Big Data Exchange (BDx), National University of Singapore’s Faculty of Engineering (NUS Engineering), and Sembcorp Marine have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to explore the feasibility of developing groundbreaking sustainable ocean data centres. This strategic alliance also seeks to address the growing climate and sustainability challenges facing the data centre industry and environment.
Under this MOU, each party will contribute a unique element to advance the development of sustainable ocean data centres. BDx will provide the data centre arrangement as well as the technical proposal and operational strategy, NUS Engineering will supply its cooling technology along with metrics for meeting relevant energy efficiency targets and Sembcorp Marine will contribute an offshore platform solution.
“Advancing the sustainability goals of our customers and uncovering new innovative ways to bring sustainability to the data centre industry is becoming increasingly important for BDx,” Braham Singh, CEO of BDx, said. “We have an ongoing commitment to this and we’re proud to work with NUS Engineering and Sembcorp Marine to begin the important work of creating a more sustainable future for our industry.”
“The growing demand for cloud computing, 5G, artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things has intensified the need for high-performance data centres that can be operated in an environmentally responsible manner,” Lee Poh Seng, executive director of the Energy Studies Institute at NUS, said. “We are pleased to study the feasibility of deploying our patented liquid cooling technology for this exciting development of offshore data centres that could be powered and cooled using seawater, the world’s most abundant resource.”
To counter the increasing environmental impact of data centres globally, BDx, NUS Engineering and Sembcorp Marine will also promote joint research and development activities of mutual interest and benefit in the areas of sustainable ocean data centres.
