Canonical Unveils Portable Ubuntu Cluster With Ten Intel NUC Mini PCs

Canonical and Tranquil PC have announced the Ubuntu Orange Box. The box contains a cluster of ten Intel NUC mini PCs for a total of 40 cores, 160GB RAM and 1.2TB storage memory. The systems are internally connected via a gigabit network.

The ten NUCs in the Orange Box are Intel’s D53427RKE systems with frugal i5-3427U processors based on Ivy Bridge and with the HD Graphics 4000 as GPU. Each system is equipped with 16GB DDR3, as well as a 120GB SSD. The gigabit interconnections are provided by a D-Link DGS-1100-16 switch with support for 802.1q vlan. Canonical and Tranquil PC also offer the necessary configuration options.

The first node additionally contains a Centrino Advanced-N 6235 wireless network card and a 2TB hard drive. At the back, three USB ports, HDMI and six gigabit Ethernet ports are accessible. The Ubuntu Orange Box is the result of a desire from Mark Shuttleworth, driving force behind Ubuntu, who asked Tranquil PC in November 2013 to build a portable, rugged micro-cluster for demonstrating and experimenting with cloud services. The Box runs Ubuntu Server 14.04 LTS, MAAS and Juju. The starting price is 7575 pounds, converted 9300 euros.