Norway’s Cool Climate Powers Bulk Data Centre
Norway’s cool climate is a proudly held part of the country’s heritage - ice created the mythical fjords and the latitude offers a perfect stage for the Northern Lights. But Norway’s year-round cool temperatures also offers it an advantage with the data centre sector, which requires copious amounts of energy to cool the facilities systems. Yet chilled climates are beneficial for data centres, as they reduce the need for artificial cooling systems. Norway’s cool climate puts it in an ideal spot for the data centre sector. The Nordic region’s data centre construction market was valued at US$1.88bn in 2023 and is expected to reach US$3.18bn by 2029.
For Rob Elder, Chief Commercial Officer at Bulk Data Centres, it’s an exciting place to be. He’s been in the data centre industry for over two decades and joined Bulk five years ago. He’s had a varied background, having been involved in every stage of development, from sales and consulting to design, construction and operations, which has enabled him to gain a detailed and holistic understanding of all aspects of the data centre lifecycle.
As Chief Commercial Officer, he leads a team responsible for all customer engagements, helping customers deploy the latest technology in a sustainable way. One year ago, Rob moved to Norway with his wife and two children, to be closer to the management team as Bulk embarks on its next phase of growth.
For Bulk Data Centres, this rapid growth gives the team many opportunities. Rob’s role is to oversee customer engagements and identify strategic opportunities to attract world-class tenants.
“I focus on keeping up with the rapid pace of technological change to lead the strategic development of our product and service offering, working with our internal teams and clients to plan not just for scale but also for long-term growth, efficiency and a reduction in our clients’ carbon footprint,” he explains.
Efficient power and cooling
Bulk Data Centres scalable solutions provide the flexibility to widen high-density workloads, meaning businesses can wave goodbye to power and cooling constraints.
By staying ahead of industry trends, including advancements in technology and AI, and fostering strong partnerships with industry suppliers, OEMs and partners, Rob’s aim is to drive Bulk Data Centres success.
“I have a diverse and extensive background in data centre development, having worked with companies of varying sizes, from small and medium enterprises to large global corporations,” Rob shares. “At Bulk, I have had the unique opportunity to work within a colocation and digital infrastructure business for the first time, while also being based in another country.”
For Rob, this experience has broadened his knowledge and understanding of the critical role international and regional fibre connectivity plays in growing a platform for digital infrastructure. Doing this inside a Nordic company has also allowed him to understand a different culture, which values the societal impact business has.
Bulk Data Centre builds data centres with a minimum lifespan of 15 years, acknowledging the significant investment involved.
“Future-proofing our facilities is essential to adapt to advancing technologies, such as higher IT equipment density and the potential transition to liquid cooling methods,” Rob explains. “We do this by combining expansive land and power infrastructure with high-capacity international fibre networks and reliable connectivity - which unlocks the potential to attract enterprises with high-density compute needs.”
Recent months have shown that new applications like the metaverse and AI are driving demand for higher-density machines to process data in real time. Rob sees that these opportunities are vast, but believes that the data centre sector must continue to work with the environment in mind.
“We must recognise the environmental impact on water supplies and electricity grids, making the location of data centres crucial for mitigating the broader climate impact,” he says.
Exploring future-proof solutions with Bulk Data Centre
Bulk Data Centre has established key partnerships with OEMs, notably Nvidia.
“As one of ten global Nvidia preferred partners, we collaborate closely with their engineering and sales teams to future-proof our data centres and ensure joint customer success,” says Rob.
He is confident that this collaboration keeps the company at the forefront of technology to meet our customers’ data centre needs.
As technology converges for Gen AI and other applications, Bulk Data Centre recognises that data centres - with all their elements of power, cooling, connectivity, and more - become integral to the performance and scalability of these applications.
“We continue to foster strong relationships and formal partnerships with all organisations in this space that ensure we can deliver the very best solutions to our customers,” he adds. “As well as technology vendors, this includes design, deployment and ongoing operational service companies.”
Bulk Data Centre is at the beginning of a dramatic shift in technology launches and data centre requirements. For Rob, meeting customers' demands is the number one priority and the team remains dedicated to constructing data centre infrastructure at a large scale and in the shortest time frames.
“Following strong demand from international customers, we plan to expand our data centre capacity by 47 MW focusing on key locations that offer strategic advantages to our clients,” he says. “Our efforts will be geared towards integrating more AI-driven solutions to optimise our operations and provide intelligent infrastructure management.”
Additionally, Bulk Data Centre aims to deepen customer relationships and identify new opportunities to collaborate and create value, ensuring that Bulk Data Centre remains a trusted partner in their success.
“The next 12 months promise to be an exciting period of growth and innovation for Bulk,” Rob says. “The Nordic data centre industry is an exciting place to be right now.”
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