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Is a Wireless Data Center Possible?
Nerval's Lobster writes "A team of researchers from Microsoft and Cornell University has concluded that, in some cases, a totally wireless data center makes logistical sense. In a new paper, a team of researchers from Cornell and Microsoft concluded that a data-center operator could replace hundreds of feet of cable with 60-GHz wireless connections—assuming that the servers themselves are redesigned in cylindrical racks, shaped like prisms, with blade servers addressing both intra- and inter-rack connections. The so-called 'Cayley' data centers, so named because of the network connectivity subgraphs are modeled using Cayley graphs, could be cheaper than traditional wired data centers if the cost of a 60-GHz transceiver drops under $90 apiece, and would likely consume about one-tenth to one-twelfth the power of a wired data center."
Let's just set up some servers in a room, blast 'em with every form of radiation known to man, and see what happens! Sounds like a fun weekend project.
Not exactly. 90% less for networking.
They obviously mean computing power. Because the networking is so bad that all processes are blocked on I/O most of the time. :-)
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
You can't have nearly infinite bandwidth in a finite frequency spectrum, but you can keep adding a shitload of wires if needed.
Given the problems people have when multiple wi-fi routers are too close together like in an apartment building, I am doubtful that it would work well in a server environment, not matter which frequencies are used.
DNRTFA, but I imagine that the figure is quoted off of the networking equipment alone, without regard to any other aspect of the datacenter. I.e.: your actual network equipment footprint would shrink 20-30 fold, and that renders the power savings -- and while that is far from a majority of the power utilization of a traditional, large-scale datacenter, it is not an insignificant number in either physical space or power consumption.
That said, I doubt this is feasible without rethinking the datacenter design from the ground up. Simply rearranging the racks to minimize interference is not going to be enough.
I'll be honest here. We're just kind of throwing science at the wall and seeing what sticks.
"Lack of speed can be overcome. In the worst case by patience." --Znork
1999 called...
Oh my god! Did you warn them?
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
Those guys at Best Buy ripped me off. They said it was a wireless router but I still need to plug it in! WTF?!?!?!
Best Buy didn't make it clear that there were wires involved? What is the name of the sales associate who failed to offer you a Monster power cable for your router? He must be fired!
Hopefully they will also pass out those cancer detecting bras to all of the staff members as well.