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Creating a Low-Power Cloud With Netbook Chips

Posted by timothy on from the but-what's-the-wattage-equivalent-cfl dept.

Al writes "Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University have created a remarkably low-power server architecture using netbook processors and flash memory cards. The server design, dubbed a 'fast array of wimpy nodes,' or FAWN, is only designed to perform simple tasks, but the CMU team say it could be perfect for large Web companies that have to retrieve large amounts of data from RAM. A set-up including 21 individual nodes draws a maximum of just 85 watts under real-world conditions. The researchers say that a FAWN cluster could offer a low-power replacement for sites that currently rely on Memcached to access data from RAM."

6 of 93 comments (clear)

  1. Cloud? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Didn't we have another term for this before all this cloud hype?

    Imagine a beo... Beef? Bud?

    I can't remember. My brain can't fight all these buzzwords.

  2. Cradle to Grave by lymond01 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    When I started this post, I was thinking that the overall power usage of building 21 computers that run at 85 W might supersede the power usage of building one 1000 W computer with 32 GB of memory, if you take the whole process from manufacturing to disposal.

    But I suppose it's the electric bill of the company we're concerned with so I'll just sit in the corner and re-read Bambi.

    1. Re:Cradle to Grave by chill · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The single 1000W computer is also a single point of failure.

      --
      Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
  3. AMD Geode? by TheRaven64 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Weird choice. I suggested a while ago using a set of OMAP3 chips in blade servers. You can get a 600MHz ARM CPU, 512MB of flash and 256MB of RAM in a single package-on-package module, with a power usage of under 1W. Put an 8x8 grid of them on a board and you've got a nice little wedge of server power at well under 64W. Use a bit SAN elsewhere in the rack and you've got a set of machines you can bring online easily for individual users. You could assign individual ones to different users / customers and just plug in more when they were needed. If I were doing it now, I'd be tempted to use one of the newer Freescale ARM designs that goes to around 1GHz and has on-die Ethernet controllers.

    --
    I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  4. New buzz words? by LoRdTAW · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So I guess the word cloud has replaced cluster to give old technology a fresh new look. Gotta love marketing.

    And since when did the term netbook come to describe low power computing hardware? There have been mini-ITX boards with low power CPU's long before the term netbook was in use. Just more marketing bullshit, repackage existing tech with a shiny new name and sell it.

  5. Re:This may be a little offtopic but... by GordonCopestake · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Laptops make great low power servers. I've been using them for ages. No noise, small footprint and built in UPS. I'm suprised someone hasn't taken the technology and used it in datacentres (without the LCD's of course). I can easily imagine someone like google with racks and racks of $99 laptops without screens being used as nodes