Thursday, June 24, 2010

PCs Sleep (and Work) Through the Night with SleepServer


Leaving your computer on all night/weekend/break just in case you need to connect remotely…that’s SO last decade. UC San Diego computer scientists created software that lets you put your computer to sleep without worrying that you’ll have to schlep your way to campus on Saturday night just because you suddenly need to access your computer connected to an enterprise network. SleepServer wakes up your sleeping PC remotely when you need it…but it won’t wake up the PC if the PC’s alter ego – a lightweight virtual image – can handle the job.

That’s the simplest example of how SleepServer helps UC San Diego cut its carbon footprint. But SleepServer does much more. That sleeping computer of yours also remains active on voice over IP/IM/peer-to-peer networks as well thanks to SleepServer.

How is this possible? When you put your computer to sleep, the software activates a lightweight virtual image of your PC which runs on a commodity server, along with hundreds of images of other PCs on your network. That virtual image can do a number of basic things that would otherwise require the actual PC to be awake.


SleepServer reduces energy consumption on enterprise PCs previously running 24/7 by an average of 60 percent, according to a new study presented today at the 2010 USENIX Annual Technical Conference.

Yuvraj Agarwal from UC San Diego is presenting this work TOMORROW June 25 in Boston at the 2010 USENIX Annual Technical Conference.

Read the story here.

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