Overall, the guys work really well together, expect for the occasional ren & stimpy bickering.

Rackable Systems' ICE Cube, unique among the entries because of its modular data-center-in-a-box characteristics. Much like the Sun Microsystems Blackbox, the ICE Cube is basically a large, standard shipping container filled with all the computing power, storage, power and cooling that you need. ICE Cube certainly isn't your standard, large SMP box.

It's compute density levels range up to 11,200 cores (1400U of available space for Rackable Systems' half-depth) in a 40' x 8' container, or up to 7.1PB of storage. And with the ability to fill it with thousands of Intel Xeon processing cores, the Cube is quite the monster.

Rackable Systems ICE Cube Modular Data Center at Web 2.0 Expo


Key Features:

• NEW, higher density: 1400U of available space for Rackable Systems’ ICE Cube optimized XE2208 servers for up to 22,400 processing cores
• Full compatibility with all Rackable Systems half-depth, rack-mount servers for up to 11,200 processing cores
• Up to 7.1 Petabytes of storage
• Sophisticated cooling technology enables up to 80% reduction in cooling costs vs traditional data center
• Easy serviceability with wide, central aisle for ample room to access systems
• Leverages DC Power and self-contained UPS technology for maximum power efficiency
• Easily deployed for immediate functionality
• Secure, nondescript, weather-tight ISO shipping container for easiest portability (air, land, water)
• Totally mobile container for easy location near inexpensive land and power options

Web 2.0 Expo, co-produced by TechWeb and O'Reilly Media, is a conference and tradeshow for the rapidly growing ranks of designers and developers, product managers, entrepreneurs, VCs, marketers, and business strategists who are embracing the opportunities created by Web 2.0 technologies.

We were off to an awesome start, catching a few small workshops in the morning, then moving to the expo showroom as soon as it opened. We were thrilled to observe everything from interesting companies / startups, to the latest technologies to hit the market. Things that I enjoyed especially was getting to play with Microsoft surface, and checking out the new Ice Box Portable Data Center, enjoy the pics below, and some videos to come soon!

The 2nd day of the expo, we spent most of our time on the floor, talking to many of the new and innovative startups, and companies that were there to represent themselves. Some of the main focuses throughout various startups were focusing on Web Communities, Data Hardware Solutions, Saas based services, and all that other mumbo jumbo about "Making things easy for you". Although there was a lot of new and exciting things to see, I couldn't help but feel that many of these companies were simply re-inventing the wheel. I did however gather up as much inspiration as I could while walking the floor. We managed to catch some keynotes and workshops throughout the day as well. Oh, and we also got to talk one on one with Chris Wilson on the IE Team, boy was that and embarrassing moment for him ;)

Here are a bunch of shots of the floor, and booths:

Within the last day of the expo, we only attended keynotes, I think the Expo floor was no longer open. Here are some shots of some great speakers, including Jay Adelson (CEO of Digg), Ben Huh (I Can Has Cheezburger CEO), and Jason Fried (37signals Founder and CEO).