Sweeping Your Datacenter - With Roomba

Well we've read about it.  Many people have hypothesized that the Roomba would make for a very effective Datacenter cleaning tool.  It does.  Try it.

We installed our Roomba a number of weeks ago.  Our Datacenter is vacuumed each evening at 5:00PM.  We have no concerns regarding physical access for housekeeping staff.  We have no concerns regarding tasking highly compensated IT staff to use a broom.  It is also very fun to watch in action and returns to its docking station in a reliable manner.

It even does a great job reaching into nooks and crannies.  Small spinning brushes reach under our racks to thoroughly clean.  I check the dust pan for evidence regularly - it really is picking things up..

I recently had lunch with another local IT leader.  I shared this story and he committed to immediately leaving the restaurant and traveling to Best Buy to purchase a Roomba of his own.

The thought of Scooba is also intriguing as a method of deep cleaning our sheet flooring.  However, I can't help but picture a rogue robot spraying water at equipment height and spinning wildly.  I think we will save this concept for some other date - or maybe for our homes.  I've seen Runaway.  Enjoy.