Iceland Ideal for Data Centres

By Greg McNevin

July 5, 2007: Iceland is being touted as the place for data centres in a new Price Waterhouse Coopers study, with the company noting that running a data centre in the Scandinavian country is considerably cheaper than it is in the US, UK and India due to climate and energy costs.

This may sound strange considering Scandinavian nations are not exactly known for their low cost of living, however, the Price Waterhouse Coopers study of the nation found that thanks to the abundance of clean, renewable and cheap energy running a data centre is not only economically attractive, but also environmentally.

Iceland relies on hydroelectric and geothermal energy only, making every kilowatt renewable and environmentally friendly, eliminating the need to buy carbon credits. Iceland’s climate also substantially reduces the cost of cooling, after all why run the air conditioner when you can just open the window and drop the room temperature into the negatives.

The only possible spanner in the works according to PWC, is Iceland’s lower score on ‘quality’ due to its current lack of choice in secure telecom connections to Europe and the US. This should change in 2008 though as the Icelandic government finalises work on a new telecommunications cable.

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