Ads by TechWords

See your link here
Receive the latest technology news and information.
Computerworld Daily News (First Look and Wrap-Up)
Computerworld Blogs Newsletter
The Weekly Top 10
Cloud Computing
View all newsletters




Privacy Policy
 

Looking at data center power of the future

February 26, 2008 12:00 PM ET

Network World - The "No Power Struggles Project" sounds like some utopian political system where different factions work for the common good. In fact, it's the name a Hewlett-Packard Co. researcher gives to his dream of a harmonious data center.

Researcher Parthasarathy Ranganathan foretells a future in which power management features will be built into the processor, memory, server, software and cooling systems. Coordination will be paramount. "What happens if you turn all these elements on at the same time?" the principal research scientist at HP Labs asks. "How do I make sure that the system doesn't explode?"

Power management systems will have to operate holistically, without one component conflicting with another, Ranganathan says.

Ranganathan is just one of many researchers at the tech industry's biggest labs looking beyond virtualization, multicore processors and other established technologies to see how future data centers will handle increasing demands for processing capability and energy efficiency while simplifying IT.

Another is Laura Anderson, information systems manager at IBM's Almaden Research Center. "I think we're on the cusp of another revolution," she says. "We're talking about doing something to simplify and integrate these things in a way so that mere mortals can manage them."

Cloud computing
"Cloud computing," one approach Almaden researchers are pursuing, has already manifested in the Blue Cloud initiative that IBM launched three months ago. Under the Blue Cloud architecture, enterprises can get Internet-like access to processing capacity from a large number of servers, physical and virtual. By not having to add machines locally, enterprises save on the cost of powering up and outfitting new computing facilities. Cloud computing could also help reduce ongoing energy consumption, because organizations will not need to accommodate capacity that they will not use all the time.

This spring, IBM will take the concept further, offering BladeCenter servers with power and x86 processors, as well as service management software -- a "'Cloud in a Box,' so to speak," says Dennis Quan, a senior technical staff member at IBM's Silicon Valley Lab.

Cloud computing will mature in coming years as enterprises increasingly turn to IT to serve their markets, Quan says. Certainly Web 2.0 sites posting user-generated content will proliferate, driving the need for cloud computing. But demand will come from mainstream enterprises, too. "Financial services firms are saying, 'We've run out of space ... so what can we do?'" he says. "They need to have a compute infrastructure that's scalable."

Liquid cooling
Liquid cooling, once featured in IBM mainframes and Cray supercomputers, may be returning to data centers as an alternative to air conditioning, says Tommy Minyard, assistant director of

Reprinted with permission from

For more information about enterprise networking, go to NetworkWorld.com
Story copyright 2009 Network World, Inc. All rights reserved.

Jump to comments

Environment

Additional Resources

EFD vs. HDD - What You Need to Know
WHITE PAPER
Enterprise flash drives provide a new Tier 0 storage layer capable of delivering high I/O performance at a very low latency. Proper use of EFDs in an Oracle environment can deliver increased performance compared to fibre channel drives. Read the recommendations for identification of the best DB components for EFDs.
Gartner Research Report: Magic Quadrant for Application Delivery Controllers, 2009
WHITE PAPER
The market for products to improve the delivery of application software over networks remains dynamic and innovative. Vendors focused on solving enterprises' most-pressing application problems have become the top players.
Eight Criteria for Server Load Balancing
WHITE PAPER
Server load balancers are a simple yet highly effective means to scale an application environment while ensuring its availability. Today's solutions should also address application performance and security. Read about the top eight criteria you should consider when choosing a server load balancer and how Citrix NetScaler meets those requirements.

What People Are Saying

White Papers & Webcasts

5 Steps to Faster Data Classification
Find Sensitive Data More Quickly. Read More Now.  

Maximize ROI for Web Applications
Register for this webcast now!

Effectively Implementing Datacenter Automation
Effectively select and deploy the best datacenter automation solution today!

Mitigate Risk, Lower Costs and Improve Network Efficiency
Create a stable IP network that not only meets today's challenges, but is flexible enough to also meet future demands.

Optimize Performance of Datacenter to Datacenter Traffic
To get the backups and database synchronizations completed on time, enterprises rely on WAN optimization from Blue Coat.  

Three IT Strategies to Cut Cost Intelligently
Register for this Webcast! Provided by BMC Software.

Delivering IT to the Virtual Workforce
Learn how to meet 4 key virtual workforce needs.  

Interactive Guide: Getting Started with Data Governance
Download this Interactive Guide today!


IT Jobs

 


Enterprise Data Center Network Reference Architecture
Simply designing a data center that only deploys more servers, storage and devices significantly increases network complexity and cost. The data center network also must offer components such as security, performance acceleration, high density and a resilient network infrastructure. This document shares Juniper Networks best practices in designing a highly efficient, secure, scalable and flexible data center network.

View this webcast 
Advancing the Economics of Networking
Aging network systems and old habits have dictated how businesses spend their IT budgets. As a result, a large percentage of IT dollars are being spent to “stay in the race.” While this model keeps revenue streams flowing for legacy network vendors, it doesn’t necessarily help businesses gain a competitive advantage. Juniper is changing this economic model by delivering a new family of solutions that reduce capital and operational expenses. By freeing up IT budget dollars, Juniper allows businesses to invest in other innovative technologies that will further reduce the cost of doing business while improving their competitive position.

Download this white paper 
Implementing HA at the Enterprise Data Center Edge to Connect to a Large Number of Branch Offices
This paper reviews the problem of creating a network where the dynamic availability of services is of critical importance. It explains how to deploy a highly available, working cluster by taking the design considerations in this paper and applying them to an actual deployment. The subsequent sections include configuration bits, diagrams and detailed discussions of how to accomplish a High Availability (HA) data center deployment.
Download this white paper