A Data Center Beneath the Waves
When most people picture the ocean floor, they think of coral reefs, shipwrecks, or deep-sea creatures—not racks of servers. Yet, Microsoft has been experimenting with exactly that. Project Natick, Microsoft’s bold underwater data center initiative, is redefining how we think about cloud infrastructure, energy consumption, and global connectivity.
In 2018, the company deployed an entire data center—containing 864 servers and 27.6 petabytes of storage—117 feet below the waters of Scotland’s Orkney Islands. After two years beneath the surface, the results shocked even Microsoft’s own engineers.
What Is Microsoft’s Project Natick?
Project Natick began in 2015 as a radical hypothesis: could underwater environments reduce the energy demands and operational issues associated with traditional data centers?
The initial proof-of-concept involved a smaller test pod off the coast of California. The goal was simple—determine if servers could survive underwater. Once proven feasible, Microsoft scaled the project to Europe, where they submerged the Orkney pod powered entirely by 100% renewable energy sources including wind, solar, and tidal power.
The mission of Project Natick is twofold:
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Energy Efficiency & Sustainability – Using naturally cold seawater for cooling rather than costly HVAC systems.
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Accessibility & Scalability – Positioning modular data centers closer to coastal population hubs, reducing latency and improving service.
Results: Why Project Natick Was Considered a Success
After being retrieved in 2020, researchers discovered that underwater servers were up to eight times more reliable than land-based servers.
Several factors contributed to this breakthrough:
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Stable Environment: The ocean floor offers consistent cool temperatures.
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Nitrogen Atmosphere: Servers were housed in nitrogen instead of oxygen, dramatically reducing corrosion.
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Reduced Human Interaction: With no technicians physically handling the hardware, accidental disruptions were eliminated.
This unexpected reliability could serve as a model for improving traditional, land-based server farms as well.
Environmental Benefits of Submersible Data Centers
Cooling is one of the biggest expenses in any modern data center, often accounting for 40% of energy use. By leveraging the ocean’s natural cooling properties, Project Natick demonstrated that data centers can drastically lower energy consumption and carbon emissions.
Furthermore, the Orkney Islands’ renewable grid powered the pod entirely, showcasing how data centers of the future can operate independently of fossil fuels. Microsoft has even floated the idea of co-locating underwater data centers with offshore wind farms or tidal turbines to create self-sustaining, zero-carbon cloud infrastructure.
Lessons for the Future of Cloud Computing
Project Natick was never intended as an immediate replacement for land-based data centers. Instead, it serves as a blueprint for innovation in IT infrastructure.
Key takeaways include:
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Scalability: Modular underwater pods could be deployed quickly in coastal cities to reduce latency.
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Reliability: Lessons from nitrogen atmospheres and controlled environments could be applied on land.
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Sustainability: Integration with renewable energy systems could help companies meet aggressive carbon neutrality goals.
While a full-scale underwater Azure-equivalent data center would require linking multiple pods together, Project Natick proves the concept is technically viable.
What Project Natick Means for the IT Industry and ITAD
For IT asset disposition (ITAD) professionals, Project Natick is a glimpse into the future of hardware lifecycle management. If underwater data centers become more common, secure recovery, recycling, and data destruction processes will need to adapt. Specialized logistics for retrieving submerged hardware and ensuring compliance with may become necessary.
At DES Technologies, we see projects like Natick as reminders that IT infrastructure is always evolving—and so must the strategies for responsibly retiring equipment.
Conclusion: The Future Lies Below the Surface
Microsoft’s Project Natick highlights a simple truth: the future of cloud computing won’t always look like towering server warehouses. By exploring the potential of the ocean as a data center environment, Microsoft has unlocked possibilities for greener, more reliable, and more accessible computing infrastructure.
As technology advances, underwater data centers may shift from experiment to mainstream reality. For businesses, IT managers, and sustainability advocates alike, the lessons from Project Natick offer a powerful glimpse of what’s possible when innovation meets necessity.
