Microsoft Responds to Container Skepticism

Microsoft data center executive Mike Manos has responded to last week’s ComputerWorld article outlining the reasons Microsoft’s approach to installing data center equipment in shipping containers won’t work. Manos has published a post on his Random Thoughts blog (link via Dave Ohara) addressing the challenges outlined in Eric Lai’s story “6 reasons why Microsoft’s container-based approach to data centers won’t work.” Here’s an excerpt:

My first response was “only six”? You only found six reasons why it won’t work? Internally we thought of a whole lot more than that when the concept first appeared on our drawing boards. … Ultimately, containers are but the first step in a journey which we intend to shake the industry up with. If the thought process around containers scares you then, the innovations, technology advances and challenges currently in various states of thought, pilot and implementation will be downright terrifying. I guess in short, you should prepare for a vigorous stirring of the anthill.

That’s a summary of a long, detailed post that addresses each of the issues raised by ComputerWorld and provides Microsoft’s views and solutions. If you’re interested in data center containers, it’s a worthwhile read.

RELATED POSTS:

• Microsoft: 300,000 Servers in Container Farm
• 3D Look at Microsoft's Container Data Center
• A Look Inside Microsoft's Data Center Containers
• Microsoft Embraces Data Center Containers
• C I Host Responds to Chicago Intrusion

About Rich Miller

Rich Miller is the founder and editor-in-chief of Data Center Knowledge, and has been reporting on the data center sector since 2000. He has tracked the growing impact of high-density computing on the power and cooling of data centers, and the resulting push for improved energy efficiency in these facilities.