The vessel was named after a "Leona Philpot" character in popular Xbox video game franchise 'Halo.'
"The bottom line is that in one day this thing was deployed, hooked up and running," Microsoft Research NExT special projects leader Norm Whitaker said in a post at the company's website. "A wild ocean adventure turned out to be a regular day at the office."
A diver went down monthly to check on the vessel, otherwise the research team remained in contact remotely. Data from the experiment was still being analysed but preliminary results appear promising, according to Microsoft. "This is speculative technology, in the sense that if it turns out to be a good idea, it will instantly change the economics of this business," Whitaker said.
The Natick mission is to build and operate an underwater data centre. With about half of the world's population living near large bodies of water and a shift to accessing software hosted in the internet cloud, having data centres submerged nearby could save money and speed up access to information, Microsoft reasoned.
The next phase of Project Natick is being planned and may include a bigger vessel with 20 times the computing power than the original, which is back at the Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Washington.
Microsoft last week reported earnings that surpassed Wall Street expectations with a winning shift into the internet cloud. Microsoft made a profit of $5 billion on $23.8 billion in revenue in the final three months of last year.
Software offered as a service in the internet cloud has been a key aspect of Microsoft's effort to adapt to a shift away from packaged software on which the US company was built. Cloud computing lets people use the internet to tap into processing or data storage capacity at huge data centres.
Source: AFP
For more than two decades, I-Net Bridge has been one of South Africa’s preferred electronic providers of innovative solutions, data of the highest calibre, reliable platforms and excellent supporting systems. Our products include workstations, web applications and data feeds packaged with in-depth news and powerful analytical tools empowering clients to make meaningful decisions.
We pride ourselves on our wide variety of in-house skills, encompassing multiple platforms and applications. These skills enable us to not only function as a first class facility, but also design, implement and support all our client needs at a level that confirms I-Net Bridge a leader in its field.
Go to: http://www.inet.co.za
