Finland to Become Data Storage Capital of the World

We’re creating, and storing, more electronic data than ever before and data centres are big business as a result. What’s more, companies looking to setup data centres are flocking to the Scandinavian nation of Finland (both Google and Microsoft already have gargantuan centres there). But why is this?

The answer, quite simply, is the country’s climate. Finnish winters are extremely cold and their summers mild. The servers housed in data centres generate a tremendous amount of heat and, as we know, excessive temperatures and data storage devices do not mix well. Indeed, it is one of the main causes of data loss and, as it is therefore essential that these servers be kept cool, lowering the temperature of a data centre is both essential but can also prove to extremely expensive. Housing a data centre in a cold environment therefore makes financial sense.

So, couple Finland’s cool climate with the 1,000 kilometre fibre-optic cable being developed under the Baltic sea – which should allow users speedy access to their data – and the vast expanses of undeveloped land available there and it should come as no surprise if Finland is very soon the data storage capital of the world.

Microsoft Named Least Trusted Data Storage Provider

If you use the cloud to store any kind of data then it’s likely that, following revelations concerning the National Security Agency’s surveillance of electronic information having come to light, that you’re concerned about the security of this data and of your personal privacy potentially being invaded.

Following on from this, a recent survey has revealed that, of all companies offering online storage, Microsoft is the least trusted. Of the hundreds of IT and technology professionals questioned as part of the survey, almost a third (32 per cent) stated that Microsoft was the brand they trusted the least with regards to the security of their sensitive data. In comparison, 22 per cent stated that they did trust Apple’s iCloud services and 7 per cent felt that they did not feel that Dropbox provided a secure means of storing data online.

This is bad news for the tech giant as it comes on the heels of it having been revealed that they have just invested over $1 billion in a new data centre to be based in Iowa.

The US-based company have attempted to address such concerns previously by allowing customers located outside of America to choose within which country their data would be stored from January of this year. At the time of writing, however, customers based in the US are not afforded such a choice.

Following the findings of this survey having been revealed, commentators are suggesting that Microsoft and other data storage providers will start offering such options to their American customers. Others have gone as far as to suggest that many will opt to store their data in Swiss-based data centres in order to provide their clients with as much assurance as possible with regards to the security and privacy of their data.

What do you think? Are you concerned about the security of data stored in the cloud? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment.