The Cloud is...er...under the sea?

[JAE]

Microsoft tests a datacenter that’s quick to deploy, could provide internet connectivity for years:

Microsoft Project Natick

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[bimr]

This concept appears to solve some problems, but then creates greater problems. The life span of the container can't be much more than 20 years due to corrosion. From the pictures there seems to be no method to maintain the equipment. While not an expert on the electronics, I would expect the electronics to become obsolete technology much sooner than "for years".

 

[waross]

There will be little corrosion until the sacrificial zinc is gone. (The photo shows many sacrificial zinc bars attached to the container.)
The end of the zinc may be the start of the end of life phase.
Ships dragging anchor is often a concern with submarine cables.
With a rocky sea floor, the cables cannot be buried and anchors are prone to drag.

Bill
--------------------
"Why not the best?"
Jimmy Carter

 

[JAE]

I thought they mentioned 5 years between re-surfacing the pod and servicing it.

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[MikeHalloran]

No need to service anything.
Thanks to RoHS, in five years, the electronics will be wonky or dead anyway.


Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[dgallup]

Virtual LPS Mike. It will all be completely obsolete in 5 years anyway, just let it become an artificial reef.

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The Help for this program was created in Windows Help format, which depends on a feature that isn't included in this version of Windows.

 

[jraef]

The concept here is to keep it cool by putting it in the water. So we are now going to DIRECTLY heat the oceans instead of indirectly? That seems like a great plan...

Deployment in "coastal" cities may be interesting, given that at the now proven accelerated rate of sea ice loss in Antarctica, a lot of cities that are currently inland will be "coastal" in a short time, and these things will be too far off shore to be useful.


" We are all here on earth to help others; what on earth the others are here for I don't know." -- W. H. Auden