Norway’s largest financial services group DNB will soon operate some of its IT out of a secret mountain hideaway used by NATO during the cold war.

Security is key for financial services, but data center operator Green Mountain Data Center, which signed its first anchor tenant – a major Nordic IT company in March last year – said efficiency also ranked high on the bank’s list of data center needs.

The Green Mountain Data Center, in a converted bunker, has not only been built to offer high levels of security but draws on Norwegian Fjord water for free cooling.

DNB VP of It and operations Liv Fiksdal said the contract with Green Mountain covers 21 years and is a multi-million NOK deal.

“We chose Green Mountain because of its green profile, high security, high availability and low power consumption,” Fiksdal said.

“In the financial markets stability is of the essence. It is also good to be participating in the development of the Norwegian IT industry in an area where we should have a competitive advantage.”

Fiksdal said the predictable baseline of operating costs offered by Green Mountain also helped it sign its long-term contract.

Green Mountain has been targeting the power conscious data center market offering stabilized power prices of up to ten years at its 22,000 sq m data center in Stavenger, which receives its power from hydropower suppliers.

The group is the fifth company to sign an agreement with Green Mountain, but Green Mountain Data Center CEO Knut Molaug said it is the first financial services company to commit.

“This agreement is an important breakthrough for us. With this sixth client a new market segment opens.”

He said it will also help the company gain traction across Europe, with DNB providing services in 19 countries.

Even though it had an anchor tenant agreed last year, the facility officially opened in May 2013.

It has capacity for 12,000 sq m of data rooms and sits beside a fiber-optic cable which provides connectivity to London, Frankfurt and Amsterdam.