Greener cloud patent secured by IBM

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IBM has successfully patented a new form of cloud computing it believes will make the application much more eco-friendly for storage centres.

The system's inventor Keith Walker explained that the idea has been to take existing means of enabling people to use greater energy efficiency in various everyday applications and scale them up to large data centres.

He remarked: “The efficient, distributed cloud computing model has made it possible for people to bank, shop, trade stocks and do many other things online, but the massive data centres that enable these apps can include many thousands of energy-consuming systems.

“We have invented a way for cloud service providers to more efficiently manage their data centres and, as a result, significantly reduce their environmental impact."

In a blog on his invention, he explained the patent allows companies to re-route requests to servers of data centres that are currently being under-used or even to ones powered by greener energy. It works through including an "environmentally friendly" option on the cloud provider's online wizard, which will offer IT administrators information on their capacity and bandwidth requirements and how the greener option may be able to meet them.

Mr Walker went on to explain that a lot of functions carried out in the cloud do not actually require a lot of energy, particularly out of office hours.

Such an application may be particularly appealing to a company keen to move towards a paperless office on environmental grounds. It means that, as well as preserving trees, they will be able to work with more energy-efficiency and potentially using energy from renewable sources.

The patent – number 8,549,125 – has been a long time in the making, having been logged last month after an original filing made back in March 2010. The description notes list the importance of fulfilling "social and ethical responsibilities" as a key element in the appeal of the product. For some firms who are yet to use cloud-based data storage, this may be a major factor in persuading them to adopt it.

Storetec News/Blogs “http://www.storetec.net/news-blog/greener-cloud-patent-secured-by-ibm”. Greener cloud patent secured by IBM. November 11, 2013. Storetec.