Petter M. Tommeraas

 Petter M. Tommeraas has a wealth of experience in the data centre. From the early days when his introduction to the concept of a data centre involved a collection of servers and a single room off an office hallway, through to delivering a complete suite of related portfolios as Senior Vice President Data Center Services at Basefarm, he is a knowledgeable innovator and leader. 

Aside from his tech-driven role at Basefarm, which involves the delivery of colocation to customers and taking care of and delivering all the data centre services to support the other areas of the company, such as managed services, cloud solutions and the rest of the portfolio, he is a dedicated people person too. 

“I talk a lot about technology,” he says, “but actually to succeed you have to have the right mentality. At Basefarm, for example, our relationship with our customers is essential to our success, and so to deliver that we have to have the right people who can advise, and work with the customer to deliver a best in breed experience. The Nordic mentality is all about finding gifted people and letting them prosper without being the old fashioned boss looking over their shoulder. That’s not me. I have a highly gifted team and I want them to be responsible for their work and their actions so that they develop in the best possible way. The leader’s role, in my opinion, is about guiding that ambition and providing opportunities rather than limiting them. If the people in the organisation grow, then so does our success.

“And we always aim to excel in customer experience,” he continues. “It’s key. And that;s where I try to instil a passion and a commitment to be able to deliver that level to every company or organisation that we work with. That’s what’s really special about Basefarm - the company was established 20 years ago by five individuals and has grown more or less organically since then by finding gifted people, ensuring that the passion we have for our work runs through all we do. I aim to keep that culture and develop it well into the future, it’s a very special thing we have.”