The defining factor for colocation: Location, location, location!
Thought leadership article published by DCNN on 7 July 2023 written by CSMO Fredrik Jansson
The benefits of colocation are widely known – cost savings, security, scalability, reliability and round the clock support. Yet, there is one critical factor that must be considered above all else today: location. It’s no longer about organizations having close proximity to their data, but rather the strategic location where they locate their valuable data, which can save time, money and perhaps most importantly, the planet.
Sustainable Appeal
From increasing regulations to the continued struggle with energy prices, there has never been a greater need to lead with sustainability first. IT leaders can’t afford to ignore the mounting pressure to reduce their CO2 footprint, decrease overall emissions and decarbonize the whole of their IT stack.
More than a third of a data center’s energy consumption is typically used to cool the facility. Data center sites situated in the colder climates of the Nordics have a considerable advantage, where they can capitalize on colder air temperatures to maintain ambient air in a cost effective and sustainable way. When BNP Paribas moved a portion of its IT workload to Iceland, the leading financial organization experienced immediate savings, with a 50% reduction in energy consumption and 85% decrease in CO2 output.
Recognizing this importance, many governments in the Nordic countries are driving large-scale initiatives to enable a circular economy for businesses across the region to take advantage of their sustainable infrastructure. For example, Stockholm Data Parks, an initiative by the city of Stockholm, enables data center sites to capture and reuse excess heat. atNorth’s newly opened SWE01 state-of-the-art data center facility is located within the Park and has the ability to capture up to 85% of the electricity waste from the data center, which is then passed through the district heating system to provide heating for up to 20,000 apartments in the surrounding community.
The answer may not always be straightforward, but it is simple. Fuelled by abundant renewable resources with a circular economy framework in place, the Nordics are a safe home for today’s data-intense, compute-heavy IT infrastructures.
Cost Stability
It’s no doubt that the Nordic region is considered one of the most desirable locations for global organizations to colocate their workloads with leading sustainable data center partners like atNorth who has a strong presence in key Nordic countries. Its focus on renewable resources has shown that the Nordics have the infrastructure in place to continue to power data centers through the global energy transition and support businesses with their sustainability initiatives and carbon reductions.
This also enables the Nordics to benefit from improved cost stability compared to countries that rely on fossil fuels, given the price of renewable energy won’t be as affected by political and economic upheaval, political disruption, or regulatory changes.
At atNorth, we understand the growing need to work with High Performance Computing (HPC) partners that can accommodate cost stability as well as providing the right connectivity and reliability in an environmentally focused way. Colocation offers organizations that depend on high volume workloads to power innovative, cutting-edge solutions a cost-effective way to harness the power of supercomputing, drastically reducing TCO and expenses associated with overarching infrastructure maintenance.
Creating a Sustainable Path to Digitalization
Colocation is fast becoming the most resource-efficient solution, where shared resources create better conditions for sustainable, cost-efficient operations. It is without doubt a modern, flexible, and sustainable option for any business running parts of, or indeed entire infrastructures that require processing intensive, demanding high compute workloads.
As organizations re-examine their IT needs, the question they need to ask is two-pronged: does the data center have the best possible infrastructure to support the organization’s road to digitalization, and two, can it drive increasingly critical sustainability initiatives.
Read the complete article online here.