Closed ChrisWardJones closed 2 years ago
redransil
commented
2 years ago Thank you @ChrisWardJones for submitting this! Really enjoyed talking with the team and learning about the project a few weeks ago. I forget - which Filecoin Storage Providers are you currently in touch with? I remember blocz has a mining operation; are you talking to external SPs and are they interested in principle once you have a proof of concept?
ChrisWardJones
commented
2 years ago Thank you @ChrisWardJones for submitting this! Really enjoyed talking with the team and learning about the project a few weeks ago. I forget - which Filecoin Storage Providers are you currently in touch with? I remember blocz has a mining operation; are you talking to external SPs and are they interested in principle once you have a proof of concept?
Hi @redransil, we are in touch with a number of Storage Providers in various countries and we will be promoting the technology to them once the POC is up and running. We are however working with one SP in the US who are planning to fitout their data centre using the modular technology we previously designed, they would also like to deploy and promote this solution once available.
ErinOCon
commented
2 years ago Hi @ChrisWardJones, thank you again for your proposal. This grant has been approved! We will be in touch by email to discuss next steps.
ChrisWardJones
commented
2 years ago Thanks @ErinOCon, looking forward the next steps and working with the team to deliver this proposal!
Open Grant Proposal:
Ecoserv4DName of Project:
ES4DProposal Category:
greenProposer:
Chris Ward-Jones(Optional) Technical Sponsor:
Alan RansilDo you agree to open source all work you do on behalf of this RFP and dual-license under MIT, APACHE2, or GPL licenses?:
YesProject Description
It is widely acknowledged that the size of the digital universe will at least double every two years, and this rate of growth is accelerating. Whilst the benefits of vast and accessible datasets are obvious, we often forget about the cost in terms of energy, water, and CO2. A conservative estimate suggests the ICT industry currently accounts for approximately 4% of global energy consumption and 2% - 3% of CO2. In reality these figures are almost certainly much higher, especially when considering full infrastructure lifecycle.
When we consider that approximately 2.5 billion people have unreliable or no access to electricity, and that current predictions suggest the ICT industry will consume 50% more power by 2040, it is clear the ICT industry needs to adopt more energy efficient practices and commit to reducing, rather than increasing, its energy consumption.
We intend to address the issue of excessive energy consumption and CO2 output by tackling one of the major contributing factors, the heat generated by server and storage infrastructure, and the resulting energy consumption required to cool the surrounding environment. Currently server rooms utilise air-conditioning to remove hot air and replace with cold air, an approach which consumes large amounts of both electricity and water for evaporative cooling. By contrast we propose the use of immersion cooling, a process which uses a non-conductive liquid to capture heat and is many times more efficient than air-conditioning. To that end we have designed the ES4D, a ground-up rework of chassis design using immersive and heat recovery technologies. ES4D is a proof of concept specifically aimed at the Filecoin ecosystem which can be 3D printed using circular economy bioplastic and therefore reducing data centre e-waste and energy costs to a new minimum.
Value
Assuming this grant application is successful there would be numerous benefits to the Filecoin ecosystem, namely:
The risk of not adopting and investing in greener technology solutions would be that the Filecoin ecosystem could be perceived as not embracing sustainability. Enterprise and SME clients often have policies in place which mandate working with suppliers who are able to demonstrate strong environmental policies and commitments. With greater adoption of greener technologies the Filecoin ecosystem can not only promote it’s green credentials, it is more likely to onboard datasets belonging to clients looking for green alternatives to existing providers.
Whilst we fully anticipate being able to successfully execute this project based on past experience, the most difficult aspect will be the fact that we are designing and building our own server chassis as opposed to working with a supplier. However, we believe we have mitigated this risk by securing the appropriate engineering resources and performing all the design work in advance allowing us to model, identify, and remedy issues before going into production.
Deliverables
Our overarching objective in this project is to fabricate a working proof of concept. We will be manufacturing two initial prototype systems housed in a prototype rack, with other necessary modular components such as hard drive caddies, and the heat rejection system.
We use off the shelf parts, refurbished hardware where possible, and recycled materials. The systems will be immersion cooled and the heat extraction system will be tailored to suit mobility, so that the system can be safely and frequently transported.
This proof of concept will ultimately deliver immersion cooled Filecoin storage and compute nodes as a low cost and low emission alternative to typical chassis and infrastructure designs, which can be widely shared and further expanded upon by the community.
Development Roadmap
Having already completed the initial design work there are three remaining milestones we need to achieve in order to deliver this project:
Milestone 1: Establish lab, source equipment and materials
In order to build the initial proof of concept we will first need to fit out an appropriate workshop enabling the team to begin the process of sourcing and installing the appropriate machinery to be able to build and configure the custom 3D printers required for delivery of the bioplastic chassis and rack.
Resources:
Milestone 2: Build automated manufacturing setup
Build and refine specialised industrial printers to ensure efficient, cost-effective and timely production. We will deliver the capabilities and equipment required to manufacture the rack and two chassis required for the proof of concept.
Resources:
Milestone 3: Manufacture of rack, chassis, heat rejection system, installation and testing of hardware
Fabrication of rack and two server chassis designed for Filecoin data storage solutions. Initial prototypes may need modification, however with zero re-tooling costs, chassis development is immediate.
This milestone will also include significant testing cycles and refinement of control systems to measure and document the energy savings.
Resources:
Total Budget Requested
Total budget required for delivery of a fully functional, tested and documented, immersion cooled Filecoin proof of concept: £195,905 GBP
Maintenance and Upgrade Plans
As a physical infrastructure solution the next step after this proof of concept will be to deliver a production ready system jointly developed by blocz and existing hardware working closely with the Filecoin ecosystem.
We shall continue to refine and document the solution allowing the community to build and maintain their own installations, however the ultimate intention is to develop an open source configuration which can be shared and developed by the community allowing SP’s to cost-effectively refine, upgrade, and maintain their own customised installations if so desired.
Team
Team Members
Team Member LinkedIn Profiles
https://www.linkedin.com/in/leenorvall https://www.linkedin.com/in/chriswardjones https://www.linkedin.com/in/connornorvall
Team Website
https://www.blocz.io
Relevant Experience
blocz has an abundance of experience having previously designed cloud infrastructure solutions utilising immersion cooling for energy reduction and heat recovery. That specific project was funded by a UK Government grant and subject to stringent auditing, was delivered on time, on budget, and successfully achieved all anticipated goals!
The project achieved a >65% reduction in energy consumption associated with the operation of server and storage infrastructure. To put this into perspective, based on a per kW price of £250 pcm, a 20kW system would consume 113,880 kWh less energy per year, saving £39,000. Scaled up to 1MW the savings would be 5,694,000 kWh less energy per year, saving £1,950,000. As the Filecoin ecosystem grows it is easy to see how the entire network could ultimately consume many megawatts of power, potentially even gigawatts, and therefore the potential for energy and CO2 reduction across the entire network is huge!
Additionally, our design enabled us to capture and repurpose the heat generated by the infrastructure to produce hot water and heat office space resulting in further energy efficiency and savings. Taking into account the repurposing of heat the actual energy reduction can be as high as 70% - 80%!
This previous project encountered a number of unprecedented issues due to the impact of Covid and the first lockdown, which resulted in a number of supply chain issues. Despite the adverse effects of Covid, the blocz team successfully managed the resulting risks and issues ensuring the project was delivered successfully.
In addition, the blocz team has previously executed a number of other UK Government grant funded R&D activities, including the design and build of a highly efficient edge data centre solution (leveraging our previous research into immersion cooling) which can be deployed in any location and in any climate. As a direct result of that grant funded project a successful start-up business was born, creating a number of jobs in different countries and securing significant investment from a respected green fund.
blocz intends to build on this past experience to deliver an even greener solution aimed specifically at the Filecoin ecosystem.
In this instance we are using our past experience and proven success in order to develop a solution specifically for the Filecoin ecosystem. In addition, we are now intending to 3D print the server and storage chassis using bioplastic, further increasing the green credentials by driving down the energy consumption and CO2 emissions associated manufacturing and shipping.
Team code repositories
As a physical infrastructure rather than code based solution there is no current code repository for this project, however one can be created if required for the sharing of findings and other supporting documentation.
We have however created a new code repository for Web3 projects we are about to initiate, which can be found here: https://github.com/dEdge-project
Additional Information
For the purpose of this proof of concept we will be sourcing quality refurbished hardware in order to keep costs down. However, we are already working with hardware vendors closely connected to the Filecoin ecosystem with the intention of building and deploying production ready systems which can then be deployed by the community as a fully qualified Filecoin solution.
For additional information contact: grants@blocz.io