Startup Builds Prototype For Floating Data Center

1sockchuck writes: California startup Nautilus Data Technologies has developed a floating data center that it says can dramatically slash the cost of cooling servers. The company's data barge is being tested near San Francisco, and represents the latest chapter in a long-running effort to develop a water-based data center. Google kicked things off with a 2008 patent for a sea-going data center that would be powered and cooled by waves, conjuring visions of offshore data havens. Google never built it, but IDS soon launched its own effort to convert old Navy vessels into "data ships" before going bankrupt. Nautilus is using barges moored at piers, which allows it to use bay water in its cooling system,eliminating the need for CRAC units and chillers. The company says its offering may benefit from the growing focus on data centers' water use amid California's drought.

Comments

"growing focus on data centers' water use"

[xxxJonBoyxxx]

>> growing focus on data centers' water use amid California's drought

Um...what? Don't they just chill the water, let the data center warm it and then reuse it?

Why not check to see what California agriculture's doing with it's majority share of the water first?

Modulating local water temps?

[ah.clem]

Is anyone considering the local effects of warming the water in the harbors these centers will be docked in? It seems to me, given the current toxic algal bloom off the west coast of the US at the moment, we might be just a bit concerned, right?

Totally different meaning of Software Piracy

[gurps_npc]

I can see it now, actual pirates stealing full boatloads of servers.

Why not just pump in sea water?

[HockeyPuck]

Is it really cheaper to build a barge than it is to circulate sea water to a land based facility?