Northern Data Sustainable Technologies and Global Expansion

Northern Data Group is a specialist technology company that provides High Performance Computing (HPC) solutions. Its solutions include a state-of-the-art Gen AI cloud platform, next-generation data centre infrastructure and energy-efficient Bitcoin mining operations. The company has an extensive footprint across Europe, the United States and Canada. 

Rosanne Kincaid-Smith heads up strategic operations as the Chief Operating Officer at Northern Data Group. Throughout the course of her career she’s delivered business growth in existing and new markets, designed high-growth organisations, managed transformation, restructuring and large-scale M&A in high-profile financial institutions and PE-backed and owned businesses. 

“Each path has been different yet rewarding,” Rosanne says. “I don’t think anything we do at Northern Data Group is ordinary, which is precisely why I was so attracted to take on this role in the first place.”

In addition to her role as COO, Rosanne is also a member of the Northern Data Group board and acts as an advisor to other technology businesses and start-ups. 

“Alongside managing the operations, investments and strategy of the business, a big part of my role is making sure that we are constantly raising the bar in our industry,” Rosanne adds. “We set ourselves the highest standards; our ambition is to do things the right way; and we’re about more than just the commercials.”

Northern Data Group is committed to sustainability. Its sites use renewable energy sources, wherever possible. By using hydroelectricity and other renewables at all of its key sites, the company regularly beats the current industry standard in PUE (power usage effectiveness) which is 1.5.

“Our data centres can operate at PUE’s as low as 1.06-1.2. We also use best in class technology like direct to chip liquid cooling in our data centres, which keeps energy efficiency high and hardware lifetimes long,” Rosanne said. “Our company is all about innovation bravery and we support technologies that we believe can bring about real human progress. Our solutions are designed to enable the most innovative businesses, no matter their size.”

As COO, Rosanne works carefully to support her team, led by the example of previous role models. 

“I’ve been fortunate throughout my career to have many people I look up to and learn from. My current mentor and coach, Dr. Stevens, has been the most instrumental in developing me as an individual, team member and a leader,” she says. “One of the best pieces of advice she has given me is to transform perceived weaknesses into strengths. I now encourage my own team to do the same. For instance, if someone feels they're too direct or ambitious, I work with them to see these traits as assets, helping them to apply these qualities in ways that benefit both their personal growth and the team’s objectives. This mindset enables everyone to perform at their best.” 

The provision of Enterprise Data Centres

Northern Data partners with best-in-class supercomputing manufacturers, including Nvidia, to create purpose-built data centre environments equipped with proprietary performance-optimising solutions and advanced liquid cooling technology.

“Our experience with liquid cooling not only enhances efficiency but also allows our HPC facilities to use residual heat effectively. This expertise forms the backbone of our business, ensuring high performance and sustainability,” Rosanne continues.

At present, Northern Data operates its cloud platforms exclusively in Europe at two locations, with four more in the pipeline. Crucially, all of its data centres are powered by 100% carbon-free energy and the team are constantly looking for ways to reduce their environmental impact and improve their efficiency. 

Northern Data data centres are built with best in class physical and network security, including:

• 24 / 7 security and remote hand services​

• V.E.S.D.A fire detection​
• Dry pipe or gas solutions​
• The latest in biometric technology​
• Next generation CCTV

“Using different locations means we are able to transfer workloads between locations in an emergency, ensuring that clients maintain 100% uptime,” Rosanne explains. 

Operating a data centre is a serious undertaking, requiring huge amounts of space, energy and resources. Northern Data offers instant access to powerful hardware, which can then easily be scaled up or down based on demand.

“This way, organisations only need to pay for the resources they use, rather than the 24/7 running and ownership costs of retained infrastructure,” Rosanne adds. 

These data centres run on clean energy, wherever possible, but Rosanne suggests that it’s important to have a more nuanced view of ‘sustainability’. 

“It isn’t simply a question of emissions and carbon neutrality. Too often, they are treated as boxes to tick,” she says. “In reality, data centres exist within complex energy and logistical ecosystems. They should be tailored to meet the needs of those ecosystems. For example, we own a data centre in Sweden that is driven by 100% hydro power as it was built next to a river. Its power usage efficiency score is far more efficient than the industry standard (< 1.06 PUE vs an industry average of 1.58).”

Similarly, its data centres are powered by the latest liquid cooling systems and situated in strategically selected locations, which also deploys waste-reduction solutions that keep the environmental footprint of compute-intensive processes as light as possible.

Driving the data centre sector forward

Northern Data is an elite partner to Nvidia and one of the first cloud providers in Europe to deploy Nvidia H100 GPUs. Recently, the company announced the launch of AI Accelerator, a global initiative to give a limited number of startup businesses access to the Nvidia H100 GPU compute power.  

“It’s the responsibility of businesses like us to ensure that the world’s growth in AI development is not stunted, and a key reason we’re investing in our AI Accelerator is that we’re passionate about giving organisations of all sizes the opportunity to bring their best ideas to life,” Rosanne continues. 

As part of its AI Accelerator, startups will be given the opportunity to harness state-of-the-art hardware and incorporate cutting-edge fine-tuning, quantisation and retrieval augmented generation. 

“It will also include one-on-one mentoring sessions from our leadership team at Northern Data Group and representatives from our industry-leading partners, including HPE, Nvidia, Supermicro and Deloitte,” she adds. ”Applications will be reviewed by a panel of industry leaders, who’ll be working closely with the businesses to make their ideas a reality.”

This next year is going to be very exciting for Northern Data, as the business is more than ready to take big punches and disrupt the industry. 

“We have massive expansion plans to enter more markets – staying true to our European heart but having a global reach – and we will be making investments across our tech estate,” says Rosanne. “The future’s greatest opportunities are going to be driven by giant technological leaps, such as Gen AI, liquid-cooled infrastructure and advanced blockchain technology. We want to be part of shaping the future.”

Northern Data’s investments in the most cutting-edge hardware, software and sustainable environments will drive the industry forward. 

“Northern Data Group is absolutely focused on ensuring that we all have access to the future – today.” 

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