Sears To Convert Old Auto Centers Into National Chain of Data Centers

1sockchuck writes "Sears plans to convert dozens of Sears Auto Center stores into a national chain of server farms, saying it wants to be "the McDonald's or Starbucks of data centers." The strategy is an evolution of Sears Holdings' previously announced plan to turn old Sears and Kmart stores into IT centers. Instead, it will focus on the more than 700 Sears Auto Centers, which include many stand-alone cement buildings on mall perimeters. Ubiquity Critical Environments, the data center arm of Sears, will team with Schneider Electric to turn these sites into data centers. They'll use repeatable modular designs to add power and cooling infrastructure, targeting at least 23 smaller cities where there currently aren't many options for IT outsourcing."

Comments

Trying a new business model

[cpicon92]

I think it's commendable that Sears is trying something new instead of trying to sue its way out of irrelevancy. Whether or not it will work remains to be seen, though...

Re:Trying a new business model

[aztracker1]

The irony is they (Sears) shut down their Catalog support after the internet started to really take off. They were in a position to be what Amazon is now, back when Amazon was just books, and already had the infrastructure to support it... Even if they just put their catalog online in 1997 (with telephone ordering/payments), they'd still be very relevant today. "We tried that with Prodigy, the Internet is just a fad."

Re:Trying a new business model

[immaterial]

It does make a lot of sense. Unlike their future-proof retail stores, automotive services are too easily purchased over the Internet nowadays. I mean seriously, who isn't buying oil changes on Amazon?

Re: Trying a new business model

[Anonymous Coward]

I used to work at a Sears Auto Center as a stock clerk when I was fresh out of high school. They have an underground basement that is essentially a bunker that is the same size as the enter area above it.

It's a fantastic idea. It's built like a bunker, and certainly not the regular pre-fab. Remember, these centers have to be seriously strengthened to handle the weight of the cars on top of it.

I'm looking forward to see what they do with it.

They are priced very well

[Anonymous Coward]

They only take Discover though.

Demand for "retail" lower-end data center space?

[swb]

In some ways I think data centers have gotten out of hand and created a market for less intensive, more retail-friendly versions.

I get that there's definitely a need for all the security and triple-redundancy that high end data centers provide. But I also think there's definitely a market for a less complex version that maybe doesn't have the kinds of security or redundancy that big operations have. Not zero redundancy or zero security, but a less involved version -- maybe less peering, less security, one generator instead of two, etc.

I work in SMB consulting and there's a certain number of clients who host their own systems in house but could benefit from putting them in a data center, but who don't quite want to pay the costs asociated with the standard model of data center. What they need is a rack with reliable power and cooling and better internet connectivity than they can get from a DSL line + Cable.

A "retail" data center might let them get their toes in the water and solve some short term problems without having to cross the Rubicon into "big time" datacenter use.

The most apt comparison I can make is Snap Fitness vs. Lifetime Fitness. Lifetime has more and better equipment, trainers, a pool, tennis, etc. But some people just want to lift weights and run on a treadmill.