Three factors to success as an award-winning Top 100 Data Center Company
By Fredrik Jansson — Chief Strategy and Marketing & Communications Officer
As we close December, I have found myself reflecting on the past year – most of which I’ve spent here, at atNorth. We are on the journey of a lifetime and a lot has changed since I joined in January. There have certainly been many proud moments in my time already. But as I think about where we started and how we’re finishing this year, one of the many things to be proud of is the external recognition we’ve received from our industry peers, customers, and colleagues.
Over the course of the year, we’ve been privileged to receive several accolades from various awarding bodies including the Edie Net Zero Awards, National Sustainability Awards, Infrastructure Masons Awards, DCD Global Awards and the 2023 Energy Awards. We were also the proud winners of the Tech Capital Award recognizing our operations in Iceland as a leading location for sustainable data center infrastructure.
In August, Data Centre magazine launched its Top 100 Companies ranking the world’s most influential data center companies. We are very proud to be included amongst this prestigious group of industry players, having continued to work hard to build sustainable, full stack data center infrastructure, that enables more compute for a better world. I think much of our success so far can be summarized in three factors, which remain a critical focus for the business: people, product and sustainability.
People = the key to organizational success
Our people are at the forefront of our business success and the key to our organization as a whole. atNorth is a value-driven company focusing on being dependable, empowering, and flexible. We have an extremely supportive working culture where we help our employees develop and grow and have fun along the way. The business that we’re building at atNorth is different – our journey is unique in its path.
atNorth has been able to attract top talent from both within the data center and HPC-as-a-service industry, as well as outside of the tech sector. We have more than doubled our headcount since 2022 and have been fortunate to recruit different people from different industries across global locations who are very good in their respective roles. We have well-recognized industry folk, and we have top talent from other sectors who bring exceptional experience and perspectives on how to grow a company.
Reaching outside of our industry has meant that we can enrich our business with different backgrounds. This brings different outlooks, ideas and skillsets to the business, which is proving to work extremely well for us.
Product = meeting the customer in a different way
One of the areas we have heavily focused on lies with the solution we are able to offer to our customers – we have built a product portfolio that meets our customers in different ways and that can cater for all levels of demand for high performance compute. Our data halls are designed for high density – from colocation with the flexibility to host any workload at any scale to our build to suit offering enabling customers to build large scale, bespoke, sustainable data center solutions to custom specifications.
Our acquisition of Gompute this year has further strengthened our “as-a-service” product suite, adding a market leading simulation platform to our portfolio. The Gompute HPCaaS platform is tailored to HPC workloads, running on dedicated bare metal hardware, and ready to use. This provides the ultimate time to market: create account — issue invitation to user – GO!
We truly believe we’re building a very different solution stack to what’s on the market today and this is incredibly exciting. This is underpinned by our rapid Nordic expansion. Our portfolio now includes ten Nordic sites that offer breadth and scope – from mega sites (ready for Build to Suit projects) to metro sites (enabling high density colocation or immediate compute via our Gompute HPCaaS Plaform).
Sustainability = a way of life, not just a tick box
Sustainability has been woven into the fabric of the atNorth business from its very beginning almost 15 years ago. It is the heart of our company and the reason for our Nordic focus.
The Nordic region is undoubtedly emerging as one of the safest and optimal places for data center operations with its proven ability to underpin and support growing data demands with the environment in mind. The region’s colder climate and sustainable infrastructure offers significant advantages for data centers – from the abundant natural resources and low carbon power sources to the adoption of circular economy principles.
The strategic location of all atNorth data centers means that we can get to the core of what many businesses are struggling with in terms of meeting sustainability targets and offering efficient, cost-effective service with peace of mind. Innovation in cooling and heat reuse are part of our ethos and we’re committed to building this into all atNorth builds, as we keep a keen eye on creating a better world for our children.
Our industry continues to operate at the incredibly powerful intersection of digitalization and sustainability, fuelling transformation at a pace that has almost never been seen before. At atNorth, we feel extremely fortunate to be in a position where we can make a real positive impact on this, to help future-proof organizations and protect our climate for generations to come.
Q&As
1. Can atNorth provide specific examples or case studies showcasing how atNorth’s sustainable data center infrastructure has made a positive impact on the environment or contributed to reducing carbon emissions?
We have published a Case Study in collaboration with Shearwater, the global provider of powerful geophysical marine seismic acquisition and processing services, which documents how Shearwater experienced huge cost savings and reduced carbon emissions with atNorth’s data center services in Iceland.
2. How does atNorth ensure the security and reliability of its data centers, particularly considering the increasing demand for data storage and processing capabilities in today’s digital age?
All our Nordic data centers feature a concentric ring of security:-
- Monitored by on-site, 24⁄7 security personnel
- Security operates from internal monitoring office
- Internal and external advanced security surveillance camera systems
- Man-trap intruder detection and card access systems throughout
- High grade boundary fencing plus secure access control
Additionally, the sites also include advanced encryption methods to protect sensitive data, the implementation of multi-factor authentication for access control, and redundant power and cooling systems to ensure uninterrupted service availability.
atNorth data centers are certified for Information Security Management — ISO 27001.
3. What are the future plans or projects that atNorth is undertaking to further enhance its product offerings or expand its presence in the industry across the Nordic region?
atNorth will expand its footprint across all five Nordic countries. With expansion projects currently underway at ICE02 and ICE03 in Iceland, plus two new sites in Finland FIN02 and FIN04 and a new site in Denmark. atNorths mission is to be the leading Nordic data center provider in the Nordics and the decarbonization partner of choice.