UK-Norway cable will be “door opener” for data centres

Invest in Bergen, and its sister organization Greenbyte, have helped to support this project that will improve connection speeds between Norway and the rest of the world.  

The developer NO-UK Com has now secured the funding to start building the cable, which will run between Stavanger in Norway and Newcastle in the UK.

The connection aims to provide a “new digital highway” to and from the Nordics, allowing Norway to act as a vital link between data centres in the US, the UK and Scandinavia. This can bring huge benefits for the country’s own data centre industry.

The project is being backed by a consortium of Norwegian companies, including Lyse, Ryfylke IKS, BKK Digitek, Green Mountain, Haugaland Kraft, Jacob Hatteland Holding, and Polysys.

Ketil Barkved, CEO of NO-UK Com, also thanked Invest in Bergen and Greenbyte for their support over the past few years.

Ketil Barkved, chief executive of NO-UK Com

“Greenbyte was there right from the starting phase, and had faith in the project. Invest in Bergen also showed an early interest in the initiative and, during its most vulnerable period, helped us to secure a grant from Hordaland County Council,” notes Barkved.

“Without this support, I don’t think we would have come as far as we have today.”

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A stronger network

BKK Digitek provides internet services to businesses in Greater Bergen, and was one of the early supporters of the new fibre cable.

Erik Korvald, Managing Director at BKK Digitek, believes that the new connection will help to make Norway’s fibre network more resilient.

“Norway has been in a vulnerable position with regards to fibre and bandwidth, as most of our traffic is currently routed via Oslo and Sweden,” explains Korvald. When the UK-Norway cable is finished, it will provide an alternative route in and out of Norway.

This will reduce vulnerability, and make the country more attractive to foreign companies who wish to do business here.

Erik Korvald, Managing Director at BKK Digitek, believes that the UK-Norway cable will make the Norwegian fibre network more resilient.

Korvald adds: “For BKK, it has been important to strengthen Norway’s digital infrastructure, so that we are even better placed to build data centres and use the country’s abundant supply of green energy.”

The company recently laid another undersea cable from Stavanger to Bergen, with the aim of creating a more secure and robust fibre network in the Bergen region.

Abundant supply of hydropower

NO­-UK Com will start work on its undersea cable in 2020, and is hoping to complete the project by the autumn of 2021.

When it is finished, the company believes that the new cable will add to Norway’s benefits in the eyes of data centre operators.

The country can already offer an abundance of clean hydropower, meaning that data centres here can gain access to electricity that is 100% sustainable.

With its many rivers and waterfalls, the west coast of Norway produces large quantities of renewable hydropower. This makes the region an excellent place for establishing new data centres.

Better still, a newly released study shows that Norway has enjoyed the lowest average power prices of Europe for nearly two decades.

The country can also offer a strong network, good data connectivity, and a stable political system where it is easy to do business.

If you’d like to learn more about available data centre sites in the Greater Bergen region, head to the GreenByte website.