Options Technology Selects atNorth for Cloud Expansion

Options Technology (Options) has selected atNorth’s ICE02 data centre in Iceland as the new home for its expanded private cloud environment, Horizon, as financial services firms increase their use of AI for trading, analytics and risk modelling. 

The move positions the business to meet growing demand for high-density compute while maintaining a focus on security, sustainability and predictable operating costs.

Expanding private cloud for financial workloads

The decision follows a surge in requirements from hedge funds, investment banks and proprietary trading firms for infrastructure capable of supporting advanced AI models. 

According to Options, traditional private cloud environments often fall short of the performance and density thresholds now expected for machine learning workflows used in quantitative analysis and real-time decision support.

“By partnering with atNorth we are able to offer a tailored private cloud environment for our clients’ AI workloads in a secure and sustainable way,” says Danny Moore, President and CEO of Options Technology. “Their ambitious growth plans mirror our own expansion strategy, and we look forward to a successful long-term collaboration”.

Options aims to fill what it describes as a gap in the market for financial-sector-specific private cloud infrastructure. As more firms seek isolated environments for sensitive data and proprietary models, the company is positioning Horizon as an AI-ready alternative to public cloud deployment.

Why Iceland for AI infrastructure

ICE02, located near Reykjavík, is one of atNorth’s high-density campuses designed for compute-intensive applications. The site offers power and cooling configurations optimised for AI clusters, along with electrical and mechanical systems intended to support sustained high utilisation.

All atNorth sites in Iceland run on 100% renewable energy, primarily geothermal and hydro, which gives operators access to low-cost, stable power. The region’s naturally cool climate also reduces the operational load on cooling systems, an increasingly relevant factor as AI hardware densities continue to rise.

The Nordic locations also offer strategic network advantages. Sitting between London and New York, ICE02 and its sister sites can provide latency profiles suitable for workloads that are not in the critical execution path but still require close proximity to financial markets.

High-density colocation for AI growth

For atNorth, the agreement reflects increasing demand for AI-ready colocation in the Nordics as operators seek locations where power availability, sustainability credentials and scale can be guaranteed.

“Data intensive businesses are increasingly looking for high density, AI ready facilities that can scale responsibly,” says Anders Fryxell, CSO at atNorth. “We are delighted to welcome Options Technology to our ICE02 data centre as they continue to expand their industry leading offering”.

The ICE02 campus is built to support high rack densities and can be scaled across the region, giving Options a template for future growth. 

The partnership also aligns with atNorth’s strategy of supporting workloads that require sustained compute performance, from AI training to quantitative modelling.

Continued growth for atNorth’s customer base

The collaboration adds to a string of recent customer wins for atNorth. The operator has announced new partnerships with several organisations running data-intensive workloads, including Crusoe in Iceland, Nokia in Finland and 6G AI Sweden AB in Sweden.

These agreements have expanded the company’s footprint across the region and highlight the continuing shift of compute-heavy applications towards locations where power cost, sustainability and large-scale capacity can be more reliably secured.