Business intelligence through patinformatics: A study of energy efficient data centres using patent data
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37380/jisib.v6i3.193Keywords:
Cooling, data centres, energy efficiency, green data centres, patents, patinformaticsAbstract
The advent of cloud computing has nurtured an unprecedented growth of data centres. With its growth, the main concern for service providers and data centre owners is to efficiently manage the energy of the data centres without compromising their computing capabilities. This concern is genuine as data centres utilise 10-30 times more energy than office spaces and also generate immense heat. As cooling accounts for half of the total power consumption in data centres, efficient cooling systems have become a vital need for data centres. This has resulted in increased research and innovation in the field of efficient cooling of data centres, which in turn has led to growth in filing of patents in this domain. Patents are techno-legal documents that contain different kinds of information that is accessible to all. In the present study, patents are used as source of information for competitive/business intelligence to highlight the technological trends in the field of energy efficient cooling of data centres. The study reveals that IBM, HP, Schneider and Hon Hai Industries are the major players working in this technological area. Contrary to the notion that air conditioning would be the most researched area for cooling data centres, the study reveals that there is also interest in the hardware of the servers and racks to produce less heat or to have built-in cooling mechanisms. The main technologies for which patents are being filed include ventilation using gaseous coolant, technologies related to rack design as well as liquid cooling. Original equipment manufacturers and other vendors have increased filings, along with cloud service providers. Most of these technologies originate from Asia-Pacific and this region is a strong market, following the USA.
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