Singapore-based Atlas Technology will be the first firm to use an underwater data centre (UDC) to reduce energy intake at its operations.
The Web3 service provider announced on Tuesday a strategic partnership with Shenzhen Hicloud Data Center Technology to develop the UDC.
Atlas is an international group providing blockchain infrastructure-as-a-service. It offers value-added services includes distributed high-performance computing, hardware, application programming interface (API) support and storage, all geared towards the Web3 ecosystem.
A UDC consists of a shore station, sea cables, as well as water-cooled subsea components including substations and data modules. The project delivers enhanced data security, courtesy of sealed, oxygen-free, dust-free cabins. These cabins maintain consistent temperature, humidity, and pressure levels, ensuring optimal physical data security. The server failure rate in UDCs is reported to be one-eighth of that in inland data centers.
UDCs are sustainable as they significantly reduce the typically high energy consumption of data centers by harnessing ocean energy from waves, tides, and wind, potentially achieving zero-carbon operation.
Underwater data centres. Image via Shenzen HiCloud.
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Units can be constructed in three months
The units can be constructed and set up in 90 days, offering a modular and cost-efficient option scaling data center requirements. Additionally, UDCs eliminate expenses related to land rental, local employee hiring, and taxes, thereby drastically reducing operating costs.
Moreover, UDCs help reduce network latency. Given that, according to the United Nations, 40 per cent of the global population resides within 100 kilometres of a coastline, placing data centers near coastal cities cuts down the distance between UDCs and users, leading to lower network latency.
Atlas’s founder and chairman, Raymond Yuan, stated that sustainable energy is pivotal to their success. The partnership with Hicloud on the UDC project aligns with their vision of fostering a more innovative and sustainable Web3 economy.
Hicloud’s founder, Shen Wanqiu, indicated the UDC project will capitalize on Hicloud’s expertise in marine electronics, aiming to discover and develop new technologies to enhance the efficiency of data centers for the Web3 industry.
Atlas isn’t the first company to use underwater data storage, however. Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) launched its own underwater data centre in spring of 2018.
