CONTAINERISED DATA CENTRES: Comparative Analysis of Solutions, Vendors and Products

CONTAINERISED DATA CENTRES: Comparative Analysis of Solutions, Vendors and Products published by BroadGroup in February, 2009. This report consists of 65 pages and the price starts from US $ 1891.

Introduction

Abstract

Microsoft' s influence on the development of containerized data centre market has been evident over the past two years. The company will probably become a single largest user of this platform, possibly setting the trend for other companies in the cloud computing space.

The "Lego block" of data centres, containerization is now also mooted as the way forward in delivering server farms at low cost with efficient carbon reduction and power reduction. The containerized data centre platform features energy and cost efficient, modular designs that can be rapidly deployed and scaled to suit particular business needs. They provide an ability to deploy facilities at the same time as servers and are suitable for very specific implementations. Although a niche offering at present, with early adoption by government and research organisations, the report predicts a growing but very precisely defined market for these solutions.

Overall, while being a viable and functioning platform, containerized data centres also present a number of concerns identified and analysed in the report, including density, weight, power generation and other issues. Widespread adoption in traditional markets, and among enterprises may therefore be more limited given too the increasing interest in modular data centre designs.

This report presents a walk-through of current containerized designs and vendor offerings, but also offers a comparative analysis including costs, and a well considered discussion of the pro' s and con' s of containerization for the end user.

The report also suggests an opportunity for a hybrid solution, where organizations use both containerized units and traditional data centres concurrently to complement each other and capitalise on particular strengths and functional features. The report also suggests a number of niche market spaces where containerized data centres could be successfully leveraged.

For companies assessing containerization, this report will provide a ready template of all the issues that need to be assessed to determine the best opportunity technically and commercially for their businesses.

• Data Centre Operators and Owners
• Telecommunication Service Providers
• Managed Service Providers
• Infrastructure Service Providers
• System Integrator Companies
• Cloud Computing Providers
• Equipment Vendors
• Software and Solutions Vendors
• Environmental Specialists
• Consulting Firms
• Investment and Property Companies
• Power and Energy Companies
• Government and Regulatory Bodies

Table of Contents

1. Executive Summary

2. Research Methodology and Report Objectives

• 2.1 Methodology
• 2.2 Objectives
• 2.3 Markets Covered

3. Part I - Market Review

• 3.1 Market Definition
• 3.2 Microsoft' s "Gen 4" Strategy
• 3.3 Market Participants
  • 3.3.1 Containerized Data Centre manufacturers
  • 3.3.2 Containerized Data Centre users

4. Part II - "Green" containerized data centres

5. Part III - Functional assessment of containerized data centre solutions

• 5.1 Facilities
• 5.2 Technology
• 5.3 Business
• 5.4 Conclusions
• 5.5 Recommendations

Appendix A: COMPARISON OF CONTAINERIZED PLATFORMS

Appendix B: Useful links

Tables and Figures

• Figure 1: Microsoft' s Gen 4 data centre
• Figure 2: Outside view of APC InfraStruXure Express
• Figure 3: Inside view of APC InfraStruXure Express
• Figure 4: Google' s Databarges concept
• Figure 5: Outside view of SUN "Blackbox"
• Figure 6: Inside view of SUN "Blackbox"

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