Microsoft is experimenting with underwater data centers

Contrary to very popular belief that cloud computing is taking place solely in cyberspace, in fact, all the work takes place in physical systems - data centers located around the world and consisting of a server connected between the stations. To use these data centers require huge amounts of electricity and thus produce a tremendous amount of heat. Of course, this heat need somewhere to take.

There are many ways to do this, however, Microsoft has decided to choose among all the possibilities of the most original. She decided to place one of their servers at the bottom of the sea. The project, known as Project Natick, data center placed inside the 17-ton cylindrical container measuring 3 x 2 meters and lowered it into the water 800 meters from the Pacific coast of the USA. The power of the data center, placed in the container 300 is equivalent to the power of desktop computers.

Data center remained under water for three months starting in August of last year. Its management and monitoring for remote way. Cooled Data cent ordinary cold ocean water, which removes heat from the heat exchanger mounted on the outer skin of the vessel. Despite the fact that the power of the data center for receiving underwater wires, such installations can be equipped with their own systems of production of renewable energy, they will collect, for example, from underwater currents or waves.

Given how is now populated coastal areas, such data cents installed and running water can be very convenient, as the saving place on earth. This feature is very important to consider, as the delay in the transfer of information increases proportionally with the distance between the receiving station and the data center itself.

In addition, the construction of the necessary capacity, which was used in Project Natick project took only 90 days. There is no need to build new buildings for the installation of new data centers.

The future plans of the company listed construction of a new submarine capacity, which will be four times more and will be able to fit a data center is 20 times more powerful than the previous one. Underwater Internet station plans to submerge under water already for a year. This power will be generated for it already from renewable energy sources. The ultimate goal of the project is the development of underwater data centers, which can stay underwater for 5 years or more.