By Christian Post 

"Nascent: coming or recently having come into existence." 

It would be a short argument to suggest that containerized datacenters are nascent.  They have been developed and deployed for years to serve mobile, military, and disaster response needs.  Yet we are seeing a ground-swell of containerized offerings at the convergence of unprecedented energy costs, a resurgence of compute demand, and the growth of business dependence on IT.  One could claim the interest in containerized datacenter solutions has now emerged beyond background noise and appears to be forming a "nascent" marketplace.   

Who is paying attention?  Certainly enterprise scaleout, Web 2.0 and HPC customers.  Containers offer shorter time to provision and noticeable capex and opex savings.  More than clamoring for provider briefings, some users are developing their own concepts.  Further, mid-level managers see savings beyond the 20% barrier that normally hinders proposing new approaches to executives.  The datacenter construction industry is certainly taking notice:  Here is a diversification opportunity in which to invest, a competitive threat to take notice, and a potential fad to counter.  Container integrators, also, note the opportunity and are seeking partnerships to extend their reach beyond non-IT applications.  Finally, IT providers are staking claims.  To them, containers extend the sales and solution opportunity beyond the box, enclosure, and rack to a sales opportunity valued at 2000+ nodes per order and solution opportunity in which to differentiate. How long will it last? That's the problem with "nascent."  The early adopter era nears and likely precedes the pause.  In the pause, investors and watchers will reflect on whether the return merits the convergence of facilities and IT and the new processes in deployment and operations.   

So who will be the preferred provider(s)?  Consider the following criteria: First, containers bring together technology at the MEP&IT spheres.  Certainly design leadership that offers density, cost, and deployment prowess are mandatory.  Second, IT configuration flexibility will be imperative, especially to those seeking best-in-class performance per watt or heterogeneous flexibility.  Third, unique services for deployment, break/fix, and management of containers must be included.  Few customers would leave any of these three out.  But one is still missing.   As varied as there are datacenter strategies and building designs, few customers express exactly the same container design expectations. 

Thus there is a fourth criteria.  In a new market, the provider that can 1) offer sound advice on whether to and how to deploy containerized datacenters and 2) respond to container design modifications quickly with skill and reputation, will likely emerge most trusted for such a "nascent" investment.  What do you think?  What is "nascent" about the containerized datacenter market?  How long will it last?  What kind of provider best serves the customer need?