NAUTILUS

First commercial data center over the water wins a major customer

Located on the San Joaquin River in California, the world's first commercial water data center built by Nautilus Data Technologies has won a major customer. Backblaze, a well-known provider of cloud storage and data backup services, has leased 1 MW of capacity from Nautilus.

The Nautilus Floating Data Center is an unusual-looking barge moored near Stockton Harbor. The data center uses a cooling system that was previously used in power plants, submarines and aircraft carriers – the water is taken directly from the riverbed and, after passing through the filters, enters the heat exchangers. The internal circuit can be represented as an LSS and, for example, heat exchangers in the doors of server cabinets. In any case, the water from the river does not enter the engine room.

The heated water flows down the river, usually just a few degrees warmer than the river, so environmental damage is minimal. Also, according to Nautilus, their data center is, on average, 70% more energy efficient than conventional data centers, so their carbon footprint is minimal. The data center has passed all checks in the state of California – it is believed that having passed certification here, it will be easy to get certified anywhere, state rules are so strict.

In the case of this data center, another factor also plays an important role – the data center not only has its own security system with 24/7 security and modern electronic systems, but it is also protected by the US Department of Homeland Security and approaches to it. are patrolled by the Coast Guard – the average data centers are not so well protected.

Image source: Nautilus