H2Tran’s disaster-proof server enclosures are eco-friendly — and awesome-looking (gallery)

Making servers able to withstand hurricanes, floods, fires, and earthquakes can be an eco-friendly task, according to hardware startup H2Tran.

H2Tran builds disaster-proof safe/enclosures to protect digital data and computer hardware against catastrophic situations. It’s Eco-Green Data Safe (EGDS) enclosures feature a liquid cooling system that helps lower air conditioning costs, and don’t require expensive raised-floor building infrastructures. It is fully loaded with heavily compressed doors to seal out water, twelve industrial grade bolts, numeric key locks, biometric security, and more.

What’s moore, the server racks inside are surrounded by copper tubing, through which you can pump water or freon to keep the hardware cool, even though it’s sealed inside a safe.

In other words, H2Tran is aiming to build the kind of hardware enclosures you’d expect to find for servers in Superman’s Fortress of Solitude.

“Disaster can happen at any moment in time, said founder Harry Tran during his presentation. “There was the Japanese earthquake, the tsunami, Hurricane Katrina. How do you protect your equipment from fire, building collapses and floods? We designed a safe to help you store your data.”

The safe weighs 2,000 pounds and was too large to be brought on stage here at DEMO Fall 2012, where H2Tran debuted its enclosure. The company is currently accepting pre-orders on its products, with most of the actual production being outsourced for the time being.

Sage panelist Claudia Fan Munce of IBM Venture Capital was skeptical about the likelihood for adoption given technology’s migration to the cloud. Who really wants to manage their own server, after all — even one in a bomb-proof safe? But Founder Institute CEO Adea Ressi sees opportunities in international markets.

“All the incidents Tran brought up were in the developing world.,” he said. “In a lot of the developing world, the infrastructure isn’t there to have a cloud, so a server in the dining room is an option.”

Plus, there’s the lucrative market for superheroes and supervillains.

Founded in 2008, the Pacifica, Calif.-based startup is bootstrapped, but it’s seeking initial funding over the next few months. H2Tran consists of its five founders, who actively participate in product development.

Below, we’ve got a gallery of photos of the liquid-cooled enclosure.

H2Tran is one of over 75 companies chosen by VentureBeat to launch at the DEMO Fall 2012 event taking place this week in Silicon Valley. After we make our selections, the chosen companies pay a fee to present. Our coverage of them remains objective.

Top photo: Megan Kelly/VentureBeat