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Microsoft’s undersea data center now has a webcam with fish swimming past 27.6 petabytes of data

Microsoft’s undersea data center now has a webcam with fish swimming past 27.6 petabytes of data

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Any fin is possible

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Microsoft’s undersea data center
Microsoft’s undersea data center
Microsoft

If you’ve always wanted to watch fish swim past a data center with 27.6 petabytes of storage, stop surfing around as today is your lucky day. Microsoft has taken the oppor-tuna-ty to install a webcam next to its undersea data center, offering live views of just how well the metal container is rusting and the hundreds of fish suddenly interested in cloud data and artificial intelligence. The software maker originally sunk a data center off the Scottish coast in June to determine whether the company can save energy by cooling it in the sea itself, or if it should leave it to salmon else.

Microsoft has been experimenting with undersea data centers for years, and the current installation in the Orkney Islands will be deployed for around five years. There are 12 racks with 864 servers and 27.6 petabytes (27,600 terabytes) of storage, enough to store at least 5 million copies of Finding Nemo. The data center is powered by a giant undersea cable that also connects it back to the internet, and the findings could mean the company will scale this project up to more powerful data centers in the future.

Fish hunting for bytes to eat
Fish hunting for bytes to eat

The webcam itself isn’t just in place to watch a load of carp, Microsoft is observing the environmental conditions near its data center as part of the experiment. If you’re interested in watching the live feed you should dolphinitely check it out over at Microsoft’s Project Natick site. Sorry about the fish puns. Whaley sorry.