Microsoft's Underwater Data Center Experiment Shows Promising Results

In 2018, Microsoft embarked on an unusual experiment to test the feasibility of underwater data centers. They sealed hundreds of servers in a nitrogen-filled cylinder and dropped it 117 feet into the seabed off Scotland's Orkney Islands.

The project, dubbed Project Natick, aimed to address a significant problem facing traditional data centers: cooling costs. By placing the servers underwater, Microsoft hoped to take advantage of the ocean's natural heat sink and reduce energy consumption.

For two years, the cylinder remained submerged, with its contents exposed to the harsh marine environment. When it was finally retrieved in 2020, the results were surprising: only six out of 855 servers had failed, compared to eight out of 135 on land.

The success of Project Natick can be attributed to the absence of oxygen and human interference, which are major contributors to server failure. The nitrogen atmosphere inside the cylinder protected the hardware from corrosion, while the underwater environment minimized vibrations and temperature fluctuations.