On January 31, New York Times technology correspondent John Markoff reported on an exciting new experiment involving the design and placement of a data center underwater off the central coast of California.
For the article, the newspaper turned to CSE professor (and Calit2 director) Larry Smarr for an outsider's perspective on the future of computing systems underwater. The test by Microsoft aimed to see if a self-contained data center (the gray cylinder pictured at left on deployment) could reduce air-conditioning bills by sinking the data center hundreds of feet below the surface of the ocean. Microsoft is also looking at attaching a turbine or tidal-energy system to generate electricity.
As quoted in the article, UC San Diego's Smarr (right) noted that, "For years, the main cloud providers have been seeking sites around the world not only for green energy, but which also take advantage of the environment." The article notes that demand for centralized computing has grown exponentially, and it's likely to continue with rapid advances in digital entertainment, the Internet of Things and cloud computing. The first prototype -- dubbed the "Leona Philpot", after a character in Microsoft's Halo video game series -- is now back at the company after a 105-day trial in the Pacific near San Luis Obispo, and Microsoft is now designing a version that is three times the size of the 8-feet in diameter, cylindrical prototype.