ProjectNatick
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Microsoft’s deep sea data center is now operational
Data centers are hot, noisy and usually inefficiently located. Microsoft's solution? Put them at the bottom of the sea. Following initial prototype testing, the company's years-long Project Natick is finally delivering Microsoft's vision of sustainable, prepackaged and rapidly deployed data centers that operate from the seafloor. Yep. Underwater.
Six futuristic data storage technologies
By Cat DiStasio Digital technology is taking over the world, and scientists are hard at work finding better ways to store data -- lots of it and for long periods of time. Scientists are exploring new materials for data storage as well as new methods for printing data on their chosen medium. While some companies are storing data on the ocean floor, other imagineers look upward, dreaming of giant storage skyscrapers. With so many different innovations happening in such a short period of time, the race is on to unlock the keys to near-limitless data storage potential.
Microsoft wants to put data centers at the bottom of the sea
Microsoft is on a mission to put its server farms at the bottom of the ocean. That might sound self-destructive, but there's method in the madness -- such an approach, the company believes, could make data centers faster, greener and easier to set up. In August last year, engineers placed an enormous steel capsule 30 feet underwater in the Pacific Ocean. Inside was a single data center rack, enveloped in pressurised nitrogen to keep it cool. The crew couldn't reach it, at least not physically, but it didn't matter -- the setup worked, going so far as to run commercial tasks for Azure.
