Data centers: small, smart, self-contained

Data centers: small, smart, self-contained

Building on past experiments that involved dropping a pressurized data center 117 feet into the ocean off Scotland (where it had a failure rate 1/8 that off land-based data centers), Microsoft's Azure Modular Datacenter is a ruggedized, container-sized pod that can be deployed anywhere connectivity and power is present.

In addition to providing new options for harsh, remote, and temporary storage solutions, it suggests a future where digital infrastructure can be highly mobile to follow migrating and dispersing populations. There are implications for data sovereignty as well—as the cloud fragments and scales down—could data reside closer to where it is collected?