[errcorrectcode]

Ah, blast from the past. HE brought us T-1's, T-3's, and IPv6 transit way back.

Equinix owns PAIX on 529 Bryant St. as SV8.

It's interesting how racks still aren't so much volume-, mass-, or network bandwidth-/transit-constrained, but power-constrained.

[walrus01]

It's very easy to run out of cumulative watts of grid power feed, cooling capacity and generator/UPS/power backup capacity in a facility before you run out of floor space in a datacenter.

Even with what is now a "small" 5kW thermal power budget per 44U cabinet, measuring 24 inches wide x 48 inches deep, you can easily exceed that 5kW long before you physically fill the cabinet with servers.

[merlyn]

Power in is directly heat out (that mechanical motion of fans twirling just isn't giving more than a rounding error).

You can only get so much cooling density. And loading up a rack can use a signifigant portion of cooling.

Its pretty easy now-a-days to get 18kW into a rack, which will require 5 tons of cooling. Ie. enough cooling to handle a 3,000 ft^2 house.