MSG Green IT Strategy

MSG generations

Over a period of only 6 years, modern HPC cluster technologies in operation at Monash have achieved a  twenty-fold improvement in power efficiency.  This will enable us to achieve >90% reduction in power consumption and cooling requirements in upgrades planned for 2009.

Note:  All systems have 2 GB RAM per core, except  Brecca (under 2 GB) and MSG-IIIe (10 GB).

Replacement of MSG-I in 2009 - saving 16 kW out of 17 kW

The MSG-I (2005) server will be replaced in 2009 by MSG-III.  The new server not only possesses improved speed, processing power and reliability, but reduces the total number of kilowatts consumed from 17 kW to 1 kW, a power saving of just under 93%.

MSG-I   MSG-III 70 CPU cores   40 CPU cores Sun V20z   Sun X6250 2005   2009 336 Gflop/s   400 Gflop/s 20 Mflop/W   330 Mflop/W 17 kW total 1.2 kW total

Replacement of Brecca in 2009 – saving 27 kW out of 30 kW

Brecca (2005) was replaced in 2009 by MSG-IV. In addition to providing improved speed, processing power and reliability, the new hardware reduced the total number of kilowatts consumed from 30 kW to 2 kW, a power saving of 92%.

Brecca   MSG-IV 180 CPU cores   64 CPU cores IBM Xeon P4   Sun X4600 2003   2009 500 Gflop/s   590 Gflop/s 17 Mflop/W   250 Mflop/W 30 kW total 2.4 kW total

By purchasing new, green hardware, the Monash e-Research Centre can provide improved services and reduce power consumption. In so doing, the Centre is supporting the Monash Green Initiative and helping to promote environmental sustainability.