Technology

Microsoft is presently submerging servers into liquid baths to improve performance and energy efficiency

Published

3 years ago

April 7, 2021

Microsoft is beginning to submerge its servers in liquid to improve their performance and energy efficiency. A rack of servers is presently being utilized for production loads in what resembles a liquid bath. This immersion process has existed in the business for a couple of years at this point, yet Microsoft claims it’s “the first cloud provider that is running two-phase immersion cooling in a production environment.”

The cooling works by totally submerging server racks in a uniquely designed non-conductive liquid. The fluorocarbon-based liquid works by removing heat as it straightforwardly hits components and the fluid reaches at a lower boiling point (122 degrees Fahrenheit or 50 degrees Celsius) to condense and fall back into the bath as a raining liquid. This makes a shut circle cooling framework, lessening costs as no energy is expected to move the fluid around the tank, and no chiller is required for the condenser by the condenser either.

“It’s essentially a bath tub,” explains Christian Belady, vice president of Microsoft’s data center advanced development group, in an interview with The Verge. “The rack will lie down inside that bath tub, and what you’ll see is boiling just like you’d see boiling in your pot. The boiling in your pot is at 100 degrees Celsius, and in this case it’s at 50 degrees Celsius.”

This kind of liquid cooling has been utilized by cryptominers lately to dig for bitcoin and other cryptographic forms of money. This technique enlivened Microsoft to preliminary its utilization throughout the last few years, utilizing it to test against spikes of cloud interest and concentrated jobs for applications like machine learning.

Most data centers are air cooled at the present time, utilizing outside air and cooling it by dropping it to temperatures under 35 degrees Celsius utilizing vanishing. This is known as marsh cooling, yet it utilizes a ton of water simultaneously. This new fluid shower strategy is intended to lessen water use. “It potentially will eliminate the need for water consumption in data centers, so that’s a really important thing for us,” says Belady. “It’s really all about driving less and lower impact for wherever we land.”

This tub of servers additionally permits Microsoft to all the more tightly pack hardware together, which ought to lessen the measure of space needed in the long haul contrasted with traditional air cooling. Microsoft is testing this at first with a little inside creation responsibility, with plans to utilize it all the more extensively later on. “It’s in a small data center, and we’re looking at one rack’s worth,” says Belady. “We have a whole phased approach, and our next phase is pretty soon with multiple racks.”

Microsoft will be basically studying the reliability implications of this new cooling and what kinds of burst responsibilities it could even assist with for cloud and AI interest. “We expect much better reliability. Our work with the Project Natick program a few years back really demonstrated the importance of eliminating humidity and oxygen from an environment,” explains Belady.

Project Natick saw Microsoft sink a whole server farm to the lower part of the Scottish ocean, plunging 864 workers and 27.6 petabytes of capacity into the water. The investigation was a triumph, and Microsoft had only one-eighth the disappointment pace of a land-based server farm. “What we’re expecting with immersion is a similar trend, because the fluid displaces the oxygen and the humidity, and both of those create corrosion … and those are the things that create failure in our systems,” says Belady

A piece of this work is likewise identified with Microsoft’s environmental pledge to tackle water scarcity. The organization has resolved to replenish much more water than it utilizes for its worldwide activities by 2030. This includes Microsoft utilizing an on location water assortment framework at its workplaces and gathering buildup from forced air systems to water plants. All things considered, Microsoft pulled out almost 8 million cubic meters of water from city frameworks and other neighborhood sources in 2019, contrasted with somewhat more than 7 million out of 2018.

Microsoft’s push to address its water utilization will be amazingly difficult given its pattern toward more water use, yet projects like two-stage drenching will absolutely help if it’s carried out more extensively. “Our goal is to get to zero water usage,” says Belady. “That’s our metric, so that’s what we’re working towards.”

Related Topics:energy efficiency liquid Microsoft submerging servers

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Samsung Debuts AI-Driven Neo QLED Smart TVs in India, Starting from Rs 1,39,990

Published

16 hours ago

April 18, 2024

Kajal Chavan

Samsung is the most recent company to introduce electronics and home appliances with AI capabilities to the Indian consumer market.

The South Korean tech giant unveiled its newest range of state-of-the-art smart TVs, including its flagship OLED 4K and Neo QLED 8K models, which come with the NQ8 AI Gen3 processor, which offers on-device AI capabilities for audio enhancement and image upscaling.

With these cutting-edge TVs, Samsung is taking a stab at on-device generative AI technology. They were first shown at the Unbox and Discover 2024 launch event in Bengaluru. AI-powered home entertainment gadgets are a new trend that begins with this.

Powered by TizenOS, the Neo QLED 8K series is a significant advancement from Samsung, featuring cloud gaming, an educational hub, and smart yoga features that can be accessed by connecting the TV to an AI-enabled yoga mat.

With two variants (QN900D and QN800D) and sizes (65 to 85 inches), the Neo QLED 8K series accommodates a wide range of consumer preferences. The entry-level 65-inch variant is priced at Rs 3,199,90.

For those who pre-order the Neo QLED 8K, Neo QLED 4K, or glare-free OLED models before April 30, 2024, Samsung sweetens the pot for early adopters by providing free soundbars or substitute options like the Freestyle or Music Frame.

The company’s dedication to enhancing the home entertainment experience through AI integration was emphasized by JB Park, President and CEO of Samsung Southwest Asia. “We’ve incorporated artificial intelligence (AI) into home entertainment to provide our customers with outstanding viewing experiences.” He stated, “With the power of AI, our 2024 collection of Neo QLED 8K, Neo QLED 4K, and OLED TVs redefines the home entertainment experience and offers innovations across accessibility, sustainability, and enhanced security.”

New AI technologies like AI Picture Technology, AI Upscaling Pro, and AI Sound Technology are introduced by the Neo QLED 48, which has the NQ8 AI Gen3 processor with 512 neural networks.

In the meantime, the Neo QLED 4K and OLED TVs, which are equipped with the NQ4 AI Gen2 Processor from the previous generation, provide a rich feature set designed to satisfy a variety of customer needs.

The Neo QLED 4K series has five sizes ranging from 55 to 98 inches and starts at Rs 1,39,990. It is available in models QN85D and QN90D.

Conversely, Samsung’s OLED TV, which starts at Rs 1,64,990, comes in sizes ranging from 55 to 83 inches and features glare-free technology. It is available in models S95D and S90D.

Technology

Windracers and Purdue University Unveil AI Aviation Center Collaboration

Published

16 hours ago

April 18, 2024

Kajal Chavan

The world’s first research center devoted to the development of artificial intelligence (AI) in aviation has been established by Windracers, a pioneer in autonomous air travel, in collaboration with Purdue University. Today’s opening of the Center on AI for Digital, Autonomous and Augmented Aviation (AIDA3) represents a significant advancement in the research and use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and related technologies.

Since its founding in 2017, Windracers has significantly contributed to the decrease in the price of providing humanitarian aid by using cutting-edge design and manufacturing techniques. Thanks to its in-house Masterless autopilot system, the company’s ULTRA UAV—which is renowned for its adaptability and ease of maintenance—runs without the need for a remote pilot. The British Antarctic Survey and the Royal Navy are just two of the prominent organizations that have used the UAV, which is designed to operate in harsh environments, to demonstrate its dependability through long-term autonomous flights.

Windracers’ founder and executive chairman, Stephen Wright, revealed his excitement for the new project: “We are incredibly excited to launch this groundbreaking AI center with Purdue University, a highly respected academic institution whose alumni include the first and most recent humans to step on the moon.” We want to make the aviation industry completely automated and low-cost by taking another enormous step forward,” he said.

In order to improve capabilities ranging from demand analytics to real-time weather prediction, AIDA3 will investigate the applications of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in autonomous systems. With potential to have a big impact on other industries and commercial logistics, the center aims to increase the scalability and efficiency of self-flying aircraft operations.

Sabine Brunswicker, AIDA3 director and Purdue professor, highlighted the current challenges and the center’s mission: Existing AI/ML models are not sufficiently reliable to close the loop from data to actions in the real-world that is safe, trustworthy, and scalable, she explained. “Currently, it can take 10 people to operate one UAV. It is time for one operator to be able to coordinate 100 UAVs at the same time. Our mission is to go beyond current AI/ML models where the potential benefits of smarter UAVs can be fully realized globally.”

As part of the partnership, Windracers will receive support for research and development in the US market. Two of its ULTRA UAVs will be provided by the company for continuous testing at Purdue University Airport, which is well-known for being Amelia Earhart’s research base. The development of autonomous flight technologies will be aided by these unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), named Armstrong and Earhart.

As a component of Purdue University’s Institute for Physical Artificial Intelligence (IPAI), AIDA3 aims to develop novel solutions by fusing artificial intelligence with the physical world.

Technology

Linux Foundation Introduces Industry Drive to Enhance Generative AI for Enterprises

Published

16 hours ago

April 18, 2024

Kajal Chavan

A new project to advance generative AI for businesses has been made public by the Linux Foundation.

The Open Platform for Enterprise AI is the latest project undertaken by the LF AI & Data Foundation (OPEA). It is positioned as a Sandbox Project, acting as a trial run for the newest concepts and innovations from the Foundation.

Significantly, it is supported by top organizations in the field of AI development and application, such as Anyscale, Cloudera, DataStax, Domino Data Lab, Hugging Face, Intel, KX, MariaDB Foundation, Minio, Qdrant, Red Hat, SAS, VMware, Yellowbrick Data, Zilliz, and more.

Leaders in the Industry Pledge to Improve GenAI

In a press release, the organization stated that the main goal of the LF AI & Data Foundation is to foster an open community for AI and data. By providing greater opportunities for collaboration, it hopes to “drive open source innovation in the AI and data domains.”

With a focus on open model development and the hardened and optimized support of multiple compilers and toolchains, Ibrahim Haddad, Executive Director for LF AI & Data, expressed excitement about the project’s potential to speed up AI integration among enterprises: “We’re thrilled to welcome OPEA to LF AI & Data with the promise to open source, standardized, modular, and heterogenous Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) pipelines for enterprises.”

In addition, Haddad stated, “OPEA will open up new possibilities in AI by developing a comprehensive, modular framework that leads technology stacks.”

The new initiative’s launch, according to the Linux Foundation, is highly appropriate given the rapid advancements in GenAI technology in recent years, which have resulted in a fragmentation of tools, techniques, and solutions that require attention.

In the face of global pressure to advance democratized AI, the Foundation is confident that it can create equal opportunities through standardizing elements such as reference solutions, architecture blueprints, and frameworks.