Reykjavik's first large scale data center to be built in Reykjavik this year

Reykjavik's first large scale data center will be built this year at Korputorg. Agreements were signed on Sunday the 26of February 2018. The sustainable, free-cooling, Tier III state-of-the-art datacenter will be owned by Opin Kerfi, Fjarskipti hf. (Vodafone Iceland),the IT Service Center for the Icelandic Financial Market (RB)and Korputorg Real Estate ltd.

The data center will become one of the most technologically advanced data centers in Iceland covering up to 5.000 square meters when fully developed. The construction is planned to be conducted in stages of which the first is scheduled to be complete in early 2019.The first major customer will be RB, which will make the new facility its primary data center. RB is owned by Icelandic financial institutions and operates all the key core banking systems and clearing and payments systems in Iceland. 

After evaluating numerous sites, RB decided to select the Korputorg site in Reykjavik and join the consortium. The data center will be designed to fulfill the stringent security and redundancy requirements that come with hosting core banking and clearing systems. The construction of the data center furthermore strengthens Iceland as a location for international data center operations. International data centers have been in operation in Iceland for close to 10 years and Iceland reputation as a data center location is strengthening. A recent analysis by Cushman & Wakefield ranked Iceland at the top of international low-risk index. Furthermore, Iceland’s data centers are among the most environmentally friendly data centers in the world, with free cooling and 100% renewable electric power sources. These advantages are already recognized by international data centers customers in Iceland, especially those with High Performance Computing (HPC) needs.

The press conference took place at the scene of the site at Korputorg with the Minister of Industry and Innovation Mrs Thordis Kolbrun R Gylfadottir and the Mayor of Reykjavik, Dagur B. Eggertsson in attendance. The stakeholders spoke enthusiastically about the data center and what it brings to the country and community as a whole:"It is fantastic to launch a datacenter in Reykjavík where key conditions are in place for the development of high-tech environments that require extraordinary capacity. Excellent access to services, infrastructure and safe delivery of green energy is effortless with direct connection to one of the city’s main power stations. We at Opin Kerfi are delighted with this cooperation and how this enables us to serve our customers' needs even better – especially accommodating the growing demand from international prospects" said Thorsteinn G. Gunnarsson, CEO of Opin Kerfi.

"We are happy that RB’s participation ensures that this secure high-end data centers will be built Reykjavik. The facility is tailored to RB’s demanding requirements but the Icelandic financial sector has over the last two and a half decades been built around real-time payments, where there is no tolerance for down time. The project advances the competition both locally and internationally by ensuring that leading-edge data centers will be built here in Iceland. This is a secure and cost-effective solution that will be highly attractive to both domestic and overseas customers"said Fridrik Thor Snorrason, CEO of RB.;Vodafone Iceland is proud to participate in the development of sustainable data centers that utilize renewable energy in rapidly expanding sectors. We see a growing need for top-security and high-tech data centers in the Reykjavik capital area. Vodafone Iceland has confidence in Iceland as an important future location for Data Centers as it is very competitive location with regard to quality, cost and environmental factors,"said Stefan Sigurdsson, CEO of Fjarskipti hf. (Vodafone Iceland).

"Korputorg Real Estate are pleased to rent out the facilities and participate in the operations of this project. This step complies with our mission and to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the physical location and conveniences. It is also exciting to directly have a stake in this pursuit in which we are highly confident"said Saevar Thor Olafsson, CEO of Korputorg.