rack power question

Sun Mar 23 02:54:15 UTC 2008

On Sat, 22 Mar 2008, Patrick Giagnocavo wrote:
> Would someone pay extra for > 7KW in a rack?  What would be the maximum you 
> could ever see yourself needing in order to power all 42U ?

As you recognize, its not an engineering question; its an economic 
question.  Notice how Google's space/power philosphy changed between
leveraging other people's space/power, and now that they own their own 
space/power.

Existing equipment could exceed 20kW in a rack, and some folks are
planning for equipment exceeding 30kW in a rack.

But things get more interesting when you look at the total economics
of a data center.  8kW/rack is the new "average," but that includes
a lot of assumptions.  If someone else is paying, I want it and more.
If I'm paying for it, I discover I can get by with less.