Power Aware Computing
Request for Proposals 2008

Background

Recent developments such as the climate debate, concern over fossil fuel use and the rising cost of energy have thrown the spotlight on power consumed by computing devices. Data centers alone currently consume 1.5% of the power produced in the USA, and are projected to reach 4.5% within 5 years. This has driven efforts to reduce the power consumed by data centers and at the hardware level for processors and devices. A reduction in power consumption per unit of work done would not only be financially beneficial, but would also have a positive impact on the global environment. People are becoming generally more aware of both the cost of power and environmental issues, and are demanding that all appliances, including computers, demonstrate economy and efficiency.

At the same time research and innovations within the industry offer the possibility for significant improvement in power efficiency for computing. Software as a service suggests economies of scale, advances in flash memory offer hybrid drives that may outperform traditional drives both in speed and power efficiency, and the advent of multi-core and possibly many-core chips presents a potential for better energy efficiency for a system under variable load.

Current work in sustainable and power aware computing suggests two fundamental principles for work in the area. The first is the principle of pay for play, suggesting that the power consumed by a computing device should be proportional to the demand placed upon the system. Systems today typically consume approximately 70% of their maximum load power at idle which defeats this goal. Secondly there is a goal of treating power or energy as a first class resource. There exists a significant body of resource management work largely revolving around attaining maximum performance. It is important that energy efficiency be given a role of equal importance in resource management.

This worldwide RFP seeks to stimulate novel research into increasing energy efficiency, thereby reducing the power consumption of computing. We are soliciting work that has the potential to become part of a large research portfolio, and we encourage proposals that are outside the usual line of enquiry.

RFP recipients may wish to participate in the Singularity RDK program if this is appropriate for their proposal. This offers the Singularity research OS as a platform for operating system research.

Goals & Objectives

This RFP seeks to stimulate research across a broad range of disciplines that has the potential to significantly improve energy efficiency in computing. It is intended that the RFP proposals will open new and deeply innovative avenues of research, and raise the awareness of power as a critical resource to be managed.

Proposals should have the potential to significantly advance the state of the art in one or more areas of study and demonstrate the potential for expansion into a large scale research program. We wish to solicit proposals from a broad range of areas including, but not restricted to:

1. Benchmarks, measures, and metrics for power aware systems – this could include benchmarks of power under “typical” usage characteristics, as well as the usual peak and minimum usage measures, and work which incorporates QoS measures and reliability.
2. Micro architecture and hardware innovation – potential advances in the multi-core / many-core space, system on chip, approaches such as reconfigurable systems, and the application of innovations from mobile or embedded systems to more general power efficient computing.
3. Compiler and runtime approaches – compilers generate a significant volume of information about the code being compiled. Approaches may harness this information and perhaps in conjunction with the runtime or OS, use it to improve energy efficiency at run time.
4. Integration and cooperation across system layers – most current attempts at power awareness use only local information for local actions and effects. Within the system stack there are a number of opportunities for integration across layers of the system stack such as compiler/runtime, sensor on chip/Core OS, and Server OS/Data center scheduling.
5. Control theoretic and machine learning approaches to dynamic power management – the existing body of resource management work largely focuses on pure performance. There is potential for energy savings in work that focuses specifically on power, or promotes power to a first order resource.
6. Power aware networking and communications – high speed networking and switching systems focus heavily on performance, and generally do not attempt to save power even where this will not compromise latency or throughput. Increasing data center use suggests that this is an area where savings could be made.
7. Power aware data center, HPC and compute infrastructure – data centers and HPC offer wide scope for explorations including: physical configuration innovation, improved load balancing and task scheduling, dynamic thermal management and balancing reliability, resource usage, and performance.
8. Virtualization – offers potential advantages by increasing utilization and flexibility of workloads. Virtualization complicates physical resource management, including power management. Effective resource management is important to reap the full benefits of this technology.

Awards

The total amount available under this request for proposals (RFP) is $500,000. Microsoft Research anticipates making approximately 5 awards averaging $100,000, with a maximum of $150,000 for any single award. All awards will be made in $US. Awards are generally made as unrestricted gifts to the institution. Outside the United States other local restrictions may apply to the terms of the award. For current policy regarding non-U.S. countries, please refer to http://research.microsoft.com/ur/us/fundingopps/faq.aspx.

For all awards, payment of indirect costs (“overhead”) is not permitted.

Microsoft Research will take into account the reasonableness of the amount requested in any proposal in light of stated deliverables, local costs, etc., and reserves the right to fund proposals at an amount lower than requested if appropriate.

Awards are made for the purpose of seed-funding larger initiatives, proofs of concept, or demonstrations of feasibility. It is important to understand that funding will continue after the first year only in exceptional circumstances, and that the principal investigators should therefore make every effort to leverage Microsoft Research funds as one component of a diverse funding base in a larger or longer-running project.

Eligibility

Conditions of eligibility listed below will be strictly adhered to, so please read them carefully. Proposals not meeting all these criteria will not be considered.

• The proposing institution must be either:
  1. An accredited degree-granting college or university (or international equivalent) with non-profit status and awarding degrees at the baccalaureate level or above.
  2. A research institution with non-profit status.
• All qualifying institutions are eligible without regard for geographic location.
• An institution will be awarded a maximum of one gift per RFP, regardless of the number of proposals submitted from the institution. However, collaborative proposals embracing multiple groups across the organization are encouraged.
• Proposals that are incomplete, inaccurate, request funds in excess of the maximum award available, or are otherwise not responsive to the terms and conditions of this RFP will, at the sole discretion of Microsoft Research, be excluded from consideration.
• Proposals from or on behalf of persons participating in the evaluation process for this RFP will not be considered.
• Proposals should evidence a commitment to make all results arising from a funded project (including all intellectual property in those results) broadly available by either: (i) dedicating such results to the public domain; or (ii) making the results available under a non-restrictive license that allows modification and redistribution without any significant restrictions or conditions, including so-called “reach through” provisions that require publication of source code. An example of an acceptable license is the BSD license available at http://www.opensource.org/licenses/bsd-license.html, whereas the widely-used GPL and LGPL licenses are not acceptable.
• Proposals should further evidence willingness to contribute any resulting curriculum material to the MSDN Academic Alliance Repository at http://www.msdnaacr.net/curriculum/facetmain.aspx.
• The receiving institution must agree that awards made as unrestricted gifts, will not be subject to indirect costs or overhead charges and these may not be included in the budget for the proposed project.
• While the use of Microsoft technologies is not a condition of this RFP, any proposal relying exclusively on non-Microsoft technologies should provide a justification for why this must be the case. Please note that ordinary use of Microsoft Office applications will not be compelling in itself, although innovative uses of Office applications (or the use of applications such as SQLServer, Visual Studio, C#, .NET and Windows Presentation Foundation) are acceptable and encouraged. We are not able to provide support for the development of exclusively Java or LINUX-based applications. Use of non-Microsoft applications on Windows, cross-platform development, and interoperability with other operating systems and applications are all encouraged.
• Recipients of grants will be expected to participate in a Microsoft organized workshop. Travel funding will be expected to be drawn from the RFP grant.
• There is an expectation that the interim or final results of this work will be presented to Microsoft Research and/or academia at a suitable time.

Submission Process

Proposals will be accepted in electronic form only at http://microsoft.redwhale.com. Proposals submitted to Microsoft will not be returned. Microsoft cannot assume responsibility for the confidentiality of information in submitted proposals. Therefore, proposals should not contain information that is confidential, restricted or sensitive. Microsoft reserves the right to make public proposals that receive awards, except those portions containing budgetary or personally identifiable information.

The submission process includes two parts.

1. Brief summary and contact information. Applicants must provide full contact information for principal investigators, amount requested and a brief abstract. This information will be submitted through a web form as part of the submission process.
2. Complete proposal containing full detail on the proposed project. 7 pages maximum, 10pt. font or larger, double-spaced, in either Microsoft Word or PDF format.

Proposals should address each of the items listed below under separate numbered headings.

1. Problem Statement: What is the problem or curriculum area addressed by the proposal and why is it important? What is the potential contribution to the field of the project if successful? Cite relevant work in the field as appropriate.
2. Expected outcomes: What tangible assets, if any, will be created or produced as a result of the proposed project? How will the results of this project be disseminated to others?
3. Schedule: When is the project to be completed? What milestones will be used to measure progress of the project and when will they be completed? (If the project described is part of a larger ongoing research program, estimate the time for completion of this project only).
4. Use of Funds: Provide a budget ($US) describing how the award will be used, including purchases of hardware or software, salaries, and other costs. Microsoft software or licenses requested should be listed in the budget, but the cost should be given as zero dollars. The budget does not have to be detailed, and should be presented as a table with the total budget request clearly indicated. Please note that, because awards are made as unrestricted gifts, Microsoft policy prohibits the payment of indirect cost (“overhead”).
5. Use of Microsoft Technologies: Describe the Microsoft tools and technologies (if any) to be used in this project. If software is to be developed, give details of the tools to be used, the number of software developers and the proposed timescale. Does the software to be developed require the incorporation of code from commercial or public-domain libraries? If so, please give details.
6. Related Research: Give a brief summary of the current state of the art in this field, including references where appropriate.
7. Dissemination and Evaluation: How will the results of this project be evaluated (if appropriate), and how will they be disseminated to others? Under what general license terms will the results be made available?
8. Other Support: Include other contributions to this project (cash, goods or services), if any, but do not include such things as the use of university facilities otherwise provided on an ongoing basis. Please note: authors of winning proposals will be required to submit an original letter on department letterhead certifying the commitment of any additional or matching support described in the proposal.
9. Qualifications of Principal Investigator: Include a brief description of any relevant prior research, teaching, publication or other professional experience. A detailed vita or list of publications is not required.
10. Please do not submit any confidential materials to Microsoft.

Selection Process and Criteria

All proposals received will be reviewed by Microsoft Research and eligible proposals will be evaluated by a panel of subject-matter experts chosen by Microsoft Research. Based on evaluations by the review panel, Microsoft Research will select the most worthy proposals for funding. Microsoft Research reserves the right to fund winning proposals at an amount greater or less than the amount requested, up to the stated maximum amount for individual awards. Due to the volume of submissions, Microsoft Research cannot provide individual feedback on proposals that are not funded.

1. Authors (including co-investigators) of winning proposals will be required to grant Microsoft permission for the use of their name, image, institutional affiliation and related professional information in press releases or other forums for publication of their award. Microsoft Research may also request assistance with the preparation of posters, slides or other materials, and periodic reports on the status of funded projects.

All proposals will be evaluated based upon the following criteria:

1. Well-defined goals and objectives that, if achieved, have the potential to have a significant impact on power aware and power efficient computing. These goals must be achievable within the timescale of the funded project, and where appropriate placed into the context of milestones in a larger or longer-running project.
2. Potential for wide dissemination and use of intellectual property created, including specific plans for publications, conference presentations, distance learning, etc., as well as plans to distribute content in multiple formats or languages.
3. Innovation. Proposals should explain which aspects are innovative, and whether the proposal represents a cross fertilization of research fields or a novel application of one field to another.
4. Ability to complete the project including the adequacy of resources available, reasonableness of timelines, and number and qualifications of identified contributors.
5. Qualifications of principal investigator including previous history of work in the area, successful completion of previous funded projects, teaching awards, books published, etc.
6. Use of Microsoft tools and technologies: Proposals should clearly indicate the Microsoft tools and technologies to be used in the project, or if no such technologies can be used, a clear statement should be made explaining why this is the case.
7. Leveraging of other resources: preferential consideration will be given to proposals utilizing additional sources of funding to build larger or longer-running projects and/or leveraging other projects or resources in the field.

Schedule and Deadlines

Please be advised that we are obligated to strictly adhere to the deadline date and time. The application system will not accept submissions after the deadline has expired. Exceptions to this policy cannot be granted. It is advisable to upload your submission well in advance of the deadline.

Please address any questions to “kshearer@microsoft.com”. Please put “Power Aware Computing” in the subject line of your e-mail message to ensure a prompt and proper response.

Microsoft Word version of this document