System cuts data centre CO2

Japanese technology company Fujitsu and its partner Fuji Electric Systems have unveiled a package of solutions they said would reduce data centre-caused carbon dioxide emissions by about 40%, according to DatacentreDynamics.

The new solutions are a facility management system that visualises data centre energy use, a spot air conditioning system, and noise-baffle-borne solar cells. Kawasaki-based Fujitsu is currently deploying the technologies at an expansion of its data centre in Tatebayashi, scheduled to open in November, according to a company statement.

The energy consumption visualisation technology the data centre management system uses includes a sensor network, a power distribution panel, optimisation guidance for data centre expansion and rack-mounted transformer boxes.

Akamai Technologies is extending its content delivery network to the Apple iPhone as it introduces the Akamai HD Network, a system for streaming high-definition live and on-demand video to a variety of devices, states PC World.

The HD Network will let content and service providers offer online video that matches the traditional TV and DVR (digital video recorder) experience through buffering, adapting to network and processing speeds and features for navigating the content, Akamai said.

The company is pitching the technology, an upgrade to its existing network, to streaming video providers now.

It is about 50 years since the first microchip or integrated circuit was developed and the ongoing development of faster and more efficient computers means the capacity and speed of electronic chips are nearing their limits, writes ScienceAlert.

In a bid to overcome the limitations of existing chips, researchers are now working on developing the next generation of integrated circuits. These chips will not rely on sending electrons along copper wires at speeds of up to 1GBps; instead they will use fibre-optic technology to transfer information at the speed of light.

More than 100 researchers from six Australian universities are involved in the project. It is being carried out under the auspices of the Centre for Ultra-High Bandwidth in Optical Systems, an Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence.