EDISON vs. TESLA IN THE WORLD OF DATA CENTERS A Grand Challenge Revived Kanad Ghose Professor, Dept. of Computer Science and Site Director, Center for Energy-Smart Electronic Systems

The Center for Energy-Smart Electronics Systems (ES2) NSF IUCRC focused exclusively on technologies and solutions for reducing the power consumption of data centers Relevance: Data centers consume about 3% of the Nation’s electric power annually and this percentage is growing IoTs and Intelligence/Analytics applications will drive demands up Research addresses all major sources of power consumption in data centers and their interactions IT technologies/systems, control, power delivery systems Thermal and cooling system issues: technologies, efficiency improvement and control ES2 is a multi-site IUCRC led by SUNY-Binghamton: Sites: Binghamton, UT-Arlington, Villanova, VIT (India) Collaborating site: Georgia Tech Potential new sites: Northeastern (recvd planning grant award), Keio university (Japan) 11/27/2018

Grand Challenge Addressed & Relevance Demonstrate advantages of DC-Powered Data Centers against AC-powered counterparts and address technology challenges to exploit the full advantages of DC power and bring it to the mainstream Some Facts: DC power is used extensively in organizations that develop their systems from ground-up (Facebook, Google, China, Japan) A large segment of data center operators that use COTs components are left out: this is a missed opportunity! Our grand challenge solutions aim to bring DC-powered data centers that use COTs servers to the mainstream Encourage ecosystem development Provide a neutral demonstration of advantages to spur adoption 11/27/2018

The Origins Within 3 years of ES2’s operation, we realized that power distribution losses in data centers was not being addressed within the center Recognized that DC-powered data centers have some potential advantages (next slide) This IS Edison’s comeback against Tesla! Recognized controversy that was in place and pushed by opposing sides on AC vs DC power in data centers Clear need to see through the fog and develop technologies and fair demonstrations 11/27/2018

AC-Powered Data Center Multiple AC-DC conversions typical More components, larger footprint, multiple points of failure Integration of local power sources complicated – may require conversions 11/27/2018

DC-Powered Data Center Fewer conversion steps Fewer components in power delivery chain, smaller footprint, Integration of local power sources relatively easier – esp. DC power Safety issues need to be addressed Significant improvements can be made – relatively young 11/27/2018

The Participants Lead IUCRC: Center for Energy-Smart Electronic Systems (ES2) Expertise: IT, Thermal and Workload Management, Control Software IUCRC: GRid-connected Advanced Power Electronic Systems (GRAPES) Expertise: Power Electronics for grid integration and distribution Collaborating Site: Georgia Tech Expertise: Power distribution Collaborating Research Center: Integrated Electronics Engineering Center (IEEC) Expertise: Failure and reliability analysis   Collaborating Research Center: Lawrence Berkley National Lab (LBNL) Expertise: DC-powered systems and data center knowledge base Expertise: Industry-perspective, oversight and mentorship Specific company members: Emerson Network Power, ARDA Power Systems, dcFusion, SteelORCA, VICOR Transformative Research Projects Addressing Sub-challenges: Automated, holistic management of DC data centers Reliability Analysis, fast-arc detection Switching devices and systems for DC power distribution in data centers Control of hybrid power systems for DC-powered data centers Technology Assessment and Demonstrations: AC vs, DC-powered data centers Demonstrations of developed technologies The grand challenge cluster, collaboration needs and arrangements, projects and demonstrations that solve sub-challenges 11/27/2018

Specific Challenges Addressed Address controversy regarding AC vs DC power and demonstrate specific advantages in a scaled data center setup to do apples-to-apples comparison and convince skeptics Address power distribution challenges for reliability and availability, peak load capping: develop switching, distribution and management techniques, assess reliability against AC- powered counterparts. Address the challenge of accommodating multiple DC power sources: Investigate and develop switching solutions based on emerging SiC devices for integrating locally sourced, utility AC-derived and renewable sources for powering data center Address lack of modeling and design tools for DC-powered data centers 11/27/2018

A Rough Start Demonstration tested was to be set up in a portion of a data center operated by a hosting company Soon after the award was announced, this company went out of business ES2 scrambled to relocate the demonstration facility within a 4000 sq ft, 60-rack fully-instrumented data center lab at Binghamton Donations from member companies, members of the Emerge-alliance and additional funds received at Binghamton saved the day, but a late start was inevitable 11/27/2018

Status Demonstrations of AC-powered Blade racks and Hybrid AC/DC-powered Blade racks with identical configuration and full real-time instrumentation completed Advantages in terms of supporting unconstrained virtualization with live migration and energy-efficiency gains demonstrated Power distribution methodologies have been developed and evaluated using component models that use data from real components, reliability evaluations in progress SiC based switching solutions and other technologies for safety improvement (esp. arcing in switching devices) have been developed 11/27/2018