A novel information heart within the Italian Alps will quickly share house with dolomite extraction and quarries storing apples, wine, and cheeses. Development started this month on the San Romedio mine in Trento, Italy on Intacture, a 5MW facility that can host roughly 1,000 racks. Intacture is about to help colocation providers beginning in 2026.
The results of a public-private collaboration between the College of Trento and the know-how firm Trentino DataMine, the info heart heart – which can value about 50 million euros – is partly funded by the nation’s Restoration and Resilience Plan (NRRP).
Stakeholders and trade consultants weighed in on the undertaking and its implications for different information facilities, each above and beneath floor.
.png?width=700&auto=webp&quality=80&disable=upscale "A mockup of the outside of the Intacture data center facility")
A mockup of the surface of the Intacture information heart facility. Credit score: InSite
The Advantages of Going Underground
Though the Intacture facility is claimed to be the world’s first information heart in an energetic mine, this isn’t the primary time the trade has turned its consideration underground, mentioned Alan Howard, principal analyst of cloud & colocation providers at OMDIA. He pointed to examples such because the Inexperienced Mountain information heart in Rennesoy, Norway, the Bahnhof information heart in Stockholm, and he underground Iron Mountain information heart within the US.
However Howard mentioned these initiatives are nonetheless comparatively uncommon due to the forms of infrastructure they should have in place, corresponding to roads, electrical energy, water, and a facility administration operate.
A photograph from contained in the underground Intacture facility. Credit score: Trentino DataMine
However when these circumstances are met, underground amenities can have main benefits over their above-ground counterparts, in accordance with Howard. “A mixture of fixed, year-round low ambient temperature leading to free cooling… and [being] naturally sheltered from extreme climate and pure catastrophe eventualities” offers these underground information facilities the potential to be cost- and energy-efficient, he mentioned.
Iron Mountain’s information heart in Pennsylvania, for instance, is in a former limestome quarry that makes use of a giant underground lake that doesn’t draw from the neighbouring group system, in accordance with Chris Pennington, the corporate’s director of vitality and sustainability.
“The effectiveness of using the lake helped the positioning turn into the primary underground facility within the US to obtain an Vitality Star Certification,” Pennington mentioned.
A video preview of the Intacture facility:
When talking concerning the San Romedio mine, Roberto Loro, a Trentino DataMine board member, emphasised the numerous advantages of housing a knowledge heart deep underground.
“It presents most bodily safety, eliminating seismic and hydrogeological dangers,” Loro informed Data Center Information. He added that going underground means “vitality financial savings of greater than 25% in comparison with the European common and as much as 40% in comparison with Mediterranean international locations. The underground design drastically reduces land consumption, with greater than 80% of the constructions positioned contained in the mine.”
.png?width=700&auto=webp&quality=80&disable=upscale "A visualization of the Intacture facility housed in the San Romedio mine in Trento, Italy")
A mockup visualizing the underground structure of the Intacture facility. Credit score: InSite
‘An Uncommon Collaboration’ Between Analysis and Business
One other novel aspect of the future-oriented Intacture facility is the collaborative nature of the undertaking itself, mentioned Flavio Deflorian, rector of the College of Trento.
“The very technique of launching this initiative by a public-private partnership is in itself a problem for the college system – a take a look at of its capability to be versatile and to hearken to the wants of the group and the enterprise world,” He mentioned. The function the college performs, Deflorian informed Data Center Information, isn’t solely within the analysis the info heart goals to energy, however “to behave as a promoter, [and] a facilitator…of innovation [and] of improvement.”
.png?width=700&auto=webp&quality=80&disable=upscale "An aerial mockup view of the 5MW Intacture data center facility")
An aerial mockup view of the 5MW Intacture information heart facility. Credit score: InSite
“[Our] objective is to convey the world of trade and {the marketplace} into dialogue with the world of analysis to search out progressive options that can have a spot within the market sooner or later,” a spokesperson for Trentino DataMine informed Data Center Information. Whereas development on Intacture continues to be in its first section, the know-how firm is already trying to the info heart’s future as a possible inexperienced hub of innovation not just for the area, however for the complete nation.
“The power might evolve to supply providers past colocation. The College of Trento and the analysis ecosystem within the Trentino area will use the power for analysis actions,” they mentioned.
As talked about, the Intacture information heart is designed for a most energy of 5MW and can host a complete of roughly 1,000 racks. “That received’t help large-scale deployments we would see from hyperscalers,” Omdia’s Howard mentioned. However the undertaking, he predicts, ought to have success as a useful resource for native clients.
“There’s absolutely fiber operating by the group, which ought to present connectivity to information facilities in Milan,” he mentioned, “[giving] their clients broad international community connectivity.”
