European data center firm Verne has partnered with high-performance computing (HPC) consultants OFC to deploy an HPC cluster in Iceland.

The compute cluster has been deployed on behalf of open-source computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software provider Engys. The new system replaces the company’s existing on-premise cluster in the UK, which is reaching the end of its life.

According to Engys, efficiency and sustainability were key concerns for the company when selecting a location for its replacement system. By opting for Verne’s Icelandic data center, the company says it is able to access to 100 percent renewable hydroelectric and geothermal energy as well as free air cooling, meaning Engys’ carbon costs of the cluster’s compute is significantly reduced.

Verne operates a 24MW data center campus on a former NATO site near Keflavik, Iceland.

The system is based on a Supermicro solution, with the HPC cluster designed and configured by OFC. The deployment was also completed remotely from Sheffield, further improving the efficiency of the project.

No information has been disclosed about the compute power of the cluster.

“At Engys, sustainability is important to us and to our customers, who often utilize CFD to drive efficiency gains within their own operations,” said Andrew Jackson, head of development at Engys. “With our new Icelandic cluster, we can achieve our sustainability goals, while also taking advantage of a more stable and predictably priced energy grid.”

He added: “Furthermore, as Verne’s data center campus is designed to support high intensity compute at scale, we can rest assured that our services will always run as efficiently as possible, even as we continue to grow.”

Verne (formerly Verne Global) was acquired by investment firm Adrian from UK infrastructure firm Digital 9 Infrastructure plc (D9) in March 2024.

When the deal was completed, Ardian said it would support Verne’s expansion by investing $1.2bn through equity and debt to “deliver an ambitious growth plan”, including quadrupling the data center company’s existing sold capacity from 29MW in 2023 and entering new locations, with a focus on Iceland, Finland, Sweden, and Norway.