Intel Demonstrates "Cloud in a Box"
Madana Prathap 15 Jul 2011
At one of its campuses here at Bangalore today, Intel spoke about and showed its "Cloud in a Box" concept and operational design. Amidst a re-statement of previously known technologies and a plethora of acronyms, the primary takeaway for small/medium businesses was simple. That is, Intel in the server/datacenter space will continue powering the growth of public and private cloud computing, and their newer processors/platforms will pack more computing power to allow for smaller server rooms and lower electricity bills.
This box contains two blade-style server mainboards (two 8-core processors on each blade to add up to 32 cores). In comparison, datacenters earlier might have had to fill an entire room with 32 individual server cabinets to achieve an equal processor-count. With such small boxes, IT departments can increase processing power with relatively lower expenditure on hardware, less time and more energy efficiency. More servers can be added as per growing requirements, to scale upwards when required.
Datacenters
Of course, big business had more to cheer about. The Intel Xeon E7 processor line is the flagship on servers currently. The AES-NI (new instructions) feature allows for more speedy encryption/decryption of stored data. The TXT (Trusted Execution Technology) helps verify integrity of BIOS / Firmware / HyperVisor. The Intelligent Power Node Manager allows setting power budgets. The Intel ExpressWay software offers some useful enterprise functionality (for example, geo-tagging to allow operating only in the specified area).
The Intel Cloud Builders program brings together leading hardware and software makers to take a cloud strategy from idea to reality, and also serves as a portal to access best practices. According to the company, cloud computing is powered by data centres, and the vast majority of these data centres are powered by Intel Xeon processors.
The Open Data Center Alliance, leaves a lot of opportunity to the Open Data Center Alliance (where Intel is a non-voting technical advisor) of top companies to sell their products. Intel's Cloud Vision 2015, puts a lot of focus on fully optimizing power usage. By 2015, more than 2.5 billion people with more than 15 billion devices will access the Internet and cloud services.
For consumers, the good news is that, Intel's so-named "MIC core" (graphics accelerator integrated into processor), may be available by 2012
http://www.pcworld.in/news/intel-demonstrates-cloud-box-52042011
Intel unveils its Cloud in a Box - Data and Server racks
Server racks are likely to become much smaller in the future, following the unveiling of the "world's smallest" cloud data centre.
Intel has showcased its new Cloud in a Box technology demonstrator, which consists of two servers and is small enough to fit in a suitcase.
Powered by Intel's Xeon processors, the demonstration units are part of Intel's ongoing Cloud 2015 vision, to bring businesses cloud-based solutions that are federated, automated and client aware.
The demonstrator shows off a range of Intel's newest technologies, including its improved cloud security and virtualization applications.
It is yet to be seen if Intel intends to roll out a commercial version of the unit, but Intel does expect that data centres will need to be come much smaller and efficient in the future as businesses look to limit their footprints.
According to the chip maker: "Realising the benefits of cloud computing requires a cohesive set of open yet well-defined standards that operate across IT infrastructures."
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Last Updated: 17/07/2011 19:14
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