Microsoft Tests Underwater Data Center at Cal Poly Pier
With no public access and already fitted with power, the Cal Poly Pier in Avila Beach, California, was an ideal spot for Microsoft to test potentially groundbreaking technology.
The technology firm has been testing whether data centers — massive servers that hold and manage data — can feasibly be stored on the ocean floor. Between August and November 2015, working closely with Cal Poly staff and a manufacturing partner, Microsoft submerged the pilot data center.
Dubbed Project Natick, the pilot may lead to a revolution in data center placement. Underwater data centers would provide faster web service to areas of population living in coastal areas. In addition, the location would save on the significant air conditioning costs necessary to keep the technology cool.
The company lowered a 10-foot-by-7-foot capsule weighing 19 tons onto the ocean floor last summer. The cloud-based server can store and distribute data to and from the web, including video, email, and other digital elements.
Researchers monitored the data center from Washington state. With cameras and sensors, the research team tracked temperature, power usage, humidity and current speed. Once a month a diver would inspect the container; otherwise it was all managed remotely.
The Cal Poly Pier was an ideal site for several reasons. For one, it’s closed to the public. Secondly, it has an industrial electric system, used by the university for marine research. Cal Poly staff assisted peripherally. instructing the Microsoft team on how to use the pier equipment. Aquantis, a Santa Barbara technology company, tested the container used to seal and contain the server.
Microsoft likes the possibility of using submerged data centers for several reasons. Nearly 50 percent of the world’s population lives near large water bodies. Closer access to data centers means faster connections and transfer speeds. While the pilot project was plugged in to existing power sources, Microsoft expects actual data centers to be powered by renewable sources such as wind turbines, or wave, tidal or current generation. The data centers are designed to last up to five years under water.
After the 105 days in the ocean, the capsule was raised and transported back to Microsoft’s Redmond, Washington, headquarters. IN a February 2016 press release, Microsoft’s Christian Belady, general manager of the data center strategy, was optimistic.
“While at first I was skeptical with a lot of questions. ‘What were the cost?’ ‘How do we power?’ ‘How do we connect?’” Belady said. “The reality is that we always need to be pushing limits and try things out. The learning we get from this are invaluable and will in some way manifest into future designs.”
