Cisco launches modular data center 'in-a-box'

Cisco’s recently announced Containerized Data Center is nothing new, as HP, IBM, Rackspace and others offer pre-built compute-capacity-in-a-box as well. The differentiator here, according to Cisco’s Keith Siracuse, product marketing engineer is comprehensiveness of this replacement for brick-and-mortar buildouts.

“We will support everything from switching and routing and overall network architecture, to working with partners for integration of equipment, maintenance of the hardware and software, and all the support afterward,” said Siracuse, noting the relationships Cisco can leverage to help customers, such as that with “master integrator” JCI, storage company NetApp, or virtualization software player VMware.

The solution is deployable in 90 to 120 days and includes everything from internally maintained racks, cooling, myriad power and network options, protected water distribution, as well as multiple redundancy options. “For a telecom service provider providing cloud computing, these modules will prove much less expensive and much easier to integrate than a huge data center and brick and mortar,” he said.

Customers get a box the size of a typical shipping container packed with Cisco UCS and Nexus gear, as well as components from its qualified partner community such as the aforementioned NetApp storage and VMware virtualization software.

“We’ve thought this through from the ground up so that even the smallest details can make a big difference,” said Siracuse. “For example, we are running cool water under the floor mats rather than above the equipment so that should there be a leak, the gear is still protected. Since you are investing 15% on the container and the rest on the gear, we think this is an important consideration we’ve made.”

Because of their ability to be built and customized quickly and at reasonable costs, modular data centers are growing in popularity. Beside cost savings, the energy efficiency and the amount of equipment and computing power than can be squeezed into a tight space. Companies are increasingly looking to these data centers in a box to replace or complement BAM facilities, as well as to reduce their environmental footprints.