HP’s EcoPod Containerized Server Rentals Make Splash

It’s a jungle out there in the realm of server rentals, and all of the top tier manufactures are in the thick of it. IBM, HP, Sun, Cisco and other major companies are in the process of streamlining their server line-ups to meet the needs of a changing, more intensive world.

One way to stand-up to the competition, of course, is to stick-out. And that’s perhaps why Hewlett-Packard has been specializing in “containerized” data centers. The concept involves crafting a system that delivers power, speed and efficiency in a single package.

While Sun, Verari, Cisco and Microsoft might have trail-blazed the concept first, the EcoPod is still a stand-out because of its portability and power.

The EcoPod (or the Pod 240a), as the final product is being billed, isn’t all that large, all things considered – it ships out on two 40-foot shipping containers. That still makes it a lot smaller than similar products at this performance level, which would require something like 10,000 square feet of floor space.

Purchasers (or renters) can also equip themselves with two rows of 50U racks. According to The Register, the Pod 240a is able to fit two rows of 50U equipment racks, which can be lined up side by side, allowing for atotal of 2,200U of aggregate rack space. In laymen’s terms, that’s enough room for 4,400 server nodes.

Yup. 4,400 server nodes. And, through some clever chassis and aggregation work, this 4,400 number can be amplified up past the 7,000 mark.

HP’s Jim Ganthier, the vice president of marketing for its industry standard servers division, shared his thought on the development. He said, “Because of the integrated cooling in the POD 240a, this containerized data center can deliver 44 kilowatts of juice per 50U rack and has a peak thermal density of 69 kilowatts.”

Relatively compact. Relatively transportable. Relatively impressive. Check, check and check.

But our favorite part about the EcoPod is that it’s manufactured in America, out of HP’s PC factory in Houston, Texas.

[Editorial Note: For the Pod 240a or any other server rental option, please submit a hassle-free FlexQuote and we’ll get back to you within an hour with a price.]