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Swedish Nuclear Bunker Transmogrified Into Data Centre Fit For Bond
Posted by Kit Eaton at 11:45 PM on November 14, 2008
This must take the record for the trippiest data-centre build anywhere, ever: It's an old nuclear bunker 30 metres below central Stockholm, and its new conversion for one of Sweden's biggest ISPs has made it truly 007-worthy. Check it: it has simulated daylight, greenhouses and waterfalls, there're German submarine engines rigged as emergency backup generators, plus there's 1.5 megawatts of cooling for the servers. Oh, and it can survive a hydrogen bomb attack.
That's 'cause it was built into the old "Pionen White Mountains" nuclear bunker from the Cold War, though they took a year to convert it, and had to blast out more than 4,000 cubic meters of extra rock to make room for Bahnhof's infrastructure. The backup engines are two Maybach MTU diesels, and they've got the submarine emergency sound horns still in place. Meanwhile the net connections even have triple redundancy, with the fibre-optic and copper trunk lines following three different routes into the bunker. That's one massively redundant data centre, no doubt about it.
On the human side, the 15 staff are treated to a 2600-litre fish tank, and a circular mid-air glass-walled conference room that has a moon-map for a floor. The CEO himself has confirmed that some sci-fi movie inspiration was deliberately incorporated into the design. Craziness. [RoyalPingdom]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
krispy89
Posted November 15, 2008 3:16 PM
that is simply amazing. What do you say, blow the federal budget and get two?
Jrsy is the dude, playing the dude, disguised as another dude
Posted 2:31 AM 15/11/08
How long before Google buys it?
Jrsy is the dude, playing the dude, disguised as another dude
InsertBullets
Posted 2:22 AM 15/11/08
Does this mean that the swedish cops are going to need bunker busters for the next time they raid pirate bay?
InsertBullets
Preyfar
Posted 2:21 AM 15/11/08
@Ibelieveinsandwitches: Or the hideous Crab People. Look like crabs, talk like people.
Preyfar
DashTheHand
Posted 2:18 AM 15/11/08
Sounds like the perfect place to become a "Vault."
Yea, I've been playing a bit too much Fallout 3...
DashTheHand
jdbaile3
Posted 2:15 AM 15/11/08
So this is for when you REALLY can't have your wife/gf finding your porno.
jdbaile3
VideoVampire
Posted 2:14 AM 15/11/08
If its been Transmogrified, where's Calvin? Or Spaceman Spiff? Hobbes? Maybe he peeing on somebody somewhere?
VideoVampire
Dylorian
Posted 2:13 AM 15/11/08
I wanna to play Goldeneye now :P
Dylorian
MetaOrbit
Posted 2:08 AM 15/11/08
Glad to see the poor economy isn't adversely affecting everyone.
MetaOrbit
Barry99705
Posted 2:08 AM 15/11/08
I thought this would be a cool idea when they had that nuclear silo for sale in upstate New York. I just couldn't come up with the 2 million dollars....
Barry99705
Curves
Posted 2:04 AM 15/11/08
Server control room with plants in it? What about the humidity? If you keep the lush plants wet enough to keep them lush, the electronics will suffer. If you keep the electronics cool and dry enough to work at optimal, the plants will suffer. I dont understand this though it looks nice.
Curves
baldingnerd
Posted 2:03 AM 15/11/08
been in quite a few datacenters, but never in any that used to be old nuclear facilities. Sounds quite interesting.
tho I am disappointed - as winshape said:
no monorails and no tanks with sharks, also.. where are the lasers at??
baldingnerd
Ibelieveinsandwitches
Posted 1:58 AM 15/11/08
thats great, but what are they going to do when the Mole people start attacking?
Ibelieveinsandwitches
winshape
Posted 1:53 AM 15/11/08
What...no monorails connecting the different sections? Conference room with walkway "coincidentally" passing over a tank full of sharks (with or without the frickin' laser beams)? Machine-gun toting henchmen?
FAIL
winshape
Crescent
Posted 2:49 AM 15/11/08
@Curves: they could always use fake ones, they look 'lush' enough for fake photos.
and real ones would be hard to maintain with fake sun I guess.
anyway most sysadmins would prefer terminator to a plant in the office any day of the week.
Crescent
JonathanHiggins
Posted 2:40 AM 15/11/08
Makes me proud of being a Swede :)
JonathanHiggins
friendslikeJimRome
Posted 2:38 AM 15/11/08
@Preyfar: I cannot discuss the Crab People Project but I can assure you, any attack by Mole people would be swiftly met and defeated.
friendslikeJimRome
GTgeek
Posted 3:00 AM 15/11/08
Wow, this place looks amazing. I'd love to see it in person. I've seen something before where a guy bought a decommissioned missile silo and turned it into a home, that looked neat as well. I think that would be a cool place to live (no neighbors, lots of space, unique) although convincing a date to come out to the middle of the desert to see my place would probably be pretty difficult. Also, getting dates would be hard enough as a recluse that lives underground in the desert.
GTgeek
Grahmo
Posted 2:57 AM 15/11/08
@Curves: they are probably using low humidity plants then...hopefully Cactii cuz that word rules
Grahmo
zanella
Posted 3:23 AM 15/11/08
Not only would this be the sweetest location for a LAN party because of the space, but 30 meters above your head is Stockholm, home to some of my favorite eats and drinks (NOT including surströmming).
Plus, Sweden just rocks.
zanella
takeshi
Posted 3:21 AM 15/11/08
@Curves: Are serious? Do you think that plants only grow in the rainforest? Be sure to get outdoors more often!
takeshi
kerowhack
Posted 3:18 AM 15/11/08
Please don't let my IT manager see this... on second thought...
kerowhack
bucho54
Posted 4:03 AM 15/11/08
Cool, but that control room looks like a Rainforest Cafe. I'm just waiting for a bad animatronic alligator to come out of he mist.
bucho54
wikkit
Posted 3:46 AM 15/11/08
....reminds me of the data haven from Cryptonomicon.
wikkit
Toastie
Posted 4:27 AM 15/11/08
@takeshi: Well, since the plants shown are tropical plants (usually from the rainforest and survive better in low light) I think he's onto something.
Toastie
Toshie
Posted 4:42 AM 15/11/08
@jdbaile3: A masterbatorium if you will...
Toshie
Bokusatsu_Tenshi
Posted 4:41 AM 15/11/08
I see those spammers are putting big money to avoid the next ISP closing...
Bokusatsu_Tenshi
Nickolai_the_Russian_guy
Posted 5:15 AM 15/11/08
@Jrsy is the dude, playing the dude, disguised as another du...: 3.. 2.. and....
Nickolai_the_Russian_guy
Nickolai_the_Russian_guy
Posted 5:14 AM 15/11/08
@Wandel: JEALOUS!!!!!
Nickolai_the_Russian_guy
Nickolai_the_Russian_guy
Posted 5:14 AM 15/11/08
WANT
Nickolai_the_Russian_guy
tehdahl
Posted 5:05 AM 15/11/08
*jealousy much*?
tehdahl
Wandel
Posted 5:02 AM 15/11/08
I'll be going there for a class trip soon, looking forward to it.
Wandel
SeattleTed
Posted 5:24 AM 15/11/08
@Curves: I'm more interested in humidity for my skin. If I'm one of the last 15 people on the planet I need my skin to be really well moisturized if I'm to win the procreation contest with the Swedish lab techs in sector S-5.
SeattleTed
Shoghon
Posted 5:24 AM 15/11/08
Oh yeah...and no matter what you do, those caves walls slowly put out this dust that CHOKES everything....Lovely conditions for computers.
Shoghon
Shoghon
Posted 5:23 AM 15/11/08
Oh yes, its all sounds great...
I worked in a man made cave system very similar to this for years (great for wine, not so great for people).
No matter how much you light the office, its always dark.
Of course they're in Sweden...I guess they're used to it being dark half of the year.
Shoghon
Thizizmyname
Posted 5:52 AM 15/11/08
Hi.
This is quite cool.
It's always interesting to find out swedish gadgetry and cool stuff from you when I come from sweden, and never heard of it before. ^^
And since I'm from Sweden I need to be a little correction-devil this moment and say that the town is spelled Stockholm.
Thizizmyname
Burbank_Jeffers
Posted 6:52 AM 15/11/08
@winshape: Whaddaya mean, "no sharks" - what do you think is in the 2600 liter fish tank?!
Burbank_Jeffers
rDub
Posted 7:22 AM 15/11/08
@Curves: speaking of humidity I am surprised that you didnt mention the ominous fog scheme they had going on in almost all of the photos
rDub
DeadWriter
Posted 7:21 AM 15/11/08
Come the apocalypse, all of those spam messages will be saved so that others can judge our culture on it.
DeadWriter
rDub
Posted 7:24 AM 15/11/08
@Bokusatsu_Tenshi: nice one
rDub
MauriceGautschi
Posted 9:25 AM 15/11/08
I didn't know the Swedes had a Stargate!
MauriceGautschi
MauriceGautschi
Posted 9:23 AM 15/11/08
The IT guys down there are Morlocks. Play the siren, eat lunch, defrag. the hard drives.
MauriceGautschi
racermd
Posted 9:06 AM 15/11/08
@rDub: Are we forgetting that a very low RH level is also very bad for computers? Anyone hear of static electricity?
Most datacenters that I've had the pleasure of working in were kept between 40 and 50 percent RH - which wound up being a nearly absolute value due to the very narrow temperature range.
Keeping the plants moist might actually help offset the need to humidify the room in the cooler months. Which, in Sweden, I'd guess is about 75% of the year.
racermd
CarrerCrytharis
Posted 10:13 AM 15/11/08
@Ibelieveinsandwitches: You'd also have to be careful not to wake a Deep Crow.
CarrerCrytharis
este
Posted 10:32 AM 15/11/08
@este:
And Swedish! (frickin like sounding europeans!)
este
este
Posted 10:31 AM 15/11/08
@MetaOrbit:
Who do you think has our money now ? The Swiss.
este
koi
Posted 11:32 PM 16/11/08
I just hope my companys coming datacenter can top this! we got a few old bunkers up here in northen sweden too ;)
koi
friendslikeJimRome
Posted 1:46 AM 20/11/08
@MauriceGautschi: BUT, we will survive.
friendslikeJimRome