Monday, February 1, 2016

Microsoft Testing Underwater Data Centers

Microsoft has unveiled details on a project to deploy data centers underwater, in a bid to reduce one of the biggest energy costs in data centers -- air conditioning. Microsoft said its Project Natick project has been ongoing since 2013, and is an effort to manufacture and operate an underwater datacenter. The company said its first, experimental prototype vessel--the "Leona Philpot"--operated approximately one kilometer off the Pacific from August to November of 2015. Microsoft said its initial goal is to create data centers which can be lowered to the seafloor and stay installed for 5 years, before being retrieved for technology updates. Microsoft also released a video detailing the project (embedded below):

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