Sleep like a pro: Pods given to data center workers for Olympics

Looks like some London data-center employees are going to have a server slumber-party during the Olympics this summer. Podtime has been brought on to supply “sleeping tubes” so workers can avoid the Olympics traffic.

Traffic on the road is only one of the issues Interxion’s London data centers will face during the games. Online traffic is sure to swell dramatically as tourists, athletes, vendors and more flock to the U.K. capital. But physical traffic could pose an issue as important technicians try to get from their homes to the servers. So, why not just have them sleep over? That’s where Podtime’s sleeping pods come in.

“[The pods are] not something they’re going to live in for the whole period of the [Olympics],” said founder Jon Gray in an interview with VentureBeat. “They’ll probably just go out for a beer, come back and crash in the pod and the next morning they’d already be there.”

Gray started Podtime just over a year ago, inspired by colleagues in the financial district of London who were tired during the day. He started researching the scientific benefits of power naps, which he believes can be very energizing, if done the right way. So he took a look at a number of different options for sleeping in the workplace. It needed to be portable, small, and roomy all at the same time. Japan had already created whole hotels made out of these pods, which he also researched. Eventually, Gray landed on a cylindrical tube, with square doors that can be stacked.

The tubes can be customized per order to include a Temper-pedic bed, shelves, mirrors, LED lights, power outlets, digital radios, televisions, as well as different door and tube colors. Thus far Gray and his team of five have sold 40 pods, but hope to expand across the U.K. and are even looking for distributors in the U.S.

Check out a gallery of the pods below:

[vb_gallery id=415620]

via Data Center Knowledge; photos via Podtime and Interxion