We've looked at these from a DHS perspective and they are a great concept.  I know Sun has had the boxes here in DC on tour and worth checking out.  I believe FEMA was in process of looking into leveraging them for disaster command centers along with the military. 
 
I think the better approach is to not purchase one but to do a lease so that the hardware stays refreshed and keeps up with technology.  I'm not sure if they've got a service model for doing the leases but would be a great way to go for large organizations where you can pay a fee to have them on standby but managed by Sun or the provider and brought to disaster sites on-demand. 
 
It would be interesting to talk to someone that has used one during a major event to get their take on them including spin up time to bring them online. 
 
Jerry

From: owner-nanog@merit.edu [mailto:owner-nanog@merit.edu] On Behalf Of Lorell Hathcock
Sent: Saturday, October 13, 2007 6:07 PM
To: nanog@merit.edu
Subject: RE: Sun Project Blackbox / Portable Data Center

That’s the issue with these things.  It seems that everyone likes the idea, but no one wants to be the early adopters.

 

It was pointed out to me that Google has patented the idea, but yet Sun has working on Project Blackbox for a couple of years.  I wonder if there will be a legal battle between the two over this.

 

The concept of a portable data center is seems like it could have some very specific uses.  Others?

 

-      Military

-      Geo Physical / Seismic

-      Disaster Recovery

-      New Media / Web 2.0

 

The same box could also serve these industries with the same buildings but in a permanent location.  Others?

 

-      Telecommunications / Fiber

-      Semi-Permanent Data Centers

 

Lorell

 

From: owner-nanog@merit.edu [mailto:owner-nanog@merit.edu] On Behalf Of Hex Star
Sent: Saturday, October 13, 2007 3:49 PM
To: Lorell Hathcock; nanog@merit.edu
Subject: Re: Sun Project Blackbox / Portable Data Center

 

 

On 10/12/07, Lorell Hathcock <lorell@hathcock.org> wrote:

www.sun.com/blackbox

 

Has anyone seen one of these things in real life?

 

I hear that there's been one sighted in Houston.  I would love to take a tour.

 

Also, is anyone using anything like this?  It seems like they would make great fiber huts.

 

 

 


I also find this very interesting but don't really know of anyone who has deployed this in their business