Microsoft's Underwater Data Center Experiment Shows Promising Results

Microsoft sank a sealed cylindrical data center containing 864 servers into the North Sea off Scotland's Orkney Islands in 2018 as part of Project Natick, an experiment to test whether data centers could operate reliably on the seabed using seawater for cooling.

The vessel was placed about 117 feet below the surface and remained submerged for two years before being retrieved by Microsoft in July 2020. During that time, the servers inside experienced a failure rate one-eighth that of their land-based counterparts.

Microsoft attributed the improved reliability to the nitrogen atmosphere inside the vessel, which was less corrosive than air, and the absence of human activity near the equipment, which reduced physical disturbance. The company used ordinary commercial server hardware in the experiment, rather than specialized underwater equipment.