According to the United Nations, water and climate change are strongly linked. Climate change causes higher water temperatures that worsen water pollution and quality, while melting glaciers diminish water supplies and cause higher levels of water scarcity. Energy production is highly reliant on water, which is why the spotlight is on data centers and their […]
What is shingled magnetic recording (SMR)? Shingled magnetic recording (SMR) is a technique for writing data to a hard disk drive (HDD) whereby the data tracks partially overlap to increase the areal density and overall storage capacity per disk. In SMR HDDs, the term derives from the manner in which shingles are installed on a […]
What is a runlevel? A runlevel is an operating state on a Unix and Unix-based operating system (OS) that is preset on the Linux-based system. Runlevels are numbered from zero to six and play several important roles in the operations, maintenance and management of Linux and Unix systems. A runlevel is a preset operating state, […]
What is a baseboard management controller (BMC)? A baseboard management controller (BMC) is a specialized service processor that remotely monitors the physical state of a host system, such as a computer, network server or other hardware devices. A BMC is used for remote monitoring and management of a host system. It uses sensors and communicates […]
What is the GNU project? The GNU project is a mass collaborative initiative for the development of free software, specifically a free operating system called GNU. Of course, “free”, in a software context, does not necessarily mean “free of cost”. Rather, free refers to the freedom that users have to use, study, share and improve […]
The data center market continues to evolve, with the level of critical infrastructure requiring that data center infrastructure management software evolves with it. DCIM tools are now a necessity for most data centers, as managing complex computing operations — often with far-flung segments — can quickly overload the human ability to process. The DCIM industry […]
What is dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS)? Dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS) is the adjustment of power and speed settings on a computing device’s various processors, controller chips and peripheral devices to optimize resource allotment for tasks and maximize power saving when those resources are not needed. DVFS refers to the dynamic or […]
To a lot of IT leaders, quantum computers sound closer to science fiction than something that can be implemented in their data centers. But it’s on the way; IBM last month introduced System Two, the first quantum computer that connects three processors to work together. Last year’s small steps on the quantum roadmap are turning […]
What is colocation (colo)? A colocation facility (colo) is a data center or telecommunications facility in which a business can rent space for servers, storage devices and other computing and networking hardware. Typically, a colo provides the building, cooling, power supply, voice and data network bandwidth, internet access and physical security, while the customer provides […]