[ExI] Microsoft Had a Crazy Idea to Put Servers Under Water—and It Totally Worked

[John Grigg]

"As bizarre as it seems to sink hundreds of servers into the ocean, there
are actually several very good reasons to do so. According to the UN, about 40
percent
<https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Ocean-fact-sheet-package.pdf>
of the world’s population lives within 60 miles of an ocean. As internet
connectivity
<https://singularityhub.com/2020/07/12/googles-loon-balloons-are-now-beaming-internet-down-to-earth/>
expands to cover most of the globe in the next few years, millions more
people will come online, and a lot more servers will be needed to manage
the increased demand and data they’ll generate.

In densely-populated cities real estate is expensive and can be hard to
find. But know where there’s lots of cheap, empty space? At the bottom of
the ocean. This locale also carries the added benefit of being really cold
(depending where we’re talking, that is; if you’re looking off the coast
of, say, Mumbai or Abu Dhabi, the waters are warmer).

Servers generate a lot of heat, and datacenters use most of their
electricity
<https://singularityhub.com/2018/03/11/if-energy-becomes-free-in-the-future-how-will-that-affect-our-lives/>
for cooling. Keeping not just the temperature but also
<https://avtech.com/articles/4957/updated-look-recommended-data-center-temperature-humidity/>
the humidity level constant is important for optimal functioning of the
servers; neither of these vary much 100 feet under water."
https://singularityhub.com/2020/09/17/microsoft-had-a-crazy-idea-to-put-servers-under-water-and-it-totally-worked/
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.extropy.org/pipermail/extropy-chat/attachments/20201003/01d9f251/attachment.htm>