Dell shows off its new modular data center

Dell has been relatively quiet about its modular data-center products, but on Tuesday it showed off a new design it has started selling to massive “hyperscale” customers, which include huge Internet firms like Microsoft and Facebook.

The first modular data centers, including one shown by Dell two years ago, used standard shipping containers to house servers and other IT gear. The containers are sturdy, relatively cheap and highly portable, but some vendors have found them a tiny inflexible.

[ Stay ahead of the key tech business news with InfoWorld's Today's Headlines: First Look newsletter. | Read Bill Snyder's Tech's Bottom Line blog for what the key business trends mean to you. ]

Dell’s latest model does away with the container and instead houses 12 standard server racks in two rows within a steel skeletal structure, with a central aisle for servicing. Three or four of the structures can be “snapped” together depending on how much calculate capacity is required, according to Dell.

The power and cooling units are also modular. The cooling units attach to the top of the structure and can be evaporative or water-based, depending on what works ideal in the local climate. A redundant power supply hooks onto the end.

“We’re delivering these units in production to a few customers,” stated Steve Schuckenbrock, president of Dell’s Large Enterprise group, who talked them up in a speech at VMworld in San Francisco.

The systems are sold by Dell’s Data Center Solutions group, which also builds custom servers and tends to work with only very massive companies. But Dell has been selling some of its DCS servers to smaller enterprises and could eventually do the same with its modular data centers if demand is sufficient.

Server makers, including Hewlett-Packard, IBM and SGI, also sell modular data centers, as does power equipment vendor Active Power. Collocation provider i/o Anywhere has also gotten into the market, and it too has shunned standard shipping containers because it states they are inflexible.

Modular data centers have found a niche because they can grant a company to add calculate capacity without having to build a pricey data center with a raised floor. One of Dell’s customers keeps them in a warehouse, Schuckenbrock said. They also pack a lot of computing power into a small space and can be highly energy-efficient.

They’re one example of how data centers are changing, as companies try to build out private and public clouds while keeping capital and operational costs lower. HP has gone a step further, offering an entire, 24,000-square-foot modular data center that can be assembled onsite from prefabricated parts.

“Infrastructure is going to change as we build out these public and private clouds,” Schuckenbrock said. “Data centers are going to evolve dramatically.”

additional resources White Paper

Get the most out of the storage you already own. Download this whitepaper this day and analyze 7 key technologies behind maximizing your storage efficiency.

Download now » White Paper

Stop unscrupulous insiders. A clever criminal can lull the boss into believing nothing is amiss. Systems designed to monitor the network for patterns of criminal or destructive behavior are much harder to fool. Learn how to put the right countermeasures in place and vastly reduce the threat posed by insiders.

Download now » White Paper

Examine the 5 unique requirements that virtualization imposes on hardware, and discover how the next generation of HP’s ProLiant server line can deliver virtualized, efficient data centers, rapid ROI and lower operational expenses.

Download now » White Paper

Address the back-up and restore challenges created by virtualized server environments by following these technical recommendations. Learn how VMware Consolidated Backup in conjunction with HP Data Protector can realize a VMware ESX back-up that surpasses the 1 TB/h performance threshold, while minimizing storage resources overhead.

Download now »

Dell shows off its new modular data center

Other Post:

Translation

Tag clouds

Recent Posts

Partner Links

404 Not Found