Remember when Microsoft announced that they would be putting a testing data center block into the sea to see if the solution was feasible due to the use of reusable energy and whatnot? Yep, that’s in 2015 and nearly 10 years ago. Time flies eh.
But the initiative Project Natick has finally come to an end as the Windows maker officially declared they are ending the experiment and has pulled the thing up after having it sitting there for quite some time.
Originally engaged to find out whether putting a container (a whole 38000 pounds) hosting data center parts could net benefits like reduced setup and operating cost and/or being environmentally friendly, they set the project venue to be somewhere off the coast of California.
After this, they did it once again in 2018 and also in some parts of Scotland’s sea. That one only lasted a couple of years though yet the findings were enough for them because, to their surprise, underwater servers can be up to 8x more reliable than your standard “on-land” buildings. Even if they have to nitpick, there are only a few issues with cables and servers that they deemed “non-critical”.
As a result, the experiment was a great learning experience for Microsoft with Corporate VP Noelle Walsh stating:
“We learned a lot about operations below sea level and vibration impacts on the server.” This knowledge will help other projects, like developing new ways to cool datacenters using liquid. Project Natick might be done, but its impact will continue to shape the future of datacenter technology.”
Sources: BusinessToday
