Green Supercomputing

IBM has unveiled a new supercomputer called Hydro-Cluster that uses water to cool down the device and reduce energy consumption. IBM claims that data centers using Hydro-Cluster supercomputers can reduce their energy consumption by 40 percent and use 80 percent less cooling. They estimate that water can be up to 4,000-times more effective in cooling computer systems than air.

The new line of IBM Power 575® supercomputers uses water-chilled copper plates above each of its microprocessors that continuously remove heat from the electronics. IBM researchers are also working on computers that would allow water to go directly inside the chip. The water can be routed out of the computer and pumped into a heating system for re-use.

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With the advent of clustered/grid computing we'll start to see more and more innovative methods emerge that address the growing need to keep IT "green". Within large clusters CPU are plentiful. In fact CPU speed increases are rarely desired in large compute clusters. The limiting factor has more to do with powering and cooling the amount of hardware these large clusters/supercomputers require. New methods to make CPUs more efficient in terms of energy/heat consumption will take precedence over creating faster CPUs. In fact Green IT has been noted as one of the top five strategic technologies for 2008.

Hydro-Cluster is expected to be available beginning May 6.

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