Researchers at the Cheriton School of Computer Science have developed a small modification to the Linux kernel that could reduce energy consumption in

Cheriton School of Computer Science researchers’ update to Linux kernel could cut energy use in data centres by up to 30 per cent

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2025-01-23 19:00:10

Researchers at the Cheriton School of Computer Science have developed a small modification to the Linux kernel that could reduce energy consumption in data centres by as much as 30 per cent. The update has the potential to cut the environmental impact of data centres significantly, as computing accounts for as much as 5 per cent of the world’s daily energy use. Nearly all web traffic is routed through data centres, the majority of which use the open-source operating system Linux.

“Information arrives at data centres in ‘packets,’ and then the data centre’s frontend, kind of like a receptionist at a front desk, figures out where to send those packets,” says Cheriton School of Computer Science Professor Martin Karsten.

Martin Karsten is a Professor in the Systems and Networking group at the Cheriton School of Computer Science, where he also serves as Associate Director. He holds a Doctorate (Dr.-Ing.) from Technische Universität Darmstadt and a University Degree (Diplom-Wirtschaftsinformatiker) from Universität Mannheim, both in Germany. His research spans computer systems software, networking, and performance optimization.

Professor Karsten, along with his former master’s student Peter Cai, identified inefficiencies in how network traffic is processed for communications-heavy server applications. By making a small change to the Linux kernel’s networking stack, they achieved a significant improvement in both performance and energy efficiency.