Collaborators on the project, dubbed Project Natick, aim to develop a new solution to growing demand for cloud computing, a trend in which a network of servers house data remotely. The initiative incorporates elements of submarine manufacturing and marine energy to build a data center that processes workloads from the seafloor.
The data center, which the Project Natick team placed off the coast of Scotland, houses 864 computer servers.
Although storing information in the cloud enables users to access data over the internet, cloud providers like Microsoft still have to establish physical infrastructure to power the system. Microsoft argued an underwater structure would serve as a prime location for delivering quick cloud services to city centers, since more than half the world’s population lives within 120 miles of a coast.
“By putting data centers in bodies of water near coastal cities, data would have a short distance to travel to reach coastal communities, leading to fast and smooth web surfing, video streaming and game playing as well as authentic experiences for [artificial intelligence]-driven technologies,” Microsoft said in its June 5 announcement.
The team also suggested it would require less energy — and fewer resources — to cool a data center underwater. On land, cooling is one of the largest costs to running a data center, according to Motherboard.
The Project Natick team will spend a year monitoring and recording the data center’s performance, including its power consumption and temperature levels. As part of the project, the team installed two cameras on the outside of the data center to stream live videos of the structure’s surrounding environmental conditions and wildlife, which it features on its website.
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