VIFIB Vifib

VIFIB maintains 2 clones and backups on 35 different sites to achieve unparalleled resiliency

ViFiB does not operate any data center. Instead, we use mainly micro servers located in homes.

Why? Because unless there is a global nuclear war or an unless an asteroid falls and destroys Earth, it is close to impossible to destroy all servers in all homes at the same time.

Another advantage of using homes instead of data centers is that PRISM or equivalent programmes have no jurisdiction in homes (please check with your legal advisor). In other words, trade secrets in this world are better protected in an "unprofessional" home rather than in a "professional" data center.

Then what about availability? In cities such as Paris, Munich or Tokyo, home electricity is cut 15 minutes per year in average. FTTH networks in Paris (Free) and Tokyo (OCN) show minor disconnection glitches of at most of couple of seconds per day. In reality, this is better than what most data centers or cloud providers offer.

Here is how a micro-server looked like in 2012:

As you can see, they are quite small. Our servers in 2013 are even smaller. They use an Intel i7 processor, 16 GB of RAM and a 120 GB Intel or Samsung SSD. This is far enough to run an ERP of a fairly large company.

ViFiB only selects reliable components. Reliable hardware can last 3 years with less than 5% fault, whereas unreliable hardware can reach 50% fault rate.

We thus test our servers during one month with ERP5 test suite. We found that this suite pushes RAM, CPU and disk IO to their maximum. It is the best way to quickly trigger and detect hardware failure. Hardware that passes this test can then be shipped to distant sites.

I need a data center, what should I do?

Some customers of ViFiB still require a data center for some reason, usually because of internal regulations.

If our customers do not mind PRISM or equivalent programmes, then ViFiB can use servers located in data centers or virtual machines of cloud providers. We already have nodes in Amazon, Rackspace, OVH, Gandi, etc.

If our customers care about trade secret, then ViFiB recommends to use servers located in their private data center or inside their private cloud. We already have a couple of customers who prefer this approach yet use ViFiB.

In any case, ViFiB still recommends for disaster recovery to rely on servers spread in multiple homes or offices. The risk of destruction a few visible facilities the same day at the same time can no longer be ignored in our opinion. It actually already happened for some governments.