Welcome to EmergEdge

Insights on product,
technology, and innovation.

A publication exploring the edge of what is emerging — from product strategy to engineering decisions and the ideas shaping modern tech.

Latest posts

2026-08-12

The Diesel Bucket Brigade — How 25 People Carried a Data Center Through Hurricane Sandy, One Flight of Stairs at a Time

When Hurricane Sandy flooded the basement of 75 Broad Street in October 2012, it took out the building's 20,000-gallon fuel reserve and the pumps that fed it — leaving a Manhattan data center's last working generator running on a 200-gallon day tank, 17 flights up, with no elevators. What kept roughly 100 companies online for the next 24+ hours wasn't redundant infrastructure. It was 25 people, five-gallon buckets, and a decision to not let the story end there.

→

DatacenterDisaster RecoveryBusiness ContinuityInfrastructureIT LeadershipPowerEnterprise IT

2026-08-06

FEAF — The Enterprise Architecture Framework Most Architects Have Never Studied

FEAF governs the enterprise architecture practice of the entire U.S. federal government — one of the largest, most complex IT estates on the planet — and most enterprise architects outside government have never opened it. This post covers what FEAF actually is, its six Consolidated Reference Models, the Collaborative Planning Methodology, and why its shared-services philosophy is worth understanding even if you will never work on a federal contract. It also announces a new interactive study guide covering the full framework.

→

FEAFEnterprise ArchitectureFederal Government ITTOGAFZachmanEA FrameworksLearning Hub

2026-07-31

"Tier III+" Isn't a Real Certification — And a State Attorney General Once Proved Why That Matters

Colocation and cloud providers routinely market facilities as "Tier III+" or "Tier IV-ready." Uptime Institute has never certified a single one — because those tiers don't exist. In 2015, that gap between marketing language and certified fact nearly got one provider sued by a state Attorney General. Here is what tier certification actually verifies, why the industry's favourite marketing terms are meaningless, and the exact questions every enterprise IT leader should ask before signing a colocation contract.

→

DatacenterColocationUptime InstituteVendor ManagementEnterprise ITInfrastructureIT Strategy