Cray and Microsoft join forces on cloud datacentres

Supercomputer maker Cray's custom engineering group has teamed up with Microsoft Research to look into lowering the costs of running cloud-computing datacentres.

The initiative will make use of the HPC specialist's intellectual property in system design, including high-density packaging, Cray said in its announcement on Tuesday. The partners will also work on efficient power delivery and cooling innovations, with the aim of reducing facility, power and hardware costs.

"The results of the project have the potential to deliver significant cost savings for operating a cloud-computing datacentre," said Cray vice president of custom engineering, Chuck Morreale, in a statement.

The alliance is the first step into the commercial market for Cray's custom engineering group, which was formed in 2008. The group builds special-purpose supercomputers for individual customers, applying Cray technologies such as the EcoPhlex liquid-cooling system and providing custom data-management and consulting systems. Last summer, Cray said the custom engineering division was growing more quickly than the rest of the company.

Cray and Microsoft are looking to address an area of growing concern — the continuing rise in power usage by datacentres. Gartner has said datacentres account for nearly one quarter of global CO2 emissions from information and communications technology.

On Wednesday last week, HP also announced that it had taken another step its research into optimising datacentres for cloud computing with the opening of a new lab in Singapore. The HP Labs Singapore effort will concentrate on developing a cloud platform at the enterprise scale.

In addition, a number of companies have introduced technologies aimed at easing the energy costs and environmental impact of datacentres, including the environmentally friendly Bloom Box energy generator.