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AS OF 12/3/2008 11:51PM EST

Hard to Contain Enthusiasm for Data Centers in a Box
By John Rath

July 15, 2008 —

Whether you call it a data center in a box, a modular data center or a container, I have been trying to figure out the practical use for such a thing for more than a year now since Sun Microsystems introduced project Blackbox.

Although Sun has invigorated the container market, APC had a mobile solution before Sun, with its InfrastruXure Express product, a 2,500-square-foot on-demand mobile data center. There was also a fair amount of press about a 2003 patent filing from Google that sounded a lot like Sun’s Project Blackbox. The concept is an interesting one and the possible applications for a container are growing on me.

Sun put a lot of research and development into its product as well as an equally impressive marketing blitz, complete with a global tour of the product. The rebranded Sun Modular Datacenter S20 is a 20-foot-long ISO standard shipping container. It has removable 40U 25kW racks, an extensive sensor network, GPS tracking and has been earthquake tested to 6.7 on the Richter scale. Sun emphasizes the mobility and rapid deployment of a container versus building a traditional data center.

The ease with which it can be moved around is attributed to containerization—a system of cargo transport using standard ISO containers that can be loaded onto container ships, railroad cars, planes and trucks. In this aspect, the container really makes sense: a data center in a box that uses a global standard for quick and easy transport.

Key markets for Sun include specialized uses such as military operations or disaster relief; large-scale network services such as service providers; interim use such as data center migration or short-term projects; and augmentation uses such as expansion and consolidation or disaster recovery. Some examples of where the S20 could be used include the Red Cross using it in remote locations, a data center for an oil rig out at sea, or on top of an office building that ran out of space to put IT equipment.

Rackable Systems followed suit around the same time as Sun’s Blackbox announcement with their product, the ICE Cube Modular Data Center. Their focus was on extreme server and storage density in the form of 1,400 rack unit spaces for Rackable Systems servers or storage. Rackable also uses the ISO standard shipping container in 20- or 40-foot lengths. Efficiencies are gained from the company's container through leveraging DC power, a self-contained UPS and a novel approach to cooling the servers.

The Verari FOREST (Flexible, Open, Reliable, Energy Efficient, Scalable and Transportable) Container System was the next one I ran across. The FOREST uses patented Vertical Cooling Technology and claims to equal the output of a brick-and-mortar installation in 70 percent less space. Both Rackable and Verari have an impressive list of clients using their systems.

At AFCOM’s Spring Data Center World this year, Microsoft’s Michael Manos revealed that the first floor of the company's new Chicago data center will be made up entirely of containers. From Microsoft's perspective, the container solution comes down to a unit of measure. They used to configure servers in individual rack units. Then they had entire racks, prepopulated with servers, come to the data center. Now they are moving to entire containers full of compute power that come in on trucks and are connected to a facility spine to deliver power, cooling and network capacity. The first floor will house 220 containers, approximately 30,000 servers and move Microsoft from 450 watts per square foot to 1,200 watts per square foot.

IBM has recently announced three offerings from phase two of its “Project Big Green” initiative. Their Enterprise Modular Data Center is a 5,000-square-foot module that can be combined to create as much as 20,000 square feet of space. The Portable Modular Data Center is designed to Tier III reliability and is complete with UPS, cooling systems, batteries, fire suppression and remote monitoring. IBM’s Modular High Density Zone is a 200-square-foot modular system specifically powered and cooled for high-density servers.

Dell and HP have also been rumored to be developing container solutions.

I think the container concept is here to stay. The model has been researched and product offerings from the industry heavyweights should indicate that it is worth a look. Hosting and colo provider Bastionhost believes in the potential and offers Hot Parking—a secure location and appropriate facility plug-ins for parking your container.

Finally, what better place to store a large quantity of containers than on a cargo ship? In January of this year, startup company International Data Security announced its intent to set up a fleet of data-serving cargo ships available to house data center containers. The ships will use sea water to cool servers, have many business amenities and have approximately 200,000 square feet of available space. I guess when the animals start lining up two-by-two, you'll know where my servers will be.

John Rath is an independent consultant and blogger at Datacenterlinks.com. He can be reached at johnsr4@gmail.com.

Related Search Term(s): Data centers, IBM, Rackable, Sun, Verari

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