Google and IBM, expanding an effort that began at the University of Washington, will launch an initiative to help computer science students and researchers learn a form of programming increasingly significant in the Internet age.

The companies are dedicating a data center of several hundred computers for universities to use to teach "Internet-scale" programming -- the development of software applications that can harness thousands of processors to deal with massive amounts of data.

Well-known examples of Internet-scale applications include Wikipedia, Facebook and search engines, such as the one for which Google is famous. Such programs are also needed for commercial and research projects that use huge data sets.

Full article: seattlepi.com 

Labels: data, IBM, Internet, Programming, research

Appointment of former 'distinguished engineer' at IBM Research underlines Google's commitment to step up its European growth

Google has appointed a top IBM researcher to lead the expansion of its engineering group in Europe, the search company announced Thursday.

Nelson Mattos worked for 15 years at IBM and was most recently a vice president and "distinguished engineer" at IBM Research, where his projects included data management and search. He becomes Google's first ever vice president for engineering in Europe, responsible for managing project teams and hiring new engineers in the region.

Full article: infoworld.com 

Labels: engineer, Europe, IBM, research

Intel and Google Join with Dell, EDS, EPA, HP, IBM, Lenovo, Microsoft, PG&E, World Wildlife Fund and Others to Launch Climate Savers Computing Initiative

Broad effort organized to drive energy-efficient computing; goal to save $5.5 billion in energy costs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 54 million tons per year.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., June 12, 2007 – Intel Corporation and Google* joined with Dell*, EDS*, the Environmental Protection Agency*, HP*, IBM*, Lenovo*, Microsoft*, Pacific Gas and Electric*, World Wildlife Fund*, and more than a dozen additional organizations today announcing their intent to form the Climate Savers Computing Initiative. The goal of the new broad-based environmental effort is to save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by setting aggressive new targets for energy-efficient computers and components, and promoting the adoption of energy-efficient computers and power management tools worldwide.

"Today, the average desktop PC wastes nearly half of its power, and the average server wastes one-third of its power," said Urs Holzle, senior vice president, Operations, Google Inc. "The Climate Savers Computing Initiative is setting a new 90 percent efficiency target for power supplies, which if achieved, will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 54 million tons per year -- and save more than $5.5 billion in energy costs.

Read more: intel.com 

Labels: Dell, energy, HP, IBM, Intel, Lenovo, microsoft