SUNNYVALE, CA, August 1 -- AMD AMD today announced its participation with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), HP and Clarkson University in a significant research project that looks at the industry-wide challenge of channeling renewable energy directly to data centers.

"The distributed computing model of the cloud parallels the distributed power-generation model of solar and wind energy. Directing power to data centers from these emerging renewable energy resources without relying on a large-scale, traditional electrical grid is a key challenge," said Alan Lee, corporate vice president of Research and Advanced Development, AMD. "One ultimate goal is the co-location of dynamic energy sources with dynamic computing resources to improve the economics, performance, and environmental benefits of both infrastructures."

Because wind and solar-derived energy can be intermittent, this study will also examine critical questions of how to automatically shift a compute load between data centers and maintain reliability.

Backing from NYSERDA and additional private funding sources are enabling this proposal, developed by AMD engineers in conjunction with Clarkson University, to enter the research phase. Students will begin experimentation on effectively managing data through a distributed network based on renewable energy. The second phase of the project plans to incorporate hardware elements, including HP's Performance Optimized Datacenter (POD) based on the AMD Opteron(TM) processor, purpose-built for energy efficiency and cloud computing.

HP POD Technology HP's POD portfolio includes the industry's leading energy-efficient, modular data center. Built on HP Converged Infrastructure, HP POD technology provides clients currently burdened with aging infrastructure, limited space and shrinking budgets the agility needed to rapidly scale and meet increasing capacity demands. According to HP, the newest solution in the HP POD family, the EcoPOD, can offer 95 percent greater energy efficiency when compared to traditional brick-and-mortar data centers.(1) HP will offer this project its POD expertise in energy-efficient data center design that delivers maximum density with greater serviceability.

The AMD Research Office AMD Research conducts work on next-generation computing questions in the areas of systems and technologies, network infrastructure and power, among others. It also collaborates on projects with leading universities, public sector organizations and commercial labs worldwide.

About AMD AMD AMD -2.73% is a semiconductor design innovator leading the next era of vivid digital experiences with its groundbreaking AMD Fusion Accelerated Processing Units (APUs) that power a wide range of computing devices. AMD's server computing products are focused on driving industry-leading cloud computing and virtualization environments. AMD's superior graphics technologies are found in a variety of solutions ranging from game consoles, PCs to supercomputers. For more information, visit http://www.amd.com .

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Source: AMD