thinking outside the box - by paul bernier

Views and Opinions on Green IT (Mar 17 2010)

1. 

   My husband and I are often perplexed as we drive around town and see empty strip malls while at the same time developers create new buildings – sometimes right across the street – in the same towns. So when I read recently about Microsoft’s plans to use a container-based approach to housing its data centers, I had to wonder whether it would be more cost-efficient and environmentally friendly instead to retrofit one or more of the nation’s many unoccupied buildings for this purpose.

    

   According to the piece I saw, the software giant to date has invested up to $500 million on each data center project, but now expects to bring that cost down to $250 million or less by using a modular approach to data centers based on Microsoft’s IT-PAC data center container technology.

    

   I’m sure this is in large part a move by Microsoft to “drink its own Kool-Aid,” as they say, and promote its container-based data center solutions. But I remember when Sun Microsystems tried to make a big splash with a similar container-based data center product – I didn’t get it then, and neither did the analysts I talked to, nor, apparently, many potential customers.

    

   If the goal of data center initiatives – or, for that matter, any kind of programs – is really to lower costs and, potentially, lessen negative impacts on the environment, it should start with examining (and, when it makes sense, using) what’s already readily and affordability available. And I think we can all agree that real estate most certainly fits into that category these days.

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