The case for water-borne data centres

It is often said that innovation is a team sport. And it is certainly one that requires honest debate and self-reflection

Innovation requires us to start with the use case by understanding the needs of consumers and the business (including favorable market conditions). By adopting the consumer and enterprise point of view, we are in a better position to ask the right questions that may lead us to new insights (be it new products, new markets or reinventing old ones)

With the above in mind, I would like to put the idea of water-borne data centre(s) in perspective.

This idea was raised as early as 2003. Patents filed by Google (Reference: US 7,525,207 B2), Microsoft (Reference: US 2016/0381835) and Nautilus Data Technologies (Reference: WO 2015/017737 A2) suggest how such a data centre might look like. In 2010, Christopher Barnatt predicted in his book that floating cloud data centres could be possible in future

In 2008, International Data Security (IDS) shared plans to use deck space to house containers packed with servers (the company struggled with funding, never executed these plans and filed for bankruptcy in 2011)

Californian start-up Nautilus Data Technologies (NDT), founded by Arnold Magcale who worked with (IDS) on the design concept and then modified it to moored vessels, would seem to the contender coming closest to delivering on the promise of a commercial water-borne data centre

In 2015, it announced plans to put such a data centre in production by 2016 (which did not materialize) and in 2017, received $10 million in series C funding from Keppel T&T (other backers include the likes of the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund and Emerson Elemental). Interestingly, it has on its advisory board, the co-founder of Sun Microsystems, Scott McNealy, who is well acquainted with the idea of portable data centre containers

In recent months, it filed a proposal to moor a floating data centre (comprising 4 data halls) at Ted Russell Dock in Ireland.

The merits of such an idea have been articulated in an opinion article on the Straits Times (albeit by someone with a stake in said idea) and several articles published by the likes of datacentre frontier. There are probably more untapped or unsaid commercial and military use cases

There is also much to be said about the potential incidental benefits to sustainability efforts and how floating data centres (if they work) could radically change the design concepts for floating cities and very large floating structures (VLFS)

I am a big fan of the design concept and both the benefits and differentiation factors are clear. But I think it is up to industry to then take the idea and demonstrate it is commercially viable, and to pitch the idea to the beneficiaries (includes the consumers and enterprises that ultimately pay the bills)

This means putting forth a great design concept (based on the right use cases), but then putting attention on the how-to (commercialization) instead of the what (design), designing and planning along outcomes (e.g. funding and supply chain needs) instead of technologies

I will suggest that when the idea of a water-borne data centre could be coupled with communications via satellite, this would truly disrupt the data centre industry. However, that day will not be anytime soon, until satellite communications are able to match the speeds, reliability and costs afforded through use of the web of subsea cables that form the backbone of the internet