IBM Highlights Open Data Center Container Ecosystem

IBM at the Gartner Data Center conference in Las Vegas is enlisting the aid of a variety of third-party providers of data center equipment to highlight its open approach to building data center containers. Vendors that have committed to integrate their products with IBM’s Portable Modular Data Center include Anixter, APC by Schneider Electric, CommScope, Eaton, Emerson Network Power, Panduit, Siemon and Vette.

According to Steven Sams, vice president for site and facilities for IBM Global Technology Services, demand for pre-built modular data center containers is growing because it gives customers a way to expand their data center capacity without having to invest huge sums of capital expense into building out data center capacity that they might not need for months, or perhaps ever.

IBM wants to differentiate its approach in this burgeoning market by highlighting the fact that it is giving customers a broad range of equipment choices, in contrast to rivals that require customers to use equipment from a single vendor in their container systems.