New Underwater Data Centre Sited by Microsoft
A new underwater data centre has been sited by Microsoft off the coast of the Orkney Islands in Scotland. The centre, which was launched as part of the group’s Project Natick, is a prototype designed to test the viability of the concept. One of the main costs of data centres — according to Microsoft — is the cost of cooling. The underwater data centre will take advantage of the natural coolness of lower ocean temperatures, along with a sustainable marine power supply. Viderium specialises in data solutions for industry including the creation of managed data centres.

Sustainable Marine Energy
Marine energy harnesses energy from the tides, ocean waves, differences in ocean temperatures and salinity, which can then be converted into electricity. The electricity generated can be used to power transport, industry and homes.
Research and development into marine and hydrokinetic power conducted by the Water Power Program, focuses on advancing technologies in this emerging industry, leading efforts to generate data relating to reliability, cost and performance; evaluate viability both technically and economically; and prove functionality for a wide variety of devices.
The colocation of the new underwater data centre has been cited by Microsoft as a step towards the vision of the company for sustainable data centres with their own power supply.
Project Natick
Microsoft launched Project Natick in 2014 with a view to investigating the potential for the manufacture and operation of pre-packaged data centre units that are environmentally sustainable, scalable, deployed rapidly and able to be left to operate for years lights out on the floor of the sea. The data centre prototype that has been deployed at Orkney measures the same as a shipping container of 40-foot length, containing 864 servers in total across 12 racks with the associated infrastructure for a cooling system. Microsoft has stated that the data centre is being used for processing workloads.
Orkney Site Choice
The choice of site was based on several factors, including the existence of a robust marine industry in Orkney. The European Marine Energy Centre is currently testing wave and tidal energy converters in the water there, and the islands themselves have enough solar panels and wind turbines to generate more than enough electricity from renewable sources to supply the 10,000 residents on the islands. The data centre will take its electricity from the grid of the Orkney Islands.
