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A structure that contains computer servers and other data storage hardware below the surface of water, generally in oceans, seas, or lakes, is referred to as an undersea data center. Underwater data centers are submerged in water as opposed to conventional land-based data centers, which are normally constructed on land.
The underwater data center accounted for $XX Billion in 2022 and is anticipated to reach $XX Billion by 2030, registering a CAGR of XX% from 2023 to 2030.
The purpose of Microsoft’s Project Natick was to investigate the feasibility of using underwater data centers. The project’s goal was to examine the viability and advantages of subsea data centers, as well as how well they would perform in terms of cooling, energy use, and overall environmental effect.
In the initial stage of Project Natick, a steel capsule named the Leona Philpot serving as a prototype data center was deployed off the Scottish island of Orkney. The container-sized capsule, which bore the name of a figure from the Halo video game franchise, held a number of server racks and related cooling equipment.
The promise for lower cooling costs is one of the main drivers driving underwater data centers. Traditional data centers produce a lot of heat, which means that keeping the computers at the right temperature requires a lot of electricity. Project Natick’s goal in immersing the data center in the water was to take use of the naturally cold surroundings and cut back on the energy needed for cooling.
Over the course of its two-year operation, the prototype data center proved that underwater data centers are feasible. The project’s findings showed that subsea data centers had a lower failure rate than their land-based equivalents, which was probably caused by the lack of human interference and a regulated environment with less dust and humidity.
The initiative also looked into how undersea data centers may improve the environment. The steel capsule built an artificial reef that drew varied marine life and encouraged biodiversity, and the data center’s activities had no effect on the local marine ecology.
Despite the fact that Project Natick was a research project and that commercial deployment of such facilities is still in its infancy, it is vital to keep in mind that it shed crucial light on the viability and advantages of underwater data centers.
However, the project’s success has inspired interest and more research in the area, leading other businesses and organizations to actively examine and create underwater data center solutions.
