12-08-2013, 04:59 PM
Green Cloud Computing in Developing Regions
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Abstract
The Internet has provided an unlimited potential with
access to ebooks, multimedia content, news, new ideas, and
information access in general. Yet, due to poor broadband
infrastructure and available grid power to support the Internet
and ICT growth, the developing regions have actually been left
even further behind. The basic requirements in any developing
region (beyond clean water and food) are a reliable electric
power grid, network infrastructure, education, jobs, and a stable
government and banking system. Nothing works without the
electric and network infrastructure in place. The sad fact is diesel
generators are used to power everything in place of a stable
power grid. The other sad fact is most of these countries have
tremendous amount of wind or solar energy that can be used in
place of imported fossil fuels. The developing regions in most
cases are connected to the Internet; the question is how best to
interconnect inside the regions and countries and move the data
closer to the end user? We need a developing world approach,
not our western model of bigger is better, ie over sized, energy
hungry Data centers. Many papers have been written on how
Cloud Computing will help the developing world by just lower
ICT costs, yet this is a flawed theory. As the data, systems,
telecommunication bandwidth, and people required still remain
in the western world and its control.
INTRODUCTION
Most developing countries face financial, geographical,
infrastructure, and power constraints that have largely
prohibited development of reliable communications networks,
data centers, and local ICT-related activity—all of which could
be contributing to socio-economic growth and development.
This situation is particularly unfortunate since emerging
economies stand to gain a great deal from the benefits
associated with telecommunications and related ICT advances
that make distance obsolete. Yet ICT-related development
cannot move forward unless the energy to power the
technology is sufficient, affordable, and reliable.
Regrettably, in many developing regions, diesel generators
are widely used for power in the absence of a stable electrical
power grid. Yet this expensive, stop-gap measure hampers
economic growth, keeps developing economies dependent on
volatile world oil prices, and increases pollution. A great irony
contributing to this inauspicious situation is that a sizeable
number of states in the developing world have tremendous
amounts of wind and/or solar energy that could be harnessed
and used in place of imported fossil fuels. This paper posits that
when ultra efficient technologies are employed and existing
technological breakthroughs are combined, power demands can
be decreased significantly, so that renewable energy can be
affordably scaled to provide sufficient power to meet ICT-
related energy demands.
Why Locate Data Centers in the Developing World?
Moving processing and data closer to the end user in the
developing nations serves three key functions:
1. It keeps needed jobs and systems ICT workers in-
region, preventing brain-drain;
2. It sidesteps telecommunication bandwidth costs and
network latency issues in and out of the region and
3. It assures quality of service: in-region computing can
remove major points of network failure and potential
bandwidth bottlenecks.
A number of papers have been written on how Cloud
Computing will help the developing world by lowering ICT
costs,5 yet this is a flawed theory, because the cloud computing
data centers, where the data is stored, remain in the developed
countries. To rely solely upon the cloud computing model
misses the importance that having an ICT-related sector in the
economy has for developing countries. The ICT-related service
industries generate both direct and indirect economic growth
and employment opportunities to local economies. Data centers
are at the heart of these services.
Green Data Center Approach
Ultra energy-efficient computing and networking cannot be
achieved without integration between computer science,
electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and
environmental science. Designing data centers for high
performance and extreme low energy usage requires a
vertically and horizontally integrated effort to drive key
energy-efficient technologies in computing (cloud computing),
electronics (low power CPUs and systems), and building
systems (spot rack cooling, higher ambient temperatures, and
natural convention cooling). Collectively, these existing and
cutting edge technologies address very significant near-term
and long-term energy and computing challenges and
environmental issues.
Conclusion
In conclusion, approaching the rack as a small data center,
we can integrate computer science, electrical engineering,
mechanical engineering, and environmental science into a self-
contained rack environment. Using low power, but not low
performance, as our guide, we can also design this system
using 90% less energy. By doing so, we address a key issue
facing not just UCAD but the majority of the developing
world: Energy sustainability – the use of renewable energy.
Cloud computing becomes the enabler in this rack to provide
elastic computing over low power CPU servers, energy
interface control, and integrated system management over the
applications.