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Excluding any yet-to-be-disclosed top secret facilities hidden by the world's major world military powers, the world's largest data center may also be the world's most unique: meet the Lefdal Mine Datacenter, pride of Norway.
In it's official graphic (see photo with the American Statue of Liberty to compare sizes), this data center looks like what you could imagine to be the DNA of The Hulk.
It's shown with six levels of intertwined roads and infrastructure. Inside there is 120,000 square meters of white space. And it can be expanded to 14 levels if needed.
In real life (see photo below), this data center looks like a snow-capped mountain top, probably because it is one... the data center is a re-purposed mine located in the north of a northern-most country (25 km from Måløy, Norway).
Lefdal Mine is an old underground olivine mine. Olivine is a mineral series where two or more elements can substitute for one another without changing the crystal structure. The Olivine Series has two end members: Favalite, the iron-rich version and Forsterite, the magnesium-rich version.
Olivine was one of the ancient Egyptians’ favorite jewels, especially the green gemstone peridot.
Now Lefdal, once known for its "green gems," becomes a "green" gem of a data center, able to offer natural advantages that can reduce the cost of a European data center, supposedly by 60%.
In Lefdal Mine, the temperature is cool and constant. Cold deep-water, 8 degrees Celsius year-round, runs in a fjord close by (536m down) and also nearby is green power from the Mehuken windmills and the Åskora/Øksenelvane hydro power station. The site is alongside Norway`s national fiber backbone.
Did we mention the obvious security advantages of Lefdal Mine Datacenter's physical location? Physical security is assisted by the remote location, hidden from view by being buried beneath tons of rock, and by access controlled by entry tunnels. Personnel enter via monorail... while trucks can roll on in.
The project is funded by the Ministry of Governmental Administration and Reform and Innovation Norway and is a follow-up of ICT Norway’s report “Cloud and Fjords”.
The report urged Norway to become a substantial global player in data processing by creating a new, environmentally friendly and decentralized industry of international format.
This huge underground green data center city should at least be listed in the Guinness Book of Records, and fits our understanding of one of the modern world's man-made wonders.
Look for it surely to show in a James Bond movie as well as your national IT magazine.
[below: a look inside the structure]
