Microsoft tests full underwater data center with 864 servers off Scottish coast
Microsoft has entered the second phase of its underwater data center project, known as Project Natick. It has launched a full data center module with 864 servers off the coast of the Orkney Islands as a test.
According to Microsoft, the second phase of its project will focus on whether it is logistically, financially and environmentally viable. The company has been working on Project Natick for some time; for example, the first phase consisted of a prototype that it tested off the coast of California in 2015 over a period of 105 days. That was to show whether the concept was feasible at all. Now Microsoft has built a complete module in collaboration with the French Naval Group, which houses 12 racks with a total of 864 servers and the necessary cooling. The data center was built and tested in France and then trucked to Scotland.
The most difficult part was lowering the module and associated fiber optic and power cables to a depth of over 35 meters off the coast of the Orkney Islands in northern Scotland. The location is the same as that of the European Marine Energy Centre, which focuses on experimental tidal turbines and wave energy generation. That is no coincidence, because Microsoft wants to test whether it is possible to power its underwater data centers with their own energy source. The idea is also that if the module, which is about the size of a sea container, can survive in its current location, it will also be possible in other locations around the world.
The complete module, with a consumption of 240 kW, should in principle be able to run for five years without the need for maintenance. For cooling, the Naval Group, which was only given global design specifications from Microsoft, used techniques that are also used in submarines. The server racks are cooled by the fact that seawater is routed directly from the back through the radiators and then returns to the sea.
Microsoft now wants to monitor the data center’s performance over a one-year period, including in terms of energy consumption, humidity, and noise and temperature levels. The idea behind Project Natick is to develop data centers that can be placed relatively quickly off the coast of large cities, for example, to meet the need for computing power. In doing so, Microsoft wants to use existing infrastructure for transport as much as possible. The company states that about half of the world’s population lives within 200km of a coast.