The genes

Each container, called Modulus, will be stacked into groups of 24, which the company calls a Nucleus. The entire farm will be called Synapsis.

In the traditional data centre, customers are generally not happy with sharing rack space, hoping to have their servers in a small contained area and not accessed by anyone else. Hall says the Modulus allows customers to have full control over their own servers, keeping them separate.

The Modulus has essentially been built from recycled shipping containers and converted to include cable space, rack space, proper cooling and power. All the containers come with a mixed power solution, making use of both solar and generator power, depending on the needs of each customer.

Put it inside

The racks inside the containers are technology agnostic, meaning any brand of blade can be installed in the racks.

Telenetix CEO Mias Nieuwoudt says each container costs less to cool than the average data centre, since it uses draft techniques and air conditioning to keep out the hot air.

While Telenetix hopes to get people to make use of the new farm, it is also selling the Modulus for companies' own use on premises. Each container, without actual servers in place, will cost the customer R600 000.

The company is working on boxed solutions for a telecoms provider to bring better cell coverage to rural areas, and is also talking to government to have more containers shipped for SITA's services in hard to reach places.