Hasta La Gadget!

Computer servers in data centers could do more than respond to requests from millions of internet users.

IBM researchers have patented a technique using vibration sensors inside server hard drives to analyze information about earthquakes and predict tsunamis.

“Almost all hard drives have an accelerometer built into them, and all of that data is network-accessible,” says Bob Friedlander, master inventor at IBM. “If we can reach in, grab the data, clean it, network it and analyze it, we can provide very fine-grained pictures of what’s happening in an earthquake.”

The aim is to accurately predict the location and timing of catastrophic events and improve the natural-disaster warning system. Seismographs that are widely used currently do not provide fine-grained data about where emergency response is needed, say the researchers.

IBM’s research is not the first time scientists have tried to use the sensors in computers to detect earthquakes. Seismologists at the University of California at Riverside and Stanford University created the Quake Catcher Network in 2008. The idea was to use the accelerometers in laptops to detect movement.

But wading through mounds of data from laptops to accurately point to information that might indicate seismic activity is not easy. For instance, how do you tell if the vibrations in a laptop accelerometer are the result of seismic activity and not a big-rig truck rolling by?

That’s why IBM researchers Friedlander and James Kraemer decided to focus on using rack-mounted servers.

“When you are looking at data from a rack that’s bolted to the floor, it’s not the same as what you get from a laptop,” says Kraemer. “Laptops produce too much data and it’s liable to have a lot of noise.”

Servers in data centers can help researchers get detailed information because they know the machine’s orientation, its environmental conditions are much better controlled, and the noise generated by the device tends to be predictable.

“The servers in data centers are the best place you can have these machines for our software,” says Friedlander. “We know their location, they are on 24/7,” he says. “You know what floor they are in the building, what their orientation is. In case of an earthquake, you can calculate the shape of the motion, so it tells you about the force the structure is going to be subjected to.”

To generate reliable data, the servers have to be spread across an area. And the number of computers participating can be anywhere from 100 to a few thousand.

The servers would have to run a small piece of software that the researchers say is “incredibly light.”

The hard-drive sensor data collected from a grid of servers is transmitted via high-speed networking to a data-processing center, which can help classify the events in real time.

With the data, researchers say they can tell exactly when an earthquake started, as well as how long it lasted, its intensity, frequency of motion and direction of motion.

IBM researchers hope companies with big data centers will participate in the project. “It would give them an advantage,” says Friedlander. “It would tell them about their company, their machines, and help their people.”

Over the next few months, IBM hopes to start a pilot project using its own data centers and to invite other companies to join in.

See Also:

• Satellite Photos of Haiti Before and After the Earthquake
• Chile Earthquake Moved Entire City 10 Feet to the West
• Gallery: How to Build an Earthquake-Resistant Bridge
• 5 Most Dangerous U.S. Earthquake Hot Spots Beyond California

Photo: Seismograph records a 2007 earthquake in Japan. (Macten/Flickr)

Remember when a 1.4GHz processor was deemed the world’s fastest? Man, that was ages ago. Recently, IBM has laid claim to that very record, with its 5.2GHz z196 processor being the focal point. Of course, we’ve seen a number of consumer chips hum along at speeds well beyond that (thanks to sophisticated cooling systems, of course), but this here enterprise chip does it without any liquid nitrogen-based assistance. It’s a four-core slab that was manufactured using the outfit’s 45 nanometer technology, boasting 1.4 billion transistors and the ability to handle more than 50 billion instructions per second. Interestingly, Fujitsu’s Venus CPU is said to handle a staggering 128 billion calculations per second, so we’re guessing that IBM won’t be snagging this crown without any debate from the competition. At any rate, there’s a very convincing video waiting for you after the break, and no, you won’t find this thing in your next Alienware anytime soon.

Continue reading IBM claims world’s fastest processor with 5.2GHz z196

IBM claims world’s fastest processor with 5.2GHz z196 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Sep 2010 04:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Hot Hardware  |  IBM  | Email this | Comments

It’s rare that a company spends any time talking about the visual design of a desktop intended to be sold en masse to big corporations before being unceremoniously stuffed onto or under desks. Odd, then, that Lenovo is highlighting the aesthetics of two new ThinkCentre PCs for enterprises, pointing out such things as silver rings around power buttons and crimson eject buttons. Right. Moving on to the hardware, there are two models here, the M70e pictured above and the rather more slim A70, shown after the break. Each come with your choice of Intel processors, up to 4GB of DDR3 RAM, gigabit Ethernet, DVD burners, and storage capacities of 500GB on the A70 and 1TB on the M70e. That latter machine starts at $559, going up from there, while the A70 starts at a rather more affordable $379. That, it seems, is the machine for your new posse of go-getter interns, while you can save the M70e for the clock-watching middle-management types.

Continue reading Lenovo’s M70e and A70 desktops are coming soon to a cubicle near you

Lenovo’s M70e and A70 desktops are coming soon to a cubicle near you originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Aug 2010 05:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Lenovo files  | Email this | Comments

There’s a good chance you think mainframes are about as cool as pocket protectors, your parents on Facebook, and COBOL… the latter of which, of course, is largely executed on mainframes. If so, stand still while IBM blows the doors (and the dust) off of your mainframe misconceptions with its new zEnterprise 196, offering 96 5.2GHz cores, 3TB of RAM, and hot swappable I/O drawers for when you need to change pants in a hurry. All this is said to boost performance by 60 percent compared to its predecessor, the z10, while also reducing energy consumption by a claimed 80 percent — though that could be compared to people sitting in tanning booths performing calculations with abacuses for all we know. However, you can drop consumption a further 12 percent by opting for the water cooling system, nice if your AC unit is already struggling. IBM will start shipping these behemoths sometime in the last quarter of this year and didn’t mention pre-orders, so get ready to rent the biggest truck you can find and camp out in Armonk if you want yours on release day.

Continue reading IBM’s zEnterprise architecture makes mainframes cool again, also efficient (video)

IBM’s zEnterprise architecture makes mainframes cool again, also efficient (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 23 Jul 2010 07:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink NY Times  |  IBM  | Email this | Comments

In the great pantheon of things unlikely to happen, this IBM idea ranks pretty highly, but that doesn’t necessarily make it a bad one. Big Blue has applied for a patent covering a sophisticated new traffic lights system, which judges how long cars have to wait and sends them ominous-sounding “stop-engine notifications” when the pause is long enough to make switching off optimal. This is done by communicating with queuing vehicles and collecting their positional data, and subsequent start-engine notices are also distributed intelligently, as the first car in the queue gets it earlier than the second and so on right to the back. We don’t know how many dudes would abide by the instructions of a lightbox up in the sky, but it’s still a neat little concept — maybe we’ll see it in action when hovercars go mainstream.

[Thanks, Yuka]

IBM seeks patent for intelligent traffic lights originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 May 2010 07:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Inhabitat  |  USPTO  | Email this | Comments