The Australian Department of Defence is set to trial containerized data centers for the Australian Defence Force (ADF).

Housed in shipping containers, the department is acquiring four "ICT mobility systems" that will house servers, UPSs, routers, switches, and cabling, reports ITnews.

The hardware included is associated with two technology environments, the Deployed Information Environment (DIE), an ICT network that connects more than 500 defense sites across Australia and overseas, and the Australian Mission Partner Environment (AUSMPE).

Both are described by the department as "deployable local area networks (ICT systems and infrastructure) used by the Australian Defence Force to enable command and control, and situational awareness for deployed forces."

The department put out a tender for the solution on August 2 and it is expected to be delivered by June 2025.

According to the tender, the department "seeks a purpose-built ICT mobility container that can be transported via Defence vehicles that do not require loading and unloading of internal communications equipment."

The current solutions used by the department have to be packed, unloaded, hardware assembled and the wires configured at the deployed environment which is, according to the tender documents, "typically inside tents." The containerized solution is hoped to speed this up, and better protect IT equipment.

Several companies offer containerized IT environments, including Siemens Gamesa and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

In 2019, the US Army bought an IBM supercomputer in a shipping container for tactical Edge deployments.

The Australian government has previously invested in containerized data center firm Datapod, putting AU$12 million (US$9m) into the company.