4 Cool Super Computing Technologies

Perhaps not the sexiest side of super computing but increasingly power and heat is it's biggest problem. Here are 4 new takes on reducing power and heat in the server room.

1. IBM Rear Door Heat eXchanger A Rear-door heat exchanger is fitted to the back of this rack of servers. The coils circulate cold water that is cooled by the building's existing chillers. The liquid-cooled panel on the back of the unit can eliminate the need for computer-room air conditioners, allowing for room temperature operation. The per-rack monitoring means that each cooler can be individually controlled, eliminating hot spots and reducing energy costs.

2. Also from IBM is perhaps the not so original Hydro-Cluster. These are water-chilled copper for processor cooling. Common perhaps in many gaming rigs but great to see coming to the data centre where it is claimed that it can cut energy consumption by 40 percent. IBM also says they are working on ways to allow water to go directly inside the chip. Once inside, the water can be routed out of the computer and pumped into the heating system for re-use.

3. If you want a 100% clean powered data center, then consider moving to Iceland. Because of its abundant hydro and geothermal power, Iceland is experiencing a boom in companies looking to create green Data Centers. This is not just for propaganda, or even a green agenda, but for the significant cost savings it offers.

4. SeaMicro is an off-the-radar California-based company, which is backed by at least $25 million in VC. It has recently unveiled its

server technology that consumes a quarter of the power and size of a regular server. They claim to put 40U of standard servers into a 10U rack, that packs more than 2,000 CPU cores and costs $139,000.

Feedback is welcome to richard.donovan@scalabiliti.com, plus please feel free to leave your comments below.