More and more organizations are deploying their hardware in self-contained data center modules as part of the industry shift towards converged infrastructure. But out of all the big names on the bandwagon, Microsoft Corp. is the only one implementing the model underwater. Engineers at its research division recently concluded the 105-day sea trial of an experimental server capsule that may herald a new era of offshore computing.

Submerged data centers positioned along major coastlines could handle traffic from the roughly half of the world’s population who live within 200 miles of the ocean much faster than the remote inland facilitates where Redmond currently keeps much of its infrastructure. As a result, services like Cortana would be able provide better response times and become less susceptible to the reliability issues that often plague long-distance connections. Yet the operational benefits of the approach still pale in comparison with its potential impact on Microsoft’s bottom line.

Placing hardware in cool ocean waters dramatically reduces the need for artificial air-conditioning, which accounts for more than a third of the average data center’s energy consumption. Redmond hopes to further cut the utility bill by incorporating a marine power generation system into the design of its server capsule that will be able to produce electricity from underwater currents. The technology has the added benefit of making the module that much more environmentally friendly, an important bragging right amid the increasing efforts of rivals Google Inc. and Apple Inc. to curb their reliance on fossil fuels.

According to The New York Times, Microsoft’s engineers are already hard at work designing a prototype implementation. It’s expected to turn out three times larger than the eight-foot module used in the first trial, presumably due not only to the added power generation equipment but also because Redmond hopes to pack more servers into the chassis. The end-goal is to fit a full data center inside, but there are many challenges standing in the way.

The arguably biggest one is maintenance, since Microsoft won’t exactly be able to dispatch a technician undersea when something goes wrong. Its engineers will instead have to architect an entirely new breed of servers, storage equipment and switches that can not only run for years on end without a human touch, but also do so cost-efficiently. The same requirement holds for the capsule itself and practically every other component, especially if Redmond hopes to establish a presence in turbulent areas like the the Gulf Coast. Only time will tell if the effort will succeed.

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