Microsoft open sources its next-gen cloud hardware design

Re:Microsoft open sources its next-gen cloud hardware design by tekism on Monday October 31, 2016 @01:44PM (#12839099)

As someone who just saw (from another HN post) the documentary "Before The Floods", I'm curious if they take into account energy saving and lower carbon footprints into the design as well.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Microsoft open sources its next-gen cloud hardware design by eightysixfour on Monday October 31, 2016 @01:59PM (#12839263)

That is one of the major design goals of every data center, electricity on that scale is very expensive.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Microsoft open sources its next-gen cloud hardware design by molecule on Monday October 31, 2016 @02:52PM (#12839783)

And all of that electricity is turned into heat that needs to be dissipated, so cooling is also very expensive.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Microsoft open sources its next-gen cloud hardware design by KirinDave on Monday October 31, 2016 @09:58PM (#12842799)

This is one place where you don't need to be too concerned about tech giants. They're massively invested in reducing the cost of their datacenters by making them:

1. Less wasteful of electricity. This means less cooling and a relentless drive to push manufacturers to produce more performance for a given watt-hour, which also generally means less waste heat.

2. Less reliant on active cooling: this means that their designs can use ambient air until the air outside reaches a certain temperature. It also means a lot less wasted hardware in the event of an active failure.

3. Less enclosed space: they want to reduce the physical footprint whenever possible because every square foot of enclosed space is maintenance even if you don't have to actively climate control it.

Google, Microsoft and Apple all share these goals, and as such are quite active in the space. Lots of data on youtube for the casual inspection.

[ Parent | on HN ]