According to reports, the first commercial underwater data center off the US west coast could be operational by the end of 2022. Named the "Jules Verne Pod" and created by Subsea Cloud, the 20ft pod will reportedly have space for 16 datacenter racks, accommodate 800 servers, scalable to 100, and could cut CO2 emissions by 40%.
Located near Port Angeles, Washington, the company claims the underwater pod will significantly reduce power consumption alongside its emissions reduction and lower latency due to it being located nearer to metropolitan areas.
Subsea Cloud
Speaking about the pod's resilience to attack, speaking to DCD, CEO Maxie Reynolds said that it would be impossible to breach with divers and that a physical security breach would require very disruptive equipment. While Reynolds admitted that access via a remote-operated vehicle (ROV) was possible, she noted that such vehicles are trackable. Due to the pod's high level of security, Reynolds outlined that many military industries want to use them for their physical security.
While following the likes of Microsoft and Highlander, Subsea's pod is somewhat different in that it doesn't use a pressure vessel but a conventional shipping container with equalized pressure inside and out, no matter the depth of water.
Reynolds also clarified that Subsea Cloud will be an "underwater landlord" rather than a cloud provider: "Data center space rental is similar to leasing an office space. Our leasable spaces provide our tenants' network connections, stable power supply, cooling and security systems," she said. "We ensure the 'facility' is capable of providing the required IT services whilst being underwater: We build, deploy and maintain subsea data centers. We monitor the asset and we attend to it. We are responsible for the hardware insofar as its environment, including permitting and physical maintenance."
