Creating a "data center in a box," which allowed corporate servers to be deployed anywhere by installing them into large shipping containers, was a strong business idea a few years ago, but now, it will gain even more steam as researchers have decided to make the portable data storage systems self sufficient through wind power, Venture Beat reports.

Researchers at Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Hewlett-Packard and Clarkson University have teamed up to create a way to supply renewable energy to the shipping containers, which would further increase the data center's flexibility.

"Electrical power demands for data centers are skyrocketing," Stephen Kester of AMD said. "As demand for data centers goes up, we see a collision coming as the electrical grid hits its limit. The question is how do we get to 100 percent independence from the grid."

The study will be funded by a $374,000 grant from the New York State Energy Research Development Authority, and will aim to answer critical questions about creating a reliable power source for the portable data centers.

Portable data centers have proven to be useful and cost-efficient, as the University of California, Los Angeles recently purchased one for $2.2 million versus a break-and-mortar server that would have cost $7 million, according to Data Center Dynamics.