OpenBlockS 266 Case Study: Hosei University

Hosei University OBS as local social networking platform

Prof. Yutaka Yoshida of Hosei University chose the OpenBlockS 266 as base hardware for SNS service study project. The goal is to provide a communication tool for small-scale communities like a family, a business association or a club where everyone can take part.

Creating a home / community server

To give admins of a social networking service full control over the system, a local hardware base is necessary. For the final product, the hardware should be small, easy to set up, durable, and have a low power consumption. This is where the OpenBlockS comes in.

The flexibility necessary for research and development

Dr. Yutaka Yoshida
Hosei University
Dept. of Electronic Informatics

During the development stage of a new project, experiments are necessary to test all kinds of ideas.

For Dr. Yoshida, tasks like choosing hardware, configuring systems and building environments has been a stumbling block to research and development. For that reason the OpenBlockS 266, with its flexibility and easy customization has been a valuable tool in many of his projects. He is always searching for new ideas, such as a system that reads the electricity meter and sends the data to the power company.

Aside from the units for his research projects, he has set up 3 units where his students run a Web server, DNS server and a server for automatic boot. A small, customizable unit like the OpenBlockS is perfect for his students to study the structure of Linux systems. This is also connected to the example we'll introduce below.

Stable research system

The shared file server that was set up in the research laboratory had developed overheating issues. To address this, the researchers set up an auto-restart server that reboots the file server every morning. The OpenBlockS with its maintenance-free, fan-free and disk-free design and the resulting heat and dust resistance was perfect for the task.

It might be common to think that around humans, servers work without trouble, rather than locked away in the server room. But it's not that simple. Direct sunlight in the summer, for example, can easily heat hardware beyond the safe zone.

Another source of trouble are the fans that are cooling standard PC hardware, as they get clogged by dust and tobacco fumes. Cheap systems don't even monitor fan speed, and don't give a warning when a fan is in malfunctioning. Only when other parts are damaged by overheating, this system will produce a failure.

For a home PC, this might be a negligible risk, but server systems must be up and running 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. This is where high reliability systems like the OpenBlockS come in. With an extended operating temperature range, no moving parts like disks or fans, and a dust-protected enclosure, the OpenBlockS works flawlessly in the office and even outside.

For Dr. Yoshida, this is the attraction of the system.

A low cost system without space requirements

For small office and home users, an appliance solution should be affordable and take up as little space as possible. This is where the OpenBlockS 266 delivers. Dr. Yoshida sees the OpenBlockS 266 at the forefront of his time, and he is already planning to use it for future projects.