* Rackable Systems’ data center in a box
Rackable Systems has always focused on density and thermal efficiency in the design of its servers and storage products. Last week, the server maker took this focus another step with the unveiling of a modular data center.
The idea behind Rackable’s Concentro Containerized Mobile Data Center is similar to Sun’s “Project Blackbox,” which it introduced last fall.
The server makers are basically cramming server and storage hardware and associated networking connectivity, as well as appropriate cooling technology, into a shipping container about the size of the cargo area of a tractor trailer truck.
The vendors say these offerings let enterprise buyers think outside the box when it comes to expanding IT footprints. Instead of investing in expensive real estate and infrastructure to build out brick-and-mortar data centers, order a “data-center-in-a-box” and plug it in, Rackable executives say.
Rackable’s Concentro can hold up to 9,600 processing cores in the 40 foot by 8 foot shipping box. In addition, the self-contained data center includes 3.5 petabytes of storage. The first version of Concentro is available with as many as 1,200 of Rackable Systems’ DC-powered quad-core Xeon-based servers.
In addition, Rackable executives say the cooling technology inside the box will slash air conditioning costs by as much as 80% vs. a traditional data center.
And the most interesting thing about Rackable’s offering? It says it already has a customer. There have been some skeptics when it comes to Sun’s Project Blackbox and that product isn’t event shipping yet. Sun has shown a prototype, but it’s not expected to be commercially available until the summer.
Rackable, meanwhile, says Concentro is being used by a large Internet company.
What do you think of the idea of putting your data center in a shipping container? Let me know.
