Patrick Nelson
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Data center-specific AI completes tasks twice as fast
Data centers running artificial intelligence (AI) will be significantly more efficient than those operating with hand-edited algorithm schedules, say experts at MIT. The researchers there say they have developed an automated scheduler that speeds cluster jobs by up to 20 or 30 percent, and even faster (2x) in peak periods.The school’s AI job scheduler works on a type of AI called “reinforcement learning” (RL). That’s a trial-and-error-based machine-learning method that modifies scheduling decisions depending on actual workloads in a specific cluster. AI, when done right, could supersede the current state-of-the-art method, which is algorithms. They often must be fine-tuned by humans, introducing inefficiency.To read this article in full, please click here
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Data center-specific AI completes tasks twice as fast
Data centers running artificial intelligence (AI) will be significantly more efficient than those operating with hand-edited algorithm schedules, say experts at MIT. The researchers there say they have developed an automated scheduler that speeds cluster jobs by up to 20 or 30 percent, and even faster (2x) in peak periods.The school’s AI job scheduler works on a type of AI called “reinforcement learning” (RL). That’s a trial-and-error-based machine-learning method that modifies scheduling decisions depending on actual workloads in a specific cluster. AI, when done right, could supersede the current state-of-the-art method, which is algorithms. They often must be fine-tuned by humans, introducing inefficiency.To read this article in full, please click here
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Breakthroughs bring a quantum Internet closer
Breakthroughs in the manipulation of light are making it more likely that we will, in due course, be seeing a significantly faster and more secure Internet. Adoption of optical circuits in chips, for example, to be driven by quantum technologies could be just around the corner.Physicists at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), have just announced a dramatic leap forward in the methods used to accurately place light sources in atom-thin layers. That fine positioning has been one block in the movement towards quantum chips.To read this article in full, please click here
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Powering edge data centers: Blue energy might be the perfect solution
About a cubic yard of freshwater mixed with seawater provides almost two-thirds of a kilowatt-hour of energy. And scientists say a revolutionary new battery chemistry based on that theme could power edge data centers.The idea is to harness power from wastewater treatment plants located along coasts, which happen to be ideal locations for edge data centers and are heavy electricity users.“Places where salty ocean water and freshwater mingle could provide a massive source of renewable power,” writes Rob Jordan in a Stanford University article.To read this article in full, please click here
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Powering edge data centers: Blue energy might be the perfect solution
About a cubic yard of freshwater mixed with seawater provides almost two-thirds of a kilowatt-hour of energy. And scientists say a revolutionary new battery chemistry based on that theme could power edge data centers.The idea is to harness power from wastewater treatment plants located along coasts, which happen to be ideal locations for edge data centers and are heavy electricity users.“Places where salty ocean water and freshwater mingle could provide a massive source of renewable power,” writes Rob Jordan in a Stanford University article.To read this article in full, please click here
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A data-transmission revolution is underway
Radical data communications technologies are in development in a slew of academic scientific labs around the world. While we’ve already seen, and gotten used, to a shift from data sent being over copper wire to light-based, fiber-optic channels (and the resulting capacity and speed increases), much of the thrust by engineers today is in the area of semiconductor improvements, in part to augment those pipes.The work includes a potential overall shift to photons and light, not wires on chips, and even more revolutionary ideas such as the abandonment of not only silicon, but also the traditional electron.To read this article in full, please click here
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Self-organizing micro robots may soon swarm the industrial IoT
Miniscule robots that can jump and crawl could soon be added to the industrial internet of things’ arsenal. The devices, a kind of printed circuit board with leg-like appendages, wouldn’t need wide networks to function but would self-organize and communicate efficiently, mainly with one another.Breakthrough inventions announced recently make the likelihood of these ant-like helpers a real possibility.[ Also see: What is edge computing? and How edge networking and IoT will reshape data centers ] Vibration-powered micro robots The first invention is the ability to harness vibration from ultrasound and other sources, such as piezoelectric actuators, to get micro robots to respond to commands. The piezoelectric effect is when some kinds of materials generate an electrical charge in response to mechanical stresses.To read this article in full, please click here
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Data centers may soon recycle heat into electricity
Waste heat is the scurge of computing. In fact, much of the cost of powering a computer is from creating unwanted heat. That’s because the inefficiencies in electronic circuits, caused by resistance in the materials, generates that heat. The processors, without computing anything, are essentially converting expensively produced electrical energy into waste energy. It’s a fundamental problem, and one that hasn’t been going away. But what if you could convert the unwanted heat back into electricity—recycle the heat back into its original energy form? The data center heat, instead of simply disgorging into the atmosphere to be gotten rid of with dubious eco-effects, could actually run more machines. Plus, your cooling costs would be taken care of—there’s nothing to cool because you’ve already grabbed the hot air.To read this article in full, please click here
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Data centers may soon recycle heat into electricity
Waste heat is the scurge of computing. In fact, much of the cost of powering a computer is from creating unwanted heat. That’s because the inefficiencies in electronic circuits, caused by resistance in the materials, generates that heat. The processors, without computing anything, are essentially converting expensively produced electrical energy into waste energy. It’s a fundamental problem, and one that hasn’t been going away. But what if you could convert the unwanted heat back into electricity—recycle the heat back into its original energy form? The data center heat, instead of simply disgorging into the atmosphere to be gotten rid of with dubious eco-effects, could actually run more machines. Plus, your cooling costs would be taken care of—there’s nothing to cool because you’ve already grabbed the hot air.To read this article in full, please click here
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Public internet should be all software-defined
The public internet should migrate to a programmable backbone-as-a-service architecture, says a team of network engineers behind NOIA, a startup promising to revolutionize global traffic. They say the internet will be more efficient if internet protocols and routing technologies are re-worked and then combined with a traffic-trading blockchain.It’s “impossible to use internet for modern applications,” the company says on its website. “Almost all global internet companies struggle to ensure uptime and reliable user experience.”That’s because modern techniques aren’t being introduced fully, NOIA says. The engineers say algorithms should be implemented to route traffic and that segment routing technology should be adopted. Plus, blockchain should be instigated to trade internet transit capacity. A “programmable internet solves the web’s inefficiencies,” a representative from NOIA told me.To read this article in full, please click here
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Smarter IoT concepts reveal creaking networks
The internet of things (IoT) needs its own infrastructure ecosystem — one that doesn't use external clouds at all, researchers at the University of Magdeburg say.The computer scientists recently obtained funding from the German government to study how to build a future-generation of revolutionary, emergent IoT systems. They say networks must be fault tolerant, secure, and traverse disparate protocols, which they aren't now.[ Read also: What is edge computing? and How edge networking and IoT will reshape data centers ] The researchers say a smarter, unique, and organic infrastructure needs to be developed for the IoT and that simply adapting the IoT to traditional networks won't work. They say services must self-organize and function autonomously and that people must accept the fact that we are using the internet in ways never originally intended. To read this article in full, please click here
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An eco-friendly internet of disposable things is coming
Get ready for a future of disposable of internet of things (IoT) devices, one that will mean everything is connected to networks. It will be particularly useful in logistics, being used in single-use plastics in retail packaging and throw-away shippers’ carboard boxes.How it will happen? The answer is when non-hazardous, disposable bio-batteries make it possible. And that moment might be approaching. Researchers say they’re closer to commercializing a bacteria-powered miniature battery that they say will propel the IoDT.[ Learn more: Download a PDF bundle of five essential articles about IoT in the enterprise ] The “internet of disposable things is a new paradigm for the rapid evolution of wireless sensor networks,” says Seokheun Choi, an associate professor at Binghamton University, in an article on the school’s website.To read this article in full, please click here
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SoftBank plans drone-delivered IoT and internet by 2023
A Japanese telecommunications giant and a California-based drone builder intend to start a drone-delivered internet service by 2023. The two companies, Softbank and AeroVironment, say they’ve assembled the first one already, according to materials (pdf) on SoftBank’s website in April.The HAWK30 drone has a wingspan of 260 feet and is powered by solar panels mounted on the wings that drive 10 electric motors. The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) will fly in the stratosphere at 65,000 feet above sea level (12 miles), AeroVironment says in a press release. That’s around twice the altitude that many passenger planes fly at.To read this article in full, please click here
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Disposable $100 IoT satellites could swarm Earth’s orbit
Tiny cheap satellites, self-organizing and communicating as a group, could shift the internet of things (IoT) to space. The postage-stamp-sized devices, acting as sensors, just like the ones we see in traditional IoT networks could perform tasks such as mapping or studying Earth, say scientists involved in a recent successful launch of the disposable nanosatellites.The test satellites, essentially just sensors, were deployed in a batch in March. They captured data, communicated with one another, and then after a couple of days in orbit, as was planned, burned up as they reentered the atmosphere.[ IoT in the enterprise: Download a PDF bundle of five essential articles about IoT in the enterprise ] “This is like the PC revolution for space,” says Zac Manchester, an assistant professor at Stanford University, in an article on the school’s website. Manchester invented the ChipSats 10 years ago. It has taken until now, and after a failed attempt in 2014, to get the constellation operational—if just for those few days.To read this article in full, please click here
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Data centers should sell spare UPS capacity to the grid
The energy storage capacity in uninterruptable power supply (UPS) batteries, languishing often dormant in data centers, could provide new revenue streams for those data centers, says Eaton, a major electrical power management company.Excess, grid-generated power, created during times of low demand, should be stored on the now-proliferating lithium-backup power systems strewn worldwide in data centers, Eaton says. Then, using an algorithm tied to grid-demand, electricity should be withdrawn as necessary for grid use. It would then be slid back onto the backup batteries when not needed.[ Read also: How server disaggregation can boost data center efficiency | Get regularly scheduled insights: Sign up for Network World newsletters ] The concept is called Distributed Energy and has been gaining traction in part because electrical generation is changing—emerging green power, such as wind and solar, being used now at the grid-level have considerations that differ from the now-retiring, fossil-fuel power generation. You can generate solar only in daylight, yet much demand takes place on dark evenings, for example.To read this article in full, please click here
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Data centers should sell spare UPS capacity to the grid
The energy storage capacity in uninterruptable power supply (UPS) batteries, languishing often dormant in data centers, could provide new revenue streams for those data centers, says Eaton, a major electrical power management company.Excess, grid-generated power, created during times of low demand, should be stored on the now-proliferating lithium-backup power systems strewn worldwide in data centers, Eaton says. Then, using an algorithm tied to grid-demand, electricity should be withdrawn as necessary for grid use. It would then be slid back onto the backup batteries when not needed.[ Read also: How server disaggregation can boost data center efficiency | Get regularly scheduled insights: Sign up for Network World newsletters ] The concept is called Distributed Energy and has been gaining traction in part because electrical generation is changing—emerging green power, such as wind and solar, being used now at the grid-level have considerations that differ from the now-retiring, fossil-fuel power generation. You can generate solar only in daylight, yet much demand takes place on dark evenings, for example.To read this article in full, please click here
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Self-learning sensor chips won’t need networks
Tiny, intelligent microelectronics should be used to perform as much sensor processing as possible on-chip rather than wasting resources by sending often un-needed, duplicated raw data to the cloud or computers. So say scientists behind new, machine-learning networks that aim to embed everything needed for artificial intelligence (AI) onto a processor.“This opens the door for many new applications, starting from real-time evaluation of sensor data,” says Fraunhofer Institute for Microelectronic Circuits and Systems on its website. No delays sending unnecessary data onwards, along with speedy processing, means theoretically there is zero latency.To read this article in full, please click here
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Self-learning sensor chips won’t need networks
Tiny, intelligent microelectronics should be used to perform as much sensor processing as possible on-chip rather than wasting resources by sending often un-needed, duplicated raw data to the cloud or computers. So say scientists behind new, machine-learning networks that aim to embed everything needed for artificial intelligence (AI) onto a processor.“This opens the door for many new applications, starting from real-time evaluation of sensor data,” says Fraunhofer Institute for Microelectronic Circuits and Systems on its website. No delays sending unnecessary data onwards, along with speedy processing, means theoretically there is zero latency.To read this article in full, please click here
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Space internet maybe end of year, says SpaceX
With SpaceX’s successful launch of an initial tranche of proposed broadband-internet-carrying satellites last week, and Amazon’s surprising posting of numerous satellite engineering-related job openings on its job board this month, one might well be asking if the next-generation internet space race is finally getting going — I first wrote about OneWeb’s satellite internet plans it was concocting with Airbus four years ago.To read this article in full, please click here
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Satellite-based internet possible by year-end, says SpaceX
With SpaceX’s successful launch of an initial array of broadband-internet-carrying satellites last week, and Amazon’s surprising posting of numerous satellite engineering-related job openings on its job board this month, one might well be asking if the next-generation internet space race is finally getting going. (I first wrote about OneWeb’s satellite internet plans it was concocting with Airbus four years ago.)This new batch of satellite-driven internet systems, if they work and are eventually switched on, could provide broadband to most places, including previously internet-barren locations, such as rural areas. That would be good for high-bandwidth, low-latency remote-internet of things (IoT) and increasingly important edge-server connections for verticals like oil and gas and maritime. Data could even end up getting stored in compliance-friendly outer space, too. Leaky ground-based connections, also, perhaps a thing of the past.To read this article in full, please click here