Schematic diagram of Hainan Lingshui Commercial Submarine Data Center.
Underwater exclusive cloud cabin launched instantly.
The above are all information images
On the sea surface of Qingshui Bay in Yingzhou Town,Lingshui Li Autonomous County,Hainan Province,a crane boat with its giant arm lifted high slowly descends.On the ship,the staff stared closely at the screen of the diving control console and operated with precision.The 1300 ton"underwater data cabin"sank steadily into the seabed at a depth of 35 meters.
"After the successful launch of the submarine exclusive cloud data module,the data module of the first phase of the Hainan Lingshui Commercial Submarine Data Center demonstration project has been deployed.On December 31,2023,the first batch of business of the exclusive cloud data module was successfully powered on and debugged,and the first phase of the project has been officially completed and is currently running stably!"said Pu Ding,General Manager of the Hainan Demonstration Development Project of the Submarine Data Center.
Why is the data center shifting from land to sea——
High computing power,low energy consumption,high security,low latency,overall efficiency improvement by 40%to 60%
It is reported that Hainan Lingshui Commercial Submarine Data Center is the world's first commercial submarine data center project.Why is the data center moving from land to sea?
Pu Ding introduced that the servers in the data center emit a large amount of heat during operation,which is cooled through refrigeration systems such as air conditioning,requiring a large amount of electricity and fresh water resources to support.The underwater data center uses seawater as a natural cooling source,and its biggest advantage is reducing energy consumption while almost not consuming freshwater resources,which can support higher power density and improve computing power.
"Various electrical equipment is densely packed in data centers,posing a high risk of fire.Therefore,data centers around the world pay extra attention to fire prevention.The seabed data cabin is filled with inert gas,which is oxygen free,dust-free,and enclosed to further protect server electronic devices and reduce accidents."Pu Ding said that placing the data center on the seabed greatly saves land resource occupation and is far from human activity areas,It also provides a stable operating environment for the server.
"The first batch of data cabins for Hainan Lingshui Commercial Submarine Data Center were launched in December 2022.Currently,they operate stably and all data tests are normal.Compared to servers of the same size,the overall energy efficiency has increased by 40%to 60%,with advantages such as high computing power,low energy consumption,high security,and low latency."Pu Ding said.
The weight of the data cabin deployed this time is similar to that of the previous data cabin,both of which are large blocks weighing over 1300 tons,equivalent to the weight of 1000 small cars.The offshore operation was completed by the 4500 ton salvage crane vessel"Chuangli"."With previous experience,the deployment was completed in just two days,saving half of the installation time,"Li Jiawen,Deputy General Manager of Hailan Cloud Data Center Technology Co.,Ltd.,the project owner,told reporters.
In terms of computing power,the servers deployed in the data cabin this time are more dense than those in the land data center.The number of servers in one cabinet has increased from more than ten to over 20,further leveraging the performance advantage of high computing power in the underwater data center.
It is understood that Hainan Lingshui Commercial Submarine Data Center plans to deploy 100 cabins.After construction,compared to traditional land data centers of the same scale,it can save 122 million kilowatt hours of electricity,68000 square meters of land,and 105000 tons of fresh water annually.
How is the safety performance of the underwater cabin——
The shore station ensures daily operation and maintenance,and the shore based radar builds an integrated protection network for sea area monitoring
The data cabin that sinks into the seabed does not become an island,but together with the shore station,underwater substation,and underwater optoelectronic composite cable,forms the seabed data center.The submarine optoelectronic composite cable connects the remaining three parts and distributes power and network to each independent submarine data compartment.
From a high altitude,between the shore station and the ocean,there is a winding and dense mangrove belt."The submarine data center itself is green and low-carbon,and we also adhere to the concept of ecological and environmental protection during the construction process."Pu Ding introduced that when laying submarine optoelectronic composite cables,directional drills were used to pass through the mangrove forest below,maximizing the integrity of the mangrove forest.
Entering the control room of the shore station,the internal and external environment and various parameters of each data cabin on the screen are clear at a glance.The monitoring equipment inside the cabin records the real-time operation and load status of each server;The operational business situation of customers can also be presented through digital twin systems.
The shore station covers only a few hundred square meters and has less than 10 staff members.This is also one of the advantages of underwater data centers-through intelligent remote control systems,it can reduce the daily inspection work of operation and maintenance personnel,and lower later operating costs.
In terms of security,"when sealing the tank body of the data cabin,the order and direction of each bolt must be accurate to millimeters.Therefore,we have developed a set of operating procedures."Pu Ding said that during the research and development stage,the team has overcome technical difficulties such as the safety of underwater sealing with ultra large diameter head flanges,the ability to resist adhesion and corrosion in marine environments,and the design life of the data cabin has reached 25 years.
Several tens of meters deep seawater is also a natural barrier,reducing the risk of natural disasters."In the R&D and design process of the underwater data center,we fully considered external impacts under extreme working conditions such as typhoons and earthquakes,and developed corresponding contingency plans."Pu Ding introduced that according to the semi annual operation report released in July 2023,Typhoon No.4"Taili"had almost no impact on the underwater data center.
The shore based radar monitoring divides the seabed data center area into an internal core area and an external monitoring area,weaving an integrated intangible protection network.Once the work vessel passes by or approaches the underwater data center,the shore station will receive an alarm and respond quickly.
How does the underwater"cloud"center operate——
Collaborate to build an"exclusive cloud"that can process over 4 million high-definition photos within 30 seconds
Why is the underwater data cabin not uniformly placed,but deployed in batches,since it is the same batch of projects?
"On the one hand,it is a technical consideration to ensure maximum safety when launching in batches.On the other hand,it is also an exploration of our service model."Li Jiawen introduced that the first batch of data cabins launched launched were carried out through cabinet leasing business,with Hailan Cloud providing cabin space and infrastructure,and customers putting their own servers into custody.However,the data volume operated by most enterprises cannot support the servers of the entire data cabin,and this"whole cabin leasing"model makes many enterprises hesitant.
"With the experience of the data cabin before,this time we attracted the head cloud computing manufacturers to jointly build'exclusive cloud'and upgrade the business model of the undersea data center."Li Jiawen introduced that the so-called"exclusive cloud"means that the server is provided by Hailan Cloud and partners,and customers can directly customize and purchase"cloud computing services",which greatly reduces the threshold for enterprises to use the services of the undersea data center.
"A fully loaded'exclusive cloud'device is like an underwater'supercomputer',with computing power equivalent to 60000 traditional computers running simultaneously,capable of processing over 4 million high-definition photos in 30 seconds."Li Jiawen introduced that before the launch of the data cabin,Hailan Cloud had already signed order contracts with institutions and enterprises such as Sanya Yazhou Bay Technology City and Tuo'er Si,exceeding 50%of the total order volume.
After attracting the settlement of the underwater data center project,Lingshui County is also actively planning its industrial layout.Wu Haifeng,Secretary of the Lingshui County Party Committee,stated that the Lingshui Submarine Data Center demonstration project will leverage the industrial logic of"computing power advantage+data cross-border+local scenario+talent supply"to attract capital and innovative elements to gather,striving to become an important support for the transformation of the Lingshui industry.
"The construction of Hainan Free Trade Port has ushered in a large demand for offshore data centers.Underwater data centers can provide underlying support for the development of the digital economy and will also assist in the safe and orderly flow of cross-border data in Hainan Free Trade Port,"said Su Yang,Executive Director of Hailan Cloud Data Center Technology Co.,Ltd.(Reporter Cao Wenxuan)
