Finland Wants to Become Sustainable Data Center Hub | Corporate Social Responsibility

Finland Wants to Become Sustainable Data Center Hub

Kajaani, the capital of the province of Kainuu in central Finland, wants to pitch itself as an ideal place for sustainable data center operations. Region representatives say the area has excellent power infrastructure coming from renewable sources, perfect natural cooling environments, strong fiber connectivity to Western and Eastern Europe internet exchanges, and strong governmental support.

As part of this business campaign, Invest in Kainuu will host an investment forum on October 26. Organized in collaboration with consulting firm BroadGroup, the forum will explore why Northern Europe is attracting companies like Google and Facebook to establish data center facilities there.

The region offers a number of benefits, such as the availability of significant energy capacity (120MW on site renewable and 400MW diverse grid connectivity) and zoned greenfield adjacent land, which is immediately available.

Kajaani has been selected by the Finnish Government to be the home of its new Super Computer Data Centre on a UPM site that previously housed a paper mill, and which is due to go live in the third quarter of 2012. The Super Computer project is due to establish the world's first zero-emissions Super Computer, tapping the local environment in terms of 100 percent non-mechanical cooling (water and air resources).

"As data centers become more integrated with IT and cloud thinking then a different mindset may be applied to datacentre locations," said Steve Wallage, managing director of BroadGroup Consulting. "More broadly, we could think differently about data center procurement, towards smaller deployments at more diverse locations than simply the 'big shed'".

The company said in a recent report that data center location is receiving much wider consideration than previously. It noted that changes in procurement are occurring with corporates increasingly using broader IT and outsourcing specialists, who have a greater willingness to use different locations.

To find out more, visit the forum's website.

Image credit: Wikipedia

via justmeans.com