Microsoft harnessing the power of machine learning

May 13, 2010

Microsoft harnessing the power of machine learning

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Microsoft wants to harness the power of machine learning — the statistically driven computing concepts that animate search engines and recommendation services — and other techniques to reduce power consumption, according to Rick Rashid, the senior vice president overseeing Microsoft Research.

Microsoft, of course, is also trying to reduce the power consumed by PCs, servers, storage devices and data centers. The company, for instance, is experimenting with data centers built from modular blocks. These are shipping crate-sized units that can be chain-ganged to make a data center.

By building data centers out of blocks like this, data center owners can improve efficiency by reducing the number of times power has to be converted from AC to DC and vice versa.

Data centers, potentially, can also be operated at higher temperatures, thereby reducing the power consumed by air conditioners. Data center owners can also let certain parts burn out and fail without impacting the overall performance of the unit. Another experiment: replacing wires with optical communication inside servers.

Cool stuff…

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