I want to talk about something you may have already read about; Sub-sea Data Centers. It is the type of concept you'd expect to see in a science fiction novel. Though it's an "out there" thought process, it is completely logical and feasible.
Cooling is costly on land and the amount of energy used by conventional data centers to keep themselves cool is enormous. Submerged cooling takes advantage of natural resources rather than using large amounts of electrical energy to cool the servers.
Why Put Servers Underwater?
Sub-Sea data centers are also advantageous for speed. Everyone wants their servers to be fast for streaming media, gaming, cloud storage, etc. Since most people are located either along coastlines, placing submerged data centers close to these areas will provide quicker access to end users.
Also, submerged data centers will reduce the time it takes to retrieve and send data. Oceanic conditions remain largely a stable environment compared to the land-based data centers, allowing for increased safety and dependability of the submerged data center.
Through projects such as Microsoft's Natick project, we have learned that undersea servers actually have a significantly lower rate of failure than land-based servers. This was a huge surprise to me because lower failure rates increase the overall uptime of the datacenter.
Furthermore, we don't yet fully understand the long-term ecological implications of placing a datacenter on the ocean floor. More research must be conducted to ensure that we protect the ocean's ecosystem.
As undersea fibre optic cables already transmit most or all of the world's data message content from one continent to another, it only seems logical to place datacentre servers next to these undersea fibre optic cables.
What Are Sub-Sea Data Centers?
A Sub-Sea data center is essentially an impermeable box containing lots of “servers”, submerged deep in the ocean. Engineers utilized ocean’s cold temperature to cool the servers, saving on electrical costs.Cooling is costly on land and the amount of energy used by conventional data centers to keep themselves cool is enormous. Submerged cooling takes advantage of natural resources rather than using large amounts of electrical energy to cool the servers.
Why Put Servers Underwater?
Sub-Sea data centers are also advantageous for speed. Everyone wants their servers to be fast for streaming media, gaming, cloud storage, etc. Since most people are located either along coastlines, placing submerged data centers close to these areas will provide quicker access to end users.
Also, submerged data centers will reduce the time it takes to retrieve and send data. Oceanic conditions remain largely a stable environment compared to the land-based data centers, allowing for increased safety and dependability of the submerged data center.
Advantages of Underwater Data Centres
Undersea datacenters have a number of interesting benefits, including but not limited to:- Higher speed internet connection due to proximity of datacenters to users on land
- Decreased power consumption developed through natural water cooling
- Increased uptime due to water cooling, minimal dust and temperature fluctuation
- Decreased land use; leaving more land for other uses
Are Undersea Data Centres Secure and Dependable?
One of the most common questions people ask is whether the saltwater kills the servers or whether undersea datacenters fail. Design engineers have created pressurized, hermetically sealed capsules to protect the equipment inside.Through projects such as Microsoft's Natick project, we have learned that undersea servers actually have a significantly lower rate of failure than land-based servers. This was a huge surprise to me because lower failure rates increase the overall uptime of the datacenter.
Significant Challenges
Because undersea datacenters use a new technology, there are inherent limitations. The maintenance process involves removing the entire datacenter from the water and returning it to the surface, which is costly and time-consuming.Furthermore, we don't yet fully understand the long-term ecological implications of placing a datacenter on the ocean floor. More research must be conducted to ensure that we protect the ocean's ecosystem.
How Undersea Data Centres Could Form Our Future
Undersea data centres can enable us to enhance our technology to meet growing user demands faster, and cleaner. Deploying undersea data centres to improve environmental performance and provide global connectivityAs undersea fibre optic cables already transmit most or all of the world's data message content from one continent to another, it only seems logical to place datacentre servers next to these undersea fibre optic cables.
