Telenor and Hafslund, together with partners, are planning to build three secure and energy-efficient commercial centres for national data storage in Norway. The country is digitising at a historic rate, while at the same time the criteria for security and sustainability are tightening.
"Data centres are, in many ways, the digital heart of any business. This is where the data flows to and from, which involves high quality, security and energy efficiency requirements. Together with Hafslund and partners, we will now establish Norway's most secure commercial data centre operator, with a strong focus on sustainable solutions", says Sigve Brekke, CEO of Telenor.
Sensitive data
The new company is part-owned by Telenor (31.7%), Hafslund (31.7%), HitecVision (31.7%) and Analysys Mason in Norway (5.0%). Telenor is one of Norway's leading telecoms operator and Hafslund, fully owned by the Oslo municipality, is one of the country's largest energy and infrastructure groups. HitecVision invests in developing energy companies in Norway and Europe, and Analysys Mason is a leading consulting agency in telecom, media and technology.
"Backed by Norwegian-managed capital, this partnership will help resolve a significant issue in an increasingly digital society. Norwegian security authorities have requested the establishment of data centres and cloud services for sensitive information, functions and infrastructure of importance to national security interests in Norway. By creating this company, we are facilitating that sensitive data across sectors is stored and delivered safely on Norwegian soil", says Brekke.
Three new datacentres
Together with its partners, Telenor and Hafslund aim for the new company – the name of which wasn't disclosed – to be a leading player within colocation data centres. This entails the supply of servers and other hardware from private and public businesses with high security and efficient energy consumption requirements. The new company's ambition is to build three data centres, with a total capacity of 40 MW, in the capital region. The data centres will be colocation facilities for several tenants. Telenor Norway will deploy its own infrastructure, with associated strict security requirements. The development of the first data centre in Oslo will start towards the end of 2023.
Safe and sustainable
The new company will make it possible for businesses to move servers and critical IT infrastructure inside state-of-the-art data centres. This aids businesses and society from unnecessarily high electricity consumption and will lay the foundation for more efficient and responsible operations. Together with Norway's largest district heating supplier, Hafslund Oslo Celsio, the company has ambitions to design data centres with efficient solutions for reusing excess heat. The data centres, therefore, become a valuable contributor to a circular economy in Oslo municipality.
"Establishing these data centres will be an important contribution to enabling Norway's green transformation and digitalisation. With solutions to reuse excess heat, the data centres will free up power consumption for heating and thus provide energy-efficient solutions necessary to reach Oslo's and Norway's climate goals", says Finn Bjørn Ruyter, CEO of Hafslund
