Project Blackbox
Yesterday I went to see Sun’s latest innovation Project Blackbox on it’s tour stop in Minneapolis. This innovative new product challenges our current notion of data centers and offers new possibilities. One aspect that I think is simple, but very powerful, is the ability to centrally configure and test multiple Blackbox data centers then ship them around the world, connect (power, internet) and turn on! Predictive and Reproducible.
Beyond the physical tour (which was impressive) the event included a presentation by Dave Douglas from Sun, focused on Eco-Responsibility. It was interesting to learn about challenges of current data centers including the rising energy usage costs and how that is effecting organizational decision making — CIOs are needing to manage and calculate ROIs now based on energy consumption. I was amazed to learn about the amount of energy lost in the transfer for the power plant to the actual server — at every connection or conversion point energy is lost — resulting in only 52% of the energy reaching the devices in one Sun data center example. So it’s cheaper to place a data center near a good or even green power source and run long fiber connections that don’t have the same loss problems as electricity.
Overall it’s inspiring innovation that I think will change the way people buy and implement high-performance computing like the iPod + iTunes did for buying and listening to music. Whether it’s used as a permanent solution or as a versatile tool for transitions and reactionary needs — Project Blackbox will enable companies to think in new and more eco-friendly ways.