Microsoft deems underwater datacenter a success - 8x more reliable

Two years ago, Microsoft submerged a self-contained datacenter off the coast of Scotland's Orkney Islands. The 40-foot container housed 12 racks with a total of 864 servers and was filled with a less-corrosive nitrogen atmosphere. Now the software giant pulled the datacenter out of the water and deems the experiment a success.

The findings are quite interesting. The failure rate of the submerged datacenter was one-eight of what Microsoft sees on land. The researchers speculate the nitrogen atmosphere plus the absence of people, who bump and jostle components are the primary reason for the difference. The project shows underwater datacenters are feasible and it can also help to improve the reliability of land-based datacenters.

Among the components crated up and sent to Redmond are a handful of failed servers and related cables. The researchers think this hardware will help them understand why the servers in the underwater datacenter are eight times more reliable than those on land.

“We are like, ‘Hey this looks really good,’” Fowers said. “We have to figure out what exactly gives us this benefit.”

The team hypothesizes that the atmosphere of nitrogen, which is less corrosive than oxygen, and the absence of people to bump and jostle components, are the primary reasons for the difference. If the analysis proves this correct, the team may be able to translate the findings to land datacenters.

“Our failure rate in the water is one-eighth of what we see on land,” Cutler said.

“I have an economic model that says if I lose so many servers per unit of time, I’m at least at parity with land,” he added. “We are considerably better than that.”