The New Data Center Rack From ... IKEA?

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The New Data Center Rack From … IKEA?

The New Data Center Rack From … IKEA?
- By: Rich Miller
  January 21st, 2010
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An implementation of the LACKRack, which adapts an IKEA side table for use as a stylish home data center.

Looking to build a home data center? Look no further than you local IKEA store. Computer hobbyists are adapting the Swedish furniture chain’s LACK side table to house servers and switches, creating a LACKRack. It turns out that the space between the table’s legs is 19 inches, the same width as a standard slot in a data center server rack.

The LACKRack was first displayed at the eth0 Winter 2010 computer conference last weekend in Wieringerwerf, the Netherlands. The eth0 team has posted a guide to building your own unit by using wood screws to affix server rack mounts to the legs of the table. The tables are stackable and modular, so can be assembled in a variety of configurations.

There’s also the LACKRack “Enterprise Edition,” which uses a longer LACK coffee table – and as with any enterprise product, has a premium price as a result. The eth0 site suggests that Google engineers may have been the first to affix gear to LACK tables. More photos.
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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.

Jeff

Posted January 21st, 2010

Is the cooling unit behind the rack? That should be fixed right away.

Thursday data center tidbits. « The Server Room

Posted January 21st, 2010

[...] of all is the “new data center rack” from IKEA. Unfortunately, if you do use one of these, any servers you put in it will automatically have their [...]