Why Did Microsoft Put a Data Center Underwater?

Key Takeaways

cloud computing has been a buzzword for a few years now it's the term for when software data storage and processing is handled remotely in a server somewhere rather than on the local device you're on despite its lofty name though it doesn't take place up in some mystical cloud but rather inside a mundane data center somewhere on land that could one day change though because software giant Microsoft thinks the best place for the cloud might actually be underwater on its face it sounds like a ridiculous idea high-end electronics and water go together like cats and water but Microsoft thought the potential upsides were too good to pass up firstly almost half the world's population lives within a hundred kilometers offshore if data centers are sunk just off the coast they can be in close proximity to population centers cutting down the physical distance data has to travel and thus reducing latency and if these data centers are made up of mass-produced water type pods that are ready to be deployed whenever demand calls for it Microsoft estimates they could set one up in just 90 days by comparison a land-based data center needs to account for local building codes taxes climate electricity connectivity network connectivity and so on meaning building one could take 18 months to two years data centers on land also use a considerable amount of energy keeping all the electronics cool older data centers use mechanical cooler basically heavy-duty air conditioning which could use almost as much power as the server's themselves newer data centers use free air cooling that relies on the outside air and evaporated water to bring the energy use down but they're at the mercy of ambient air temperatures and the water supply an underwater data center can use the nearby sea water for cooling and if it's deep enough the water will be reliably cool year-round even in the tropics Microsoft even envisions these centers powered by 100% renewable energy by harnessing the motion of waves or the flow of water as the tide moves in and out the server's could be freed from reliance on a grid that might fail tidal energy in particular could be the most reliable source of energy because what's more reliable than the tide with all these benefits in mind Microsoft launched project Natick in 2014 by August 2015 they built a prototype pod with server racks inside and submerged it off the coast of California the experiment ran for a hundred five days and all the while the server stayed as cool as those in mechanically cooled data centers while using only 3% of the pods total energy consumption on cooling satisfied with the first test Microsoft built a full-size pod that's as big as a shipping container and submerged it in June of 2018 the location they chose was by the Orkney Islands off North Scotland which happens to be the home of the European marine energy center the world's largest test site for Tide and wave energy Microsoft plans to run the pod on the sea floor for years to test the logistical environmental and economic viability of this novel idea of course if they drop it in the sea for years at a time that means they can't perform maintenance on it if something breaks Microsoft spins this as a good thing because if there's no humans down there mucking with the server's they can't break anything else either and because there are no humans inside the pod Microsoft could remove as much moisture as possible and fill it with nitrogen to keep connectors inside from corroding now we just wait and see if the pod can stay watertight if renewable marine energy can power it and if the salt water cooling system adapted from submarines can run for years without barnacles fouling it up if the experiment goes smoothly we may soon be browsing the web or playing video games on servers tucked inside mass-produced pods sunk off our shores thanks for watching be sure to subscribe because will tell you everything you wanted to know about the internet like in my other video where I talk about what the dang thing actually looks like the native pod was intentionally made the size of a shipping container so it would be easy to transport anywhere in the world well that's all for now but I'll see you next time on seeker