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Report: data centers accounted for just 1 to 1.5 percent of electricity use last year, Google claims less than 1 percent of that
You'd think, watching companies like Apple break ground on sprawling data centers, that the number of servers powering our untethered lives was on the rise. In a different decade, you might have been right. But not this one. According to a study prepared at the request of The New York Times, the number of servers in use has declined "significantly" since 2005. That's mostly because of the financial crisis of 2008, says lead researcher Jonathan G. Koomey of Stanford University, but we also can't discount the effect of more efficient technologies. What's more, he says, servers worldwide consume less energy than you might have guessed: they accounted for somewhere between 1 and 1.5 percent of global electricity use in 2010. And while Google, the king of cloud computing, has been cagey about revealing just how many servers house its treasure trove of data, the company said that of that 1 to 1.5 percent, it accounted for less than 1 percent -- meaning, just a hundredth of a percent of all the electricity consumed last year. All told, data centers' energy consumption has risen 56 percent since 2005 -- a far cry from the EPAs 2007 prediction that this figure would double by 2010, with annual costs ballooning to $7.4 billion. Then again, this slower-than-expected growth could well be temporary. Though Koomey can't specify to what extent the financial crisis and technological advancements are to blame, he insists, broadly speaking, that we're primarily seeing fallout from the economic slowdown -- a stay of execution, of sorts, for those of us rooting for energy conservation.
US federal government to close 800 data centers, walk into the cloud
Sure, it's been just a few months since the National Security Agency asked for a $900 million supercomputing complex – you know, to help out with all that internet wiretapping. But concern about deficit spending will mean shuttering 800 other federal data centers in the US, or 40 percent of total government capacity. The closures are part of a larger push toward greater efficiency and consolidation, with an estimated savings of $3 billion a year; moving services to the cloud will mean more savings in licensing fees and infrastructure. Single-digit savings might sound like chump change when you realize the federal information technology budget runs around $80 billion a year, but hey, it's a start, right? [Photo thanks to Adrian Levesque and Adam Koniak.]
Microsoft: European cloud data may not be immune to the Patriot Act
If you thought you could evade US intelligence by moving to Europe and storing your dirty little secrets in Microsoft's cloud service, guess again. During this week's launch of Office 365, Gordon Frazer, managing director of Microsoft UK, admitted for the first time that cloud data stored at European datacenters could still be handed over to American officials, as outlined by US law. When asked whether Microsoft could guarantee that its EU-stored data would never leave the continent (even if requested under the Patriot Act), Frazer replied: "Microsoft cannot provide those guarantees. Neither can any other company." Because the company's headquarters are in the US, it's obligated to adhere to American laws, meaning that any of the data stored on its servers is fair game for authorities to seize and inspect. Frazer insisted that targeted users "would be informed whenever possible," but claimed that neither Microsoft nor any other US company can guarantee advanced notification. Bottom line: you're better off hiding those nefarious files the old fashioned way -- in an offshore safe deposit box.
Why didn't we see a Nuance announcement during WWDC?
One major rumor missing from the WWDC keynote yesterday was voice control. It was just last year that Apple purchased Siri, a popular voice companion app for iOS. Apple was also rumored to be working with Nuance to offer some form of voice control in its software. References to Nuance were recently spotted in a developer version of Mac OS X Lion, and sources claim Nuance software is running at Apple's North Carolina data center. Even the Chief Mobile Technology Architect at Nuance was spotted in the WWDC audience yesterday. Despite this mounting evidence, voice control was a no-show at WWDC. Both TechCrunch and Robert Scoble heard from sources that Apple's voice technology was not ready for a WWDC demonstration. It's there, and Apple is still working on it, but it's not quite ready for prime time. Perhaps Apple will wait to roll out this feature and use it to drum up added excitement when iOS 5 finally arrives this fall.
EnerJ power-saving system prioritizes CPU voltage, may reduce energy consumption by 90 percent
It takes a lot of energy for computing systems or data centers to patch up critical errors, but what if we devoted less power to fixing less urgent issues? That's the basic idea behind EnerJ -- a new power-saving system that could cut a chip's energy consumption by 90 percent, simply by prioritizing critical problems over those that are less threatening. Unlike, say, liquid cooling techniques, the University of Washington's framework focuses exclusively on the programming side of the equation and revolves around two interlocking pieces of code: one that handles crucial, precision-based tasks (e.g., password encryption), and another designed to deal with processes that can continue to function, even when facing small errors. The system's software would separate the two codes, meaning that energy from one section of the chip would never be used to fix a major problem that the other should address, while allowing engineers to more efficiently allocate voltage to each region. The system has already cut energy usage by up to 50 percent in lab simulations, but researchers think the 90 percent threshold is well within their reach, with computer engineering professor Luis Ceze (pictured above) predicting that the system may even be able to increase battery life by a factor of ten. The team is hoping to release EnerJ as an open-source tool this summer, but for now, you can find more information in the PR after the break.
Apple's North Carolina data center now visible on Google Earth
Apple's humongous data center in North Carolina is now visible on Google Earth and Google Maps satellite view. You can see the entire building and two roads leading in and out of the compound. Oddly, there is no space for on-site employee parking, at least not yet. An eagle-eyed reader picked out at least one parking lot on the south side of the building for about 80 cars. There may be more. The high-res image of the nearly completed compound just happened to appear the same day Apple confirmed its iCloud service would be unveiled at WWDC next week. Is this timing merely coincidental, or did Apple persuade Google to withhold its latest satellite imagery until Tuesday's press release was released?
Apple setting up another data center in Silicon Valley
We haven't even officially been told what's up with the data center in North Carolina, but apparently Apple wants more -- the company is also setting up another new data center much closer to home in Silicon Valley. The 11,000 square-foot setup is smaller than the big complex in North Carolina, which is said to be over 500,000 square feet (with about a fifth of that as actual server space). But the Silicon Valley center will still be pulling its own load when the 2.2 megawatts of critical power load comes online in September of this year. Apple is leasing the space wholesale from a company called DuPont Fabros, and it's not a stretch to think that if Apple needs more data center capacity very soon, DuPont Fabros will be more than happy to provide it. This one is located in Santa Clara, CA, and here's an interesting tidbit: There are a lot of data centers in that neck of the woods because the local power provider, Silicon Valley Power, offers relatively cheaper rates than Pacific Gas and Electric Company nearby. Hopefully we'll hear what all of this data center space is for soon -- WWDC is just around the corner.
Apple-Nuance deal may take root in NC datacenter
The stars appear to have aligned for the rumored Apple-Nuance deal, according to TechCrunch. The suggested strategic partnership between the Cupertino tech giant and the Burlington, MA speech-savvy software firm may find its first expression in Apple's new North Carolina data center, per the latest report. TechCrunch's sources say that Apple may already be running Nuance code (and possibly some Nuance-supplied hardware) in the Malden datacenter, either to support the existing Siri product (acquired by Apple, powered by Nuance) or to begin building out speech functions for the rumored reboot of MobileMe as iCloud. While Apple could afford to buy Nuance outright (the publicly-traded company was worth about $6 billion before the latest news shoved the stock price up), TC points out that it would be an expensive buy that would effectively kill the golden goose: Nuance's partnership deals, which make up a lot of the company's value, would get knocked out by the acquisition and would have to be renegotiated. The partnership approach gives Apple the core technology it needs without the overhead. Apparently, there were other players in the speech bake-off; Microsoft is rumored to have pushed Apple to include its speech recognition tech in iOS, but Apple didn't bite.
Visualized: ring around the world of data center power usage
Facebook may have recently boasted about how energy efficient its data centers are, but it is still Facebook, and that means it consumes plenty of power regardless -- more than anyone else, in fact, according to Peer1's recent survey of the world's most visited websites. As you can see above, that bit of data has also been conveniently visualized by the company in a colorful chart (with a noticeable lack of green), and there's plenty more details where that came from for you to dive into in the infographic linked below.
NSA wants $896.5 million to build new supercomputing complex
The federal government may be cutting corners left and right, but that hasn't stopped the NSA from requesting nearly $900 million to help beef up its supercomputing capabilities. According to budget documents released by the Department of Defense yesterday, the NSA is looking to construct a massive new High Performance Computing Center in Maryland, designed to harness plenty of supercomputing muscle within an energy efficient framework. As with many other data centers, the NSA's $896.5 million complex would feature raised floors, chilled water systems and advanced alarm mechanisms, but it would also need about 60 megawatts of power -- the same amount that powers Microsoft's gargantuan, 700,000 square-foot data center in Chicago. According to the DoD, however, the NSA would use that juice judiciously, in the hopes of conserving enough water, energy and building materials to obtain LEED Silver certification. Another chunk of the funding, not surprisingly, would go toward fortifying the facility. The NSA is hoping to pour more than $35 million into building security and perimeter control, which would include a cargo inspection facility, advanced surveillance, and systems designed to detect any radiological, nuclear, or chemical threats. If all goes to plan, construction would wrap up by December 2015.
Apple has the "least green" data centers
Apple has come in last place among a list of tech companies in the latest Greenpeace tech report How Dirty is Your Data? [PDF]. While Apple has made some pretty big strides over the last few years in trying to eliminate environmentally unfriendly chemicals from its products, Apple placed last in this list due to its heavy reliance on coal power at its data centers. The report compares energy consumption and sources made by Apple, Facebook, Google, Twitter, IBM, Microsoft, HP, Akamai, Amazon and Yahoo. In it, Greenpeace points out that Apple's new North Carolina data center, which is set to open this year and will supposedly be primarily used for cloud-based computing services, will triple Apple's energy usage and use the same amount of energy as 80,000 US homes. Of that energy, 62 percent will be provided by coal (one of the dirtiest energy sources), and 32 percent of it will be provided by nuclear power. This isn't the first time Greenpeace has expressed concern over Apple's energy footprint regarding cloud computing. In March of last year, Greenpeace also expressed concern about the North Carolina data center that runs on "dirty coal power."
Apple hires Microsoft Data Center manager
You can add even more kindling to the rumor fire burning around Apple's new data center in North Carolina. AllThingsD reports that the company picked up Kevin Timmons as a new employee; he's been working as Microsoft's Manager of Data Center services since 2009. Microsoft confirmed that he left this week, and while it's unclear exactly where he's headed, rumor has it that he'll be with the gang in Cupertino. Timmons also worked in a similar role at Yahoo!, so he seems like the perfect candidate to help kick off a new cloud service for Apple, if indeed that's what the company is working on. Of course, rumors have been flying for a long time about some type of data center-based service around iTunes or some other, but we'll have to wait a little while longer (probably WWDC?) to see just what Apple (and now Mr. Timmons) is working on.
Don't hold your breath for an Apple video streaming service
Flickr image by tpholland I'm pretty convinced every time an analyst opens his or her mouth about Apple and we post it, a kitten is eaten by a bear somewhere*. This week's "Wacky Analyst Random Rumormongering" comes from Jefferies analyst Peter Misek who claims that Apple is about to launch "a new far reaching cloud-based service" based on video. Oh, really? Let's examine the reasons why we are visiting fantasyland, shall we? At least Business Insider was so bold as to say this is "informed speculation," although that's pretty much what these analysts do, isn't it? Unfortunately, the speculation appears to have happened in a brushed-aluminum vacuum chamber, where Apple is capable of setting terms with media companies and ISPs at-will, and everyone works in a completely ego-free marketplace -- but none of those things are true in reality. Besides, the "streaming media" speculation has been around ever since this data center had a concrete foundation. Misek claims the data center is going live soon and that Apple will build others around the world. Plus, he says this data center is "too big" for mere music. Well, we knew the data center would go online this spring, since Apple told us all this in a quarterly earnings call. The part about building more around the world is pure speculation. Apple uses Akamai for caching, so why bother with more data centers so soon? It's possible, but I see no evidence considering how long it took to build this data center. Then again, Apple Retail has had a meteoric rise... As for the thing being "too big" for video, what about software services? This isn't just about storing petabytes of data, this is also about uptime, scaling and keeping monstrous amounts of data intact. You know, like email and calendars and possibly office documents.
Facebook's Open Compute Project shares plans for energy-efficient data center
We know, you've seen an awful lot of Zuckerberg and crew here lately, and the Facebook news just keeps rolling in. This time the social networking giant is doing some sharing of a different sort by offering public access to the specifications and best practices behind its new, more efficient data center in Prineville, Oregon. According to the company, the center, built in collaboration with AMD, Dell, HP, and Intel, has boosted energy efficiency by 38 percent while lowering cost by 24 percent. The information now available through the Open Compute Project includes technical specs and mechanical CAD files for everything from servers to building design. Basically, if you want to erect your own multi-million dollar Facebook-style data center, you've got the go ahead. Full PR after the break.
Made up predictions about Apple's NC data center from (surprise!) an analyst
photo by raneko on Flickr Friend of the blog Philip Elmer-DeWitt with Fortune Tech uncovered a gem of a note from Bernstein Research's Toni Sacconaghi wherein, after a "meeting with Apple executives," he came up with quite the sampler platter of predictions for Apple's North Carolina data center. As DeWitt points out, the data center was supposedly slated to be ready last year. Sacconaghi seems to think that it will open in the spring, which jibes with a rumor we heard in February. It makes sense, particularly in-between iPad 2 and iPhone 5 announcements. But what will the thing do? DeWitt says that Sacconaghi believes the data center could "transform Apple from a hardware company to one that excels at what he calls 'differentiated services.'" I don't know about that, but it's nebulous enough to mean anything. Here's what Sacconaghi claims is coming and here's my take on each one. Scaled-up downloads of things like e-books, video, even advertising. Well, maybe. If you've had the pleasure of seeing the iTunes store crap out on you as I have and many of our readers have reported, it's pretty clear Apple needs more server capacity. I'm not sure they are dumb enough to throw the white gas of HD video downloads onto an already-hot fire. Maybe they are just ramping up capacity to provide an impeccable experience -- you know, in line with their core competencies. Cloud sync and storage. Well, again, they've got this. The argument goes that "more" would somehow make them "more" competitive with Google's offerings. Guess what? Optimizing code, creating better, universally accessible (like supporting Firefox) web apps would do that without needing to build a gigantic server farm. Cloud storage is of course possible, because if MobileMe were to go free or get cheaper or store your first 1,000 photos free (sort of like the free vs. paid versions of Flickr) they would indeed need more capacity. This is hardly a new concept, however. What could be new is a completely revamped MobileMe service, reliant upon a new data center for tons of storage by freeloaders.
Apple tells shareholders North Carolina data center is for iTunes and MobileMe, set to open this spring
Well, it looks like Apple's just put an end to some of the speculation surrounding its massive data center in North Carolina. According to AppleInsider and Electronista, Apple told shareholders at its annual meeting today that the center is for iTunes and MobileMe (along with Apple's "corporate systems"), and that it is set to open sometime this spring. As you might expect, it doesn't seem like things got much more detailed than that, but the news does certainly lend some credence to earlier rumors of a cloud-based, Lala-infused iTunes service and a significantly expanded (and possibly free) MobileMe offering. Here's hoping we'll hear a bit more from Apple itself next week.
Will 10.7 add a "safe deposit box" to your Mac?
It seems as though Apple is hard at work on new features for OS X 10.7 Lion this summer, and the latest possible addition to the OS is something that would solve a huge problem plaguing the tech world today -- insecurity with remote file storage. According to this find by Patently Apple, we may see a new "Safe Deposit Box" in Lion that aims to protect your files using cloud architecture in the same way that a physical safe deposit box protects your assets at a bank or other location. The basic idea described in the patent revolves around a single icon that, when the user drops a file onto it, would instantly upload and protect the file using Apple-backed cloud servers (which could possibly be located at their new $1 billion North Carolina data center). All of one's secure files would then be available by logging into the Safe Deposit Box service with a user name and password. For enhanced security, the patent also mentions a small window of time before the login expires to prevent accidental viewing of files by other individuals. This storage center would presumably also store digital copies of iTunes purchases, therefore solving the age old problem of losing your precious collection of tunes in a hard drive failure. We've seen similar technology in OS X already with FileVault, which encrypts and stores secure files on the fly. However, we've never seen deep internet-based secure storage from Apple, and it would be a welcome addition for those of us who are working with sensitive documents on multiple Macs (I know I'd be more comfortable with this than, say, Dropbox). It certainly looks like a step in the right direction. Let's hope that this idea is under active development at the big fruit company.
Answered questions about Apple's North Carolina data center
Much conjecture has come of the Death Star that Apple is building in North Carolina. Some suspect it will power a future streaming version of iTunes or a major update to MobileMe. The folks at Data Center Knowledge have combined the rumors with their own knowledge about these things into a single, unofficial Apple Data Center FAQ. Among their findings is the center's size. In a word, it's huge. At 505,000 square feet, it's one of the world's largest data centers. A property assessment from Catawba County revealed that the central server area is enclosed by 262,328 square feet of space. Apple has also reportedly purchased 75 acres of land across the street from the main building, according to "local officials," though what Apple will do with that plot of land is unknown. What's inside? The FAQ has a few educated guesses, based on recent Apple job postings. For instance, they note that Apple says that its "...data center environment consists of MacOS X, IBM/AIX, Linux and SUN/Solaris systems." Also, recent listings call for candidates who are familiar with storage systems using IBM, NetApp and Data Domain, and data warehousing systems from Teradata. There's much more, so go over and check it out. In the meantime, we'll have to wait before we realize the power of a fully armed and operational data center.
SGI's ICE Cube Air Modular Data Centers can be deployed anywhere, even in the hood
SGI is a shadow of its former self, selling its name to Rackable Systems and appearing in some disgraceful situation comedies. We like to remember the old, harder, edgier SGI, a pioneer in the computer graphics industry when it came straight outta Sunnyvale in the '80s. Now it's back, launching the ICE Cube Air Modular Data Center, capable of housing four racks and expandable up to 80 and a total of 97,920 cores and 143.36PB of storage. Each unit is almost entirely self-sufficient, requiring only power and a supply of water, which can come from a plain old garden hose. Cost starts at $99,000, which isn't cheap, but we went ahead and ordered four. You know how we do it.
Apple's Director of Global Data Center Operations passes away at 41
We regret to report that Olivier Sanche, Apple's Director of Global Data Center Operations, passed away on Thanksgiving from a heart attack at the young age of 41. As DataCenterKnowledge notes, Sanche was "a thought leader in data center energy efficiency, and used his expertise to streamline operations at many of the world's largest technology companies, making a major collective impact on the industry's carbon output in the process." Olivier Sanche was Director of Global Data Center Operations at AT&T before moving on to become Senior Director of Data Centers Services and Strategy at eBay. After eBay, Sanche joined Apple in August 2009 and spearheaded the $1 billion North Carolina data center, which is expected to open by the end of the year. Mr. Sanche is survived by his wife and daughter. Our deepest condolences go out to his family and friends.