Microsoft on Captain Nemo's trail

Microsoft sinking data centers into the sea? CRN has much cooler ideas.

Microsoft has sunk a data center in the sea off the Scottish Orkney Islands. Was the expensive thing already broken?, one would like to ask reflexively, bearing in mind that we humans usually dump garbage that is difficult to dispose of in the oceans. The cold seawater off the islands in the north of Scotland cools the 864 servers in the data center submarine, which consumes very little energy as a result. All right, some people breathe a sigh of relief, because the likelihood of Microsoft sinking its data centers into less cool Adriatic bays seems to be out of the question. On the other hand, the quasi-Faustian zeal with which the IT giant Poseidon and its wild waves and still unexplored depths wrestles new ground here is awe-inspiring. Microsoft on Captain Nemo's trail, 20,000 miles under the sea.

But Scotland, while we're at it, is that a good idea, Microsoft? Everyone knows by now that after the melting of the polar caps, of the British northern tip, as well as of Holland and East Frisia, hardly anything should remain. Poseidon, not stupid either, takes back evenly from time to time also abgetrotzes area. Did you really take that into account? Is the power and data exchange supply cable really designed to gradually raise the water level? And if technicians have to descend to the Nautilus for maintenance, is the descent shaft deep enough? Otherwise, the final spurt for IT systems electronics technicians would become a seahorse test when sea levels suddenly rise.

So if it's just about cooling the hardware bolides, we recommend icy alternatives that you may not have thought of yet: You could also park the Dataecenter on a nice cool Himalaya summit. Or even better: On the dwarf planet Pluto the outside temperature is at least 218 degrees. Your data is guaranteed to be served ice-cold.