China Daily reports that China unveiled it's first undersea data center (UDC), located in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province.
The UDC was developed by Beijing Highlander Digital Technology Co, a company listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, and Guangzhou Shipyard International Co, a company listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
The two companies completed construction of the UDC late last year and carried out underwater testing, said Xu Tan, vice-president of Highlander. The UDC project involves installing Internet facilities like servers in airtight pressure vessels with excellent cooling performance under the ocean surface. These facilities are powered by subsea composite cables and then transmit data to the Internet. A UDC in the waters near coastal cities significantly shortens the distance between data and users. It doesn't require land, and it saves energy. It is a completely green and sustainable big data center solution, Xu said.
Seawater to reduce energy consumption
The biggest bottleneck to data center development is energy consumption. It consumes too much power and cannot be halted for a second. Seawater can be used to reduce energy consumption by about 30 percent, said Xu Tan.
The UDC uses a large amount of flowing seawater to cool the electronics through a heat exchanger, which saves energy over conventional cooling methods. "The UDC occupies very little land on shore, has no cooling towers and does not consume fresh water. It not only accommodates ecological activities such as marine ranching and fishing cages but also supports other industrial activities, such as offshore wind power and oil platforms," Xu said.
Last year Microsoft succesfully completed a test with underwater data center.
