Rostelecom has announced plans for a commercial data centre in Murmansk, the company’s first facility to be built in the Russian Arctic.

The data centre, which will cater for both regional authorities and businesses, will initially provide a capacity of 20 racks, with room for expansion available.

The project’s anchor customer was the Government of the Murmansk Region, following an agreement signed last year by the region’s Governor Andrey Chibis and Rostelecom’s Vice President, Director of PJSC Rostelecom’s North-West Macroregional branch, Alexander Loginov.

Loginov said, “With digitalisation in full swing, the volume of data in use is steadily building up, and so are the requirements for data processing speed and quality. This is where the geographical proximity of data to the end-user comes into play – which is exactly what Rostelecom’s new data centre offers. The new facility meets the high quality and reliability standards that we guarantee as the undisputed leader in the Russian data centre market”.

Chibis added, “The newly built infrastructure will provide a firm foothold for high-paced digital development in the Murmansk region. I am certain that the construction of this data centre in the Kola Arctic region will provide crucial impetus to the development of the entire Russian Arctic. Both commercial entities and government bodies are in need of reliable storage of, and easy access to, large amounts of information.”