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Corporate campus puts a token factory in the parking lot#

Generalized Plastics is a hypothetical U.S. provider of oil, gas, and plastics logistics services.

The company is considering on-site compute at several of its larger facilities. As its computer vision and supply chain workloads grow, the team wants to test whether running them on site would work better than using the cloud.

The team is considering:

  • Containerized data centers from providers such as Armada or Eaton
  • Computer vision and inference powered by Liqid
  • Software from Cloudera
  • Primary connectivity via Datum.net and backup connectivity via Starlink

First Deployment#

Generalized Plastics chooses its Baytown, Texas, site for a non-redundant pilot. It will not run production workloads; the goal is to assess the assembled solution and its return on investment.

RSL will deploy one connected outdoor enclosure with about 20 Rack Units of Dell APEX and Liqid compute infrastructure, using about 8 kW of power. The deployment will connect to Generalized Plastics's Datum and AWS networks.

The pilot includes:

Onsite in Baytown, Texas#

  • 1x Managed Interconnects - $3400 MRC for 36 months

    • 1x 20g of Datum.net access via 100g ATT local-loop
    • A-side availability only
    • 48-hour onsite break fix
    • "In Customer's Name" option

  • 1x Managed Interconnects - $700 MRC for 36 months

    • 1x 1g of Starlink access
    • A-side availability only
    • 48-hour onsite break fix

  • 1x Onsite Compute Host - $1800 MRC for 36 months

    • A-side availability only
    • 48-hour onsite break fix

  • 2x Onsite Network Switches - $400 MRC each for 36 months

    • A-side availability only
    • 48-hour onsite break fix

  • 1x "Onsite" Outdoor Enclosure - $1800 MRC for 36 months

    • A-side availability only
    • 48-hour onsite break fix

  • 1x Onsite Setup - $8000 NRC

  • Total MRC: $8,500
  • Total NRC: $8,000
  • Total Term: 36 months

Generalized Plastics will provide and operate four 30A, 208V, single-phase circuits with L6-30 receptacles for the RSL-provided outdoor enclosure.

Because this is a new deployment model for Generalized Plastics, the agreement includes an option to exit for a $15,000 fee without giving a reason. The local loop is in the customer's name so the site can repurpose it if the pilot ends.

The pilot goes well. The new on-site compute capacity supports projects that could change how Generalized Plastics operates.

Second Deployment#

Generalized Plastics and RSL plan a second phase with long-term infrastructure.

They plan to deploy the following configuration at ten Generalized Plastics locations across the continental United States.

10x Onsite Deployments#

  • 1x Managed Interconnects - $3400 MRC for 36 months

    • 1x 20g of Datum.net access via 100g provider local-loop
    • A-side availability only
    • 48-hour onsite break fix
    • "In Customer's Name" option

  • 1x Managed Interconnects - $700 MRC for 36 months

    • 1x 1g of Starlink access
    • A-side availability only
    • 48-hour onsite break fix

  • 1x Onsite Compute Host - $3600 MRC for 36 months

    • A/B availability
    • 48-hour onsite break fix

  • 2x Onsite Network Switches - $800 MRC each for 36 months

    • A/B availability
    • 48-hour onsite break fix

  • 1x "Onsite" Outdoor Enclosure - $1800 MRC for 36 months

    • A-side availability only
    • 48-hour onsite break fix

  • 1x Onsite Setup - $8000 NRC

  • Total MRC: $111,000
  • Total NRC: $80,000
  • Total Term: 36 months

Generalized Plastics estimates that outsourcing on-site compute has reduced IT infrastructure costs by 80% at these locations. It is also rolling out internal upgrades using Cloudera software.