At its developer conference, Microsoft shows off the fourth generation of its data center design as it moves toward Azure and the cloud.
Note the blue Windows Azure signage on the container. Azure is Microsoft's operating system for cloud computing, a style of computing in which servers--lots and lots and lots of servers--host the bulk of the data and applications that users access from their local PCs, smartphones, and other devices.
The fourth-generation units are newer even than the containers found at Microsoft's recently opened Chicago data center, which CNET toured earlier this year. This one is about half as long as the containers in Chicago and holds hundreds rather than thousands of servers.