Tuesday 9 April 2013

Wireless is the ‘energy monster’ of cloud computing: Experts – ZDNet | Rise to the Cloud

Posted on Apr 9, 2013 in Cloud News

We can stop pointing fingers at datacentres for chewing up power because the biggest culprit of energy consumption in the cloud computing ecosystem is the equipment that facilitates wireless access to the cloud, according to the Centre for Energy-Efficient Telecommunications (CEET).
CEET is a joint-venture between the University of Melbourne, communications vendor Alcatel-Lucent, and the Victorian State government.

The proliferation of cloud computing has meant more datacentres are being built to supply cloud services. Datacentres, particularly older models, are often cited as energy inefficient although through new design principles, they are gradually becoming more power efficient.
But what is often ignored is the trend of accessing cloud services wirelessly through mobile and wireless networks. According to The Power of Wireless Cloud report released by the CEET, the IT industry has grossly underestimated the energy consumption of cloud services delivered over wireless networks.
“By 2015, the energy consumption of datacentres will be a drop in the ocean compared to wireless networks in delivering cloud services,” CEET deputy director principal research fellow Dr Kerry Hinton said in a statement. “The problem is, we’re all accessing cloud services — things like webmail, social networking, and virtual applications — over wireless networks.

“It’s the modern way, but wireless is an energy monster; it’s just inherently inefficient.”
Wireless access networks technologies, including wi-fi and 4G LTE, will accounts for 90 percent of total wireless cloud energy consumption by 2015, while datacentres will make up 9 percent, according to the CEET report. The amount of energy used by end-user wireless devices is negligible.
To put this in perspective, the total energy consumption of cloud services accessed through wireless networks was around 9.2 terawatt hours (TWh) in 2012, and this is tipped to reach between 32TWh and 43TWh, according to the CEET; a 460 percent increase.

“Public debate continues to focus on the energy consumption of datacentres and the savings available to industry,” the report said. “However, there is a broader issue of energy consumption of the cloud computing environment not restricted to…


Source: http://www.zdnet.com/au/wireless-is-the-energy-monster-of-cloud-computing-experts-7000013718/

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