IBM Launches iDataPlex With Container Option
IBM has jumped into the emerging market for massive cloud computing systems with iDataPlex, a water-cooled system offering high density in a smaller footprint. The iDataPlex series will offer racks pre-populated with servers for rapid deployment, and is also being offered in a 40-foot trailer, marking IBM's first foray into container-based systems.
IBM said its hardware design for iDataPlex reduces the cost per server by at least 20 percent, and can cram twice as many servers into the same floor space as conventional servers while requiring 40 percent less power to run. It can be outfitted with IBM's Cool Blue rear-door water-cooling system. The Wall Street Journal said IBM has deployed iDataPlex systems with Yahoo (YHOO), Merrill Lynch and the Chinese online service Tencent.
The IBM system will be officially announced today at the Web 2.0 conference, and will begin shipping next month. iDataPlex targets a small number of high-end customers with data centers that have thousands of servers.
IBM's strategy tracks the development of cloud computing, in which applications shift from in-house data centers to massive utility computing platforms run by companies like Amazon (AMZN), Salesforce (CRM), Microsoft (MSFT) and Google (MSFT). Because IBM is focusing iDataPlex on a relatively small number of cloud builders, it can offer customized implementations.
The iDataPlex system supplies about 100 Intel-based servers in a standard—42U rack, according to eWeek, which said IBM will offer 22 different configurations with a choice of 1U or 2U servers and a choice of switches from Cisco Systems, QLogic and others.
IBM's decision to offer iDataPlex in a 40-foot container reflects the growing interest in the "data center in a box" concept in the wake of Microsoft's commitment to populate one floor of its new Chicago data center with up to 220 40-foot containers packed with servers.
The iDataPlex servers are designed to address the space constraints of high-density data centers and 8-foot wide containers, as IBM has turned the server sideways (more details at Network World), allowing for less depth and better cooling.
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By Rich Miller 
April 23, 2008 | Permalink | >Get Posts By E-mail
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