Cloud Computing has reached record levels of media interest and confusion. Containers had a lot of interest in the data center industry and there are some efforts like Cisco to combine cloud computing and containers.
Cisco targets Data Center Containers for Federal/Defense market saves 50% capital and 30% operating costs
Containers have gone through its hype phase, and now we'll see how many start buying containers. There is some new media coverage on Cisco's move in containers.
Cisco claims that by purchasing a portable data center—which cost around $1.2 million for a 40-foot, fully loaded model and some $600,000 for a 20-footer—an enterprise can save 50 percent in capital expenses and 30 percent in operating expenses compared with a similar-sized, permanent land-based facility. But those are very general numbers.
But what clicked in conversations this past 4 days is there is another way to view why Google and Microsoft both are using containers and cloud computing.
Process of maintaining organizational costs within a specified budget; restraining expenditures to meet organizational or project financial targets.
Data Center Containers are enclosures of compute allowing a more accurate cost accounting of IT. Much easier than thousands of feet of white space with power and cooling systems that need to be allocated across the load put in the space.
Cloud computing is a virtual enclosure of compute that you pay for as you go. Easy and smaller increments of cost containment IT.
Both of these solutions support better management of budgets.
Cloud computing means so many different things to different people, and what almost all miss is this is a way to adopt a cost containment mindset. There are other ways to put cost containment in IT and the data center that are even better than Cloud Computing as there is more to IT systems than cost.