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atNorth to build state-of-the-art data center in Stockholm

Iceland-headed tech company atNorth (previously known as Advania Data Centers) has begun construction of a new SEK 600 million (≈US$72 million) climate-positive data center in Stockholm Data Parks, Sweden. The complex will have an IT load of 11.2 MW and will generate excess heat that energy utility Stockholm Exergi AB can recover for use as district heating.

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An artist’s rendering of atNorth’s first data center outside of Iceland that will be built in Stockholm Data Parks in Kista, Sweden. Residual heat from the servers will be utilized by Stockholm Exergi for district heat (image courtesy atNorth).

The new data center will be located in Stockholm Data Parks in Kista, in the northern part of the Swedish capital. Kista is Stockholm’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) district, and the second-largest ICT cluster in the world after California’s Silicon Valley in the United States (US).

By investing in Stockholm, atNorth will expand to a new electricity market and geo-location. It will be atNorth’s first facility outside Iceland, where it runs two first-class data centers. The project will also strengthen its global competitiveness, boost operational security and efficiency, and improve customer service.

We welcome atNorth to Stockholm Data Parks and are proud that they chose Stockholm as their first data center located outside of Iceland. Also, by reusing the excess heat generated, the data center contributes in a significant way to making Stockholm a leader in sustainability and the transition towards a circular economy, said Tora Holm, Head of Data Centers at Invest Stockholm, one of the founding partners of Stockholm Data Parks.

Thanks to Stockholm‘s low energy costs, sustainable and reliable energy sources, as well as low-latency connections to Europe, global market leaders like Amazon Web Services and Microsoft have previously invested in multiple data centers in the region.

With society growing ever more digital and connected, the role of data centers has become increasingly important for our whole country. Large quantities of data are generated, stored, and distributed when we use social media, streaming services, and online shopping, as well as for new technologies within artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, and modern research. Stockholm has kept pace with these technological advances and is in a position to meet all the requirements of modern data centers, said Tora Holm.

Phase one underway

atNorth, previously Advania Data Centers, will construct the 6 400 sq.m data center in seven steps. The first phase is scheduled to be operational by the end of 2021 and the facility will be one of the first data centers in the Nordics built for High-Performance Computing (HPC).

The data center will be certified with ISO 27001, like all existing data center facilities that atNorth operates and owns.

The data center, called Stockholm SWE01: SIF DC, will offer racks that can host up to 40kW air-cooled infrastructure and over 100kW for liquid-cooled infrastructure to meet the growing demand for large scale computing.

The facility will provide high-density data center space and atNorth’s flagship AI and high-performance computing Infrastructure as a Service, HPC|FLOW.

For atNorth, this SIF DC is a landmark project, as we are expanding beyond Iceland. Our goal is to become a world leader in high-performance computing and colocation services. We are excited to bring more compute power and services to our ambitious customers. It means they can reduce cost, bring products to market faster than before, and solve even more complicated problems, Eyjólfur Magnús Kristinsson, CEO of atNorth explained.

Utilize residual heat

In all operations, atNorth is eager to minimize its environmental footprint. Hence, climate-positive solutions are at the forefront when developing green- and brownfield projects.

Apart from secure access to robust technical infrastructure and exceptional connectivity, the Kista location allows atNorth to supply the city via Stockholm Exergi with environmentally friendly district heating via Stockholm Exergi.

Thus the concept of using excess heat created by the data center’s IT load for local house-heating fits perfectly with atNorth’s eco-vision.

“By collaborating with a leading energy provider in the area – Stockholm Exergi – the energy in the heat created by servers in our data center is not wasted but utilized in a supply chain that increases energy efficiency for the whole society and reduces wasteful energy usage,” ended Eyjólfur Magnús Kristinsson (photo courtesy atNorth).

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