Microsoft Sinks Data Centre Off Orkney To Test Energy Efficiency (bbc.co.uk)

An anonymous reader writes: Microsoft has sunk a data centre in the sea off Orkney to investigate whether it can boost energy efficiency. The data centre, a white cylinder containing computers, could sit on the sea floor for up to five years. An undersea cable brings the data centre power and takes its data to the shore and the wider internet -- but if the computers onboard break, they cannot be repaired. The operation to sink the Orkney data centre has been an expensive multinational affair. The cylinder was built in France by a shipbuilding company, Naval, loaded with its servers and then sailed from Brittany to Stromness in Orkney. There, another partner, the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC), provided help including the undersea cable linking the centre to the shore. "This is a crazy experiment that I hope will turn into reality" said Ben Cutler, who is in charge of what Microsoft has dubbed Project Natick. "But this is a research project right now -- and one reason we do different types of research into data centres is to learn what makes sense before we decide to take it to a larger scale."

Comments

Re:Even better

[Anonymous Coward]

plus they can use the fan for cooling

"Microsoft sinks data center"

[Locke2005]

I'm sure this is by no means the first data center sunk by Microsoft!

Re:A lot of sunken capital

[sjames]

Microsoft has been sinking data centers since NT.