Digital SMEs are not to be outdone. Qarnot computing’s approach is exemplary in that it takes account of these new challenges, offering an ecological and economical alternative to conventional data centers.
Qarnot computing is a Cloud HPC player, created in 2010 and incubated within Telecom ParisTech, which has designed a new value proposition by no longer focusing simply on price and power, but by including notions of efficiency and ecological impact. The company offers a complete and traditional HPC cloud service: ready-to-use (Saas, PaaS) or on-demand (CPU billed by the minute), based on two major innovations, the Q.ware distribution platform and the Q.rad digital radiator. The company sells computing power in Cloud mode, without storage or hosting.
Qarnot computing has benefited from traditional support for SMEs in the digital sector: regional aid from Paris Région Entreprises (AIMA, etc.) and national aid (CIR), as well as European aid dedicated to SMEs under the Horizon 2020 program (Open disruptive innovationscheme). The period 2010-2013 was marked by a major R&D effort, culminating in the filing of a patent. Sales and marketing began in 2013. In 2014, the company generated sales of one million euros, mainly from machine and calculation sales, and employs around twenty people.
Cost-effectiveness and “recyclability”: an alternative to energy-hungry data centers
The principle put forward by Qarnot computing is simple: at every stage of the value chain, the most profitable material is the “greenest”. Recyclability” gives
value to what, until recently, we considered to be mere obsolete or even impalpable waste. Gradually, this waste is becoming the raw material of the circular economy.
This way, the heat generated by computing has a value! The idea came to Paul Benoit, president and founder of the company, when he was working in the banking sector on massively-used supercomputers. The heat generated by these machines meant they had to be constantly cooled, resulting in high energy costs and a significant ecological impact. It is estimated that data centers consume 2% of the world’s electricity, 50% of which goes to cooling systems.
Its concept is based on the recovery of heat emitted by intensive HPC calculations and distributed by radiators, the Q.Rads, which have no electrical resistance but are equipped with a motherboard.
The heat generated by the work of the processors in the Q.rads is dissipated free of charge in all types of premises, and can thus be made available to certain underprivileged populations unable to access expensive traditional sources. Qarnot computing’s Cloud service distributes computing workloads safely and efficiently across the radiator park, according to the heating needs of hosts and the resource requirements of HPC customers. What’s more, the electricity consumed by the Q. Rad is fully reimbursed to the host.
Evangelization and risk-taking: an ongoing battle
Qarnot computing’s first Q.rad radiator customers include RIVP, the Paris real estate authority, and the Télécom ParisTech engineering school. 350 machines have already been deployed.
In terms of HPC cloud, contracts have already been signed in France with big names (BNP Paribas, Air Liquide), and Qarnot computing is now looking to expand into Luxembourg with banks, insurance companies and other industrial firms. However, Miroslav Sviezeny
Managing Director, stresses the difficulty of convincing large companies to switch to the HPC cloud. Beyond the awareness and communication of major groups on innovation, green and CSR, he regrets the reluctance and lack of risk-taking for the concrete deployment of such an offer.
The company’s objectives for the coming months are to develop and roll out a new version of radiators accessible to home users, integrating a range of services and connected objects, including home automation functions: air quality sensor, wireless recharging, speaker, light sensor, etc. The ambition is to create nothing less than the “iPhone of heating”. The ambition is to create nothing less than the “iPhone of heating”. Let’s wish them the same success!
