Microsoft has recently deployed an underwater datacenter that could be powered by harnessing the energy of waves or tides as part of Project Natick.
Datacenters are the backbone of cloud computing, and contain groups of networked computers that require a lot of power for all kinds of tasks: storing, processing and/or distributing massive amounts of information.
The datacenter was put into a round container vessel, weighing approximately 17 tonnes, and being 3×2 m in size. It was submerged in August, 2015.
This initial test vessel was not deployed too far offshore, so that it could be hooked into an existing electrical grid, but being in the water raised an entirely new possibility: using the hydrokinetic energy from waves or tides for computing power.
This could make datacenters work independently of existing energy sources, located closer to coastal cities, powered by renewable ocean energy.
That’s one of the big advantages of the underwater datacenter scheme – reducing latency by closing the distance to populations and thereby speeding data transmission, according to Microsoft.
The knowledge gained from the three months this vessel was underwater could help make future datacenters more sustainable, while at the same time speeding data transmission and cloud deployment, Microsoft informed.
The team is currently planning the project’s next phase, which could include a vessel four times the size of the current container with as much as 20 times the compute power.
It is also evaluating test sites for the vessel, which could be in the water for at least a year, deployed with a renewable ocean energy source.