Whitespace NEWS IN BRIEF
IBM to open New York AI hardware research center The IBM Research AI Hardware Center aims to achieve a 1,000 times performance efficiency improvement for AI workloads over a decade. It will invest $2 billion in SUNY Poly and its other facilities in New York State, for a $300m state grant.
Cloud&Heat launches The Beast: a 0.5MW containerized supercomputer
Arm unveils Neoverse N1 & E1 designs for server, edge chips The Neoverse expands - all the way to 128 cores per CPU After launching the Neoverse “cloudto-edge” brand back in October, semiconductor designer Arm has unveiled the first products based on a new microarchitecture, ‘N1’ and ‘E1.’ N1 aims to address the need for diversity of compute types. “Going beyond raw compute performance, the Neoverse N1 platform was built from the ground up with infrastructure-class features including server virtualization, state-of-the-art RAS support, power and performance management, and system level profiling,” Drew Henry, SVP of Arm’s infrastructure business unit, said. “The platform also includes a coherent mesh interconnect, industry-leading
power efficiency, and a compact design approach for tighter integration, enabling scaling from 4- to 128-cores.” While N1 focuses on core compute, at the edge or in a data center, Arm’s E1 has a different focus - throughput. “The Neoverse E1 platform was uniquely designed to enable the transition from 4G to a more scalable 5G infrastructure with more diverse compute requirements,” Henry said. Arm has shared both designs with selected partners, the company said. Arm’s previous forays into the server world have been beset by difficulties. bit.ly/MoreArmThanItsWorth
Google’s DeepMind uses AI to predict wind farm output Machine learning to make data centers greener Google’s AI subsidiary DeepMind has developed a machine learning algorithm to predict the productivity of wind farms up to 36 hours in advance. The system is currently used across 700MW of wind power capacity which is used in Google data centers and offices in the US. Google says this boosts the value of the energy by 20 percent. “Using a neural network trained on widely available weather forecasts and historical turbine data, we configured the DeepMind system to predict wind power output 36 hours ahead of actual generation,” DeepMind’s Sims Witherspoon and Google’s Will Fadrhonc wrote in a blog post. To date, the company claims, it has “boosted the value of our wind energy by roughly 20 percent,” but said it would continue to refine the algorithm. bit.ly/AIblowhards
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DCD Magazine • datacenterdynamics.com
Claimed to be “the world’s most energy efficient supercomputer,” it can hold up to 17,280 CPU cores or 1,056 GPU nodes in a standard 20ft shipping container.
Dell wins $231 million US Navy IT Contract Under the agreement Dell will provide VMware software licenses, software maintenance and other services including data center and cloud infrastructure to the US Navy, over the next four years.
Microsoft buys 125MW of wind energy in Ohio The agreement includes two 15-yearlong power purchase agreements as well as the construction of a new wind farm in the state. The 125MW farm in Paulding County, Ohio, is expected to be operational in 2019.