Microsoft, Data Centers will be more reliable thanks to this new technology

Microsoft

Microsoft is testing a new cooling technology, known as "Boiling Liquid", which promises to be more powerful, more reliable and cheaper than traditional air systems used in data centers.

The servers used for the tests are very similar to those cooled by mineral oil, only this time they are completely immersed in boiling liquid (obviously not conductive), the composition of which has not been revealed at the moment, but we know that it boils at only 50 ° C. Such a low boiling point is necessary to draw heat away from critical components. Once the liquid begins to boil, it will automatically flow to the surface, allowing the cooling condensers to contact the liquid and return it to its previous state. Indeed, this system can be seen as a giant vapor chamber. In fact, both rely on chemical reactions to bring heat from system components to the cooling chambers, whether it is heat sinks or, in this case, capacitors.

Credit: Microsoft Microsoft claimed to have developed this new technology due to the increasing demands for energy and heat from computer components, which will only get worse. The software giant said transistors have become so small that they have reached the atomic level and soon it will no longer be possible to further reduce production nodes. To counter this problem, it was necessary to increase the power consumption quite significantly to offer more performance, for example by adding more and more cores to a CPU. Microsoft noted that the processors increased from 150W to over 300W per chip and the same was true in the field of GPUs as well. As server components become more and more thirsty for energy, the Redmond company believes this new solution will be optimal for containing server infrastructure costs.

Microsoft launched the Natick project a few years ago. massive to bring data centers underwater to inherit the benefits of using seawater as a cooling system. To do this, the server chambers were filled with dry nitrogen air instead of oxygen and used cooling fans, a heat exchanger, and plumbing that piped seawater through the cooling system. Thanks to this operation, the company was able to verify the absolute reliability of liquid cooling. Servers on the sea floor recorded an eighth of the failure rate of correspondents present on land, but air-cooled.

Credit: Microsoft A subsequent analysis indicated that the lack of humidity and the corrosive effects of oxygen were responsible for the increased sustainability of these servers. Microsoft hopes that the new “Boiling Liquid” technology will be able to provide very similar performance, thus maximizing server efficiency and reliability.

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Microsoft says the iPad Pro is a pitiful ripoff

The consummate salesperson. But persuasive?

Screenshot by ZDNet

I don't know what's got into Microsoft lately.

Perhaps Tim Cook has been sending derogatory texts to Satya Nadella.

Perhaps there's been some peculiar shortfall in sales targets.

Whatever it might be, Microsoft is straining every sinew to snarl, scoff, and spit at Apple's products.

A few weeks ago, it was a Surface Pro 7 ad that insisted the MacBook Pro was a sad imitation of a modern computer.

Microsoft continued to denigrate the MacBook by referring to it -- somewhat nonsensically -- as the BackBook in another ad.

And now, it's the turn of the iPad Pro to be subjected to Redmond's withering wit.

This latest ad features the same wise teen expert as in the earlier Surface Pro 7 ad, enjoying the iPad Pro and the Surface Pro 7 side by side.

Oddly, he enjoys the Surface Pro 7 far more.

He explains: 'A lot of people wanted me to compare the Microsoft Surface Pro 7 to the iPad Pro.'

A lot of people around the world? A lot of people in Microsoft's marketing department? It's unclear.

What radiates, however, is that the iPad Pro is a lamentable dungheap of a gadget that only exists to prop up rich people's egos.

Why, the iPad Pro can't even prop itself up. It has no kickstand. (Well, it does, but you have to buy the keyboard.)

Actually, speaking of that keyboard, it's apparently very, very heavy. This hasn't been my own experience, but perhaps my hands and arms are less sensitive than yours.

Moreover, 'with the Surface you have all kinds of ports,' says our hero. I looked closely. It seems to have two. One more than the iPad Pro. Which some might find all kinds of exaggeration, however useful a second port might be.

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Dongle life is, of course, one of Apple's most putrid creations. This is undoubtedly accurate. Is it enough, though, to switch to a Surface Pro 7?

In essence, our expert explains, the iPad Pro is 'just a tablet,' while the Surface Pro 7 is your actual computer. An actual computer that costs far less than the iPad Pro, once you buy the keyboard.

Naturally, sides will be taken when faced with such comparisons. Not everyone has the same uses for their machines. Some find that one type of machine simply suits them better than another.

Apple people may claim the iPad Pro is much faster and its Pencil far more efficient and accurate than the Surface's Pen. They may also claim that once you're in Apple's ecosystem, the iPad Pro is an obvious, if expensive, choice.

Equally, the Windows-heavy brigade will naturally gravitate to the Surface Pro 7 for its Windows-friendliness.

But when you kneel inside the confessional and cross yourself, what may lie at the core here?

Is it that Microsoft dislikes how popular the iPad Pro has become? Is it frustrating that the Surface Pro 7 is underappreciated?

Or could there be a certain frisson of fear that, as Apple begins to release more MacBooks and tablets with its own chips, the competition will become even more arduous?