1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to the field of information handling system manufacture, use, and distribution, and more particularly to a system and method for configuration of information handling systems as mobile information technology systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Increases in the capabilities of information handling systems and networking technologies has led to an increasing reliance by businesses and other enterprises on information handling systems to perform a variety of tasks. Often, information handling system servers are placed in a building or room that has specialized power and cooling equipment to help ensure a compatible environment for the systems. As examples of specialized power needs, a concentration of information handling systems often consume a considerable amount of power, typically require a steady and reliable power supply and typically have backup power sources in the event that a main power source is interrupted. As examples of specialized cooling needs, a concentration of information handling systems often produces a considerable amount of heat as a byproduct of their operation and typically has dedicated cooling systems to remove the heat. Often, enterprise information technology specialists employ an over-kill approach when purchasing and installing infrastructure for an information handling system data center. For example, cooling systems typically are purchased and installed that have excess cooling capacity to provide a margin of error. Extra cooling capacity also provides infrastructure to accommodate growth in the number of systems that it supports. Similarly, information handling system data center rooms are often built with unused space so that additional information handling systems may be added over time. Typically, as enterprise information handling system needs grow, enterprises add and replace existing systems; thus, maneuvering room is generally needed within a data center room to service existing systems of the data center. Data centers face considerable infrastructure costs if existing cooling, power and space in a data center become inadequate to handle enterprise information processing needs.
A recent industry trend seeks to simplify the set up and operation of a data center by installing all or most of the elements of the data center in one or more mobile modules, such as shipping containers. Two examples of such systems are the BLACK BOX manufactured by SUN MICROSYSTEMS and the ICE CUBE manufactured by RACKABLE SYSTEMS. Information handling systems are installed in a shipping container along with cooling, power and networking infrastructure. The shipping containers conform to standards designed for shipping freight through intermodal transportation infrastructure, such as ISO standards. For example, a typical shipping container has a length of forty feet, a width of eight feet and a height of nine feet and six inches. Five common ISO standard shipping container lengths are twenty, forty, forty-five, forty-eight and fifty-three feet, although a variety of other sizes may also be used. The shipping container is shipped as normal freight so that, when the shipping container arrives at its destination, the information handling systems are ready to operate within the container. Although shipping container solutions provide the enterprise with improved flexibility in setting up a data center building by essentially providing the building, i.e., the shipping container, with the information handling systems, existing shipping container solutions continue to share the problems faced by conventional data centers with respect to power consumption and cooling. One type of shipping container solution attempts to include cooling, power and networking infrastructure with the information handling systems in a common shipping container. Such solutions face difficulty in manufacture due to the variety of different types of components that are assembled, and difficulty in deployment since a module generally must include cooling resources for a variety of different climates. U.S. Pat. No. 7,278,273 describes cooling modules that are shipping containers having HVAC equipment and that are separate from a shipping container that has information handling systems; however, air movers for moving cold air are included with the information handling system shipping container, with each air mover providing air to an isolated portion of information handling systems. The addition of the air movers with the information handling systems tends to reduce the space available for information handling systems and to increase the complexity of assembly of the shipping module.