Report: Amazon hopes its Project Houdini modular data center plan is the trick to speed up construction
Amazon is looking for a magic trick that can help it get past data center construction bottlenecks so it can work through the $244 billion worth of cloud computing backlogs it wants to deliver.
It may have just pulled a rabbit out of its hat. (I know, groan.)
Business Insider is reporting that Amazon’s Project Houdini seeks to slash labor costs and installation time by building modular “data halls” — the rows of racks of servers that make up the heart of data centers — in factories, and then shipping them fully assembled on trailers to data center sites.
According to the report, the modular plan would save weeks of construction time and tens of thousands of hours of labor costs.
This week in Amazon’s letter to shareholders, CEO Andy Jassy wrote that the company is planning $200 billion in capital expenditure this year, and that it is embracing its tradition of taking big bets on experiments like Project Houdini:
“You need to invent and experiment like crazy. Many of these experiments will fail, and it might feel like you’re getting nowhere. But, your culture must possess the tenacity to keep at it.”
Business Insider is reporting that Amazon’s Project Houdini seeks to slash labor costs and installation time by building modular “data halls” — the rows of racks of servers that make up the heart of data centers — in factories, and then shipping them fully assembled on trailers to data center sites.
According to the report, the modular plan would save weeks of construction time and tens of thousands of hours of labor costs.
This week in Amazon’s letter to shareholders, CEO Andy Jassy wrote that the company is planning $200 billion in capital expenditure this year, and that it is embracing its tradition of taking big bets on experiments like Project Houdini:
“You need to invent and experiment like crazy. Many of these experiments will fail, and it might feel like you’re getting nowhere. But, your culture must possess the tenacity to keep at it.”
