Project Blackbox : First Virtualized Datacenter Prototype

Sun Microsystems presents the Project Blackbox – a prototype of the world’s first virtualized datacenter built into a shipping container and optimized to deliver extreme energy, space, and performance efficiencies.

Project Blackbox aims to provide customers (who are running out of space, power and cooling), a glimpse into the fast, cost-effective datacenter deployments. Fitted with state-of-the-art cooling, monitoring, and power distribution systems and housed in a standard 20-foot shipping container, Project Blackbox will be easily transported using common shipping methods. Simple hookups for water, AC power, and networking will enable customers to quickly deploy Project Blackbox upon delivery. Read more and see this wonderful flash presentation for a quick idea.

I was amazed by some of the powerful features -

* A single Project Blackbox could accommodate 250 Sun Fire T1000 servers with the CoolThreads technology with 2000 cores and 8000 simultaneous threads.
* A single Project Blackbox could accommodate 250 x64-based servers with 1000 cores.
* A single Project Blackbox could provide as much as 1.5 petabytes of disk storage or 2 petabytes of energy-efficient tape storage.
* A single Project Blackbox could provide 7 terabytes of memory.
* A single Project Blackbox could handle up to 10,000 simultaneous desktop users.
* A single Project Blackbox currently has sufficient power and cooling to support 200 kilowatts of rackmounted equipment.

Think of all that power in a shipping container… Amazing!