panels the easier it will be to scale – and we plan to scale. All it takes is another 120 panels and more efficient technologies and we keep staying ahead of the demands for data.”

“Solar web hosting is not a novelty, this is serious. There is no excuse for companies to use data centers and hosting providers that have old infrastructures and antiquated models with fancy websites that brag about buying energy credits,” says James Tucker, founder of Thunk, Inc. in San Francisco. “Consumers need to be smarter than that and realize that these data centers are sucking the earth dry of resources. I discovered this working on a rebrand for a large data center company and was inspired to shift my clients, company and mission to use alternative energy for web hosting. Fossil fuel hosting companies are going to need to make radical changes – and fast. This comes at a time where change is expensive but the consumer demands companies make the change or they will go somewhere that aligns with their business philosophy.”

“I am glad people choose us because we are a solar web hosting company, but in business, it has to go beyond that. We want people to come to AISO.net because of our service, reliability, uptime, and customer service,” says Nail.

AISO.net also uses LED lighting, solar tubes, thin client computers and other unique green techniques which allow more capacity without having a large physical footprint housing hundreds of servers and cages. The dedicated servers offer high availability and are extremely scalable. All data resides on fiber drives and all data is backed up hourly. The servers utilize NetApp for the data storage and VMware to maximum server uptime. This same solution is used by 95 percent of all Fortune 500 companies.

“Companies like Discovery Channel and Indianapolis Zoo love our dedicated server solution because it gives them piece of mind knowing their data is secure,” says Nail.

About Thunk, Inc. - www.thunkinc.com
Thunk is an interactive team located in San Francisco that works with start-ups, agencies, marketers, and directors as a creative resource for web, application, print, video, and Flash projects. We specialize in information architecture, project management, content development, rapid prototyping, strategic lead generation campaigns, and branding.

About AISO.net - www.aiso.net
AISO.net has been a trusted name in environmentally friendly web hosting since 1997, providing a level of service that is unmatched in the industry. All network and server hardware is fully redundant with 24×7-automated systems monitoring to ensure the highest possible uptime. Using solar panels to power its data center and network, AISO.net is the first and only 100 percent solar-powered web hosting company. Customers as far away as Kenya, East Africa, rely on the service and reliability offered by AISO.net. For more information on Coolerado, visit Coolerado’s website at www.coolerado.com.

It is amazing how a recipe for bacon and sausage can get so much exposure. I made the “Bacon Explosion” (AKA Bacon Belly Bomb) for a Super Bowl party and showcased it on the BBQ to get some nice coloring.  It was the attraction of the evening and everyone said they either saw it on TV or read about this. 

One woman came by and kissed me, “I had a dream about this, I can’t believe it is here!” 

So, in the same way they shamelessly promoted their BBQ products. I am wrapping my website in bacon, yes a weave of bacon of course.

After seeing a poster for Tropicana Orange Juice, I thought it was an adbuster campaign. The ad looked so generic and so did the product hero shot that it looked like a fake ad with a fake product. So I went to the website (above) and it was their new package design. 

It was a real product with a package design that looked like a generic product. Is the seduction of clean design turning brands into unemotional products?

I have to admit, I do like the way the information is arranged on the package. It also does not disappear on the shelf with the large photo repeating along a row. 

Tropicana is also a member of the Carton Council that has a great campaign about recycling cartons:

http://www.werecyclecartons.com/

During my research of this product I also found that PepsiCo is making to reduce their carbon footprint with this product. How green is your orange juice?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/22/business/22pepsi.html

This store had to be the weirdest experience in retail I have had since exiting the so-called haunted Winchester House into an inescapable gift shop torture chamber. The first hint this Ferrari store will be annoying is that every two minutes the loud sound of a race car will be going around your head. Yes, I am not kidding. At first I thought I was hearing things, then my wife and I started laughing then – after it did not stop – the sound was not funny anymore and testing us to leave the store.  

I am a fan of Ferrari automobiles, especially the 250 GT line and the Mondial designs. Way before the cars went all tacky and cliché.  I have friends who own Ferrari’s (or had owned one or two in the past) so this is no diss to the automobile, but a commentary on the use of an icon in automobiles, speed, and sexiness. They have replaced the logo worn on the tush with a logo you can wear anywhere you desire. The plus side is that both sexes can wear it now. 

The store could have embraced the Ferrari legacy more but it decided to be a cross between a Coach purse store for men and a tanning bed on the highest setting. The 1000 watt lighting in the store could not be any brighter and I expected the aggressive sales-dudes to both hand me a pair of Ferrari emblazoned shades and also fill up my gas tank. 

The store is way over done and in the aforementioned cliché manner. I would have loved to see a more museum quality to the store that showed why the Ferrari is more than a street legal race car for a Ferragamo wearin’, hair club member, secretary dating, divorced father with a coke dealer who sells him short. 

Sure this persona is over the top but that is the very one-dimensional approach the marketing department must have made when writing the specifications for the experience design. As mentioned, I am a fan of the automaker and this store made me embarrassed to say that. It also made me drop my search for a classic Ferrari that I have been eyeing for a few years. 

If sales do not produce the expected results, it may be easy to blame the economy but there are still fans there who would purchase a Ferrari product if they did not feel like they walked into a gimmicked-out retail experience.

Growing up I watched Borg, Lendl, Connors, and McEnroe to name a few but was very fond of Lendl and now exciting to watch Djokovic who has a similar demeanor. It is a great sport to watch and also fun to bet on if you know the players well.

I picked Novak Djokovic to win last years Australian Open and was researching the brackets that was just released for 2009 and saw some amazing possible 4th round match-ups. The typical Aussie Open sites that display the brackets have printable versions but these are impossible to read and a mess to tape up and manage. Then I came across a crude but useful “You Pick Em” site that challenges users to pick their favorites:

http://www.britishtennis.net/pickem/pickemef%20128.htm

It helped me make my picks for winner (men’s only but looking for women’s bracket) and along the way am predicting this 4th round matchup:

• Rafael Nadal vs. Lleyton Hewitt
• Gael Monfils vs. Gilles Simon
• Andy Murray vs. Radek Stepanek
• James Blake vs. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
• Andy Roddick vs. David Nalbandian
• Marcos Baghdatis vs. Novak Djokovic
• Juan Martin del Potrovs. David Ferrer
• Stanislas Wawrinka vs. Roger Federer

Mardy Fish has ben playing some exceptional tennis and may be in the 4th round instead of Baghdatis. I have to see how they are playing the first and second rounds. As for the women, a clear favorite is Elena Dementieva who is due for a Grand Slam title.

As for the bracket tools, I did some research and saw some installable PC software that looked lame but found it strange that there are not easy to find online tools or apps to use that were fun and social.

If you stumble across this post and know of some tools please share them. Also check out the converted spreadsheet where you can check off the prediction and see how engaging and simple this is to create. The user-interface is horrible but nothing a nice pixel bedazzling could not cure.

Enjoy the Aussie Open and if you have DirectTV you will be able to see the games on Channels 701 – 707 from January 18 – 25th. This is a great user experience to see the early matches before it goes to the networks and is one great reason to have DirectTV – and also a Slingbox.

We are in the middle of launching the new site for Thunk! There are more samples to go in the work area and we are discovering typos all the time. How do typos seem to hide so well before something is launched?

Feedback welcomed:

http://thunkinc.com/

We have another design for thunkdesign.com but it may end up being the same site since we are moving to “Thunk” since more of our services go beyond design.

I am pitching more work that involves strategy, management, product naming, and prototyping. It seems like straight visual design work is less of a commodity.

It is awful how Yelp.com reviewers are getting sued because of their freedom of speech.  The format of Yelp! allows for anybody with a keyboard to flame or rant about irrelevant topics about any business.  Yelp! keeps it there for the “entertainment factor” but they should monitor the reviews, have more criteria to evaluate business better, and have more qualified reviews.  I used to go to Yelp! but now it’s a bunch of writing on the bathroom wall. 

It’s difficult enough having a business in San Francisco – or any city with Yelpers in the mist.  I had a bad experience with a company and the search results come up very high and they said that it was damaging their business.  My goal is not to ruin their business but to warn people about their practices.  But they fixed it. and if the owner contacts you about the review then the reviewer should update the post or remove it. 

The environmental firm Sustainable Spaces broke a mirror and damaged the wood floors at my home but they fixed it after they refunded me the cost of the service and had a good chat with one of the founders.  They are great guys and I doubt they would start a lawsuit but if the issue is resolved and there is no reason to have the review posted then I think it is polite to remove the post or update the situation if resolved. 

The bathroom on the wall now has a signature and an IP address attached to it.

I am a data junkie and have to admit I spent way too much time dorking around with this dashboard:

sprint.com/widget

Much respect for Sprint for making an effort in the market.  I want to know who rejected the offer to have the iPhone under their network, they should be shot.  I still have one reliable Sprint phone but have to deal with Apples stupid partnership with AT&T.  I love the iPhone product but AT&T blows donkey widgets.

Thunk was awarded the rebranding and marketing strategy account for AISO.net.  They are pioneers in the solar powered web  hosting industry and have been busy acquiring new business and making sure their current customers are satisfied.  They needed a creative firm who can take over the project and present their products in a way that complements their brand. 

If you are on a non-solar, coal-based, earth destroying web host, you may want to consider a change. Check out AISO.net here:

http://www.aiso.net/

The new site will be live in the first quarter of 2009.

Here are some cool bags made from recycled PET bottles. The full article at Treehugger and the online shop is from www.act2greensmart.com. I hope to see some cooler designs from this material from TUMI and other bag designers soon.