Yandex, an internet company that runs Russia’s most popular search engine, is building a new data center in southern Finland. The company has bought a plot of land in the town of Mäntsälä for 1.5 million euros, and construction work will start in August 2013.
— Our choice of Finland and Mäntsälä was based on several factors. The key one was the total cost of ownership, including energy costs and availability, telecommunication infrastructure in the area, climate conditions and convenient location near a large logistic hub. We also got a relevant commercial offer and support from the town of Mäntsälä, said Andrey Korolenko, Chief of Infrastructure at Yandex.
The cool Northern climate helps the company minimize its server cooling costs.
Local know-how and expertise
The land purchase was finalized in April, when the representatives of Yandex and the town of Mäntsälä signed a contract of 1.5 million euros. The company would not disclose the price of the data center.Construction work will start in August.
— We are now in the process of construction project evaluation with several suppliers from Finland and other countries, said Andrey Korolenko.
— The level of know-how in Finland is quite high. The project is rather complicated in terms of engineering and technology. We are happy to see there are a lot of local suppliers with high competence and expertise.
Once the new center is running, Yandex plans to hire ca. 50 engineers to maintain and support it. The company does not see any risks in operating in Finland but will not disclose its future plans.
Invest in Finland, a government agency assisting international companies in finding business opportunities in Finland, also played a role in Yandex’s investment decision by introducing Finland to the company already in 2010.
“Yet another index”
Yandex runs Russia’s most popular and the world’s fourth most popular internet search engine, which has approximately 90 million users per month (comScore report, December 2012). In additon to Russia, Yandex operates in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Turkey. The company also offers news, map, email and online payment services.
Yandex is listed on NASDAQ and made over 947 million dollars in revenue in 2012. It has about 4 000 employees. The company also has data centers in Russia, the United States and the Netherlands. The name Yandex comes from the words ”yet another index”.
This article is published in cooperation with Good News from Finland.
