Diminutive green server for those with Linux leaning
Considering how crowded many Japanese cities are, it’s not surprising that local vendors like Plat’Home are increasingly eco-conscious. Smaller systems just make business sense.
Last quarter, Plat’Home began shipping one of those lines in the United States. The OpenBlockS server series support Power over Ethernet and has no moving parts, including neither a fan nor a hard drive.
According to the company, one competitive server from the usual suspects uses as much power as 76 of the OpenBlockS models, or roughly 4.5 watts. I haven’t had my hands on one, so I don’t know how this claim settles out, but one major customer is Japanese telecommunications company KDDI. So consider their computing and consumption needs.
Here are some other specs: - The server measures 4.5 inches by 3.2 inches by 1.5 inches. - It comes preinstalled with SSD/Linux although it can also run Debian or NetBSD. - It runs on a 266MHz AMCC PowerPC 405GPr RISC processor. - It contains two 10/10BaseTX Ethernet ports and one RJ-45 serial port. - It can be used with an optional compact flasch of IDE 2.5-inch HDD.
As far as materials, OpenBlockS carriers a RoHS pedigree. Sounds pretty purebred to me.