Like all cloud infrastructure providers, Microsoft is constantly looking for ways to better store and power. For this purpose, company made one data center in the sea in the Orkney Islands of Scotland.
The idea is part of Project Natick, an initiative to identify environmentally sustainable ways of operating large-scale data management units. During the first phase, which began in 2014, Microsoft built a small submarine centre data center which hosted 300 computers. This particular center was installed in the ocean in February 2016 to test if everything would go well. 
This data center operated for almost four months.
Στη δεύτερη φάση, η οποία ξεκινάει από σήμερα, η εταιρεία "έριξε" στο νερό 864 διακομιστές (servers) που βρίσκονται σε 12 ράφια. Οι υπολογιστές θα βρίσκονται σε μια υποβρύχια πλατφόρμα που θα έχει το μέγεθος ενός κοντέινερ. Έχει σχεδιαστεί να λειτουργεί για πέντε χρόνια χωρίς να απαιτείται κάποια συντήρηση.
According to Microsoft, the project is energy efficient, and provides very fast data transfer. The company notes that about half of the world's population lives 120 miles off the coast, so having submarine servers could allow faster access in electronic services.
According to the company, the underwater data centers will be powered by wind energy, so there will be no interruptions or high costs. Finally, the water in the ocean is cold and thus solves the problem of cooling the data centers without any financial burden.
This particular data center will be monitored for the next 12 months. Microsoft researchers will monitor various factors such as energy consumption, indoor humidity levels and temperature. The company hopes to eventually perfect the system.
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