The Data Submarine

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The Data Submarine

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Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1004311 More actions · Answer 1

Heh... having served aboard submarines, I can tell you that you simply don't ever need to clean the hull. Just take 'er out into some deep water and put some serious turns on the screw. If there's anything living still hanging onto the hull after about 15 minutes of that, you should probably back away from it very slowly. 😀

As for building pressure containers and turning them into data centers and sending them to the bottom of littoral waters, it all seems to be a bit stupid. If you look at the number of sacrificial anodes they had to attach to the hull to keep the hull from disintegrating, you'll understand on of the many reasons why. Then there's the cost of cable, etc. I'll also tell you that 117 feet doesn't make these things immune from wave action during a good storm, never mind any special currents that happen when a tidal surge returns to the sea.

And, lordy, I hope this doesn't actually catch on. Imagine all the cables on, near, or under the seashore if it does.

I do think it's an interesting and clever endeavor but I think it would be much less expensive to rent some garage space from different companies downtown. You could probably save several years of rent on the cable cost reductions alone.

--Jeff Moden

RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

Steve Jones - SSC Editor SSC Guru Points: 736150 More actions · Answer 2

Perhaps, but they are looking to partner with some other offshore structures, like windmills or wave generators. In that case, you'd limit some of the potential wave issues, or you'd have some anchorage.

I'd like to think they'd have thought this through, but we'll see. This is their first ocean experiment, so things could be a mess.

below86 SSChampion Points: 11532 More actions · Answer 3

Steve Jones - SSC Editor - Wednesday, June 13, 2018 6:35 PM
...
I'd like to think they'd have thought this through, but we'll see. ...

Microsoft think things through? That's a good one Steve. You should add that to the joke thread.

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we travel not to escape life but for life not to escape us
Don't fear failure, fear regret.

Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1004311 More actions · Answer 4

Steve Jones - SSC Editor - Wednesday, June 13, 2018 6:35 PM
Perhaps, but they are looking to partner with some other offshore structures, like windmills or wave generators. In that case, you'd limit some of the potential wave issues, or you'd have some anchorage.
I'd like to think they'd have thought this through, but we'll see. This is their first ocean experiment, so things could be a mess.

It would be interesting to know why a windmill or wave generator farm would need the capabilities of a dedicated data center. I can see a couple of computerized data collectors but those would fit in a coffee can.

--Jeff Moden

RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

Steve Jones - SSC Editor SSC Guru Points: 736150 More actions · Answer 5

Jeff Moden - Thursday, June 14, 2018 9:37 PM
It would be interesting to know why a windmill or wave generator farm would need the capabilities of a dedicated data center. I can see a couple of computerized data collectors but those would fit in a coffee can.

They aren't for the windmill. The windmill supplies the power, or a portion of it, and there is an anchor and connectivity there. This is a synergy, not a support system.

Steve Jones - SSC Editor SSC Guru Points: 736150 More actions · Answer 6

below86 - Thursday, June 14, 2018 12:09 PM
Microsoft think things through? That's a good one Steve. You should add that to the joke thread.

I think they think about the engineering, and they do have good reasons for following a logical flow often. They make mistakes, and some of us may disagree with choices, but that's not a case of not thinking things through. Here, I'd suspect they've tried to engineer this well, but they could still have issues. That's the nature of trying something new.

Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1004311 More actions · Answer 7

Steve Jones - SSC Editor - Friday, June 15, 2018 8:01 AM
Jeff Moden - Thursday, June 14, 2018 9:37 PM
It would be interesting to know why a windmill or wave generator farm would need the capabilities of a dedicated data center. I can see a couple of computerized data collectors but those would fit in a coffee can.
They aren't for the windmill. The windmill supplies the power, or a portion of it, and there is an anchor and connectivity there. This is a synergy, not a support system.

Ah... got it. That would certainly save on the expense of the length of power cables. Unfortunately, windmills are not a certain and continuous source of power. They'd also have to build a monster UPS Submarine.

--Jeff Moden

RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

Matt Miller (4) SSC Guru Points: 124210 More actions · Answer 8

jay-h - Wednesday, June 13, 2018 6:55 AM
walkerjian - Tuesday, June 12, 2018 10:29 PM
... All MS is doing here is dump heat into another environment that may not be able to sustain it, just a cheap and ersatz green way of doing it...
No additional energy is required to remove this heat. By comparison, extensive additional is required for air conditioning cooling on land, in addition to the amount of heat disapated.
But I think this is just a trial balloon to see how it works, not necessarily a real 'direction' at this point.

understood, but doing this on a large scale will start increasing the ambient temperature of the ocean, perhaps not globally for a while but locally, which could have fairly significant and definitely NOT "green" effects on the local flora/fauna.

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Your lack of planning does not constitute an emergency on my part...unless you're my manager...or a director and above...or a really loud-spoken end-user..All right - what was my emergency again?

Frank W Fulton Jr SSCommitted Points: 1599 More actions · Answer 9

First of all I am all for the testing of such a system, my big concern here, how does it affect the ecosystem and the environment. We have already reach a tipping point and I would hate to be part of a group that pushes us over that point.

ganotedp SSC-Addicted Points: 492 More actions · Answer 10

Microsoft is "getting into hot water"? Learning to "boil the ocean"? 😛

Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1004311 More actions · Answer 11

ganotedp - Monday, June 18, 2018 6:47 AM
Microsoft is "getting into hot water"? Learning to "boil the ocean"? 😛

Heh... yeah... it's a real "deep dive" in learning how to boil rocks to make "Stone Soup" (similie to the "Stone Soup" story intended).

--Jeff Moden

RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally)