Yes, you read that headline right .
Sounds insane, and it’s bound to plant a bit of panic in the hearts of nature-lovers everywhere.
[Microsoft] has sunk a data centre in the sea off Orkney to look at whether it can improve energy efficiency.
A cable, running under the sea, powers the centre and transports the data to the shore and the wider internet. The centre is a 40ft (12,2 metres) long white cylinder containing 864 servers which is enough to store five million movies and could be left in the sea for up to five years [without maintenance].
The cylinder is powered by tidal turbines and wave energy converters.
Orkney was chosen as a location because it is a major centre for renewable energy research.
By putting them underwater, which offers a free and accessible resource for cooling, experts reckon the staggering cost of cooling the computers – which is hella pricey for land-based data centres – will be cut significantly.
But Microsoft isn’t stopping at one sinking project, though:
If the project is successful, Microsoft hopes to sink groups of five of the cylinders and be able to deploy a data centre offshore in 90 days – doing this on land can take years.
Microsoft said: “More than half of the world’s population lives within about 120 miles [193km] of the coast.
“By putting data centres in bodies of water near coastal cities, data would have a short distance to travel to reach coastal communities.”
It’s exciting and all, but what about the environmental impact, especially on marine life?
Cindy Rose, chief executive of Microsoft, said that the data centre one lowered into the water off Orkney is “eco-friendly”, and “uses minimal energy as it’s naturally cooled”.
Yeah, that still doesn’t give me much relief.
Especially since the downside is that if the computers on board break, they can’t be repaired.
Oy vey.
[source:skynews]
