SGI ICE Cube Air mobile data center supports up to 97,920 cores

SGI (NASDAQ:SGI), a trusted leader in technical computing, today announced the introduction and immediate availability of SGI® ICE Cube® Air, a significant addition to its line of ICE Cube modular data centers (MDCs). ICE Cube Air is SGI's third generation product, representing four years of MDC design and deployment experience, and setting a new MDC industry standard with the following breakthrough benefits:

"New data centers are not like the old ones and organizations are making a break with the past, as evidenced by the rise of modular data centers"

HVAC completely eliminated;
Operational within hours;
Starting price of $99,000;
Elimination of costly and complex connections.

Capable of housing up to four compute racks, the new ICE Cube Air MDC expands in standard increments out to 80 racks/97,920 cores/143.36 PB. With highly efficient fans, along with an innovative three-stage evaporative cooling system, ICE Cube Air runs globally with air and evaporative cooling, achieving a power usage effectiveness (PUE) ratio of less than 1.06. Supplemental direct expansion (DX), or chilled water cooling coils, provides an optional cooling system for customers deploying in extreme environments. Using one percent of the water needed by standard water-chilled containers and requiring a water flow of only two gallons per minute, ICE Cube Air can get its water from almost any clean source, including a garden hose.

"By offering a standard array of small, medium and large configure-to-order data center designs, customers benefit from a supply chain that will allow them to quickly expand as their business needs grow, regardless of scale," said Patrick Yantz, senior director of Modular Data Center Engineering at SGI. "We now have three targeted design solutions backed by our global delivery of full service standard or design-to-order modular data centers."

The standard ICE Cube line is the densest and most flexible family of ISO container-based MDCs on the market today. Available in 20- and 40-foot length containers, these MDCs feature single- or dual-row designs along with universal configurations capable of achieving extreme density with PUE ratios of less than 1.12, utilizing a unique chilled-water technology that reduces cooling costs by as much as 80 percent over traditional data centers. These MDCs are the perfect choice for commercial, industrial and government applications where mobility is of prime concern.

SGI offers the following ICE Cube Air standard and ISO container-based model configurations. These highly customizable designs accommodate either fixed or roll-in racks and support third-party server and storage hardware.

Configuration ICE Cube Size Max Number of Units/Racks
Small
ISO 20 ft Up to 12 racks
( <1 MWatt)
Air 8 ft 4 racks in one unit, expandable to 4 units/16 racks

Medium
ISO 40 ft Up to 28 racks
(1 to 4 MWatts)
Air 20 ft 10 racks in one unit, expandable to 4 units/40 racks

Large
( >4 MWatts)
Air 20 ft 2 x 20 ft pair, 20 racks, expandable to 4 pairs/80 racks

"New data centers are not like the old ones and organizations are making a break with the past, as evidenced by the rise of modular data centers," said David Cappuccio, chief of infrastructure research at Gartner. "With organizations looking closely at power consumption, efficiency and more recently rapid scalability to satisfy deployment demands, increasing productivity requires innovation in data center cooling and design."

SGI is deploying the ICE Cube product line globally, and offers an array of engineering, professional and customer services, including individual site planning, reliability based site architecture, customized infrastructure, variable warranties and enhanced support packages via SGI's Worldwide Support Organization. SGI also offers advanced electrical and mechanical monitoring and controls in a single system that integrates seamlessly into existing facilities. Rich features, including API support via a web server within the system, allow ICE Cube Air integration into future versions of SGI's Management Suite of software management applications.

Availability and Pricing
The ICE Cube Air is available now with prices starting at $99,000. More information is available at www.sgi.com/icecubeair.