- RUVDS expands hosting to the coldest, remote areas on Earth
- Tests promise fast data access for extremely remote environments
- Antarctica mission tests the limits and innovation of data centers
Russian hosting company RUVDS has announced plans to deliver a server in one of the most isolated locations on Earth: the South Pole.
Building on its previous Arctic experiment, the company aims to explore the feasibility of providing fast, uninterrupted data access from the remote, icy landscape of Antarctica.
According to the company’s schedule, this ambitious undertaking will take place next year and aims to prove a reliable server infrastructure that can function even under the toughest conditions.
The world’s most challenging climates
This venture follows RUVDS’ previous success at the Barneo Ice Camp, a temporary station on an ice floe near the North Pole. Earlier in 2024, the company delivered a ‘data center in a box’ to Barneo via an airdrop from an Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft.
The server is equipped with weatherproof materials and connected to the RUVDS satellite. It is designed to provide internet access and data hosting capabilities in the Arctic. Although the server was intended to operate for a month, the experiment was halted after just a week due to an emergency evacuation due to a crack in the ice.
Learning from its Arctic experiences, RUVDS is now preparing the Antarctic server with advanced isolation and backup power systems.
The equipment shall be provided with uninterruptible power supplies to prevent power outages and ensure continuous operation. The goal of RUVDS is to create an “Antarctic data center” that can provide users with fast data access regardless of extreme temperatures.
The server’s connection will rely on a high-speed communications channel, which is expected to be delivered along with the hardware. RUVDS has not yet specified the exact technologies it will use for this channel, but the Arctic experiment used its own satellite, the StratoSat TK-1, which was launched in June 2023 in collaboration with Russian space company Statonautica.
This satellite, a Low Earth Orbit picosatellite, is an important part of RUVDS’ Arctic and Antarctic operations. Despite memory damage during launch, the StratoSat TK-1 remains operational and broadcasts a simple HTML page from space.
The company has a number of server delivery options. It will deploy transport aircraft and ships that can withstand the challenges of reaching the South Pole.
If successful, the server installation could pave the way for future data centers in remote polar regions, contributing to scientific research and potentially opening new avenues for communications in inaccessible parts of the world.
“We already have a successful experience testing a server at the North Pole – this was a kind of first approach to testing. And Antarctica, as a region with much more complex logistics and conditions, allows us to continue research at a new level. ” says Nikita Tsaplin, CEO of the VDS server hosting provider RUVDS.
“As part of the mission, the possibility of establishing satellite communications, including high-speed channels, will be studied, and I do not rule out that we will conduct some kind of beta test of the commercial use of the server,” Tsaplin continued. .
Via DCD