Dell’s Data Center Solutions (DCS) group has some pretty colorful folks. One of the more interesting members is Jimmy Pike, the man IDG New’s James Niccolai refered to as the “Willy Wonka of servers.” Jimmy, the self-proclaimed “chief geek” of the DCS team is the consummate tinkerer whether that involves constructing a data center in a brief case or thinking of new ways of driving down data center power consumption by leveraging alternative forms energy.
Last Spring I visited Jimmy’s home to check out what he was working on in his “free time.” Here’s what I saw (he keeps telling me he’s got much cooler stuff since I shot this so I may have to do a “geekquel”)
Some of the things Jimmy show us:
- The low-power chips he’s playing with
- His experimentation with user interfaces and superman glasses
- His mini rack of servers
- The various forms of desktop virtualization and OS’s he uses
- Laying out and designing boards by mail
- His micro recording studio
Extra-Credit reading
- Jimmy Pike: Back to the Future with Light Weight Servers
- Willy Wonka and the Dell Factory
- The Register – Dell chief stuffs data center into suitcase
Pau for now…
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