Jonathan announced Project Black Box at the end of last month. Its a Data Centre in a shipping container and expanded on its unique value in his blog article “A picture’s worth…. Jonathan said that customer reaction has varied with equal measures of a) nervous laughter, b) incredulity, c) profound curiosity and a recognition that we’re working on the right problems for the future of datacenters. And we have an enviably beefy pipeline of customers and integrators wanting to talk to us, which is the right starting point.
Its clear after some research that the big advantages are it can supply & cool 25Kw/rack, so racks can be full of modern space efficient computers; you don’t have to spend your space budget on cooling. With a footprint, of 30’x15′, and capable of hosting 250 n-way systems with between 1000 & 2000 cores, we claim it can save 80% of your space costs, and reduce the demand for space by 50%. The land is cheaper; it doesn’t have to be air-conditioned, doesn’t need a raised floor, etc., and Sun Blackboxes can be stacked, if you have the headroom!
All you need is power, networks and chilled water.
ooOOOoo
Originally posted on my sun/oracle blog, republished here in April 2016. Once more I have restored the picture.