Google invests EUR40M in Finland
Posted by Janne Saarikko on February 12, 2009
It was announced this morning that Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) has purchased a major industrial property located in Hamina, Finland. The deal is worth 40 million euros.
Summa mill was previously owned by Finnish StoraEnso, one of world’s leading paper and pulp manufacturers. The entire paper industry has been in dire straits for some years, and the Summa mill was closed down already in January 2008.
According to Google, they are planning to build a server farm in Summa. There is plenty of room for that, since the mill used to have three medium-sized paper machines. The location is beautiful, since the paper mill is located by the water.
What this will mean to Hamina region in SE Finland? Propably some more jobs and lot of international influence. There are lot of former paper industry workers in the region, maybe they can be trained to run server farms?
Hamina is an age old harbour town (the name Hamina stands for port). It’s located not too far away from Helsinki. Hamina is perhaps best known for it’s Hamina Tattoo, international military music festival.
Link to aerial view of Summa mill.
Stefan Constantinescu said
hmmm, located by the water eh …
makes sense for water cooling and what not, flowing water = energy source too
Janne Saarikko said
Stefan,
I didn’t think of it like that. This water is sea water, I believe it can’t be used for datacenter cooling?
But maybe Google will try to make an environmental effort of some sort in Summa as well?
The original reason for the location by sea is the cooling water for paper machines and a place for ships – a roll of paper is a tricky thing for the logistics…
Janne Saarikko said
Something from Reuters
http://in.reuters.com/article/governmentFilingsNews/idINLC40921720090212
Janne Saarikko said
TechCrunch UK is covering the news as well
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/12/google-buys-a-paper-mill/
Janne Saarikko said
More interesting news on the issue.
In the same premises will be also a Finnish-German wind energy company WinWinD
http://www.winwind.fi/english/etusivu.php
Maybe the site will be wind power operated…?
Tommy said
Baltic sea is ok for cooling purposes. It’s already being used in many places for that. But especially in winter time it’s enough to open a door in Finland
Pete Lundin said
For Google the reason to chose this location was renewable energy close by. Moreover Finland is ideal for cooling. You can read more here: http://www.fincloud.freehostingcloud.com/