Telia’s massive data centre uses ALMA for its maintenance

Telia HDC, situated at Helsinki’s Pitäjänmäki, is an open data centre, which means that any company or association may bring their servers to tap into its high-speed telecommunication links. This is the feature that sets HDC apart from many other large data centres. The equipment pool of large data centres often caters only to certain organisations or their individual network services.

"Such a larger facility and its equipment base need a reliable maintenance system, which provides all necessary information easily and in real time. We chose ALMA to provide this service, because this is where we found exactly the system that we wanted. ALMA’s price/quality ratio is also spot on, and moreover, ALMA’s Finnish pedigree was another a benefit in comparison with its international competitors", says Petteri Hellsten, Telia HDC Facilities Manager.

Security, speed and reliability

Helsinki and Pitäjänmäki were selected as the location for Telia HDC due to security consideration, and good fibre connections. There are no major geopolitical risks in Scandinavia and in Finland, and neither do earthquakes pose threat to the delicate equipment located here.

"Particular attention has been paid to security of Telia HDC. Thus, its level of security satisfies the requirements of a high-level security standards. Moreover, the service ALMA provides for us has been swift, efficient and secure. We at Telia HDC see ALMA as one of the key strategic partners", admits the head of the data centre construction project Juha Ekman of Telia Finland.

Telia HDC’s location in Helsinki is also essential in terms of environmental benefits. Heat generated by servers is not actually lost, instead Fortum can use it in their own district heat generation process.

Development is ongoing

Around 30 persons use ALMA’s data system in Telia HDC. The system facilitates the management and maintenance of the facility, but thanks to ALMA the thousands of units and systems in HDC can be documented to become parts of the integrated whole. Furthermore, efficient use of the maintenance calendar, as well as fast repair and maintenance ticketing of equipment are additional benefits offered by ALMA’s data system to Telia HDC.

ALMA was first commissioned in Telia HDC as early as in April of 2018, i.e. a couple of months before the official launch of the centre. The experience of Telia HDC’s staff with the use of ALMA have been positive.

"We are currently developing and tailoring the content of ALMA to make it even better. We continuously gather the best practices related with the system. They are then used to adjust and modify ALMA such that it could meet our needs even better", says Hellsten.

Telia HDC is also looking for possibilities to implement ALMA’s new applications and solutions in future. These include, inter alia, applications connected with planning and project management, as well as documentation of spare parts. It is intended to take the decisions extending the system in the spring of 2019.