• About Us
  • Partnership Opportunities
  • Privacy Policy

Data Center Frontier

Charting the future of data centers and cloud computing.

  • Cloud
    • Hyperscale
  • Colo
    • Site Selection
    • Interconnection
  • Energy
    • Sustainability
  • Cooling
  • Technology
    • Internet of Things
    • AI & Machine Learning
    • Edge Computing
    • Virtual Reality
    • Autonomous Cars
    • 5G Wireless
    • Satellites
  • Design
    • Servers
    • Storage
    • Network
  • Voices
  • Podcast
  • White Papers
  • Resources
    • COVID-19
    • Events
    • Newsletter
    • Companies
    • Data Center 101
  • Jobs
You are here: Home / Design / Microsoft: Servers in Our Underwater Data Center Are Super-Reliable

Microsoft: Servers in Our Underwater Data Center Are Super-Reliable

By Rich Miller - September 14, 2020 1 Comment

Microsoft: Servers in Our Underwater Data Center Are Super-Reliable

The Project Natick data center module was recently retrieved from the ocean floor near Scotland. (Photo: Microsoft)

LinkedinTwitterFacebookSubscribe
Mail

Servers housed for two years on the ocean floor were substantially more reliable than those in traditional data centers, Microsoft said today, a finding that suggests that its Project Natick underwater data centers could offer surprising benefits in data center economics.

“Our failure rate in the water is one-eighth of what we see on land,” Microsoft project manager Ben Cutler said in an update. “I have an economic model that says if I lose so many servers per unit of time, I’m at least at parity with land. We are considerably better than that.”

Microsoft recently retrieved the Project Natick data center module, a 40-foot container that houses 864 servers in 12 racks that spent two years on a seabed 117 feet below the ocean’s surface off the coast of the Orkney Islands in Scotland.

The reliability data offers an intriguing new wrinkle on Microsoft’s project, suggesting the potential for longer server lifespans that could bring benefits to computing projects on land, as well as offsetting the cost of deploying in an underwater module.

The Microsoft team hypothesizes that the use of a nitrogen atmosphere, which is less corrosive than oxygen, and the absence of people to bump and jostle components, are the primary reasons for the difference. “If the analysis proves this correct, the team may be able to translate the findings to land data centers,” Microsoft noted.

The findings could guide future designs for server deployments where a nitrogen environment could be used, such as unstaffed edge data centers or facilities using robotics to manage IT equipment.

Strange New Frontiers in Data Center Deployment

For those just joining this unusual story, Project Natick represents a radical new approach to deploying data center capacity, which could enable Microsoft to shift its factory-built modular designs from earth to sea.  It ties together three data center trends we’ve been tracking here at Data Center Frontier – water-based facilities, the emergence of edge computing and unmanned data centers.

When Microsoft deployed its initial Project Natick module in 2015 off the coast of California, many in the data center industry dismissed it as a science experiment – an impressive accomplishment, but not a candidate for production workloads at scale. The 2018 deployment in Scotland demonstrated that Microsoft is serious about investigating the potential for deploying underwater data centers as part of its strategy for edge computing, bringing cloud capacity closer to population centers concentrated along coastlines around the world.

The Orkney module adapted a heat-exchange process commonly used for cooling submarines, piping seawater directly through the radiators on the back of each of the 12 server racks and back out into the ocean.

The chamber was filled with nitrogen, and after the module was lifted from the ocean, the Microsoft researchers inserted test tubes through a valve at the top of the vessel to collect air samples for analysis. One of the questions is whether gases that are normally released from cables and other equipment may have altered the operating environment for the computers.

Free Resource from Data Center Frontier White Paper Library

data center planning
Data Center Planning — Who’s on First — Real Estate or Technology?
Experts agree that combining the interests of real estate and technology leads to the ideal data center strategy for your company. Whatever you call the investment, make sure that your provider delivers the best possible solution that meets your needs today while offering flexibility for the future. Download a new series of executive briefs, courtesy of Stream Data Centers, to explore tech and real estate investment in the data center planning process. 
We always respect your privacy and we never sell or rent our list to third parties. By downloading this White Paper you are agreeing to our terms of service. You can opt out at any time.

Get this PDF emailed to you.

The cleaned and air-sampled datacenter was loaded onto a truck and driven to Global Energy Group’s Nigg Energy Park facility in the North of Scotland. There, Naval Group unbolted the endcap and slid out the server racks as the Microsoft team performed health checks and collected components to send to the company’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington for further analysis.

Team members from Microsoft inspect servers inside the Project Natick undersea server module at Nigg Energy Park in Inverness, Scotland. (Photo: Microsoft)

Team members from Microsoft inspect servers inside the Project Natick undersea server module at Nigg Energy Park in Inverness, Scotland. (Photo: Microsoft)

Among the components crated up and sent to Redmond are a handful of failed servers and related cables. The researchers think this hardware will help them understand why the servers in the underwater data center are more reliable than those on land.

“We are now at the point of trying to harness what we have done as opposed to feeling the need to go and prove out some more,” Cutler said. “We have done what we need to do. Natick is a key building block for the company to use if it is appropriate.”

Whether or not the research supports deploying servers underwater, the Natick findings offer new possibilities for designing unstaffed “lights out” data centers.

“We are populating the globe with edge devices, large and small,” said William Chappell, vice president of mission systems for Azure. “To learn how to make datacenters reliable enough not to need human touch is a dream of ours.”

LinkedinTwitterFacebookSubscribe
Mail

Tagged With: Microsoft, Project Natick, Undersea Data Centers

Newsletters

Stay informed: Get our weekly updates!

Are you a new reader? Follow Data Center Frontier on Twitter or Facebook.

About Rich Miller

I write about the places where the Internet lives, telling the story of data centers and the people who build them. I founded Data Center Knowledge, the data center industry's leading news site. Now I'm exploring the future of cloud computing at Data Center Frontier.

Comments

  1. Truthfulart@hotmail.com'Robert Coyne says

    February 5, 2021 at 4:55 pm

    Hi Rich,

    I am seeking a company that can or has built Data Centers in India? Ideally, a company based in the USA. Do you know of any good companies that can help us?

    Regards,
    Robert Coyne

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Voices of the Industry

Making Your Data Center Water Positive

Making Your Data Center Water Positive Cem Candir, CEO of Chemstar WATER, provides insights on new innovations in data center water treatment and gives details on how some hyperscalers are making their data centers water positive.

DCF Spotlight

The COVID-19 Crisis and the Data Center Industry

The COVID-19 pandemic presents strategic challenges for the data center and cloud computing sectors. Data Center Frontier provides a one-stop resource for the latest news and analysis for decision-makers navigating this complex new landscape.

An aerial view of major facilities in Data Center Alley in Ashburn, Virginia. (Image: Loudoun County)

Northern Virginia Data Center Market: The Focal Point for Cloud Growth

The Northern Virginia data center market is seeing a surge in supply and an even bigger surge in demand. Data Center Frontier explores trends, stats and future expectations for the No. 1 data center market in the country.

See More Spotlight Features

White Papers

Bypass Architectures

Distributed and Centralized Bypass Architectures Compared

When designing a power protection scheme for data centers, IT and facility managers must ask themselves whether a distributed or centralized backup strategy makes more sense. Unfortunately, there is no easy answer to that question. Download the new white paper from Vertiv that explores the principle of centralized versus distributed bypass and applies it equally to standalone monolithic and integrated-modular UPS architectures.

Get this PDF emailed to you.

We always respect your privacy and we never sell or rent our list to third parties. By downloading this White Paper you are agreeing to our terms of service. You can opt out at any time.

Newsletters

Get the Latest News from Data Center Frontier

Job Listings

RSS Job Openings | Peter Kazella and Associates, Inc

  • Senior Electrical Engineer - Data Center Design Build - Denver, CO
  • Senior Mechanical Engineer - Data Center Design Build - Denver, CO
  • Electrical Commissioning Engineer - Aurora, IL
  • Electrical Commissioning Engineer - Ashburn, VA
  • Electrical QA / QC Specialist - Data Center - Baskerville, VA

See More Jobs

Data Center 101

Data Center 101: Mastering the Basics of the Data Center Industry

Data Center 101: Mastering the Basics of the Data Center Industry

Data Center Frontier, in partnership with Open Spectrum, brings our readers a series that provides an introductory guidebook to the ins and outs of the data center and colocation industry. Think power systems, cooling, solutions, data center contracts and more. The Data Center 101 Special Report series is directed to those new to the industry, or those of our readers who need to brush up on the basics.

  • Data Center Power
  • Data Center Cooling
  • Strategies for Data Center Location
  • Data Center Pricing Negotiating
  • Cloud Computing

See More Data center 101 Topics

About Us

Charting the future of data centers and cloud computing. We write about what’s next for the Internet, and the innovations that will take us there. We tell the story of the digital economy through the data center facilities that power cloud computing and the people who build them. Read more ...
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

About Our Founder

Data Center Frontier is edited by Rich Miller, the data center industry’s most experienced journalist. For more than 20 years, Rich has profiled the key role played by data centers in the Internet revolution. Meet the DCF team.

TOPICS

  • 5G Wireless
  • Cloud
  • Colo
  • Connected Cars
  • Cooling
  • Cornerstone
  • Coronavirus
  • Design
  • Edge Computing
  • Energy
  • Executive Roundtable
  • Featured
  • Finance
  • Hyperscale
  • Interconnection
  • Internet of Things
  • Machine Learning
  • Network
  • Podcast
  • Servers
  • Site Selection
  • Social Business
  • Special Reports
  • Storage
  • Sustainability
  • Videos
  • Virtual Reality
  • Voices of the Industry
  • White Paper

Copyright Data Center Frontier LLC © 2021