Hewlett-Packard announced on Tuesday a new design for some of the world?s largest computer centres and says it could reduce power consumption in some cases by 90%.
The design, called Project Moonshot, replaces the conventional microprocessors used in computer servers with the kind of chips used in cellphones and notebook computers. These mobile chips, which have usually run on small batteries, are designed as power misers, shutting down some inessential tasks and slowing others when placing calls or reaching the web.
It is, for now, a speciality service for perhaps 50 of the world?s largest online companies, said Paul Santeler, the manager of HP?s hyperscale business. ?Believe me, they?ll all be kicking the tyres? on the new offering, he said. ?For a web architecture with tonnes and tonnes of users, where all the growth is, it makes a lot of sense.? The world is adding 7,000 computer servers a day, he said, most of them for web activities like social networking and watching video.
The new design will use chips made by Calxeda, an Austin, Texas, maker of low-power ARM chips for servers.
Over time, the computers may also be attractive to financial firms, scientific researchers and government security organisations, all of which have to plow through increasingly large amounts of data, looking for meaningful patterns, Santeler said. In a few more years, analysts say, they could also end up in mainstream corporate computing.
While a transition to these chips in servers has been predicted by makers of the mobile chips, HP is the first major computer company to offer a commercial product. In addition to incorporating the mobile chips, building the computers required innovations in software, data storage, and networking.
HP plans to start selling the Moonshot computer in mid-2012.