South Korean telecom titan KT Corp. and U.S. chip giant Intel Corp. said Tuesday
they will join together to develop energy-efficient technology to reduce power
consumption at data centers.
The two companies will operate a
high-temperature ambient test center in Cheonan, 92 kilometers south of Seoul,
ahead of adapting the technology at KT's data center, the companies said in a
joint press release.
Following simulation tests, KT and Intel plan to
apply the technology by the end of 2013 to the Cheonan Data Center, one of KT's
eight Internet data centers across the nation, according to Yun Dong-sik, senior
vice president at South Korea's top fixed line operator and No. 2 mobile
carrier.
The new technology enables data center operation at
temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius, allowing operators to cut the electricity
costs needed to currently keep the temperature between the optimal 18-21 C
range.
The technology comes as data centers around the world witness a
rise in electricity costs to sustain optimal temperatures amid growing data
traffic.
Consumption at worldwide data centers accounts for 1.5
percent of the world's total power consumption on an annual basis, with that
portion expected to rise to 3 percent by 2014.
The two companies also
pledged to step up cooperation in the field by verifying their technology at the
test center and developing it as a business model for local and overseas data
centers.
The move is the latest in KT's drive to diversify its
business portfolio in the highly-saturated local telecommunications market. As
part of those efforts, the company set up a joint venture and established a
global data center with Japan's Softbank Telecom Corp. last year.