雲計算能耗過高 就把服務器搬到太空去吧

When people talk about cloud computing, it’s usually understood that the cloud is a metaphor for groups of remote, networked servers. But when Lance Parker talks about “space computing,” he’s not taking poetic license. He means it literally: physical servers operating in outer space. Parker is the CEO of ConnectX, a startup company based in Los Angeles that’s working on a way to take corporations’ data out of the cloud and into the final frontier. If his company succeeds, it could revolutionize the way we store, transmit, and analyze information.

當人們談到雲計算時，大家都明白，所謂的“雲”不過是一個比喻，象徵着一系列遠程的服務器網絡。但當蘭斯o帕克提到“太空計算”這個概念時，他並不是在玩詩意，而是說真的：他想把服務器搬到太空進行運作。帕克是ConnectX公司的CEO，這家位於洛杉磯的初創公司致力於將企業儲存於雲端的數據搬到太空。一旦成功，它可能會徹底改變我們儲存、傳輸和分析信息的模式。

As metaphors go, “cloud computing” sounds nice but is misleading. Clouds are in the sky; server farms are decidedly earthbound. Clouds are aesthetic and amorphous, a Rorschach test in the atmosphere; data warehouses are boxy and don’t leave much room for interpretation. But the bigger problem with cloud computing is that, according to Parker, it’s simply unsustainable. He may have a point. From the beginning of time until 2002, the world created five exabytes (five billion gigabytes) of information; today, we create that much data in about 10 minutes. Data storage technology just isn’t keeping pace with the exponential growth of data creation. Data centers are also energy hogs, using up 10% of the world’s electricity.

“雲計算”這個名字雖然好聽，但有一定的誤導性。雲在天上飄，而組成雲計算的服務器網絡顯然是在地面上。雲是優美而千變萬化的，就像老天爺在空中潑墨一般；數據服務器則笨拙而有形，也沒有給人多少解讀的空間。不過據帕克稱，雲計算還有一個大問題，那就是不具備可持續發展能力。他或許說得有道理。從創世之初到2002年以前，全球一共創建了50億G字節的信息。而今天，我們差不多每隔10分鐘就會創建這麼多的信息。數據存儲技術已經無法跟上呈指數級增長的數據創建速度。另外數據中心也是能耗大戶，它們消耗的電力已經達到了全球電力的10%。

Putting servers in space could potentially remedy the energy problem, since they could be powered by free, plentiful solar radiation. And, Parker adds, the space environment would be advantageous for spinning disk drives. Zero-gravity allows the drives to spin with less resistance, and the extreme cold in space means the servers could process faster without overheating.

將服務器放到太空或許能夠解決能耗問題，因爲太空中充足的太陽光輻射可以爲它們提供免費的電力。另外，太空環境對旋轉式硬盤驅動器非常有利。在零重力下，硬盤驅動器旋轉的阻力變小了，而太空中的極寒環境意味着服務器不用擔心過熱問題，從而運轉得更快。

Of course, all of the benefits of space computing are worthless without a cost-effective way to launch a server into space. Fortunately for ConnectX, satellites are getting smaller and cheaper by the year. The CubeSat, which is about the size of a cantaloupe, can be placed into orbit for less than $100,000. The even smaller TubeSat can be launched for $8,000. Compare those costs to, say, a cellular tower at $150,000, and “the small satellite becomes the obvious choice,” Parker says.

當然，如果沒有一種經濟的方法能將服務器發送到太空，那麼太空計算的所有好處都是無稽之談。好在近年來，人造衛星的尺寸越來越小，成本也在逐年降低。比如所謂的“立方體衛星”（CubeSat）只有一個甜瓜那麼大，花上不到10萬美元的成本，就能將它送到太空軌道上。尺寸更小的“管狀衛星”（TubeSat）只需要8000美元就能發射。把這個成本與15萬美元的蜂窩基站相比，“小型衛星就變成了一個很明智的選擇。”帕克說。

But if cost is not the main barrier to space computing, data transmission rates could well be. Currently, servers and computers send and receive information mostly through cables or fiber optics, which allow a data transfer rate of around 100 megabits per second for typical applications. Satellites and cell phones, on the other hand, beam information using electromagnetic waves. (The data is delivered in a code of ones and zeroes, with the height or the frequency of the wave distinguishing between the numerals. A series of numerals is then translated by the receiver into useable information. For example, the letter “A” is represented by eight zeroes and ones—eight waves.) This method of transmission is much slower than using wires. Verizon claims that its LTE wireless network, for example, downloads at speeds between five and 12 megabits per second. At that rate, storing large amounts of data in space is just not feasible.

如果說成本並非太空計算的主要障礙，那麼傳輸效率問題很可能是。目前，服務器和電腦收發信息主要還是依賴電纜或光纖，典型的應用程序的傳輸速度可以達到每秒100兆左右。而衛星和智能手機則是通過電磁波傳輸數據。（數據通過二進制進行編碼，用一串波峯和波谷來區別數字。一系列數字隨後被髮送到接收端，譯解成可用的信息。比如字母“A”會被顯示成8個0和1——也就是8個波形。）這種傳輸方法的效率要遠遠低於有線傳輸。比如，威瑞森電信（Verizon）聲稱，其LTE無線網絡的下載速度可以達到每秒5至12兆。但就算按照這個速率，在太空存儲大量數據也是不可行的。

ConnectX’s proposed solution to the transfer rate challenge is twofold. First, the company is working on a way to twist radio beams to increase data transmission rates. This might sound farfetched, but Alan Willner, a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Southern California, has recently developed a similar technique, which achieved a rate of 32 gigabits per second—about 30 times faster than LTE wireless. Willner published an account of the research in Nature Communications on September 16. “It was interesting to see that come out,” Parker says, “because our technology requires spin, but we do it in a different way that’s much more effective.”

ConnectX公司就此提出了一個雙重解決方案。首先，該公司正在嘗試着通過“扭結”無線電波束的方法來提高數據傳輸速率。這聽起來似乎有些天方夜譚，但南加利福尼亞大學電子工程學教授艾倫o威爾納最近已經開發出一種類似技術，能夠使無線電傳播速率達到每秒32G——大約比LTE無線傳輸快了30倍。威爾納已經在9月16日的《自然通訊》上發表了一篇論文。帕克表示：“看着這個研究成果出來很有意思，因爲我們的技術也需要旋轉，但我們使用了另一種更加有效的方式。”

That different approach is where the real blockbuster innovation of ConnectX might be found. In addition to twisting the radio beams for faster transmission, the beams will be sending the data in a condensed, non-binary symbol structure. Instead of the letter “A” requiring eight waves, it could require just one. Or an entire sentence, “The apple fell far from the tree,” could be communicated with a single symbol. “Our symbol structure can get even more complex as we evolve it,” Parker says, “where a symbol can mean more and more information.” This eases not only transfer rates, but could also speed up analytics by reducing the sheer volume of data that must be combed through to find actionable intelligence.

這種不同的方式是指ConnectX公司可能已經實現的一項突破性創新。除了將無線電波束進行扭結以加快傳輸速度之外，無線電波束還將以一種壓縮的、非二進制的符號結構進行傳輸。這樣一來，字母A就不再需要8個波形，而只需要1個波形。甚至像“蘋果落在了離樹很遠的地方”這類句子也只需要一個符號就能完成。帕克表示：“隨着研發工作的進一步深入，我們的符號結構甚至可以變得更復雜，一個符號能代表越來越多的信息。”這不僅解決了傳輸速率的問題，也可以加快數據的分析速度，因爲它大大減少了數據梳理過程所佔用的時間。

According to the head of data science at a Fortune 500 company, who is familiar with ConnectX’s work, the value of the company’s proprietary symbol structure can be communicated in one word: visualization. In the traditional approach to big data analytics, records are two dimensional and it’s therefore difficult to see relationships between products and people or changes over time. “That’s what ConnectX is trying to fix,” the data science manager says, “picturing the data as an object with relationships, attributes and movement. That’s what’s missing on the market now: something that can show the insights, and help executives figure out the next steps for the company.”

一家熟悉ConnectX業務的《財富》美國500強企業的數據科學總監表示，ConnectX專有的符號結構可以用一個詞來概括，那就是“可視化”。在傳統的大數據分析模式中，記錄是二維的，因此很難觀察到產品和人的關係，或者隨着時間的推移而產生的變化。那位數據科學總監表示：“這正是ConnectX想要糾正的，它想把數據描繪成具有關係、特性和運動的物體。這也正是目前市場上所缺少的——一種能夠展示分析結果，並幫助企業高管指明公司下一步走向的方法。”

ConnectX’s team of 13 employees, most of whom are engineers and scientists, are hoping the company can fill that void. They plan to prove the transmission technology on earth first, then test it in space. The beta launch is slated for 2017.

ConnectX的團隊目前擁有13名員工，其中大多數都是工程師和科學家，他們希望填補市場空白。這個團隊計劃首先在地面上驗證符號傳輸技術的可行性，然後再在太空進行測試。Beta版產品計劃於2017年推出。