Mobile data centers seemingly are getting “en vogue” but none looks as good as this one.
Rackable’s new system called “Concentro” stacks up to 1,200 two-socket servers into a standard 40′ x 8′ shipping container. The system has enough power to give you a top 200 supercomputer overnight, uses water to keep cool, and can be outfitted with a mix of server, storage, and networking hardware. And power consumption, space, and specialized data center costs seem to be the hottest topics at the moment for customers with massive server needs.
With the use of shipping containers it becomes relatively easy for companies to install a data center in an area with cheaper energy or to set up a data center in record time when demand increases. Currently suppliers of such solutions expect the military, large service providers, financial services companies, oil and gas firms, universities, and other demanding users to pick up these new systems.
The “Concentro” solutions can be filled with 1,200 1U or 600 2U servers. All of the systems are Rackable’s half-height DC variety running on four-core Xeon chips from Intel. With a two-socket server configuration the up to 9,600 cores per container make it the most powerful system currently on the market. Rackable is currently working on a second “Concentro” design that will not require liquid cooling.
We are looking forward to see some service suppliers providing these as on-demand solutions for lease or with 48h delivery options to organizations. With data storage and data centers seemingly becoming commodity and turn-key solutions such financing or user models might become very interesting to many when overall costs can be fixed at flat rates.
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