In March, Digita will be opening Pieni Paja, a new, modern data centre that meets demanding security requirements, in Pasila, Helsinki. The data centre environment, located at an Internet and telecommunications hub, ensures Digita’s customers have the best possible communication links.

Pieni Paja is designed for companies and public-sector organisations that value maximum security and want the best communication links available. Digita has a wealth of experience in technical environments that demand high security, reliability and usability. The company has a long history of working with organisations that demand information security.

The new data centre is designed to allow customer’s needs to be met flexibly without compromising on other requirements.

“We listen closely to our customers’ needs. We can tailor solutions flexibly and cost-effectively while simultaneously ensuring that we meet ISO quality management standards. Customers’ data centre solutions, as well as their security, access control and monitoring, are always tailored to the customer’s needs. Pieni Paja is also able to offer our customers versatile hybrid solutions”, says Digita’s Data Centre Director Juha Syrjänen.

Digita has extensive experience in providing data centre services to all kinds of customers. The company has been operating smaller data centres in Pasila and other locations in Finland for roughly a decade, and they remain in operation. The new data centre has been built based on both the demands of new customers and the experience gained from running those data centres.

“We built Pieni Paja according to the requirements of sustainable development and best practices from our existing data centres”, Syrjänen says.

Digita’s 24-hour Service Operations Centre (SOC) ensures the effective and secure operation of Pieni Paja and Digita’s other data centre environments. The SOC is in control of operations such as environmental monitoring in data centres, camera surveillance, audited access routes, biometric identification and access control.

The SOC is manned by security-vetted Digita personnel with years of experience in the industry. They are responsible for all customer service, monitoring and specialist tasks concerning Digita’s data centres, allowing them to react extremely quickly to any disruptions and sudden changes.

To meet customers’ most demanding needs, Digita offers isolated production environments that can be strictly monitored and access controlled according to the customer’s requirements.

“Our customers can choose to maintain their environments independently or in cooperation with Digita’s Service Operations Centre”, Syrjänen says.

Digita’s ISO 27001 certification testifies to the data security of its data centre business, and the company also intends to secure an environmental certificate for Pieni Paja.

The new data centre host a wide variety of different telecommunications operators. This ensures customer organisations have a number of options for high-speed communication links, allowing them to attain the lowest possible network latency. Thanks to this, companies can expect to see smoother day-to-day international operations.

Pieni Paja’s infrastructure, such as its power supply, cooling and backup power, are all redundant. In emergencies, uninterrupted power supply is guaranteed by a diesel generator for up to several days.

Environmental conditions in the data centre are analysed in real time using temperature, smoke and humidity sensors to ensure environmental variations do not disrupt the operation of equipment. Communication links are exceptionally reliable thanks to multiple physical routes and the presence of several operators at all times.

The energy-efficiency and sustainability of operations are ensured by cooperation with the national public broadcasting company Yle and the energy company Helen, which are also located on the campus. The data centre is powered entirely by Nordic wind energy. The cooling and air conditioning systems in the facility are integrated in such a way that heat recovered from condensers is efficiently transferred to Helen’s district cooling network.

The new data centre consists of two equipment spaces, which are isolated from each other for purposes of fire safety. They have a total floor area of 1,150 square metres. The equipment spaces’ low PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) ratio of 1.2 means that 83 per cent of the energy consumed by the spaces is used to power IT equipment.

“Our data centre will be extremely energy-efficient from day one”, Syrjänen says.

Pieni Paja offers Digita’s customers no shortage of peering connections between telecommunications operators in Finland. It is the location of Netnod and FICIX Internet Exchange Points (IXPs), the latter of which is one of the largest IXPs in the country. Digita negotiates continuously with new operators to secure their collaboration at Pieni Paja.

Media contacts:

Digita Ltd, Juha Syrjänen, tel. +358 40 486 7676, juha.syrjanen(a)digita.fi