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- RUVDS extends hosting to the coldest and most remote regions of the Earth
- The tests promise high-speed data access for extreme remote environments
- The mission in Antarctica tests the limits of the data center and innovation
Russian hosting company RUVDS has announced plans to provide a server in one of the most isolated places on Earth: the South Pole.
Building on its previous Arctic experiment, the company aims to explore the feasibility of providing uninterrupted high-speed data access from the remote and frozen landscape of Antarctica.
According to the company’s schedule, this ambitious undertaking will take place next year and seeks to demonstrate that reliable server infrastructure that can operate even in the harshest conditions.
The most difficult climates in the world
This venture follows RUVDS’ previous success at the Barneo Ice Field, a temporary station on an ice shelf near the North Pole. In early 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 weather-resistant materials and connected to the RUVDS satellite. It is designed to provide Internet access and data hosting capabilities in the Arctic. While the server was meant to operate for a month, an emergency evacuation due to a crack in the ice cut the experiment short after a week.
Learning from its Arctic experience, RUVDS is now preparing the Antarctic server with advanced insulation and safety systems.
Equipment will include uninterrupted power supply to counteract power failures and ensure continuous operation. The goal of RUVDS is to create an “Antarctic data center” capable of providing high-speed data access to users, regardless of extreme temperatures.
The server connection will rely on a high-speed communication channel, expected to be provided with the hardware. RUVDS has not yet specified the exact technologies it will use for this channel, but its Arctic experiment has used its own satellite, the StratoSat TK-1, which was launched in June 2023 in collaboration with the Russian aerospace firm Statonautica.
This satellite, a Low Earth Orbit pico-satellite, is a key part of RUVDS’ Arctic and Antarctic operations. Despite memory damage during launch, StratoSat TK-1 remains operational, broadcasting a simple HTML page from space.
The company has a couple of options for server delivery. It will involve transport aircraft and ships that can withstand the challenges of reaching the South Pole.
If successful, the installation of the server could pave the way for future data centers in remote polar regions, contributing to scientific research and potentially opening new paths for communications in inaccessible parts of the world.
“We already have a successful experience of launching tests of a server at the North Pole – this was a kind of first approach to the test. And Antarctica, as a region with much more complex logistics and conditions, we allows you to continue research at a new level,” said Nikita Tsaplin, CEO of VDS hosting provider RUVDS.
“As part of the mission, the possibility of establishing satellite communications, including high-speed channels, will be studied, and we do not exclude that we will conduct a kind of beta test of the commercial use of the server,” Tsaplin continued. .
Via DCD
