Honeybees Inspire New Server Strategy

Georgia Tech researchers say the swarm intelligence of honeybees can be used to improve the efficiency of Internet servers.

Researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology — inspired by the ability of honeybees to collect large amounts of nectar efficiently with limited resources and no central command — created a communication system to help Internet servers that would normally be devoted solely to one task, move between tasks as needed, the university said Friday in a release.

The study, published in the journal Bioinspiration and Biomimetics, said the honeybee method reduces the chances that a Web site could be overwhelmed with requests and lock out potential users and customers. Researchers said the system typically improves service by 4 percent to 25 percent in tests based on real Internet traffic.