Rostelecom Explores Underground Data Centers in Partnership With Norilsk Nickel for Stronger Physical Protection
Rostelecom is advancing plans to build underground data centers as an additional safeguard against increasingly serious external threats. The initiative represents the third tier of a multi-layered protection strategy that also includes backup facilities and geographic distribution of infrastructure.
The first protection level calls for a reserve site holding copies of critical data. The second level spreads computing resources and services across multiple geographically separated locations. Underground placement adds a further physical barrier that cannot be achieved simply by burying an existing server room.
According to Vedomosti, the operator is in talks with Norilsk Nickel about potential cooperation. The mining company’s own power-generation assets and available capacity make the partnership attractive from an energy-supply perspective.
Building a subterranean facility carries significant extra costs. iKS-Consulting estimates that a buried data center would be 30–40 percent more expensive than an equivalent surface installation. Additional expenses arise from hydro-isolation, specialized ventilation, gas-control systems, advanced fire-suppression and evacuation equipment, plus the logistics of moving heavy hardware underground.
Concrete timelines, candidate sites, and detailed technical specifications for the Norilsk Nickel project have not been released. The move reflects growing attention among Russian operators to physical hardening of critical digital infrastructure.
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