Billions of humans are using connected services, social networks and data sharing softwares every day. The increasing demand of technology is pushing Internet and Cloud Service Providers to build new, bigger datacenters every year.
Even if major IT players are doing tremendous progress within datacenter efficiency, installations are still huge. Datacenters require a lot of power to run and cool down computers. Moreover, they have a strong impact on the environment.
This is why we decided to create RuggedPOD.
![]()
RuggedPOD is a revolutionary modular computer chassis built in aluminium and filled up with organic dielectric oil. The electronic components go directly inside the oil. It doesn’t require any active cooling solutions, like air conditioners or humidity controllers. Its cooling technology is simply open air!
We designed RuggedPOD to limit as much as possible datacenter wastes and costs by reaching:
-
a Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) of 1;
-
a Water Usage Effectiveness (WUE) of 0;
-
an optimal Carbon Usage Effectiveness (CUE) with energy harvesting;
-
a fast and easy deployment of critical computing resources.
RuggedPOD achieved all these goals thanks to a 2 years R&D program.
RuggedPOD in 6 Sentences
1) It doesn’t need any active cooling solution.
-
No air conditioning
-
No water usage or humidity control
2) You can use it everywhere.
RuggedPOD works in deserts, high humidity jungles, countryside fields, roofs, as long as you don’t expose it to direct sunlight.
3) It’s eco-friendly.
100% of the electricity brought to RuggedPOD is used by electronic devices.
4) It’s fast and easy to deploy.
RuggedPOD is adaptive, modular, with easy redeployment and dismantling.
5) It uses standard electronic devices.
RuggedPOD supports Mini and Micro ATX boards and is compatible with Windows, Linux, OpenStack.
6) It’s open.
RuggedPOD is an Open Hardware project, so people can join us in developing the product or simply provide feedback to improve it.
Why a Crowdfunding Campaign
![]()
We believe that RuggedPOD will disrupt the cloud computing market, giving to cloud providers the possibility to sell virtual servers at an unbelievable, crazy price and radically reducing the environmental impact of online services.
Our mission is to "get the cloud back outside", building the world's first outdoor datacenter.
Our partner in this adventure will be Enter, a leading European Cloud Provider that runs a public cloud service based on OpenStack called Enter Cloud Suite.
Since cloud technologies and the OpenStack orchestrator allow to build highly reliable services on top of single unreliable components, a new challenge is open for them: build server and datacenter infrastructures using only consumer electronics.
This is why we will build together the first outdoor datacenter using only RuggedPODs, consumer electronics and OpenStack as the cloud software, being able to offer cloud servers at the unbelievable price of 1€ per month!
Perks
Our campaign perks are basically cloud VPS that will be hosted in Enter's outdoor datacenter in Italy. By pre-ordering VPS you will support the improvement of RuggedPOD technology.
Project Timeline
![]()
Team & Partners
![]()
RuggedPOD is a project proudly started in France by Jean-Christophe VOLKAERTS, Jean-Marie VERDUN, Jean-Jacques CHANUT, Farshia KAMALOUDINE, Maxime TERRAS and Sabrina COLAUTTI with the great support of the Open Compute Project Community.
Our partner is Enter, the Italian company behind Enter Cloud Suite - the first European, multi-regional, distributed IaaS service based on Openstack. Enter Cloud Suite is a suite of integrated cloud services including servers, storage, network, CDN, DNS and domains. It’s built on a network infrastructure that connects the five major European POPs: Milan, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, London and Paris.
We also have a lot of technology partners that are contributing to the RuggedPOD project, giving us electronic components and information:
-
MSI
-
Intel
-
HGST
-
Crucial by Micron
-
Be Quiet
-
WD
- AMD
How Can You Help
You can support our project and help us disrupting the cloud computing market in different ways:
1) SELECT A PERK
Contributing to the crowdfunding campaign is the best way to make it happen. Go select a perk!
2) JOIN THE PROJECT
You can influence the development of RuggedPOD contacting JC at jcv(at)splitted-desktop.com. He will answer quickly and introduce you to the RuggedPOD team. You can also follow the evolution of the project in our community site.
3) SPREAD THE LOVE FOR RUGGEDPOD
-
Share the campaign link on Twitter, Facebook and other social media website;
-
Create your own t-shirt with our campaign slogan: "GET THE CLOUD BACK OUTSIDE" using this executive file;
-
Print the manifesto and post it into your office, coworking space, hacker space, library, school... Everywhere.
Support us. Help make this happen!
* Icons created by Konstantin Velichko, Mateo Zlatar, Thomas Le Bas from the Noun Project.