Page 19 - Summer 2024

devices and personal computers, with resonant was the use of an algorithm, developed with the
frequency being used to produce oscillation in assistance of machine learning, which identifies
a physical structure. By transmitting acoustic acoustic disruption and reallocates resources to
waves at the resonant frequency these waves thwart the attack before it damages the system.
become converted into physical vibrations in the This was found to be the most effective option.
target structure.
[ Reference: Capella,N., Data Centre World, 22nd. May ]
As water has a higher density than air, sound
waves can travel faster and further with the Study measures Viability of Space-based
result that in an underwater data centre an Data Centres
acoustic attack could lead to unresponsiveness,
latency and server overload.
An 18-month study by Thales Alenia has
concluded that space-based data centres
For the experiment a water tank was used could become a reality for Europe in the not-
DATA CENTRE NEWS in combination with a lake on the University too-distant future.
of Florida campus. With the aid of a regular
consumer underwater speaker of a type
The Advanced Space Cloud for European Net-
commonly used in swimming pools, which was
Zero Emission Sovereignty (ASCEND), launched in
placed 20 feet from an underwater data centre,
2023 and funded by the European Commission’s
an acoustic attack was simulated.
Horizon programme, aimed to compare the
environmental impacts of space-based data
centres against those of Earth-based ones and
thence to validate the technological feasibility
of developing, deploying and operating data
centres in orbit.
First Hydrogen-powered Green Data Centre “Never before has hydrogen been harnessed for
use as the primary power source for the data Findings showed that space-based data centres
Silicon Valley Data Centre as a Service (DCaaS) centre and that, combined with the unmatched could significantly reduce carbon dioxide
company ECL has become the first to offer a efficiency of our cooling system and emission- emissions generated by data processing and
modular data centre fully powered by green free operations, is unique in the world today”. storage, as well as removing the need for water-
hydrogen, as distinct from simply fuel cells, for based cooling systems.
back-up power. Dean Nelson, CEO of Cato, adds:
Christopher Valorge, Chief Technical Officer of
The modular, sustainable, off-grid data centre “ECL is uniquely positioned as they have Thales Alenia Space, states:
delivers 1MW per block, which can be configured redesigned the data centre from the ground up.
and customised to user requirements. Its first It is setting a new standard for excellence in the “The results of the ASCEND study confirm that
user is Cato Digital, a digital infrastructure design, deployment and delivery of hydrogen- deploying data centres in space could transform
provider, which offers a sustainable bare powered data centres today, not years from the European digital landscape, offering a more
metal cloud that is low-cost, low carbon and now”. eco-friendly and sovereign solution for hosting
available to the general public. Cato particularly and processing data”.
emphasises the fact that the rapid expansion Reference: ‘ECL announces first Hydrogen-powered Green Data
of AI is putting increasing strain on global data Centre’, Capella, N., Data Centre World, 25th. June Reference: Capella, N., Data Centre World, 9th. July
centre power capacity and that constructing
more of today’s conventional data centres is not
Underwater Data Centres vulnerable Sound injection directed toward a distributed file
going to solve this problem.
to Sound Attack system was found to cause unresponsiveness
and automatic node removal in 2.4 minutes with
The cooling system for the new data centre uses latency in a distributed database increasing
Research by the University of Florida and
water that is created as a by-product of the by up to 92.7 per cent. A redirect of up to 74 per
the University of Electro-Communications
hydrogen fuel cell power generation, eliminating cent of resources to a single server was also
in Japan has revealed that underwater
dependence on external water sources. It is observed, which naturally produced overload.
data centres, which have the advantages
combined with a rear-door heat exchange
of lower power consumption and enhanced
mechanism that allows for a higher density per
environmental sustainability, could be In order to counter these vulnerabilities several
rack than conventional data centres and yields a
significantly disrupted by a ‘sound injection’ different defensive methods were also tested.
Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) of 1.05.
attack. Sound-proof panels were tried, but these
were found to create an unacceptable rise in
Yuval Bachar, CEO and Founder of ECL, says: the temperature of the servers. Active noise
Acoustic injection has been studied as a
method of attack on land-based electronic cancellation was tried, but this was found to be
equipment such as hard disk drives, surveillance cumbersome and expensive. A third measure
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