Hewlett-Packard assumes it can manufacture data centers quicker and more inexpensively by using regular, pre-built components that are accumulated on site in a "Lego-like" fashion.

Its Data Center, announced on Tuesday, contains four large data center hall, or quadrants, so as to be built around an operations building in the center. It's constructed from prefabricated sheet metal parts, and the quadrants, each about 6,000 square feet, can be added one at a time as a company's capacity needs increase.

This is a major departure, the traditional brick and mortar datacenter, usually designed for a custom base and has more than a year to build. Using standard models and the factory built components, HP says it can reduce construction costs and get half of the new data center running in 4-6 months.

HP had the idea after talking with some of its major customers. Many of them have data centers, which have limited resources, but they do not want - or not - pay the bill for a new installation, especially when they talk about their ability to predict what will ten years or more in the future