Icelandic digital assets management company Data Íslandia announced plans yesterday to establish an environmentally friendly archive for storing digital information in the town Sandgerdi on the Reykjanes peninsula in southwest Iceland.
The digital data archive as proposed by architect Robert Örn Arnarson at Hoff & Joergensen Architects in Copenhagen. Arnarson was inspired by the Icelandic turf farms.
“There has been an a surge in attention for environmental issues around the world and demand for ‘green’ solutions are increasing steadily. We have an excellent opportunity here in Sandgerdi to establish a powerful operation in tune with the environment and the local community,” managing director of Data Íslandia Sol Squire said in a statement to the media.
The project, which has the potential to create 20 new jobs in the region, is a cooperation between Data Íslandia, Sudurnes Energy Company, VSÓ Consultation, Kanon Architects, ParX Trade Consultancy for IBM and the town council of Sandgerdi.
“It is good news for the town of Sandgerdi that a company like Data Íslandia sees opportunities in establishing hi-tech operations, which can create dozens of well-paid jobs in the community in the coming years,” said Mayor of Sandgerdi Sigurdur Valur Ásbjarnason.
Jón Nordfjörd, project leader of the Economic Committee of Sandgerdi, Sol Squire, the managing director of Data Íslandia and Sigurdur Valur Ásbjarnarson, the Mayor of Sandgerdi, in front of a model of the digital data archive.
The archive will be built in an area earlier reserved for the US Naval Air Station on Reykjanes peninsula and the Development Committee for Keflavík Airport, aimed at putting the facilities of the former US Military base to use, is also participating in the project.
The construction of the archive is planned to begin later this year. Data Íslandia’s operations will be powered by renewable energy, while natural wind cooling will reduce energy usage. Additionally the architectural design of the archive will further support environmental harmony.
Data Íslandia will provide large-scale, long-term, archival administration services and corporate risk management, primarily for foreign clients.
The operation will require two megawatts of electricity for the first stage and ten megawatts once the final stages have been reached, but the electricity required does not have to be harnessed specifically for Data Ísalndia.
Once completed the building housing the digital data archive will be 4,000 m2 in size.
