First Customer, a few scooped pics

While I'm not the first to have some information on our first customer Project Blackbox installation, I am the first to post a few of these great pics from the site that Russ Rinfret sent my way!

In case you were under a rock (like me), here are a few informative articles and sites on the installation at Stanford Linear Accelerator (SLAC):

We were /'d on my favorite site (Slashdot) with the entry: Stanford Gets First Sun Blackbox that, in turn, references Stanford Center Is First Blackbox Recipient
Sun, Microsoft Jam Servers in Shipping Containers (Update2)
Article from SLAC Today: SLAC Prepares for First Blackbox to Expand Computing Power, check the links at the end of this article carefully!

Here is an awesome link to a QuickTime collection of images that catalog installation of the container. Remember the advantages of the 20' container that Sun has chosen:

Industry standard lifting / moving equipment
Much more portable than a 40' cousin (though you have to guess we are looking at that for efficiency and customer requests)

Over the course of the video there are a lot of great things to note:

The complete and utter lack of photo-shopped images as the crane plucks the container off the truck bed and places it on the pad
The addition of insulation on the inside of the doors when they are opened (note how smooth the interior hatch doors are...increased insulation, increased efficiency)
The movement of the container with the rack and equipment in place

For those that are not-so-inclined to view the video and be entirely happy, here are a few of the pictures I promised!

Here is a shot of the SLAC container hanging around off the crane:

A shot of the crane operator positioning the container on the concrete pad:

And finally, a nice, soothing shot of the data center proving that computing is simply a utility that can be efficiently and serenely placed among the vegetation and out of the way.