UCSD Scores $2M to Study Energy Efficient IT

Published July 29, 2008

SAN DIEGO, Calif. — The National Science Foundation will give $2 million to the University of San Diego’s GreenLight Project to advance energy efficient computing.

The university is developing an instrument to test computing systems in real world conditions for energy efficiency. The goal is to encourage a fundamental shift in the choices designers and users make related to energy efficient IT infrastructure.

"If we are going to continue to allow ourselves the benefits of advances in computing, we need to understand power and cooling requirements much better," said Thomas A. DeFanti, a GreenLight Project principal investigator and research scientist at California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2). "Scientists from all domains will choose more efficient systems as they invest in new cyberinfrastructure, and we expect that GreenLight will give them the data they need.”

The rise of data-intensive scientific research has led to the need for more powerful equipment that requires significant -- and expensive -- cooling capacity.

Researchers will explore topics such as virtualization for optimizing resource utilization, and power and thermal management. Sensors will measure variables including temperature, humidity, energy consumption and internal server data.

The project will build the instrument around two Sun Modular Data Center S20s, which can accommodate up to 280 servers, because it was the fastest way to build a controlled facility for the research. It will also allow the instrument to be cloned.

The Calit2 and UCSD’s administrative computing and telecommunications group will provide matching funds of $600,000.

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UCSD Scores $2M to Study Energy Efficient IT

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