ON FLOATING DATA CENTERS

OUT THERE

Ars Technica has an article on one of the newest, most unusual startups I've seen emerge from Silicon Valley in recent years:

"A new Silicon Valley startup called International Data Security (IDS) has sent some big waves through the data storage industry by announcing (PDF) its intent to set up a fleet of data-serving cargo ships.

These floating data centers will come equipped not only with standard storage services like SAN (Storage Area Network) and NAS (Network Attached Storage), but also with amenities such as private offices, overnight accommodations, and galley services.

To save money, IDS is purchasing decommissioned ships that were scheduled to go to the scrapyard, then refurbishing them in drydock. According to founder Ken Choi, the first ship—which will also house the new IDS headquarters—is scheduled to come online in April, and it will be parked at San Francisco's Pier 50 along with its sister ships.

Each ship has approximately 200,000 square feet of usable space. The company plans to deploy as many as 22 ships in North America and 50 ships worldwide."

Why go to all this trouble to build data centers docked off of piers, you ask?  Why, because it's cool of course:

"The ships will use sea water for cooling the servers, which IDS says will will eliminate the need for external cooling solutions and shave 30 percent from their total energy consumption."

The Powerpoint for this business plan practically writes itself.

Quite a departure from traditional data center companies of years past. 

It was only a decade ago that we saw the IPO* of Exodus Communications, one of the leading data center companies at the time, based in Santa Clara, California.

One can only imagine where data centers will be built a decade from now.

Disclosure:  I was the lead research analyst for this IPO in 1998, at my former firm.

Comments

[candice]

Seriously awesome. Back in the 70s when my folks made a living doing offshore work, we had a ton of "keel cooling" on our boats to cool equipment.

So they're using well-established technology, too.