Nautilus to bring floating datacenters to two new sites:
A company that builds floating, sustainable datacenters has signed leases for two new 7.5 megawatt facilities, one in Marseille in France and another in Los Angeles, California.
Nautilus Data Technologies claims to be able to have datacenters built to its design and operational within 12 months, and has facilities already operating on barges moored in rivers or ports.
According to the company, both of the new locations offer advantages for siting datacenter facilities, including access to major telecommunications hubs, a robust power grid, and a temperate climate. The Los Angeles location is said to offer customers direct access to the One Wilshire Campus, a termination point for multiple international fiber links, making it a key communications hub of the Pacific Rim.
Meanwhile, the Marseille facility will be sited less than 3km (1.8 miles) from the nearest cable landing station and will be close to other major access points, with Marseille also a trans-Atlantic gateway point linking Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.
Chief Executive Officer of the Marseille Port Authority Hervé Martel said that as France's second largest datacenter market, the city wanted a new bit barn to have sustainable credentials.
"We wanted to bring a datacenter that truly considers its effect on the community. A datacenter that doesn't waste our resources and runs with less power," he said in a statement.
A key part of the company's datacenter architecture is its cooling system, which uses a combination of a closed loop system and water drawn from the environment to keep IT infrastructure operating within acceptable limits. This system is claimed to consume no water and requires 30 percent less power than alternatives.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Saturday December 10, @03:00PM (2 children)
It seems the big advantage here is speed and location, close to large cable nodes. I'm not certain why they would be more "green" or sustainable (or wastes resources) then other data-centers. They do not appear to be submerged into the water so they'll have to pump it in and out just like the others that want to cool with water. There might be somewhat less pumping since the water is closer.
What? So closed loops that draws water from the environment but at the same time consume no water? Don't they count it cause it's a one time water suck? Is this some kind of magical water that you can both use and not use at the same time?
So have there been any ecological impact studies on these? If they are in or on the water will the water around them become warmer and what will that do to the fishes and water and growth of various algae etc.
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Saturday December 10, @04:20PM
The summary does not say it will be sustainable. It says the city wanted it to have sustainable credentials.
Whatever that means.
-- hendrik
(Score: 2) by fraxinus-tree on Saturday December 10, @04:42PM
Pumping water (in the context of cooling) is WAY easier and requires an order of magnitude less energy than pumping heat like most datacenters do.
What the warmer water does to fish is very well studied around the thermal power stations. The effect is quite positive in regard to fishing (at least in European rivers) and, unfortunately, doesn't extend much downstream.