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

Not a long term solution.

[Going_Digital]

This is clearly not a long term solution, the oceans are warming and that is already causing concerns. Sticking a bunch of immersion heaters in the ocean is not exactly going to help.

Re:Not a long term solution.

[Oswald McWeany]

This is clearly not a long term solution, the oceans are warming and that is already causing concerns. Sticking a bunch of immersion heaters in the ocean is not exactly going to help.

Against the vastness of the ocean; underwater data centers are going to make no statistical difference to the temperature of the ocean.
Even if temperatures in the environment raise by the forecasted 2C- that's not going to drastically impact the cooling ability of the ocean either.

Of course, it would be even better if the data center was in low orbit.

Why does it need to be deep?

[FryingLizard]

Why sink it? That shit sounds expensive. The only thing you're after here is free cooling; why can't it be on the shoreline, or say 50ft offshore? Stick it in a concrete bunker if you like; run a water pump or arrange for natural sea currents to do the work. It's good enough for nuclear power stations.
This sounds like a toy project.

Re:Why does it need to be deep?

[ElizabethGreene]

Or an attempt to be outside the dominion of a country that does /not/ have data protection laws.

The sword cuts on both sides.

Re:Watercooling

[Joce640k]

Never mind the puns, how long before somebody steals it?

A bunch of Somalian fishermen with a supply of large inflatable bags will have that thing off the sea floor in no time.