Some of you will remember our brief run through of an HP POD (Performance Optimized Datacenter) during the HP Factory Express tour that we attended at the HP Tech Day event back in April. I think a lot of us drool at the processing and storage capacity potential that the POD represents, but there are a lot of other factors that make the POD a serious, almost no-brainer contender when planning for a datacenter solution.
HP POD solutions can provide a complete, pre-configured, ready to plug in and get-to-work datacenter in six weeks. Try that with a traditional brick and mortar solution. Site prep, building design and layout, power and cooling planning and infrastructure installation, and all of that before you even get to adding the technology. These are just some of the things that would require attention and planning to build a traditional datacenter facility. With an HP POD, all of that is done within the six week time frame from order placed to product delivered and set up.
Adding to the list of pluses provided by an HP POD solution are the POD's expandability and configuration options. With space for 22 50U full-depth industry standard racks, the configuration options are enormous. Want all storage? No problem. Want all blades? Can do. Already have the technology but just looking for a better housing solution? HP will ship you an empty POD with the racks, power, and cooling infrastructure in place, ready for your existing hardware, and not just HP hardware. The HP POD will support any third party technology.
Of course datacenter security is a huge concern, and in building a brick and mortar facility you would have to consider options for physical security as well as fire suppression, and any site monitoring services that you may need. With an HP POD, all of that can be taken care of to your specifications and site requirements, and again, within that six week order to delivery time frame. Also on the subject of security, but in a different context, the sense of security, an HP POD is technically portable. So if your facility happens to be in an area that could potentially be affected by a natural disaster, such as a hurricane, you could simply have your HP POD unhooked and moved further inland and avoid what could otherwise be a total disaster for your organization.
All of that said, myself and our good friend John Obeto of AbsoluteVista.com were afforded the opportunity to get a very personal tour of an HP POD by Steve Cummings, HP Director of Marketing, Scalable Computing & Infrastructure.
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