Data centers need a new paradigm

Semiconductor Engineering editor in chief Ed Sperling has written an article exploring the evolution of the data center in the context of the Cloud. As Sperling notes, corporate data centers are notorious for their reluctant adoption of new technology.

“There is too much at stake to make quick changes, which accounts for a number of failed semiconductor startups over the past decade with better ideas for more efficient processors, not to mention rapid consolidation in other areas,” he explained. “But as the amount of data increases, and the cost of processing that data decreases at a slower rate than the volume increases, the whole market has begun searching for new approaches.”

As MIT’s Larry Hardesty notes, the rapidly evolving Internet of Things (IoT) is expected to boast extremely low-power sensors capable of running for months on a single charge using various energy harvesting techniques. Indeed, MIT researchers have designed a power converter chip designed to both power a device and charge a battery that’s more than 80 percent efficient, even at the extremely low and variable power levels characteristic of tiny solar cells. Previous iterations, says Hardesty, had efficiencies of only 40 or 50 percent.

Writing for Forbes, Bernard Marr terms the fight against cancer as the “Holy Grail” of modern medicine. “Almost everyone will be affected at some point in their lives, either personally or by proxy through a loved one,” he explained. “So it’s no surprise that Big Data is being put to use in many ways to aid the task of improving care, identifying risks and hopefully eventually producing cures.”