Argentia bunkers poised to be data centre

Bomb-proof bunkers in Argentia will be used to keep hackers out of computer files, if a Canadian data storage company has its way.

The company, Teslagistics, described the Second World War bunkers as ideal when it talked about its proposal at an industrial showcase in Placentia in September.  

Chief Operating Officer, Allan Meiusi, said customers want their data to be protected both online, and physically.  

"One of the things we're targeting...are folks that want to have their data stored in a very secure place," said Meiusi.

"I mean there are very few places in the world that have data storage in bomb proof bunkers,"  

I mean there are very few places in the world that have data storage in bomb proof bunkers.- Allan Meiusi, Teslagistics

Meiusi told CBC's On The Go that the company sees a growing market not only in Newfoundland and Labrador, but internationally.

"What we're going to be doing is hosting cloud material. We're not hosting websites, we're not hosting blogs," said Meiusi.

"So we're not an old fashioned data centre."

'These things are pristine'

The 70-year-old bunkers have walls four-feet thick and roofs two-and-a-half feet thick. Some of them have many rooms, and in the day included a hospital with operating facilities.  

When Meiusi went inside some of the bunkers, he said they looked as if they were built yesterday.

"When we opened the doors we were just amazed... you'd think something 70 years old...would be mouldy and musty and God knows what else," said Meiusi. "These things are pristine."

'We're about high performance computing'

Meiusi said the company sees Newfoundland and Labrador as a resource based economy.

A lot of data collected is pertaining to those resources, such as ocean floor and marine research. This type of data requires a lot of analyzing and processing power.

"It's really intense. We're talking about terabytes and terabytes of data but then that all has to be analyzed and it has to be processed by computers that really have a lot of power," said Meiusi.

The technology used to store the data means that the Argentia bunkers won't need air conditioning.   

The data servers are cooled using tubs of mineral oil.

"Basically all we need is power and a connection to a fibre optic cable and we're a data centre," said Meiusi.

The company hopes to do preliminary construction by next year.

"We hope to have a sort of public display of what we're going to be doing done by February, said Meiusi .

While its goal is to put Newfoundland and Labrador on the map with regard to data storage, Teslagistics also plans to manufacture storage units in the province, and eventually provide jobs for around 90 people.