HP: Goodbye copper, hello lasers

Imagine, if you will, an IT system connected not by copper-based electrical wiring but by optic laser communication links. Called photonic interconnections, the technology would make it possible to eventually fit hundreds of processors on server system chips while delivering 20 times the energy efficiency that’s possible today.

Led by R. Stanley Williams, senior fellow and director of HP’s Information and Quantum Systems Lab, the Photonic Interconnect Project is one of three sustainable IT research initiatives announced today by HP. It’s not clear when we might see the technology in action, but according to HP, it builds on years of research dedicated to building photonic optical connections and components. (You can read more about the technology at EETimes.com.)

Beyond the Photonic Interconnect Project, HP also announced plans to develop “the ultimate sustainable datacenter,” focused on reducing the carbon footprint of datacenters by 75 percent while simultaneously reducing the total cost of ownership, at least in part by cutting electricity consumption.

Details on this project remain rather hazy. The researchers plan to study how energy is used and managed for the entire lifetime of a datacenter and its components, then apply that information to develop technologies that require far fewer resources.

According to Chandrakant Patel, HP fellow and director of the Sustainable IT Ecosystem Lab, HP Labs will be drawing on what it’s learned from its test lab in Bangalore, India, that employs thousands of sensors to monitor and automatically adjust to meet cooling needs.

Finally, HP introduced a new project aimed at developing a set of tools that will “model, predict, measure and manage the environmental impact of product manufacturing, supply chains and business processes.”

As part of the project, HP will create an open online resource, a “sustainability hub” where it hopes experts around the world will share data and information about the sustainable design of products.