On Dec 1, 2010, at 8:43 AM, Chris Adams wrote:
Once upon a time, Christopher Morrow <morrowc.lists@gmail.com> said:
the colo provider may not want to 'waste' electricity/cooling on a vending machine...
A plain (non-drink) machine draws a few watts. I don't think rack screws and patch cables need to be refrigerated; if they can't spare a few watts for a vending machine, then you probably can't install anything new there anyway.
You know, I don't think the reason this doesn't happen is a technological one. There are a bunch of us who've been pushing this idea to DC and colo providers for well upwards of fifteen years now, and I don't know of anyone who's actually done it. The problem is supply, not demand. Combining someone who's willing to service vending machines for a living with someone who knows what we need the vending machines stocked with is the sticking point, since the market is too small to separate those roles, I think. At least to bootstrap. Of course, if the economy continues downward, maybe there will be more clueful people who figure stocking vending machines is better than no work at all. -Bill