Articles from Computerworld

In a picturesque spot overlooking San Francisco Bay, the US Department of Energy's Berkeley Lab has begun building a new computing center that will one day house exascale systems. The DOE doesn't know what an exascale system will look like. The types of chips, the storage, the networking and programming methods that will go into these systems are all works in progress. DOE is expected to deliver to Congress by the end of this week a report outlining a plan for reaching exascale computing by 2019-2020 and its expected cost. But what the DOE does have an idea about it is how to cool these systems.

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A study released this summer by Stanford University professor Jonathan Koomey pegs growth in energy use among U.S. data centers at 36 percent from 2005 to 2010 - which is slower than some had predicted but nonetheless significant. In a down economy where every dollar saved is precious, it's worthwhile to take a look at how to increase energy efficiency in data centers, especially since in many cases significant energy efficiencies can be had without major overhauls to IT equipment or facilities. 1. Determine Your Usage The first step to becoming more energy efficient is to find out precisely how much electricity your data center is using overall, and where specifically that electricity is consumed. "My first recommendation to CIOs: conduct an assessment of your data center to quantify what your energy use is," says John Tucillo, president and chairman of the board at The Green Grid, a non-profit ... (Read Full Article)

Driven by efficiency gains in technology, including virtualisation, high-performance CPUs and high-density storage, datacentres are getting smaller, says Roger Cockayne, co-founder of Revera. “Small is beautiful in IT these days. Mainframes and the large halls of computer space are a thing of the past,” he says. Revera has datacentres in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. Some of its customers include Livestock Improvement, Quotable Value, DTZ, MAF, Minter Ellison Rudd Watts and House of Travel. (Read Full Article)