Sun To Unveil Project Blackbox

this great guy writes "A year ago, Google's secret plans for a portable data center in a shipping container were being revealed by Robert X. Cringely. Sun Microsystems is about to officially unveil its 'data center in a box' concept. Project Blackbox will involve the full-scale production of data centers in 20-foot-long cargo shipping containers." From the article: "The idea eliminates several major hurdles facing data center customers: finding an appropriate site, arranging the servers and cooling mechanisms in the most efficient manner, and waiting for construction to be complete. The company is touting energy efficiency as a crucial benefit of the confined space, as its patented cooling features can more accurately target hot spots than in giant warehouses. The box can hold hundreds of servers and save thousands of dollars per year in energy costs, the company said."

Comments

It might have uses

[dilvish_the_damned]

I could see this being potentially usefull in very specific situations. I could see even more uses if they would further armour it against the harsh elements. No one thinks about -40F until your trying to run a thousand man crew in some remote place in alaska, and you need to be semi-mobile with your main office.

Well, now that I think about it you would really need to have a problem that must be solved on site and requires a lot of CPU power and a lot of bandwidth, and not so much need for imediate portability. Otherise you would use a semi-portable dish on the top of a truck to get some 12mb down and say 4mb up (depending on which side of the globe your on) to link you to a stationary data center. In this way you expose your assets a whole lot less and you are far more mobile.This of course assumes weather will not get in your way (which it does).

Maybe the modular datacenter that happens to have bay doors is a good application, assuming your problem is big enough to warrent purchassing equipment by the bussload... as you need it.

Nope, I changed my mind. When it comes down to it, I just don't see the potential for this super-product as its descibed here.
Maybe quick geographic redundancy might be a seller...

APC Beat them to Market

[OrangePeril]

http://www.apc.com/resource/include/techspec_index .cfm?base_sku=ISXT440MD12RMBL APC beat both Google and Sun to market on this one. This is one of the 'coolest' ideas I've ever seen. Park this in a lot and have a replacement datacenter on demand, or drive it around the country like the Russians used to do with the nukes.

Re:APC Beat them to Market

[curlynoodle]

There are no servers in the APC truck, just UPS and climate control. Maybe a gateway and switch for the satellite transceiver.

Put Google or Sun's MDC in one of these, and you got a solution.

From APC site: Standard Lead Time: Special Order - Call for Quoted Lead Times. Really? I hadn't guessed.

Internet Archive in a cargo container

[yppiz]

The Internet Archive has a related design that would allow them to ship functional copies of the archive anywhere in the world. It's called the Petabox and it's designed to operate in a shipping container, just add external power, bandwidth, and cooling.

--Pat

Re:Just 1 Question

[rjschwarz]

You don't need to store the things in your parking lot. You could store these things in a standard wharehouse that wouldn't require special cooling systems and locks. Then when you need to expand you move the pallets of Mountain Dew and printer paper and make room. Although the idea of a couple of them in the parking lot, covered in graffiti has a sort of William Gibson visual to it.

Re:Open Computing Environment

[evilviper]

If Sun and Google can fit each container with enough solar cells to power it,

Covering a house's entire roof in solar panels is barely enough to power several computers. Never mind hundreds of ultra-densely packed systems, needing heavy-duty cooling.

You've got a snowball's chance is hell (get it?) of getting the necessary power out of a few solar panels mounted on the container.

You have a much better chance, though, if you PACK this thing with portable cells, and have someone set them up, around the site. Though, you're definately going to need someone to stay around, keep people and animals away, and regularly clean sand, dirt, and leaves off the panels, or they won't last long.

Re:I have a Vision

[Dun Malg]

The existing datacenters are already air-dropped piecemeal, then setup in a battlefield tent on the ground. I guess it's all about the packing.

Do you mean airdropped or just airlifted (parachute vs slingload under a helo)? I saw plenty slingloaded, but never saw anything but "soft" material airdropped.

The sandbagging was outright stupid (I guess several shelters collapsed from it), and the AC equipment was always on the fritz.

Tell me about it. I spent my "garrison" time in Afghanistan playing plumber and electrician, just trying to keep the lights on and the water running. And it was only by luck and obstinancy that any of it worked-- there were no "military electricians" there, just a few of use reservists who are electricians in "real life". We had to scrounge for everything, from tools to light bulbs. Of course the beauty of Afghanistan is that if you can get to "town", they have EVERYTHING for sale...

Re:Shipping Containers

[AnotherDaveB]

Recycled shipping containers are great small buildings

If you stack them, they make great big buildings too.

Re:In a 40' container since 1999

[couchslug]

High Cubes are less common. I had to ask my supplier for them.
They are 9'6" tall and MUCH more desirable for a dwelling!

http://www.tis-gdv.de/tis/taz/h/high_cube.jpg

http://www.proboxinc.com/productsp.htm

Lotta pics and parts:
http://www.tandemloc.com/

BattleBox
http://www.geocities.com/strategicmaneuver/battleb oxes.htm

Sea Box (food for thought)
http://www.seabox.com/id-2