Lefdal Mine Datacenter looking to accelerate growth

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LEFDAL MINE DATACENTER LOOKING TO ACCELERATE GROWTH – PROCESS FOR SHARE ISSUE PARETO SECURITIES HIRED AS FINANCIAL ADVISOR IN THE PROCESS

Lefdal Mine Datacenter AS (LMD) has in 2018 and so far in 2019 installed 10 MW of data center capacity. LMD has proven to the market the capability of implementing a TIER III certified design with a unique low investment per MW. The design approach is industrialized, and has a built-in flexibility that makes it possible to accommodate variations in both power requirements per unit, as well as different quality requirements/Tier levels. The capacity in LMD is almost unlimited due to the existing size of the facility and the high volume of hydropower production in the area. To accelerate growth and enable investments needed in related infrastructure, LMD has hired Pareto Securities to explore possible new investors for LMD.

The main housing solution is 40 feet IT containers. LMD place the containers on both side of the streets. The streets are 17m high, enabling LMD to have 3 containers on top of each other.

The data center market is growing fast. Expected CAGR for the global wholesale co-location market from 2019-2024 is 15.7% with an expected turnover of $30 billion in 2024. Total market will increase with about 1,000 MW or 730,000 m2 of whitespace per year. Europe as market will see the highest relative increase together with APAC.

The Nordic countries are well suited for data centers due to the countries vast resources of renewable energy, low power prices, favorable climate conditions, good infrastructure as well as a skilled workforce. This has resulted in a surge of foreign investments over the past years. Companies such as Apple, Facebook, Google and Amazon (AWS) have made large investments in the hyperscale and cloud segment. The increased demand for High Performance Computing (HPC), i.e. artificial intelligence, makes LMD’s efficient and high- capacity water-cooling particular relevant in these fast-growing market segments.

The mine consists of six levels divided into 75 chambers with a potential white space area of 120.000 m2. The entry point leads to a 2 000 meters long access road, “the Spiral”, which is 14 meters wide and 8.5 meters high. The Spiral gives access to each floor level. LMD has built out Level 3 in Phase 1 and will later build out Level 2 (Phase 3) and Level 4 (Phase 2).

Current owners of LMD are regional technology investors 50.7%, Dr. Friedhelm Loh (Rittal/IDS) 33.3% and Sogn og Fjordane Energi (SFE) 16%.

“We have built and operate one of the leading data centers in the Nordics. Market demand is increasing, and we see that our solution is future proof. High densities, renewable power, low operational costs and increased demand for security are all trends that lead capacity to LMD. The current financial structure limits the speed of growth. We now wish to accelerate the build out of infrastructure and customer intake says Sindre Kvalheim, CoB at LMD. The board and owners have decided to hire Pareto to explore possible investors says Sindre Kvalheim.”

The containers are transported to the designated area with an electrical vehicle.

For more information on the share issue process, please contact Pareto and Lars Ove Skorpen at +47 91323115 or lars.ove.skorpen@paretosec.com – www.paretosec.no.

For information about LMD please contact Sindre Kvalheim at +47 97401400 or sindre.kvalheim@local-host.no – www.lefdalmine.com.

Best regards,
Sindre Kvalheim

CoB – Lefdal Mine Datacenter AS
Mobile: +47 974 01 400
E-mail: sindre.kvalheim@local-host.no

The Data Halls are always 12 meters wide and 4 meters high. They wary in length from 30 to 70 meters. Space/capacity can be rented in pods from 20 racks up to entire halls, 300 m2 to 800 m2.

Lefdal Mine Datacenter AS

LMD – The Norwegian Solution – is a unique mountain hall facility on the West Coast of Norway. It is one of the most cost effective, secure, flexible and green datacenter solutions in Europe. With a unique scalability, renewable power at leading low cost, a water-based cooling solution allowing up to 50 KW/rack with a PUE of less than 1.15 and low construction costs the facility is ideally positioned for current and future demands in the data center market.

The facility is Uptime Tier III Design certified and can offer one of the most secure datacenter solutions in the Nordic market. Current owners are:

Regional Technology Investors RTI – 50,7%
The regional investors have an offspring from a technology cluster based in Måløy. The cluster are involved in data centers, video conferencing, shipyards and marine technology and export.

Rittal has developed specially designed containers tailor-made for LMD. The containers consist of server racks, raised floor, LCP’s, PDR racks and network racks. They are available in different sizes – 6 to 12 server racks – with densities from 5 to 30 kW/rack. They can be adapted in N+1 or N+N environments. Standardization ensures high quality, lower price and short delivery time.

Rittal/IDS – Professor Friedhelm Loh – 33,3%
Professor Friedhelm Loh owns a group of companies that provide software, products and services to a range of industries including switchgear manufacturing, power distribution, steel and plastics. Today, the group has 11,500 employees, 78 global subsidiaries and annual revenue of around €2.2 billion. The largest company in the group, Rittal, supplies enclosures, climate-control technology, power distribution gear and IT infrastructure. In 2013, Friedhelm Loh Group acquired Cideon AG and Kiesling Maschinentechnik – companies active in software and engineering. Professor Friedhelm Loh serves as honorary president of ZVEI, a German electronics and electric manufacturers’ association. iNNOVO Data Systems (IDS) is owned by Rittal/Professor Friedhelm Loh.

Sogn og Fjordane Energi – 16%
SFE (Sogn og Fjordane Energi) is a publicly owned utility company. SFE plays an important role in the Norwegian power industry. They own or rent 24 power plants producing 2500 GWh renewable power in the region of Lefdal Mine Datacenter. In addition, they are a broker for several smaller power plants. They are also responsible for the regional grid – 4 000 km. SFE is an owner enabling Lefdal Mine Datacenter to offer optimal power solutions and power prices for end clients. Annual revenue of around $200 million NOK.

Norway as data center location

Norway has a 98,5% share of renewables in its power production. One foresees a significant surplus in the production and extremely competitive price forecasts for the years to come. Long term power prices in Norway are expected to be the lowest in the Nordics.

The Norwegian Government has recognized the potential data center market and have over time invested public sector resources towards enabling the Norwegian Datacenter Industry to grow into an international, commercially attractive solution that will generate an increase in Direct Foreign Investment for the Norwegian Economy.

Norway provides a unique proposition to satisfy a growing international marketplace for large scale Data centers, IT Hosting Services and International Cloud Delivery Centers:

  • Abundant renewable power, strong grid and world leading long term power prices
  • Competitive tax regime, strong economy, competent workforce
  • Stable political situation
  • EU-compatible framework
  • Credit ranked no. 1 in the world
  • Ranked 6th worldwide on “ease of doing business”
  • Ranked 2nd worldwide in the Cushman & Wakefield 2016 Data Center Risk Index

Pareto Securities

Pareto Securities is an independent full-service investment bank with a leading position in the Nordic capital markets and a strong international presence within the energy sectors. Pareto Securities is headquartered in Oslo, Norway, with more than 500 employees located in offices in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, USA, Singapore and Australia. In addition to being recognized as a leading player in the primary and secondary equity markets, Pareto Securities has the largest fixed income team in the Nordic region dedicated to high yield bonds, holding an undisputed position as the number one investment bank in terms of market knowledge and placing power.

 

IaaS

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IaaS

Iaas is an acronym for “Infrastructure as a Service”. IaaS, per definition, is a form of cloud computing (hosted servers over the Internet) that provides virtualized computing resources over the internet.

IaaS and its functions

In the iaaS model, a provider of cloud will host the infrastructure components. IaaS provides the following services:

  • Servers and storage
  • Networking firewalls/security
  • Datacenter physical building

Operating through IaaS has been proven to be less costly than other methods. The IaaS model makes it easier to operate a workload without having to buy, manage or support underlying infrastructure. Today it is one of the most easily scalable IT solutions.

Read more: Infrastructure as service

A typical IaaS can provide the following benefits:

No hardware CAPEX
IaaS is set up and maintained by a cloud provider, saving time and cost.

Scalability
With IaaS there is little to no trouble with scaling. There are no delays in expanding
capacity, and no waste in unused capability.

Location independence
Thanks to the Internet, the service can be accessed from everywhere. As long as you are connected to the internet you can connect with ease.

Utility style costing
You only pay for the resources you actually use. This makes it exceedingly less expensive and more straightforward to manage.

Physical security of data centre location

No single point of failure
Due to the magnitude of the hardware resources, the chances of failure are infinitesimal. Should one aspect of the service stop working, it will not affect the rest.

Businesses can lease and or buy infrastructure through other companies. Lefdal Mine provides a customer specific set application as well as software enabling platforms.

Where can IaaS be used?

Internal Business Networks

Using IaaS as a business can ensure a place to store data and run applications with ease. An expanding business can scale the infrastructure simultaneously with the growth.

Virtual Datacenter´s (VDC)

IaaS offers a virtualized network where it is possible to operate sophisticated cloud hosting as well av enhanced IT infrastructure and integrated options.

Here at Lefdal Mine, we provide other services to our customers. We build strong relationships with our customers by providing them a good experience, and your experience with us is of high significance. Our employees are constantly working on providing cost-efficient services to benefit both parties during our partnership. We want to help you the best we can. All our services are of high quality, and our employees will make sure to serve you at the time agreed.

Containers

Rittal has specifically designed containers/modules tailored to perfection for the Lefdal Mine Datacenter. The Standard Modules contain the following:

  • Server racks
  • Raised floor
  • LPC’s
  • PDR racks
  • Network racks

The modules can fit in designated areas for IT equipment. Examples can be IT containers, data halls or security rooms.

Facility

The Lefdal Mine is located in the region Sogn og Fjordane between Måløy and Nordfjordeid. It is situated next to a deep fjord. today the mine consist of 75 chambers shared in an area of 120.000 m^2.

The area allows for placement of containers. These can be stacked in three heights and. With the amount of space we have, there should be no issue in growing your infrastructure. There is plenty of space to use.

Read more: The Norwegian Solution

Project management

Our educated team will take care of the installation for you. We can assist you in design and manage your project. Our employers help with the more intricate parts of your installation if needed. We take your wishes into consideration, and will offer you project management.

Why Lefdal Mine?

Our unique location gives us the advantage to use green power and low cost when it comes to power and cooling. This helps us in being a dependable datacenter facility. Our slogan is:

“To offer the most cost effective, secure, flexible and green datacenter solution in Europe”

Focusing on renewable energy is one of our most important priorities when building our company. We know that it is worth investing in new and more climate-friendly solutions. These have over the years been proven to be more sustainable and profitable. Helping you grow your own datacenters and IaaS will be done in a “greener” way.

Security

Data is valuable. We at Lefdal Mine put a lot of effort into our high security system so we can guarantee that all the data you keep at our mine is safe. We have special trained security that monitors the facility every day, 365 days a year. Because our premises are under the ground and inside a mountain it’s much easier to ensure that all the data we keep are safe. Not only are the facility monitored from the outside, we have control rooms that are being guarded 24/7. To move between the different rooms and areas inside our mine you need a card, thats to make sure that no one have access to places where they should not be.

We want to be prepared for everything, and that’s why all of out IT areas are provided with a fully automatic fire and smoke detection system. We also have automatic detectors in every container to protect personnel and equipment. The detection system detects fire, smoke and heat at a very early stage, and because of this, we can control the issue as soon as it is detected.

Contact

Would you like to know more, or have any questions? Contact us through our contact form!

HPC

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HPC

High performance computing, also known as HPC, is a computer with a high level of performance compared to a general-purpose computer. Another name for this particular kind of computer is supercomputer.

It is mainly used in cloud computing, and can be an efficient way to store and access important information compared to having an internal data infrastructure.

The General Idea of What HPC Is

HPC is measured in floating-point operations per second (FLOPS). There are supercomputers that can perform up to nearly a hundred quadrillion FLOPS. This means at least a hundred petaFLOPS. To put this in perspective, an average computer with a decent graphic card can calculate around 109 gigaFLOPS. That is an estimated 83,040,000,000 FLOPS or 10^9, while supercomputers are 10^15. In other words, the supercomputers are one of the most powerful computers available currently. At this present moment there is research being conducted in China, the U.S, the EU, Taiwan and Japan to build even more powerful supercomputers.

HPC is mainly used in cloud computing. Cloud computing means a shared pool of configurable computer system resources. This is at a higher level, and can be rapidly provisioned with a minimal management effort, often over the Internet. This makes it highly profitable and sustainable for both the distributor and user.

HPC Makes Organizations More Efficient

With HPC, different organizations are able to focus on their core business instead of using expensive resources on developing an advanced computer infrastructure. HPC aids enterprises at getting their applications to run at a considerably higher speed, improving the manageability while at the same time reducing the maintenance.

HPC computers usually aim for the maximum capability, rather than capacity. A capability computer will be able to solve a single large problem in the fastest time possible, and is at this moment, the only kind of computer that is able to do this specific task. This can have both advantages and disadvantages. HPC is capability computing, while other computers are capacity computers. These capacity computers are frequently referred to as more cost efficient. However, these are not able to solve larger issues. Even though their capacity is somewhat good compared to their cost, they can’t be compared to the technological prowess that is provided by supercomputers. The HPCs can provide several users at once, with minimal delay.

Read more: Managed Services

Lefdal Mine Datacenter

At Lefdal Mine, we help our clients with installation of supercomputers as well as providing cloud services. We provide these services and will take care of your advanced IT requirements through our HPC services. If you are an owner of a small or large business with the urgency of a highly sophisticated IT installation, but where it is needed for only one specific area, an HPC service provided by an external IT partner could be highly beneficial.

The reward of installing supercomputers is that it is profitable if services through the HPC can be offered to other companies in need. This type of business models have been spreading across the globe, and benefits both the user and the provider economically. We are here to help, regardless of what situation you are in.

Read more: The Facility

Other Services

Lefdal Mine works constantly to provide more cost-efficient services for our clients. Our exceptionally efficient employees have a lot of experience and knowledge, and will provide the best services for our customers. Some of our other services include:

Project Management

Our employees help our customers with project management, when it is needed. We have the knowledge to help with tricky situations and intricate installations. We can recommend design, and use the correct solutions to meet the requirements of the costumer. With us, you only need to focus on your data and not your data center. We take care of the more complex parts of your IT equipment, ensuring that your company can use the manpower in other fields. We install the infrastructure needed for you in a cost-efficient way.

Read more: Project Management

Regular Whitespace

Lefdal Mine provides “unlimited” space, power and cooling. We rent designated areas to our customers and can tailor these to our customers needs. Your requirements are some of the most important things we take into consideration while working. You can choose between an area you design for yourself, or one we provide for you. Either way, the area will be of dependable quality and will be ready for usage on the time agreed upon. If you are concerned about the ability to grow in our whitespace facility, there is no need to be worried. Lefdal Mine has 120.000 m^2 in our repertoire. Growing will be no issue whatsoever.

Read more: Regular Whitespace

Can we assist you with our services? You can contact us through our website, and we will provide the services needed for you.

Datacenter

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Datacenter

A datacenter is simply a designated area where computing and networking equipment are situated. Their purpose is to collect, distribute or allowing access to large amounts of data. They are also frequently referred to as server farms. This is due to the fact that there are large amounts of servers being stacked in a row.

The fundamentals of Datacenters

They can store and serve up websites, run E-mail and instant messaging services, provide cloud storage and applications.

Nearly every business or government needs their own datacenter, or access to someone else. Some build their own, or rent them at a colocation facility. At Lefdal Mine we can build your next datacenter at our premises, run your applications or cloud storage at one of our own centers.

How datacenters work

Technology is getting more powerful and the components needed for IT infrastructure are getting smaller. As technology keeps evolving rapidly, this constantly pushes companies to outsource to other companies abilities to deliver their services efficiently.

Any entity that has any sort of need for IT equipment needs to store their data and information somewhere, and the best places to do so is at datacenters. And the need for a place to store data have grown in the past years. This is the result of an unending growth of data, and the volume of data is at and all time high and needs to be stored somewhere. If we put this into perspective, there was approximately 1.8 ZB (zettabyte) of digital information stored in the world in 2011. That increased to 2.8 ZB in 2012, and is estimated to reach at least 40 ZB in 2020. With a datacenter service, all this can be stored and maintained with ease.

Datacenters can be built in containers or other designated facilities. These can be small or large depending on the amount of infrastructure or other IT equipment needed. At Lefdal Mine, we provide all services regarding this. The services include colocations, containers, HPCs and management services. The colocations are private providers of cloud services, but it is also possible to use public cloud providers like Amazon or Google.

Our services

Our main priority is that our services are cost-efficient. We want our customers to have the best experience when working with us. We provide everything surrounding datacenter. Our goal is to make it as easy as possible for our customers to save their data at a safe place.

  • Containers

    We build most datacenters inside containers at our mine. These can be stacked in heights of three, they are also super easy to install and move.

  • Project management

    We offer our expertise when building your new datacenter. With project management, we can assist you with design and installation based on your company requirements and needs.

Why Lefdal Mine?

Our vision is to offer cost-efficient and flexible solutions to our customers. We offer the best terms when it comes to location, low cost services, power and cooling. We have over the past few years been investing in renewable energy. This has proven to be more sustainable and less expensive. This helps us in offering the cheapest, yet best power possible to our customers. We have 350 MW of renewable power and access to a facility where there is 2500 MW of power. Our unique ability to focus on greener power has made us the to become one of the greenest datacenters in Europe. Our vision is devoted to our customers, and we will always contribute to creating greener solutions that benefit both the future of the world as well as our customers.

We also have a tremendous amount of space for you to develop a datacenter. The ability to grow has never been easier when there is 120.000 m^2 of space available. And because the mine is already there, we are able to offer low cost of the land, reducing a tremendous amount of expenses when we are building a data center. We will always make sure that everything is as it should be. Therefore, we have special trained security that monitors the facility 24/7. We also have air conditioning so the system won’t get too overheated.

Contact Us

If you have questions or want to know more about the services we provide, you can contact us through our contact form.

Colocation

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Colocation

Colocation Centre is a great alternative if you or your company do not have the opportunity to have your own datacenter. With an in-house option, you would not get the same benefits as you do when you use a third party centre. When using a colocation centre, you get access to higher levels of bandwidth, but at a lower cost.

The Idea

Colocation centre, also known as colo or “carrier hotel”, is a data centre where customers can rent equipment, space and bandwidth. One of the reasons why it is so convenient is that you do not have to worry about cooling, space or security because the third party will take care of this. The whole idea is that it is supposed to be as easy as possible for the customer.

Customers are granted the possibility to control and design their use of the IT equipment. These are things that are easier for the customer to take care of themselves, and therefore it is in their hands. Meanwhile, the foundation of the colocation centre is managed daily by the provider.

Our Facility

Location is very important to make sure that the colocation centre have the best conditions and that the data is securely stored. Our centre is located in Sogn og Fjordane, in the West coast of Norway. Here, we can easily access CO2- neutral energy, which is the price leading energy that is called hydroelectric.

We have a lot of space divided on several floors. all in all our space area is 120.000 m2.

Different types of services

  • Container

    What makes our facility special, is the opportunity to place container on each side of the road with a transportation route right in the middle. The use of containers makes it easy to install or replace if necessary.

  • Data halls

    When using this service, we can offer many different solutions. Together with IMB and Rittal, we have developed a option based on three floors of whitespace in three stories concrete buildings. The concrete buildings are built inside the mine. One of our priorities is that we want the construction costs to be low, which they are. You can get a building with 2-2.500 m2 of net whitespace. We want to provide our customers the opportunity to choose what the best options possible for them, therefore you can rent one Base unit (Cage) up to an entire building.

  • Shelters – Security room

    This solution is super easy and quick. You also have the opportunity to move the shelters.

  • Green Power

    We want to be as green as possible, and therefore 98.5 % of our power is hydroelectric. We are proud of the fact that Norway produces nearly twice as much renewable energy as any other Nordic country.

  • Security

    High security is very important in a facility as big as ours. We have special trained security that monitors the facility every day, 365 days a year. We also have a very good and secure system for fire detectors that can detect fire, smoke and heat at a early stage to make sure no equipment or any of our workers are harmed.

Questions?

Do you want to know more about our facility and services? Contact us through our contact form! We are looking forward to hear from you.