Northern Data AG Opens First Own Data Center in Frankfurt

Northern Data AG opens first own data center in Frankfurt

• GPU cluster will serve as HPC platform for research and industry
• Cooperation with University Frankfurt and GSI Helmholtzzentrum Darmstadt
• Mobile high-tech data centers form the basis of the infrastructure

Northern Data AG (XETRA: NB2, ISIN: DE000A0SMU87) starts operating its first data center at its Frankfurt am Main location. From December 2020, the Frankfurt location will make up part of the Company’s Distributed Computing Cluster, based on its mobile high-tech data centers. This will add to the Company’s worldwide network of GPU clusters, including in the Netherlands, Scandinavia and Canada. Feasibility studies (Proof of Concept) are planned at the Frankfurt site in cooperation with research and industry.

Stefan Sickenberger, COO of Northern Data, explains: “High-Performance Computing has become an integral part of research and large parts of industry. Parallel processor systems and clusters are needed to process large volumes of data at high speed and with maximum stability. A key driver of success is lower energy consumption and high power efficiency. We are pleased to be working closely with our research partners on this project. We are particularly proud of our cooperation with the High-Performance Computing Architecture group at the Goethe University Frankfurt, which commands a great deal of expertise, especially in the area of Green IT”.

Volker Lindenstruth, Professor of High-Performance Computing Architecture at Frankfurt Goethe University and member of the Board of Directors of the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (FIAS) comments: “We are delighted to be working with Northern Data. This project involves coupling the research supercomputers of Goethe University and the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research with Northern Data’s own supercomputers, making the best use possible out of our combined capabilities and existing hardware. Peak loads can be intercepted, while particularly large jobs can be started with minimal delay. Example scientific applications include calculations and modelling in particle physics and relativistic astrophysics, environmental and atmospheric physics, as well as applications in life sciences, for example, precise and automated detection of cancer cells in tissue sections.

Aroosh Thillainathan, CEO of Northern Data, adds: “Above all, our concept of ‘design-to-cost’ is particularly important to this project. We not only manage the customer’s data center and hardware but also the software, enabling us to optimize the data center operations to meet the customer’s actual needs. In contrast to pure colocation providers, which have no influence on, for example, the load distribution of their customers and their software processing within the data center, we are able to regulate this with our management software. Among other things, we also control the cooling capacity very efficiently in terms of the required computing power, and this enables us to achieve excellent PUE values. Our customers save energy and achieve cost savings as a result. Together with our targeted selection of locations in northern regions, this allows us to offer our customers high-quality HPC solutions tailored to their needs, while remaining extremely cost-efficient at the same time.

About Northern Data:
Northern Data AG develops and operates global infrastructure solutions in the field of High-Performance Computing (HPC). With its customer-specific solutions, the company provides the infrastructure for various HPC applications in areas such as bitcoin mining, artificial intelligence, blockchain, big data analytics, IoT or rendering. The internationally active company is today a leading provider of HPC solutions worldwide. Northern Data offers its HPC solutions both in large, stationary data centers and in mobile high-tech data centers that can be set up at any location worldwide. The company combines self-developed software and hardware with intelligent concepts for a sustainable energy supply. The Northern Data group currently employs about 150 members of staff.