Gallery: The Future Called. It Wants Its Data Center Back
01city-of-the-future
You've got to hand it to the folks Swedish ISP Bahnhof. They've got style. A few months back we [wrote about their Pionen data center.]( http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2012/11/bahnhof/ ) Nestled in a former nuclear bunker just south of Stockholm, it has plants, cool glass conference rooms and waterfalls, inspired by science-fiction classics such as *Silent Running*. Now they've started construction on a futuristic modular data center, designed by a Bahnhof sister company called MDC Stockholm. The idea is to take tank-quality steel and build out special data-center containers that can be quickly added stacked and linked using an inflatable command module. The module is built by Lindstrand Technologies — the same company that built the parachute used by the ill-fated Beagle 2 Mars mission. "It's very expensive to build a data center, and you always always end up with a lot of empty space before you have any clients," says Jon Karlung, Bahnhof's CEO. With a modular data center, you can expand as you need more space rather than building out a massive complex and waiting to fill your capacity. He says that his designers again took a few pages from sci-fi classics such as Space 1999 and Star Trek. Above: ------- A vision of the Bahnhof containers being flown around in the future. *Image: MDC Stockholm.*
02data-center-of-the-future
A fully completed Bahnhof modular data center will house 12 modules, including a power module and a cooling module. These are the same size as the standard 40-foot containers you see being hauled on ships, trains and trucks, but Karlung says that on the inside, they're configured to hold more servers. Bahnoff envisioned these modular data centers a few years back and, after some delays, is finally getting around to building the first one. *Image: MDC Stockholm.*
03kista-data-center
A Jan. 9 photo of the Bahnhof data center under construction. Karlung hopes to start accepting his first clients in June. *Photo: Bahnhof*
04command-module
The inflatable command module serves as the common office and storage space for the data centers. *Photo: Bahnhof*
05bahnhof9
An artist's conception of the inside of a command module. Karlung is certain that Google got its [Storm Trooper Easter egg](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2012/10/data-center-easter-eggs/) idea from him. *Image: MDC Stockholm.*
roger schederin06before-inflation
A look at the command module before inflation. Karlung wants to surround this data center outside of Stockholm with red scoria, a dark lava rock that scientists have told him is the closest thing to Martian dirt you can find on earth. *Photo: Bahnof/Roger Schederin*
roger schederin07before-inflation-2
The command module attached to a data center container before it's inflated. *Photo: Bahnof/Roger Schederin*
roger schederin08door
The 800-pound doors inside Bahnhof's modular data center use a pneumatic system to open and shut. That isn't just easier on the humans who have to use them; it also saves space. But most importantly, it allows the doors a satisfying pneumatic *ssssswish* sound when they are used. That's very *Space: 1999*. *Photo: Bahnhof/Roger Schederin*
09bahnhof7
An artist's conception of a city of modular data centers. Presumably this is after our robot overlords seize power and turn all available green space into modular data centers. *Image: MDC Stockholm.*
10video-tour
Take a tour of the data center with this Bahnhof video.
