IBM begins Power server upgrade

IBM is beginning an upgrade to a range of servers and other hardware to make them more energy-efficient and competitive than rival products by Hewlett-Packard and Sun Microsystems, reports Reuters.

The company says its Power7 system, including new microprocessors, storage and middleware, will be able to process more data than its predecessor Power6, making them useful for utilities with electrical grids or banks conducting electronic trading.

"The innovation starts at the chip level," says Ross Mauri, GM of IBM's Power systems business. "And they can dynamically adjust their own electrical usage based on the workload."

Cambridge University Computer Lab's 'green computing' research programme has been boosted by a six-figure funding package from search giant, Google, writes BusinessWeekly.

The lab, led by Professor Andy Hopper, is the only university outside the US to receive one of Google's new Focused Research Awards, winning six-figure funding over the next three years to conduct blue skies research in the general area of privacy.

Totalling $5.7 million, the awards provide 'unrestricted' grants for two to three years to fund research across four areas: machine learning, the use of mobile phones as data collection devices for public health and environment monitoring, energy efficiency in computing, and privacy.

The Green Grid, an industry body aimed at helping data centres monitor and reduce power use, has unveiled a series of initiatives designed to help its members further improve efficiencies, states Computing.co.uk.

The group says two online tool kits will be available from its Web site by the end of the first quarter. The first is a power energy estimator (PEE) and the second a power usage effectiveness calculator.

The PEE compares various power inputs, such as workload, availability and space constraints, to generate a report that gives data centre operators a better understanding of the power they are using, the group said.