I'm not a big Microsoft fan, but this sounds pretty cool. They just put 864 servers on the ocean floor, 100 feet below the surface. It's the second phase of a test to see if this is feasible long-term. This phase will be closely monitored inside and out for one year.
Microsoft's Project Natick offers many advantages to traditional server farms, including natural cooling. With no air conditioning necessary, I wonder if the ocean offers enough cooling to keep up with Bitcoin miners.
While this particular "cloud computing" farm is powered by the free energy of the nearby Orkney Islands which, thanks to the European Marine Energy Center, produce 100% free energy, future ideas include using free energy generated by the ocean's natural movement.
Another advantage is proximity to people. About half the world's population is near coastlines. With server farms just off the coast, most of the problems and costs caused by data transmission will be eliminated.
The configuration of the servers can also be re-engineered because people don't have to access the servers. Not only that, it cuts the creation and deployment time from 2 years down to about 90 days.
Apparently, there is minimal effect on the fragile ecosystem of the ocean floor. Temperature difference in the water just a few inches from the server farm's pill-shaped capsule (about the size of a shipping container) was negligible.
Just outside the container, shrimp's natural clicking sound drowned out the whirring sound of the servers. I question the effect of sound at distance, since water carries sound a lot further than air, and a clicking sound is a much different frequency than a server puts out.
It's nice to see Microsoft experimenting with improving the future. If these tests naturally create an efficient bitcoin mining environment, I'm sure they won't hesitate to exploit their discovery.
Image Credit: Telegraph.co.uk