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>I don't think there was much choice when it came to the size of the unit Yeah, I got the sense the design was intended for smaller on-demand needs versus stra

>I don't think there was much choice when it came to the size of the unit Yeah, I got the sense the design was intended for smaller on-demand needs versus strategically building out massive datacenters. So, my thinking is that you would borrow from the base idea, but you'd upsize each unit to cut down on the actual number of units (and attendant overhead). Just considering that if you truly are building out a datacenter, you'd probably do better to have fewer, larger units. On the flip side though, the shipping container format does make it very appealing logistically. >That smells an awful lot like an apples-to-oranges marketspeak Yeah, they are no doubt being selective in what they are comparing. That claim has to do with the cost of "connecting [these units] to existing infrastructure". So, I'm guessing they are assuming infrastructure, then comparing the cost of one of these units to construction of equivalent DC square footage. 1% still seems aggressive, but I could be convinced it's "significantly less". Of course, assuming the infrastructure starts to get murky, since a full DC build is going to be more intertwined with its infra.

kjs3 2y ago
I got the sense the design was intended for smaller on-demand needs versus strategically building out massive datacenters This is absolutely the case. This was not intended to replace small, permanent DCs, much less massive ones. Think "I need compute on space limited offshore oil rig" or "I need some compute here for 6 months". you'd upsize each unit to cut down on the actual number of units I've been out of involvement in building out DCs for a long time, so my info is dated, but... As I said, there are now other companies doing variations on this. The Delta unit I mentioned upthread is built into a (standard?) 18-wheel tractor trailer (significantly larger than a shipping container). But much bigger than that you start getting into "how do I move it to the site" issues, which means costs due to transport are going to go up fast, and you're back to "does it just make sense to build a fixed DC", perhaps with a careful eye towards "I'll want to easily tack on more capacity later". Even if you figure out a way to do off-site pre-fab economically, I don't see how it would make sense to do "DC built out of X many identical prefab units" but instead you'd want to do "X many rack units, and Y many network units, and Z many air handling units, and W power distribution units, and V many CnC units, and...". I know there's a lot of talk about how building houses out of prefab components is going to change the world (one day), but unless you are building a lot of data centers, I don't know how you build out the infrastructure to deliver on that that's going to be cheaper than "haul materials to the site and build it there like we've done forever". My completely unsubstantiated view is the volume isn't there.

kjs3 2y ago

I got the sense the design was intended for smaller on-demand needs versus strategically building out massive datacenters This is absolutely the case. This was not intended to replace small, permanent DCs, much less massive ones. Think "I need compute on space limited offshore oil rig" or "I need some compute here for 6 months". you'd upsize each unit to cut down on the actual number of units I've been out of involvement in building out DCs for a long time, so my info is dated, but... As I said, there are now other companies doing variations on this. The Delta unit I mentioned upthread is built into a (standard?) 18-wheel tractor trailer (significantly larger than a shipping container). But much bigger than that you start getting into "how do I move it to the site" issues, which means costs due to transport are going to go up fast, and you're back to "does it just make sense to build a fixed DC", perhaps with a careful eye towards "I'll want to easily tack on more capacity later". Even if you figure out a way to do off-site pre-fab economically, I don't see how it would make sense to do "DC built out of X many identical prefab units" but instead you'd want to do "X many rack units, and Y many network units, and Z many air handling units, and W power distribution units, and V many CnC units, and...". I know there's a lot of talk about how building houses out of prefab components is going to change the world (one day), but unless you are building a lot of data centers, I don't know how you build out the infrastructure to deliver on that that's going to be cheaper than "haul materials to the site and build it there like we've done forever". My completely unsubstantiated view is the volume isn't there.