Sun/Microsoft Interoperability Center Build Out
The last few days were pretty exciting as I was in Redmond on Microsoft's main campus where we are building the Sun/Microsoft Interoperability Center. You might recall Sun and Microsoft announcing the Interoperability Center on September 12, 2007 as part of the announcement "Microsoft and Sun Expand Strategic Alliance".
The campus in Redmond, and particularly building 25, is nothing new to me as I already had the pleasure to work with John Cressey's team to install several racks of Sun gear in the Microsoft EEC in March 2005. The main focus at the time was to allow customers to run proof of concepts using Microsoft software and Sun x64 systems and storage, thanks to the EEC infrastructure. The new Interop center is a lot more ambitious and leverages both the Enterprise Engineering Center (EEC) and the Microsoft Partner Solution Center (MPSC).
So here I am again in the lobby of building 25, looking at the same gigantic EEC and MPSC signs hanging in front of the tall glass wall.
First I had to go and say "hello" to old friends in the EEC data center... They will soon be upgraded with Sun's greatest and latest but will continue being used by the EEC.
This view is from the inside of the EEC training room. Here is a wider shot. They look pretty good I have to say.
Inside the EEC, we were greeted with a nice Sun logo. This screen actually plays a presentation looping through the logos of all the EEC partnering vendors.
As we enter the EEC setup lab, we find all the Sun systems and racks recently delivered.
For the next two days, we will be upgrading and installing Sun Fire X2200 M2 servers, Sun Fire X4150 servers, Sun StorageTek 2530 Arrays, Sun Ultra 40 M2 workstations and Sun Fire X4500 data servers in several Sun Rack 1000-42 cabinets. This is only the beginning. During our next visit we will be installing many additional systems, including, and not limited to, the extremely dense 2U 4-socket Sun Fire X4450 servers, the powerful 8-socket Sun Fire X4600 server and the high price/performance Sun StorageTek 6140 Array.
Here is a pile of Sun Fire X4150 servers, memory DIMMs, tool-less rackmount kits and a Sun Rack 1000-42 waiting to be put together.
On the left are some Sun StorageTek 2530 arrays and on the right some Sun Fire X2200 M2 servers, all waiting to be racked.
The team is working fast and the servers are quickly upgraded with additional memory and drives and then installed in the racks. Here are Bill Channell, Alan McFarland, Wayne Brady and Brian McBride unpacking the X4150's.
The Sun Fire X4150 servers are loaded with memory. These 1U 2-socket servers support 16 DIMMs, 8 disk drives and 3 PCIe cards! Notice the nice clean design with virtually no cables except for the SAS cables going to the RAID HBA.
Trevor "Flash" McGill was working at the speed of light! I couldn't get a clear shot of him, this is the best I could do. ;-)
Alicia Kreshock gave us a hand and even paid for lunch, thanks again Alicia! Things were moving along pretty quickly.
And here is the end result (for now). Sun Rack 1000-42 cabinets installed in the EEC Data Center.
And more Sun racks installed in the MPSC.
This is just the beginning, there is a lot more to come...
