World Wide Technology and Polarise announced a partnership on 22 October centred on a 5 MW AI data centre in Oslo, with World Wide Technology serving as systems integrator for the build already under way, according to their Business Wire announcement issued in St Louis. The German company plans to operate the site as part of its European AI cloud network, while the partnership extends World Wide Technology’s infrastructure delivery role to further projects.
Key points
- Polarise says it owns the Oslo site’s data centre, cooling equipment, infrastructure and software platform.
- The liquid-cooled deployment will use Nvidia accelerated computing.
- Polarise previously deployed a large AI cluster in Munich under the Industrial AI Cloud project.
- The companies intend the Oslo project to lead into further European AI Factories.
Polarise’s 5 MW Oslo build
Polarise describes itself as a full-stack AI token factory provider. At Oslo, that means the company says it will supply the data centre, cooling system, infrastructure and software platform, rather than just cloud services running on another operator’s site. It calls the facilities it builds and operates AI Factories. The planned 5 MW capacity is for compute, according to the companies’ announcement.
The Oslo deployment is liquid-cooled and will use Nvidia accelerated computing. The facility is also being built to Nvidia reference architecture, Data Centre Solutions reported. World Wide Technology’s assigned role is systems integration, bringing the computing and supporting infrastructure together for the project. Polarise is building and operating the site.
The companies present European jurisdiction and control as the purpose of the capacity. They say demand comes from enterprises and public institutions moving AI into production. Polarise also offers Drive, which it describes as a managed inference service giving organisations access to computing power through its own AI cloud. Oslo adds a facility to that broader offering rather than being presented solely as a customer deployment.
Munich cluster came before Oslo
Polarise says it deployed its first large AI cluster in Munich under the Industrial AI Cloud project. The Oslo centre is the next phase of its stated European expansion. The Munich work sits alongside a wider industrial AI effort in Germany: AI Affairs reported a declaration by Germany and Nvidia to develop industrial AI models.
Michel Boutouil, Polarise’s founder and chief executive, said the company was building compute capacity for Germany and Europe. He described Oslo as the next step and said working with World Wide Technology would help Polarise build at the pace it believes customers require. The company’s plan places a facility in Oslo after its Munich cluster, with World Wide Technology joining at the systems-integration stage of the new project.
World Wide Technology takes integration role
World Wide Technology is a global technology solutions provider founded in 1990. It says it has more than 14,000 employees and more than 60 locations, and serves clients in up to 130 countries, according to its company profile published by 01net. The Oslo assignment gives it a defined delivery role within Polarise’s infrastructure programme.
Scott O’Mara, World Wide Technology’s SVP of GSP International, said the company would provide architecture, partners and delivery expertise. He described the aim as a cluster that goes live on the contracted schedule. Polarise, meanwhile, says it will retain the operating role and the cloud platform through which customers obtain compute. The arrangement brings a systems integrator into a facility and service stack that Polarise says it controls.
The companies describe Oslo as the first joint delivery in a pipeline of European AI Factories. Their announced division of work has Polarise building and operating those facilities, with World Wide Technology contributing systems integration and its partner network to the programme.
