Resource efficient computing for warehouse-scale datacenters

An increasing amount of information technology services and data are now hosted in the cloud, primarily due to the cost and scalability benefits for both the end-users and the operators of the warehouse-scale datacenters (DCs) that host cloud services. Hence, it is vital to continuously improve the capabilities and efficiency of these large-scale systems. Over the past ten years, capability has improved by increasing the number of servers in a DC and the bandwidth of the network that connects them. Cost and energy efficiency have improved by eliminating the high overheads of the power delivery and cooling infrastructure. To achieve further improvements, we must now examine how well we are utilizing the servers themselves, which are the primary determinant for DC performance, cost, and energy efficiency. This is particularly important since the semiconductor chips used in servers are now energy limited and their efficiency does not scale as fast as in the past. This paper motivates the need for resource efficient computing in large-scale datacenters and reviews the major challenges and research opportunities.