Intel Considering Portable Data Centers

miller60 writes "Intel has become the latest major tech company to express interest in using portable data centers to transform IT infrastructure. Intel says an approach using a "data center in a box" could be 30 to 50 percent cheaper than the current cost of building a data center. "The difference is so great that with this solution, brick-and-mortar data centers may become a thing of the past," an Intel exec writes. Sun and Rackable have introduced portable data centers, while Google has a patent for one and Microsoft has explored the concept. But for all the enthusiasm for data centers in shipping containers, there are few real-world deployments, which raises the question: are portable data centers just fun to speculate about, or can they be a practical solution for the current data center expansion challenges?"

Comments

Re:Why it probably won't work

[drix]

Dig a little deeper--you really think that large companies such as IBM, Sun, Google et al would spend tens of millions of dollars developing these products and not give thought to the basic issues you have raised? I know I know this is Slashdot and this sort of armchair quarterbacking is de rigeur, but still... every one of these issues has been addressed on Jonathan Schwartz's blog, to say nothing of the myriad of technical and marketing literature which I'm sure covers it in exhaustive detail. Here's a Blackbox getting hit with a 6.7 quake; here's where he talks about shipping it, and security as well (it comes equipped with tamper, motion and GPS sensors, to say nothing of simply hiring a night watchman to call the cops if somebody comes prowling;) and the answer to your last question is no, no it does not.

AC for Computer Room

[raftpeople]

Rule #1 in technology, anything portable is more expensive than if it were not portable

Have you ever signed the bill for having AC installed for your computer room in an existing building? While that is just 1 expense of many, it makes me think rule #1 is not accurate.

If its so cheap to use a crate, why not just put the stuff in the crate in a warehouse instead

This is a good idea that I've seen used in certain situations. There are downsides of course but for a company on a budget or in flux w.r.t. facilities this can be a good solution.