[Beowulf] In the news again HPC in Iceland

[Prentice Bisbal]

Another news article about datacenters and HPC in Iceland.

--
Prentice


http://www.hpcwire.com/hpcwire/2012-09-20/bmw_finds_cool_locale_for_hpc_cluster.html

September 20, 2012


    BMW Finds Cool Locale for HPC Cluster

Robert Gelber

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Automaker BMW is getting ready to deploy an HPC cluster to run 
simulations for designing it next-generation ultimate driving machines. 
As with any supercomputing installation, this one is bound to consume 
plenty of energy, which translates to high operational expenses. So the 
car company decided to search for an efficient and environmentally 
friendly plan to manage their system. They settled on locating 
<http://asbru.is/english/news/bmw-to-use-asbru-data-center/291/> the 
machine at Verne Global's Ásbrú datacenter in Iceland.

September 20, 2012
BMW Finds Cool Locale for HPC Cluster

Robert Gelber

Automaker BMW is getting ready to deploy an HPC cluster to run 
simulations for designing it next-generation ultimate driving machines. 
As with any supercomputing installation, this one is bound to consume 
plenty of energy, which translates to high operational expenses. So the 
car company decided to search for an efficient and environmentally 
friendly plan to manage their system. They settled on locating the 
machine at Verne Global's Ásbrú datacenter in Iceland.

The country has become an interesting option for datacenter users 
because of its perpetually cool climate and cheap energy. Electricity in 
the island nation costs roughly 4.3 cents per kilowatt-hour, thanks to 
an abundance of renewable energy sources. The country generates most of 
its electricity from glacier-fed rivers and geothermal vents. Given 
these resources, it's no surprise that Verne Global decided to setup 
their large scale computing facility at an abandoned NATO Air Force base 
located in the city of Keflavík.

Data Center Knowledge reported that Mario Mueller, BMW's vice president 
of IT infrastructure and chair at the Open Data Center Alliance (ODCA), 
brought up the company's plans at this year's Intel Developer Forum. The 
car company will be Verne Global's fifth customer after CCP Games, 
Datapipe, Opin Kerfi and GreenQloud.  It will also follow ODCA usage 
models to guide the cluster's build.

This is certainly not the first time a company or organization has 
considered alternative approaches to providing energy and cooling to a 
large computing installation. Apple is utilizing solar panels and 
methane gas from a local landfill to generate electricity for their 
iCloud datacenter. The Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) deployed a 
top 10 cluster in an oil submersion cooling system and Facebook built 
one of the world's most efficient datacenters in Prineville Oregon using 
designs from the Open Compute Project.The country has become an 
interesting option for datacenter users because of its perpetually cool 
climate and cheap energy. Electricity in the island nation costs roughly 
4.3 cents per kilowatt-hour, thanks to an abundance of renewable energy 
sources. The country generates most of its electricity from glacier-fed 
rivers and geothermal vents. Given these resources, it's no surprise 
that Verne Global decided to setup their large scale computing facility 
at an abandoned NATO Air Force base located in the city of Keflavík.

/Data Center Knowledge/ reported 
<http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2012/09/20/bmw-to-build-hpc-clusters-at-verne-global-in-iceland/> 
that Mario Mueller, BMW's vice president of IT infrastructure and chair 
at the Open Data Center Alliance (ODCA), brought up the company's plans 
at this year's Intel Developer Forum. The car company will be Verne 
Global's fifth customer after CCP Games, Datapipe, Opin Kerfi and 
GreenQloud.  It will also follow ODCA usage models to guide the 
cluster's build.

This is certainly not the first time a company or organization has 
considered alternative approaches to providing energy and cooling to a 
large computing installation. Apple is utilizing solar panels and 
methane gas from a local landfill to generate electricity for their 
iCloud datacenter 
<http://www.hpcwire.com/hpcwire/2012-05-22/apple_datacenter_blooms_green_energy.html>. 
The Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) deployed a top 10 cluster in 
an oil submersion cooling system and Facebook built 
<http://www.hpcwire.com/hpcwire/2012-04-26/facebook_showcases_green_datacenter.html> 
one of the world's most efficient datacenters in Prineville Oregon using 
designs from the Open Compute Project.


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