Key Point plans a RUB 4 billion data centre in Rostov Region

Key Point Group plans to invest approximately RUB 4 billion in a data centre in Rostov Region with capacity for 800–1,000 racks. The project agreement was signed at Innoprom in Yekaterinburg on July 8, 2024, regional Deputy Governor Igor Sorokin told Interfax.

More than 90% of the equipment is expected to be domestically produced. Key Point intends the facility to support its own IT services and those of industrial and fuel-and-energy businesses, government institutions and private-sector organisations.

Key Point openings and Rostov agreement.

Programmable-controller production also proposed

The investment programme also envisages production of programmable logic controllers for wood- and metal-processing machine tools in the region. Planned expenditure on that manufacturing operation exceeds RUB 150 million.

Earlier commissioning in Novosibirsk

Key Point’s Novosibirsk data centre entered technical operation with 440 racks in February 2024, following construction that began in April 2023. Its ceremonial opening took place on April 26, 2024, at the region’s Industrial and Logistics Park.

Igor Sorokin, Rostov Region deputy governor.

Key Point put the share of Russian equipment at 90% in its May 2024 engineering update. The Novosibirsk facility’s equipment includes:

prefabricated internal and external power modules supplying critical systems;
chillers with a specified minimum operating temperature of −47°C.

The overall Novosibirsk design provides for 880 racks and 11 MW of facility power. The first phase received Uptime Institute’s Tier III Certification of Constructed Data Center Facility. These engineering specifications and certification relate to Novosibirsk.

Key Point Group.

Partnership with Rostelecom

Rostelecom and Key Point signed a strategic partnership agreement on April 26, 2024. The arrangement allows Rostelecom and Rostelecom Data Centers to combine their technological and intellectual resources with Key Point’s infrastructure for a joint project delivering integrated IT solutions and services.

Rostelecom’s customers gained access to the technical capabilities of the newly opened Novosibirsk facility. Regional companies from different industries and telecommunications operators had already begun using the data centre’s services when the partnership was announced.

Rostelecom also operated two of its own Tier III data centres in Novosibirsk, with more than 400 rack spaces between them. That existing Rostelecom capacity is separate from the Key Point facility covered by the partnership.