0ly1r3m@1ns

July 28, 2011 at 6:16am

il just keep using my computer thank you very much

ShyLinuxGuy

July 28, 2011 at 2:33am

I could envision the problems already with putting servers in people's homes to heat them. It can get bumped (and damaged) over a frenzied game of ping-pong or while some Joe is trying to get the canoes out. It can get wet if the garage/basement floods. It can get stolen--homes don't have the same safeguards as a datacenter (ADT doesn't count). It can be burned up in a fire--houses catch fire *much* more often than commercial buildings. Not to mention, the homeowner may be tempted and may successfully hack the server. And don't forget, the homeowner might live in an area where blackouts and spikes are very common, and the UPS systems can't always save the day...can you think of anything else?

Any company implementing this will be facing exorbitant levels of downtime, for one reason or another, *and* expense to repair or replace these in-home datacenters. Not to mention, the HO's privacy is completely violated because support personnel will need to get frequent access to these servers, right? And, what about liability? HO insurance isn't going to be too willing to cover upwards $10,000 of equipment the HO doesn't own, so either the HO will be held liable or the company will quickly drain their profits fixing and replacing these in-home datacenters.

Peace out, I'm getting tired, but I stumbled across this and had to comment =P

DustDiesel

July 27, 2011 at 8:02pm

I think this could work in an apartment or hotel situation in a very cold location. Make a couple floors server rooms and then pump the cold in from outside to cool the fronts and the warm into a heat distrobution for the rest of the building.

praetor_alpha

July 27, 2011 at 2:43pm

How much hell are AT&T, Comcast, Time Warner, etc... going to raise about having to build out fat pipes to remote locations? Probably not going to happen in Canada, as a terabyte up there is worth a first born kid.

Guess Verizon and Google won't be able to string fiber fast enough.

yammerpickle2

July 27, 2011 at 1:40pm

If they provide the hardware, the heating/cooling equipment, paid the electricity, and let me use their internet connection I would gladly give them half the square footage of my house. Sign me up. I wonder what my ping and download speeds would be!

zeroibis

July 27, 2011 at 12:59pm

I already have this, been running on computer heat for years. Just throw a few OCed i7 systems on with a bunch of crts and plasma screens and you got pleanty of heat! The problem is the summer, here is GA it can get into the upper 80s with ac running 24/7 with all the vents in the house closed except the one going to the computer room.

don2041

July 27, 2011 at 12:15pm

Who pays for the power to run these servers?

JohnP

July 27, 2011 at 11:55am

My HTPC in my bedroom is a good heater for the wintertime. During the summer, I have the A/C running but in the winter with the door closed, it throws off the thermostat that is in my room so the rest of the floor gets cold. Not such a great idea...

FrancesTheMute

July 27, 2011 at 11:29am

That's fine for the wintertime in cold climates.  But what about in the summer when you don't want all the extra heat?

 

Also, I would gladly host a small data center in my home for the heating benefits IF I could also have my home internet connection tie into the line the data center is using!