Researchers: Servers Should Sleep Like Laptops

Continuing with exploring PowerNap... "Academics from the University of Michigan are set to announce the findings of research into server power usage this week which applies the same energy conservation thinking that has been used for laptops for decades, to servers." These are Thomas Wenisch, assistant professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and students David Meisner and Brian Gold.

There are two approaches being researched:

• PowerNap, a plan to put idle servers to sleep in the same way as laptops,


• Redundant Array for Inexpensive Load Sharing (RAILS).

They claim average server utilisation is 20 to 30 percent, meaning about 4/5ths of the time computers are "doing nothing" while still consuming electricity. That is electricity that goes to no useful purpose, that is ultimately tied to greater emissions than is required to perform the job at hand.

The technology is known but is currently used primarily in laptops and cell phones where there is a higher demand for long runtimes while on battery.

The RAILS technology is a lower wattage power supply that more appropriately meets the power requirements of PowerNapping servers.

Sources:

Researchers: Servers Should Sleep Like Laptops

'Power Naps' for Data Centers Offer Major Energy Savings: Researchers

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