Winner – ITA awards

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Lefdal Mine Datacenter has won the ITA awards in the category “Innovative & Contributing Underground Spaces”. The transformation of a former mine into a data center is a sustainable act in itself. In addition, the Lefdal Mine Datacenter are in accordance with several of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and deliver a world leading sustainable data center solution. The nominations were gathered from 78 nations, and we are proud to win the award. We dedicate this award to the founders of Lefdal Mine Datacenter for bringing their idea to life, and to our partners and suppliers with Sibelco and Sintef as forerunners for their contribution to the actual transformation process. Lefdal Mine Datacenter – The Norwegian Solution!

Daimler is through Infosys moving their HPC cluster to Lefdal Mine Datacenter

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Lefdal Mine Datacenter has through Infosys signed a large data center agreement with Daimler AG (Mercedes). Daimler will move its High-Performance Computing (HPC) cluster to Lefdal Mine Datacenter. The agreement will help Daimler achieve its goals of becoming a carbon-neutral company. Daimler uses the global IT giant Infosys to operate its IT infrastructure. Infosys delivers “Green Data Center as a Service” to Daimler from the facility in Nordfjord. Based on the agreement, Infosys and Lefdal Mine Datacenter have also entered into a partnership to provide services for other global customers who want green data center solutions to achieve their climate goals.

PRESS RELEASE

Infosys Collaborates with one of Europe’s Greenest Data Center to accelerate Daimler’s transition to sustainable mobility

 

  • Lefdal Mine Datacenter offers one of Europe’s greenest data center ecosystems and is one of the world’s most energy efficient solutions
  • Infosys provides ‘Green Data Center as a Service’, part of Infosys Cobalt to facilitate Daimler on its journey to net zero
  • The offering provides a blueprint for organizations looking to accelerate decarbonization across industries

Stuttgart, Germany – November 30, 2021: Infosys (NSE, BSE, NYSE: INFY), a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting, today announced that it will transfer Daimler’s High Performance Computing (HPC) workloads used to design vehicles and automated driving technologies to one of Europe’s greenest data centers, Lefdal Mine Datacenter in Norway. The shift to Green Data Center as a Service is an important milestone in supporting Daimler deliver on its sustainability mission “Ambition 2039” to become CO2 neutral by 2039.

Data centers currently account for around 1% of total global energy use and service demand is expected to increase 60% by 2022. As next generation technologies continue to develop, engineering and other high-performance workloads that run complex algorithms such as those required for simulating sensors and journeys for autonomous vehicles will be increasingly critical to automakers’ competitiveness in the mobility industry. Yet, these workloads are extremely energy consuming and contribute considerably to the carbon footprint of enterprises worldwide.

Building on its strategic partnership with Daimler to drive hybrid cloud-powered innovation and transform IT infrastructure, Infosys offered a solution to facilitate Daimler shift HPC’s to green infrastructure using Infosys’ Data Center as a Service (DCaaS) offering in the Nordics region. Through the initiative, Infosys will manage the IT infrastructure in its entirety and Lefdal Mine Datacenter will provide the facility, a world leading sustainable and energy efficient data center.

Norway is becoming a “superpower” for green data centers given that 100% of the power production in the region is renewable, and transmission loss reduced to a minimum. Lefdal Mine Datacenter offers one of Europe’s greenest data center solutions, supplying capacity that is both air-cooled and water-cooled.

The data center is situated in a mine next to a deep, cold fjord with a stable and low temperature for effective cooling.  Compared to air cooled data centers, Lefdal Mine Datacenter is not affected by warm days, and doesn’t require evaporative systems for cooling, with water usage effectiveness also rated zero. This system leads to a PUE ranging from 1.10 to 1.15 depending on UPS configuration and scale of capacity. The data center offers a world leading location for HPC environments.

The Green Data Center is the latest addition to Infosys Cobalt Hybrid Cloud portfolio, a blueprint consisting of a combination of Regional Private Data Centers covering all major continents, Edge Data Centers and Hyperscalers. For Daimler, partnering with Infosys to reimagine its data center operations in Lefdal Mine Datacenter will have a significant impact in delivering on its sustainability goals, and demonstrates the huge opportunity for other organizations to benefit from the industry-leading offering.

Jan Brecht, Chief Information Officer, Daimler and Mercedes-Benz, said: “A large proportion of our IT energy consumption comes from our data centers which require significant power for computing and cooling. That’s why we’re transforming our data centers with the support of our partner Infosys, bringing particularly the high-performance computing into one energy efficient solution at Lefdal Mine Datacenter. Not only will we benefit from natural cooling thanks to the cold weather, our operations will also be run on 100% green energy. This initiative marks another important milestone on our journey to becoming Co2 neutral”.

Salil Parekh, Chief Executive Officer, Infosys, said: “Infosys is a strategic partner to organizations navigating decarbonization and we are well positioned to deliver sustainable green transformation leveraging expertise gained from decade long efforts in environment stewardship. We pioneer projects around the world across every industry to facilitate climate change actions, developing solutions and services to help clients in their low-carbon transition. In delivering this transformation for Daimler we’ve shown how Green Infrastructure as a Service can radically reduce organizations’ impact on the environment and the vast potential for other organizations running high compute enterprise workloads to benefit from this industry-leading sustainability offering.”

Jørn Skaane, Chief Executive Officer, Lefdal Mine Datacenter AS, said: “We have built and operate a leading sustainable, secure and cost-effective data center – The Norwegian Solution. With short travelled renewable power and cooling from the nearby fjord, sustainability is in the core of our mission and values. Our ambition is to be the greenest data center in the world, with the ability to offer tailor-made and scalable data center solutions. We are inspired to have been chosen to host Daimler HPC workloads and will contribute for Daimler to become CO2 neutral.”

Jan Christian Vestre, Minister of Trade and Industry in the Norwegian Government, said: “I wish to congratulate the parties on reaching this important milestone. Lefdal Mine Datacenter, based on the reuse of industrial infrastructure and locally produced energy, is an excellent example of how Norwegian data centers and industrial knowhow can help industries of the future achieve their goals of decarbonization.”

The Norwegian data center industry founds the business association Norwegian Data Center Industry

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The Norwegian data center industry strengthens its joint cooperation and founds the business association Norwegian Data Center Industry. The founders of the association consist of leading operators in the Norwegian data center industry and the power companies Ringerikskraft and Statkraft. The association is placed under ICT-Norway and will strengthen the industry’s efforts for improved framework conditions and increased joint international marketing.

For the past year and a half, society has undergone a digitalization that no one could have imagined before the pandemic. The importance of data centers as pillars of the digital infrastructure and guarantors of secure access to digital services for the public and private sectors has become very clear during this period.

The Norwegian Data Center Industry will work to strengthen Norway’s position as a data center nation internationally, supported by the facts that Norway offers the highest share of renewable energy in Europe, with a very low climate footprint and the lowest electricity prices. In order to attract major international players to Norway the association will work with the following topics:

  • Improved framework conditions for the data center sector
  • Simplify procedures for construction and operation of large data centers
  • Coordinate international marketing activities
  • Contribute to more and better educational offerings within the data center sector
  • Promote the use of sustainable technology and contribute to reaching the climate-neutrality objective

– Norway has all the prerequisites to become an attractive country to invest in a computerized business sector. The Norwegian data center industry has an untapped growth and value creation potential, set against a large and rapidly growing international market. The Norwegian Data Center Industry will be a key player in ensuring good growth conditions and framework conditions for the industry, and I am pleased with the opportunity to lead this work forward, says appointed General Manager Bjørn Rønning.

– The Norwegian Data Center Industry must be a clear voice in the public debate and must be an active driving force for necessary changes. To succeed, we need a clear, committed and well-composed executive board, with the necessary weight, breadth and experience. We’ve got it. I look forward to leading this board’s work in the future, says Chairman of the Board, Petter M. Tømmeraas.

– The Norwegian Data Center Industry is a unifying, proactive and important player for the Norwegian data center industry, and I am grateful to be part of the board and contribute to the work of promoting the industry’s place in Norwegian society, says Liv Freihow, ICT Norway.

– Invest in Norway, a section of Innovation Norway, is working to attract foreign investments in Norway, including in the data center industry. We are very positive to the formation of the Norwegian Data Center Industry, with the most mature players in Norway at the forefront. We look forward to a fruitful cooperation, says Benedicte Fasmer Waaler, special adviser, Invest in Norway.

The Executive Board of the Norwegian Data Center Industry consists of:

Chairman of the board: Petter M. Tømmeraas (Basefarm)

Board members:

Gisle Eckhoff (Bulk, from September 1)

Halvor Bjerke (DigiPlex)

Tor Kristian Gyland (Green Mountain)

Jørn Skaane (Lefdal Mine Datacenter)

Liv Freihow (ICT-Norway)

Kathrine Langjord (Statkraft).

About the Norwegian data center market:

The data center capacity in Norway has increased by 17 per cent per year since 2010. In 2020, approximately 145 MW of capacity was installed, and the capacity is expected to grow sharply in the years to come.

In the period 2019-2020, at least NOK 2.7 billion was invested in new data centers in Norway. The investments are driven by both Norwegian and international demand.

(Source: «Data centers in Norway. Impact analysis of completed and potential establishments», Implement Economics, 2020)

Lefdal Mine Datacenter secure funding agreement with UBS

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Lefdal Mine Datacenter secure funding agreement with UBS Asset Management to finance facility expansion.

Lefdal / London, May 31st, 2021 – Lefdal Mine Datacenter (LMD) has secured funding to expand its facility to meet growing customer needs. The 5-year financing arrangement with UBS Asset Management’s Infrastructure Debt Platform, totalling EUR 50m, will support the expansion of the data center beyond the existing 20MW capacity.

LMD offers 120,000 m2 whitespace inside mountain halls across three levels in a former mine. Construction cost-per-MW is 30-50% lower than the industry standard, as well as providing leading natural security due to the mine’s infrastructure. Norway’s access to renewable power, low energy cost, favorable climate and developed infrastructure, as well as positive government policy, mean the country is regarded as one as one of the most attractive European locations for the development of data centers.

Jørn Skaane, CEO Lefdal Mine Datacenter, commented:

“We are pleased with the completion of this credit facility, which strengthens LMD’s financial position. This improves our ability to benefit from increased market demand and invest in growth opportunities in the years to come. We look forward to a good and long-term relationship with UBS Asset Management.”

Alessandro Merlo, Head of Investment, Infrastructure Debt at UBS-AM REPM, commented:

“Data centers are an attractive investment opportunity, which have further proved their importance and vital role for businesses during the pandemic crisis. We’re pleased to have worked with LMD to finance the unique development of this unique data center location. This transaction is the first investment for IDP in Norway and the third in the wider Nordic region – an important market for the platform. We are pleased to also support one of the greenest data centers in Europe with very limited environmental footprint and CO2 emissions, in line with our commitment to responsible investing in real assets.”

– Ends –

Notes and pictures to editors

ABOUT LEFDAL MINE DATACENTER

LMD is located in Norway and is owned by the Columbia Threadneedle European Sustainable Infrastructure Fund (ESIF), a mid-market infrastructure fund, and German Edge Cloud GmbH & CO KG, part of Friedhelm Loh Group, a German industrial conglomerate. The data center has a potential of 120.000 m2 of net whitespace and 200+ MW DC capacity. With 10 MW capacity already installed, LMD is one of the leading data centers in the Nordics. The mountain hall facility sets a new standard for the data center industry. LMD is unprecedented in terms of cost effectiveness, security, and flexibility. The large space, combined with modular design enables a unique time to market, and the combination of cheap and renewable power leads to predictable, low cost for customers.

www.lefdalmine.com and https://lefdal.netlify.app (360 tour)

ABOUT UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT

UBS Asset Management is a large-scale asset manager with a presence in 23 markets. It offers investment capabilities and investment styles across all major traditional and alternative asset classes to institutions, wholesale intermediaries and wealth management clients around the world. It is a leading fund house in Europe, the largest mutual fund manager in Switzerland, the second largest fund of hedge funds manager and one of the largest real estate investment managers in the world.

www.ubs.com/realestate

For more information, please contact us

Jørn Skaane

CEO – Lefdal Mine Datacenter AS

Mobile: +47 481 02 409

E-mail: jorn.skaane@lefdalmine.com

GO2CLOUD SIGNS 4,5 MW DATA CENTER CAPACITY

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LEFDAL MINE DATACENTER AS NEW PARTNER

Hannover / Lefdal, May 6th 2021 – go2cloud has signed a contract of 4,5 MW data center capacity at Lefdal Mine Datacenter. go2cloud is a German-based company provisioning High Performance Computing Services to its international customers in the enterprise segment. go2cloud has contracted 16 IT containers. The deployment has started and will be completed by Q2 this year.

Oliver Gustai, CEO go2cloud, said: “With our global reach and continued growth, Lefdal Mine Datacenter provides the ideal production environment for go2cloud. For our enterprise customers, for whom a high level of security must be ensured, Lefdal Mine Datacenter with its various Tier levels and production environments is the optimal partner to form the basis of our successful work.”

“We are working in the field of high-performance computing involving highly computationally intensive and energy-demanding applications. Therefore, we are also pleased to have found a unique location in Lefdal Mine Data Center as one of Europe’s greenest data center solutions.”

Jørn Skaane, CEO Lefdal Mine Datacenter, said: “We are honored that go2cloud has chosen Lefdal Mine Datacenter as their data center provider. The go2cloud services are based on the latest and most evolving infrastructure in the métier of high-performance computing. Coupled with its broad, innovative product range, it develops high-quality and flexible solutions in the field of cloud computing.

“Lefdal Mine Datacenter as the “Norwegian solution” is future proof. Higher densities, renewable power, low production costs, and the increased demand for security are all emerging market trends were Lefdal Mine Datacenter has market-leading solutions for their clients”.

 

ABOUT LEFDAL MINE DATACENTER

Lefdal Mine Datacenter is based in Norway and is owned by Columbia Threadneedle Investments and Rittal. The data center has a potential of 120.000 m2 of net whitespace and 200+ MW DC capacity. With 10 MW capacity already installed, LMD is one of the leading data centers in the Nordics. The mountain hall facility sets a new standard for the data center industry. LMD is unprecedented in terms of cost effectiveness, security, and flexibility. The large space, combined with modular design enables a unique time to market, and the combination of cheap and renewable power leads to predictable, low cost for customers.

 

ABOUT GO2GROUP

The go2group is a global high-performance cloud provider headquartered in Hannover, Germany. The company’s goal is to provide high performance computing services related to artificial intelligence, gaming, big data analytics, blockchain, research and other compute-intensive applications, tasks and workflows. Its unique selling point: Data centers for European applications are operated exclusively in Europe to meet local security requirements. Nevertheless, the company also operates globally and offers its services worldwide.

 

For more information, please contact us

Jørn Skaane

CEO – Lefdal Mine Datacenter AS

Mobile: +47 481 02 409

E-mail: jorn.skaane@lefdalmine.com

 

 Ben Selier

CSO – go2group

Mobile: +49 (151) 26524258

E-Mail: info@go2cloud-hpc.de

 

Columbia Threadneedle European Sustainable Infrastructure fund has acquired a majority stake in Lefdal Mine Datacenter

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COLUMBIA THREADNEEDLE EUROPEAN SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE FUND ACQUIRES INNOVATIVE ‘GREEN’ DATA CENTRE IN NORWAY

LONDON, 6 May 2020: The Columbia Threadneedle European Sustainable Infrastructure Fund (ESIF) announces that it has acquired a majority stake in Lefdal Mine Datacenter (LMD), a unique ‘green’ data centre based in an underground mine in Norway, that uses cold sea water from an adjacent fjord for cooling and renewable energy to power its operations. Rittal, a subsidiary of the German industrial family business, Friedhelm Loh Group, will remain a minority shareholder.

Operational since 2017, the facility boasts 75 underground halls, with data centre containers parked in former mine workings that are accessed by underground roads. The centre benefits from high-density data capacity and has a market-leading total cost of operation, which is attractive to clients with high-performance computing workloads, hyperscalers, as well as customers looking for colocation solutions.

The data centre market is set to grow rapidly over the next decade as operators meet the large growth in demand due to the rise of cloud computing, artificial intelligence and the “Internet of Things”. With currently 10 megawatts in operation, the data centre has potential to expand to 200 megawatts in the future. LMD’s cost base is stable and as data centre capacity can be built out on a modular basis as and when required, there is flexibility with capex deployment.

The majority stake has been acquired from a consortium of local shareholders in a transaction which, together with Rittal, facilitates further investment and capacity expansion.

Heiko Schupp, Global Head of Infrastructure at Columbia Threadneedle Investments, said: “We are excited to announce this new investment of ESIF, our open-ended, evergreen fund that invests in European mid-market equity assets. Lefdal Mine Datacenter is an attractive asset for ESIF due to its strong market fundamentals, competitive positioning and the level of sustainability within its operations.

“With its potential to build out data capacity, we believe the company is well positioned to participate in the growth of demand for data, and the potential for capital growth makes the company a good fit for ESIF’s investment strategy. We look forward to a successful working relationship with the management team at Lefdal Mine Datacenter and our partners and participating in the centre’s next stage of expansion.”

Jørn Skaane, CEO Lefdal Mining Datacenter, commented: “With its 10 megawatts of installed capacity, Lefdal Mine Datacenter has been in the early stages of developing the facility into a world leading data centre. With ESIF coming in as a shareholder together with Rittal, the stage has been set for building out and operating large customer requirements. At Lefdal Mine Datacenter, customers do not have to worry about limitations in future capacity due to the size of our facility and access to high quantities of renewable power and cooling.”

Dr. Karl-Ulrich Köhler, CEO of Rittal, said: “As a technology partner, Rittal provides preconfigured, modular and scalable infrastructure for this innovative data centre. We believe the technology used at Lefdal Mine Datacentre sets a new standard. In particular, our German private cloud provider German Edge Cloud has been able to leverage Lefdal Mine Datacenter by offloading energy intensive industrial IT workloads from the edge to the centre. Processes such as machine learning and HPC originating from edge services in the European industry are better processed at Lefdal Mine Datacenter, where high densities can be run in a highly cost-effective way.”

Sindre Kvalheim, CEO LocalHost group and former COB Lefdal Mine Datacenter, said: “The former Norwegian owners, with Måløy based LocalHost group in the lead, initiated Lefdal Mine Datacenter in 2009 together with local utility company Sogn og Fjordane Energi. This group of investors now see that Lefdal Mine Datacenter needs a different owner structure to lift the data centre to its full potential. The LocalHost group has incubated several tech companies, invested more than 60 Mill Euro, and created over 100 jobs over the last ten years. This sale allows us to continue to invest in the region.”

Linda Hofstad Helleland, Norwegian Minister of Regional Development and Digitalisation, commented: “The Government wants Norway to be an attractive nation for data centres. This represents a major economic opportunity for Norwegian businesses and society, and will be a key to the Government’s policies and priorities going forward. We welcome all actors willing to invest in new technologies that may contribute to sustainable growth in the Norwegian society.”

ESIF’s financial advisers were DNB Markets and Wikborg Rein acted as legal advisers. For Lefdal Mine Datacenter and its shareholders, Pareto Securities AS acted as financial advisers and CLP DA as legal advisers.

For media enquiries contact:

Columbia Threadneedle Investments
Wendy Svirakova / Nicolas Duperrier
Tel: 0207 464 5697 /5940
Email: firstname.lastname@columbiathreadneedle.com

 

Lefdal Mine Datacenter
Jørn Skaane
CEO – Lefdal Mine Datacenter AS
Mobile: +47 481 02 409
E-mail: jorn.skaane@lefdalmine.com

 

Notes to Editors

About Columbia Threadneedle Investments

Columbia Threadneedle Investments is a leading global asset manager that provides a broad range of actively managed investment strategies and solutions for individual, institutional and corporate clients around the world. With more than 2000 people including over 450 investment professionals based in North America, Europe and Asia, we manage £373 billion1 of assets across developed and emerging market equities, fixed income, asset allocation solutions and alternatives.

Our priority is the investment success of our clients. We know investors want strong and repeatable risk-adjusted returns and we aim to deliver this through an active and consistent investment approach that is team-based, risk-aware and performance-driven. Our investment teams around the world work together to uncover investment insights. By sharing knowledge across asset classes and geographies we generate richer perspectives on global, regional and local investment landscapes. The ability to exchange and debate investment ideas in a collaborative environment enriches our teams’ investment processes to ensure the best insights are applied to portfolios. More importantly it results in better informed decisions for our clients.

Columbia Threadneedle Investments is the global asset management group of Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (NYSE:AMP), a leading US-based financial services provider. As part of Ameriprise, we are supported by a large and well-capitalised diversified financial services firm.

Source: Columbia Threadneedle Investments as at 31 December 2019.

1 Ameriprise Financial, Inc. Q4 2019 earnings release.

www.columbiathreadneedle.com

Past performance is not a guide to future performance.

The value of investments and any income is not guaranteed and can go down as well as up and may be affected by exchange rate fluctuations. This means that an investor may not get back the amount invested.

This material is for information only and does not constitute an offer or solicitation of an order to buy or sell any securities or other financial instruments, or to provide investment advice or services.

Issued by Threadneedle Asset Management Limited. Registered in England and Wales, Registered No. 573204, Cannon Place, 78 Cannon Street, London EC4N 6AG, United Kingdom. Authorised and regulated in the UK by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Columbia Threadneedle Investments is the global brand name of the Columbia and Threadneedle group of companies.

About Lefdal Mine Datacenter

Lefdal Mine Datacenter, based in Måløy in Norway, is owned by Columbia Threadneedle Investments and Rittal.

LMD has completed the build out of Phase 1, and a cooling capacity of 45 MW is ready for use. The data center has a potential of 120.000 m2 of net whitespace and 200+ MW DC capacity. LMD has in 2018 and 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 mountain hall facility sets a new standard for the data center industry. LMD is unprecedented in terms of cost effectiveness, security, and flexibility. The large space, combined with modular design enables a unique time to market, and the combination of cheap and renewable power leads to predictable, low cost for customers.

For more information, visit www.lefdalmine.com.

About Rittal

Rittal, headquartered in Herborn, Germany, is a leading global provider of solutions for industrial enclosures, power distribution, climate control and IT infrastructure, as well as software and services. Systems made by Rittal can be found in more than 90 percent of all global branches of industry, including mechanical and plant engineering, food and beverage production and in IT and telecommunications.

The international market leader’s product portfolio includes configurable enclosures, with data available across the entire production process. Smart Rittal cooling systems, with up to 75 percent lower power and high CO2 advantage, can communicate with the production landscape, enabling predictive maintenance and servicing. The offering also includes innovative IT products, from IT racks and modular data centers, to edge and hyperscale computing solutions.

Founded in 1961, Rittal is the largest company in the owner operated Friedhelm Loh Group. The Friedhelm Loh Group is active worldwide, with 18 production sites and 80 international subsidiaries. It has approximately 12,000 employees and posted revenues of €2.6 billion in fiscal 2018.

For more information, visit www.rittal.com and www.friedhelm-loh-group.com.

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.

 

Nominated – DCD Award

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Lefdal Mine datacenter is nominated in the category “The Infrastructure Scale-Out Award”. This category recognizes really large projects that deliver data center services efficiently at scale. These projects have different requirements to more moderate-sized facilities, presenting unique challenges to the people building them. More information on https://www.dcdawards.global/.

LEFDAL MINE DATACENTER SIGNS ANOTHER 4 MW

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Lefdal Mine Datacenter has signed a 3 MW contract with iNNOVO Cloud GmbH. In addition, Fortuitus AG has increased their contract announced earlier this year, to 5 MW.

 

iNNOVO CLOUD – 3 MW HPC APPLICATIONS

The first iNNOVO Cloud container is already active in Lefdal Mine Datacenter. Due to its efficient design, the BCC IT Container from Rittal has an advantage that it is particularly suitable for applications requiring high energy density per rack. This also includes HPC applications such as Hashing as a Service.

With regards to Hashing Services and the underlying blockchain technology, Stefan Sickenberger – CIO at iNNOVO Cloud – emphasizes: “The blockchain holds an enormous potential for the future and for almost every branch of industry. Hashing as a Service for cryptocurrencies is just one of many possible applications that we already operate for some of our customers”. He sees block chain technology as a massive contribution to IT security. “Blockchain technology has the potential to establish a new standard in IT security. We are already working with partners on proof of concepts for the use of Blockchain technology in the Industrial Internet of Things area, says Sickenberger”.

“One of the advantages at Lefdal Mine Datacenter is that we are free to choose which DC TIER Level we need. This gives a huge flexibility with regards to underlying business models and cost calculations, since we can use a lower DC TIER for low SLAs and higher DC TIERs for high SLAs”, says Sickenberger”.

 

FORTUITUS – 5 MW

Fortuitus AG, a Swiss technical infrastructure project financing company, is now installing 5 MW of HPC infrastructure into Lefdal Mine Datacenter. The installations will support FinTech applications for European customers.

“Lefdal Mine Datacenter is the most cost-efficient data center we have found. In addition, they offer an unprecedented scalability where we can add large scale capacity in a short period of time says Mark Collins, CEO of Fortuitus. We look forward to sign up for more capacity as our demand increase”.

 

LEFDAL MINE DATACENTER

Lefdal Mine Datacenter – The Norwegian Solution – opened in May 2017. “We are experiencing a massive interest in our product, says Jørn Skaane, CEO at Lefdal Mine Datacenter. The combination of high security, low cost, scalability and green solutions have put us on the international radar. Fortuitus and iNNOVO Cloud are two highly innovative organizations, and we are proud that they have chosen Lefdal Mine Datacenter to host their infrastructure, says Jørn Skaane.

For more information, see contact information below – or visit www.lefdalmine.com.

Best regards,
Jørn Skaane
Managing Director – Lefdal Mine Datacenter AS
Mobile: +47 481 02 409
E-mail: jorn.skaane@lefdalmine.com

 

FOR MORE INFORMATION – PLEASE CONTACT:
Mats Andersson
Marketing Director – Lefdal Mine Datacenter AS
Mobile: +47 416 96 496
E-mail: mats.andersson@lefdalmine.com

 

ABOUT LEFDAL MINE DATACENTER

Lefdal Mine Datacenter has completed the build out of Phase 1, and a cooling capacity of 45 MW is ready for use. The data center has a potential of 120.000 m2 of net whitespace and 200+ MW IT capacity. The mountain hall facility sets a new standard for the data center industry. Lefdal Mine Datacenter is unprecedented in terms of cost effectiveness, security, and flexibility. The large space, combined with modular design enables a unique time to market, and the combination of cheap and renewable power leads to predictable, low cost for customers. The technical solution is developed together with technology partners Rittal and IBM and capacity can be delivered in either container solutions or traditional white space. Lefdal Mine Datacenter will be one of Europe’s most secure data centers. They offer a Tier III data center service. The data is protected inside EMP secure mountain halls. The facility has access from two single points of entry. This offers a high level of natural security and access control. The design and documentation of infrastructure installations are highly confidential and there is specially trained security staff onsite 24/7.

LMD: 40 feet IT containers deployed at Lefdal Mine Datacenter in “Container Racks”

 

LMD: Entrance to Level 3 – 600 meters into the mountain

iNNOVO BCC container – https://www.innovo-cloud.de/produktgruppen/bcc-container/

Lefdal Mine Datacenter is now open – 45 MW

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Lefdal Mine Datacenter has completed the build out of Phase 1, and a cooling capacity of 45 MW is ready for use. The mountain hall facility sets a new standard for the data center industry. Lefdal Mine Datacenter is unprecedented in terms of cost effectiveness, security, and flexibility. The large space, combined with modular design enables a unique time to market, and the combination of cheap and renewable power leads to predictable, low cost for customers. The technical solution is developed together with technology partners Rittal and IBM. The first customers go live in Q3.

 

FLEXIBLE PRODUCT SOLUTIONS

The flexibility at Lefdal Mine Datacenter is unique, in terms of available space as well as different technical solutions. The large space and capacity, 16 meters roof height in the mountain halls and the related logistics allows different cost effective product solutions. LMD has a potential of 120.000 m2 of net whitespace and 200+ MW IT capacity, delivered in container solutions or traditional white space. This enables customers to get a “pay as you grow” model, with no risk of paying for capacity not needed.

“We can facilitate all known concepts for white space solutions and the facility structure enables a streamlined solution for containers in different shapes and sizes says Jørn Skaane, CEO at Lefdal Mine Datacenter. We can also customize power density, temperature, humidity, operational equipment, Tier level and all related services ensuring the right solution for all our customers, says Skaane. I want to thank both Rittal and IBM for their contribution to the design and the build out process, and for contributing with their global leading products and services into our ecosystem.”

HIGH SECURE FACILITY

Lefdal Mine Datacenter will be one of Europe’s most secure data centers. They offer a Tier III data center service. The data is protected inside EMP secure mountain halls. The facility has access from two single points of entry. This offers a high level of natural security and access control. The design and documentation of infrastructure installations are highly confidential and there is specially trained security staff onsite 24/7.

“We acknowledge the increase in demand for high secure data center capacity, and foresee a future where governments and private sector invest in solutions guaranteeing uptime and proper solutions for back-up and disaster recovery, says Jørn Skaane, CEO at Lefdal Mine Datacenter”.

CUSTOMERS MOVING IN

Over the next months, Lefdal Mine datacenter will gradually start to move in customers. Some of the first international customers moving in are:

iNNOVO Cloud, a German cloud provider moving in with high density IT containers. The first installment will be up and running in September serving both Norwegian and International clients with their cloud portfolio.

LocalHost AS, a leading fully managed service provider on the west coast of Norway, has bought the first Rittal Rimatrix 6 container, and will provide single rack and smart hands services from Lefdal Mine.

Fortuitus AG, a Swiss technical infrastructure project financing company, are installing 4MW of immersion cooled HPC infrastructure into the mine in Q3 2017, to support FinTech applications for European customers.

Lefdal Mine Datacenter offers different types of IT environments, and will deploy Open19 in the facility. This is a new way to build out data center capacity. An open platform that can fit any 19” rack environment for servers, storage and networking. Lefdal Mine Datacenter will offer “Servers slots as a Service”.

IBM will offer their Resiliency Services from Lefdal Mine Datacenter.

For more information, please contact Mats Andersson, CMO Lefdal Mine Datacenter – see contact information below – or visit our web page www.lefdalmine.com.

 

Best regards,
Jørn Skaane

 

Managing Director – Lefdal Mine Datacenter AS
Mobile: +47 481 02 409
E-mail: jorn.skaane@lefdalmine.com

 

FOR MORE INFORMATION – PLEASE CONTACT:

Mats Andersson
Marketing Director – Lefdal Mine Datacenter AS
Mobile: +47 416 96 496
E-mail: mats.andersson@lefdalmine.com

 

WEBCAST – PRESS CONFERENCE
Wednesday 10th of May 12.30-14.00
http://webtv.hegnar.no/presentation.php?webcastId=52831446