Forget life in the Cloud, Microsoft sees a future under the sea…

Microsoft wants to create data centres that can operate hundreds of feet below the surface of the ocean. An ocean-floor lair sounds like something from a James Bond film, but it could be a solution to one of the industry’s most expensive problems - air-conditioning bills. Data centres require intense cooling systems to stop hardware from overheating. This costs a lot of money, and Microsoft reckons that letting ocean water naturally cool its servers could be a potential solution.

When I first heard about this I thought: ‘Water … electricity, why would you do that?' But as you think more about it, it actually makes a lot of sense.

Microsoft engineer Ben Cutler

A prototype data server set up by Microsoft shows that the system is feasible. A tidal energy system could also see jelly bean-shaped containers suspended beneath the surface to harness ocean currents to generate the energy to the power the centres. Another byproduct of the system is speed: many cities are located close to oceans but far away from data centres in sparsely populated areas with lots of room. By moving data centres closer to urban centres, internet speeds would increase.

Microsoft oceans