Marko Vanninen, Academica: Atos Selected for eco-efficient data center in Helsinki

December 19, 2011

Atos has opened a highly eco-efficient data center that provides the city of Helsinki with energy based on heat recovery. It is a part of a new 5000 m2 meter data center complex, built by the Finnish company Academica, known for efficient heat reclamation and energy recycling in its data centers. This eco-efficient data center will serve European customers and is one of the many initiatives to achieving Atos sustainable goals. The green data center utilizes eco-efficient cooling provided by Helsingin Energia, and the extra heat created by its servers will be transferred to the district heating network to provide heat and warm water for 4,500 new 80 m2 apartments in the city. Atos has a total of 13 Global Data Centers and 50 Local Data Centers.

“Sustainability is core to our corporate strategy and our ambition remains to be recognized as a world leader in providing innovative IT solutions to help our clients become more sustainable. Opening the eco-efficient datacenter in Helsinki providing the city with renewable energy is our flagship in eco-efficiency. It shows our commitment to provide our customers with high-standard IT services in a cost-effective and environmentally friendly way.” says Philippe Mareine, EVP General Secretary at Atos, in charge of Corporate and Social Responsibility at Atos.

”Data center life cycle costs by up to 80% are energy-related. We are especially pleased to offer our customers not only sustainable development, but also concrete savings in energy payments", says Marko Vanninen, the CEO of Academica.

“Environmental friendliness and cost-efficiency are two sides of the same coin. By conserving energy, we can spare both the environment and the costs. The super modern data center in Suvilahti enables us to offer cloud services to our global clients in a responsible and cost-efficient manner, following the principles of sustainable development”, says Tapio Koskinen who is in charge of outsourcing services at Atos Finland.

The new data center is located in the former electricity station of Helsingin Energia, in a complex of 5000 sq. meters owned by Academica. Located in the waterfront Suvilahti district of Helsinki, the European data centre will use sea water for cooling. In the eco-efficient data center, computers are cooled with Helsingin Energia´s district cooling produced with heat pumps, cold sea water and surplus thermal energy from energy generation. The waste heat produced by computers, on the other hand, is conducted to the district heat network with a heat exchanger in order to heat up buildings and hot tap water in Helsinki. The heat produced by the new datacenter can be used to provide heating for more than 4,500 new households.