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Is this the fuel cell that will crack the code to the data center? | Gigaom

Microsoft is exploring putting fuel cells directly in datacenter racks and skipping the DC/AC/DC conversion.

The controversial idea of using fuel cells to power data centers has been under discussion for the past couple of years. Probably the most famous project out there is Apple’s 10 MW fuel cell farm, which uses 50 fuel cells from Silicon Valley startup Bloom Energy installed next to its east coast data center in North Carolina.

But Microsoft is just starting to kick off a pretty unusual and innovative project using fuel cells and data centers that could some day draw a lot of interest. Microsoft is working with young startup Redox Power Systems and using a grant from the Department of Energy’s ARPA-E program, to test out Redox’s fuel cells to power individual server racks within a data center.

via Is this the fuel cell that will crack the code to the data center? | Gigaom.