The Case for Energy-Proportional Computing
Venue
IEEE Computer, vol. 40 (2007)
Publication Year
2007
Authors
Luiz André Barroso, Urs Hölzle
BibTeX
Abstract
In current servers, the lowest energy-efficiency region corresponds to their most
common operating mode. Addressing this perfect mismatch will require significant
rethinking of components and systems. To that end, we propose that energy
proportionality should become a primary design goal. Energy-proportional designs
would enable large energy savings in servers, potentially doubling their efficiency
in real-life use. Achieving energy proportionality will require significant
improvements in the energy usage profile of every system component, particularly
the memory and disk subsystems. Although our experience in the server space
motivates these observations, we believe that energy-proportional computing also
will benefit other types of computing devices.
