Microsoft's Project Natick has tested prototypes of data centers underwater.
Sean James, a Microsoft employee, submitted a ThinkWeek Paper in 2013, which resulted in the idea of placing computers underwater. In 2014, Microsoft started Project Natick for testing data centers underwater.
In late 2014, the underwater data center prototype called Leona Philpot was put 30 feet underwater off the coast of California for four months. The capsule includes computer hardware and does not require people to be on-site for about two decades.
"Project Natick seeks to understand the benefits and difficulties in deploying subsea datacenters worldwide. We did so by designing, building, and deploying our own subsea datacenter in the ocean, all in about a year. This is the story of the Leona Philpot and Project Natick," says Microsoft.
The capsule, which has a diameter of 8 feet, has now completed 105 days of staying underwater. Engineers at the Microsoft campus controlled the data center and the trial was more successful than the company expected.
Existing data centers can process massive amounts of data that are used to stream videos, using emails and more. However, data centers contain a large number of servers that can produce high amount of heat, which can also crash servers.
Underwater data centers can eliminate heating issues and address the growing demand of computing industry. Moreover, Microsoft will be using renewable energy for generating electricity for the data center.
The project may result in putting the data centers made of steel to be linked with fiber optic cables and placed on the seafloor. Microsoft may also suspend the capsule just under the water surface so that it can capture tidal current for generating electricity.
The data center included more than 100 sensors that measured motion, humidity, pressure and other underwater conditions. Engineers were worried about leaks and other hardware issues as it was impossible to send someone to check the capsule in case of a system failure or leak.
The capsule did not have any issue and engineers extended the experiment. The success of the initial test has resulted in the engineers to develop a capsule, which is about three times bigger. Microsoft is yet to select a developer with whom the company wants to create the new prototype.
Microsoft is expected to start the new trial by 2017. The company has not yet revealed the new location of the test, but it may be conducted in Northern Europe or Florida.
Underwater data centers have huge potential in the computer industry and can also help in reducing carbon footprints. However, Project Natick is still at the research stage and it remains to be seen if Microsoft and other cloud service providers adopt the concept in the near term.
