Swedish ISP Opens Dream Datacentre for Bond Villains

By Greg McNevin

November 18 2008: With Quantum of Solace hitting theatres, Swedish ISP Bahnhof is showing off its shiny new underground data centre, which is a fit locale for any Bond villain.

Bahnhof, the largest ISP in Sweden, has converted a former cold war nuclear bunker in the centre of Stockholm into a data centre that not only looks like something straight out of science fiction but is capable of riding out a near hit by a hydrogen bomb.

30 feet of bedrock separates the underground centre from the city streets, and with over 1100 sqm of space, Pionen houses the network operations centre for all of Bahnhof’s operations as well as being a co-location centre for its customers.

Being underground doesn’t mean being disconnected from the outside world however, as the centre features triple redundancy Internet backbone access with both fiber optics and copper lines, and to keep employees from going stir crazy it includes waterfalls, simulated daylight, plenty of plants and a saltwater fish tank.

And if the power goes out, the centre is backed up by two German submarine engines producing 1.5 megawatts of power. You’ll know when it does too, as the company has hooked up the original submarine alarm horns as well.

“Since we got hold of this unique nuclear bunker in central Stockholm deep below the rock, we just couldn’t build it like a traditional – more boring – hosting center,” Jon Karlung, CEO at Bahnhof told Royal Pingdom. “We wanted to make something different. The place itself needed something far out in design and science fiction was the natural source of inspiration in this case - plus of course some solid experience from having been a hosting provider for more than a decade.”

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