As part of an ongoing effort to make IT more green, IBM, Hewlett-Packard and Sun Microsystems are in the midst of researching and testing self-sustained data centers that need no cooling equipment. It appears that Sun is currently on the forefront of the development work. "We've already got a version of this self-contained data center in our Blackbox," Subodh Bapat, a Sun vice president and distinguished engineer, told the audience at the Always On Stanford Summit last week in Palo Alto, CA. "All you need is a concrete floor, a chilled water source and a power draw, and you have a portable data center that can be dropped in just about anywhere." Meanwhile, HP Senior Vice President for Technology Services Mike Rigodanzo, said that data centers that require no cooling equipment at all are not far from becoming a reality. These data centers will be "hundreds of times more efficient," he said.  

For the full scoop on self-sustaining data centers:
- read this eWeek article [1]

For more news from the Always On Stanford Summit
- see this CNET article [2]