Dell’s mini Container Data Center fits in a suitcase

GigaOm has a video interview of Dell’s Jimmy Pike, Director of system architecture in Dell’s Data Center Solutions.

Pike has crammed two servers running dual-core, 2.5 GHz Intel processors (Harpertown), 32 GB of memory, 4 TB of disk space for storage, a power supply, a 5-port Gigabit Ethernet Switch and even some solid-state drives into a metal box. The box consumes about 325 watts, is relatively portable and provides enough performance to act as a DNS server or a data center for a small business (although since it’s relatively portable, data theft becomes a distinct possibility.) Pike uses it to test ideas and software for clients of Dell’s Data Center Solutions’ Group, which sells custom-built servers to hyperscale computing clients such as Facebook.