Nokia partners with atNorth to support cloud services in Finland

Author: Simon Rowley

atNorth, a Nordic colocation, high-performance computing and AI service provider, has announced plans to support Nokia’s cloud infrastructure with a multi megawatt deployment at its FIN02 site in Finland (pictured above). The contract spans over 12 years and includes potential extensions totalling over 10MW.

Nokia, one of the world’s leading telecommunications and networking technology companies, is headquartered in Finland and has long utilised Finnish data centres, leveraging the country’s cool climate and renewable energy sources to ensure the sustainability of its workloads. In fact, the business was ranked as the most sustainable telecoms and communications company in the world earlier this year.

Nokia and atNorth have built a long-standing relationship through atNorth’s use of Nokia data centre switches that power its HPCaaS offering, which currently runs from its data centres in Iceland and Sweden.

Well versed in the evolving data centre landscape, Nokia was looking for a data centre partner that could accommodate its high-density infrastructure needs without compromising its environmental credentials. The business required capacity suitable for high-density workloads of more than 130kw per rack, available at speed and with the potential for future scalability.

Located in Espoo, Greater Helsinki, atNorth’s newest data centre, FIN02, runs on renewable energy and features robust power and liquid cooling capabilities. Built for scalability, its modular design supports high-performance workloads. A collaboration with Kesko Corporation enables waste heat recycling to heat a nearby store, further lowering its carbon footprint.

“atNorth was able to meet our complex technical requirements at speed without compromising on our sustainability goals,” says Marika Mentula, Vice President for Network Infrastructure North Europe at Nokia. “By helping support our cloud infrastructure at atNorth’s FIN02 data center, we can deliver high-performance infrastructure that supports our most demanding applications.”

Eyjólfur Magnús Kristinsson, CEO of atNorth, adds, “As the data centre industry continues to grow at record speed, it’s clear that businesses are increasingly seeking the full package – sustainable, secure, infrastructure that can scale rapidly. Our longstanding partnership with Nokia, rooted in the hardware demands of our HPCaaS offering and built on a shared commitment to sustainability, is a testament to that. It adds to a growing list of globally recognized companies that trust atNorth with their mission-critical data and rely on us to deliver best-in-class service.”

The news follows atNorth’s recent announcement of its heat reuse partnership with retail giant, Kesko Corporation at its FIN02 data centre in Finland. The business has two other metro sites near Helsinki, and a fourth ‘mega’ site – which is currently in development in Kouvola – is expected to be operational by the end of 2025.

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