UK’s VeryPC Launches 12TB Storage Server

The Sheffield-based company, which has made low-energy systems since 2005, now has desktop systems, as well as servers tuned for high availability or high efficiency. It is currently refreshing its line, using Intel’s latest 45nm chips.

The ‘Lycaeus’ L210 can contain 12 Tbyte of storage in 24 disks and 700Mbit/s access, and uses around 250W at peak load – or half the power of a conventional server, according toPeter Hopton, managing director. The device is 2U high and can be used with solid state or spinning disks.

“We offer products at the same price as the big brands, but using far less power,” said Hopton. “Every Watt saves around £3 per year,” he explained. Some of its models fit two servers in one 1U-height package so one 250W system can replace two conventional 300W servers. “That saves £1000 a year, per server,” said Hopton.

Very PC has been offering a “server refresh for free”: users pay for the servers over five years from tjhe savings they make on their power budget. “Socket for socket, it pays for itself,” said Hopton. “There are further savings from virtualization – but they are a bonus.”

The company also offers GreenHive – an innovative concept that lets multiple users each have a virtual kernel on one low power machine, interacting from passive KVM terminals, powered over Cat6 cable. “It’s the equivalent of several 100W machines, run from one 50W box,” said Hopton. “You can have ten users on 50W.”

The L210 servers are already in use Memset, which provides the SquirrelSave online storage service.

Some readers may remember VeryPC’s mauling on the BBC’s Dragon’s Den series last year, where the show’s celebrity investors did not see potential in the company. Hopton is philosophical about the experience: “Everyone in the media and the VC community knows that Dragon’s Den is entertainment. We went there to get our message across. “