IDS to offer up floating data centers?

Details are still murky at this point, but it seems a company dubbed IDS is getting set to change the way we look at traditional data centers. The San Francisco-based startup is reportedly about to build 22 new centers, but rather than looking for unused closets and underground caverns to store hardware, it's planning to erect said data centers on decommissioned cargo ships. The plan doesn't really sound all that far-fetched -- after all, it can use sea water for cooling, there's loads of on board fuel for power generation during disasters and they can be easily used in coastal cities where free land is an issue. Purportedly, IDS will be transitioning out of secrecy in the near future, so we should be hearing a lot more on how it plans to progress real soon.

[Via DailyTech]

[Jesse S @ Jan 11th 2008 9:18PM]

Does this mean that PRQ is now no longer the only refuge of torrent sites?

[John @ Jan 11th 2008 9:34PM]

I realize that these ships are really big and should be safe, but something about storing data in a boat seems like a bad idea to me anyway.

[KC @ Jan 11th 2008 9:38PM]

This could be interesting to be able to host content in international waters... no regulation on online gambling, etc.

[Datacide @ Jan 12th 2008 3:14PM]

Exactly what I was thinking...

[barrywoods @ Jan 11th 2008 9:45PM]

Shouldn't be too hard. Sun already builds data centers in the containers.
http://www.sun.com/emrkt/blackbox/index.jsp


Now if they had good satellite connections, they could float out to sea when really bad weather comes in and ride out the storms away from the coastal areas where the waves are worse.

[hoss @ Jan 12th 2008 7:22AM]

and when this happens???
http://www.downrighttech.com/node/92

[Bob @ Jan 11th 2008 9:54PM]

I've never understood why they don't put these data centers up north on the tundra. Theres tons of space, and its cold so they don't need to spend all sorts of money on cooling.

[Eric @ Jan 11th 2008 10:06PM]

"Microsoft Plans Data Center in Siberia"

http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2007/Nov/26/microsoft_plans_data_center_in_siberia.html

[barrywoods @ Jan 12th 2008 1:41AM]

Been there, done that. You'd need to heat the place. At -20F or so, all the bearings in the machine freeze solid. There's also the problem of getting power to them. Then there's the problem of heat in the summer. With the sun up for up to 23 hours a day (at least where I'm at) it actually gets up in the 90's.

[Bob @ Jan 12th 2008 10:14AM]

well the heat in the summer would still be a lot less than the places they put them now wouldnt it? and I mean if they put them in somewhere like up in the north of Manitoba or something, it wouldnt get 23 hours of sun a day in the summer.

[quiksliver @ Jan 13th 2008 1:26PM]

not to mention, you will be hard pressed to find silicon valley engineers to go up to alaska, and most of the locals aren't tech savvy either

[CaliforniaKid @ Jan 11th 2008 11:05PM]

Salt air environment and electronics? I'm sure the onboard air will be scrubbed.

[John @ Jan 11th 2008 11:46PM]

Uh oh, here come's the failboat...

[Tim Oleston @ Jan 12th 2008 12:02AM]

"there's loads" - am I the only guy who sees this bad grammar as tragedy?

[Josh @ Jan 12th 2008 12:17PM]

No, but most of us don't care :)

[Matt E. @ Jan 12th 2008 3:12AM]

This was so done back in the 90's. I saw an episode of the X-files where this hacker chick had her lab setup in one of these...then an evil AI program shot a laser beam down from a Star Wars satellite and blew it up...

[dec1211 @ Jan 12th 2008 10:05AM]

A bit easy to sink don't you think? Plus the latency can't be that good if they connect through satellite.

[~TheVault~ @ Jan 12th 2008 9:10PM]

This could be interesting. I wonder if this could be possible targets for terrorists or if the government is feeling frisky, take control over it.

[saq @ Jan 13th 2008 1:03PM]

Powering one of these things seems unfeasible. I think its going to be difficult to call the local electric company and get them to drop 50-500Kw to a boat, datacenter boat or not.u

[Pete Steege @ Jan 13th 2008 5:43PM]

Power is the biggest issue for these datacenters. They do have the option to dock near hydroelectric centers like Washington state.

[Clint Wilson @ Jan 14th 2008 11:35AM]

I wrote the business plan for this and would love to hear how you found out about the plan?

[kookoobirdz @ Jan 17th 2008 1:35AM]

Excellent. Let's put all of our data not just in sinkable ships on the high seas, but old decomissioned sinkable ships. What, were the ledges of volcanos already occupied?