VK plans to build a new data center in St. Petersburg, Russia, after also recently launching a facility in Moscow.
Announced last week, the social media firm known as Russia's Facebook said a partnership agreement at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum was signed between the company and the local government.
Location, specifications, or project timelines weren't shared. The company already has an existing facility in the city.
VK said a network of its own data centers will allow it to maintain high performance and reliability of its services for users and businesses. It added that the expansion will allow the company to develop an IT infrastructure based on cloud technologies.
“The company plans to use cloud technologies as the basis of its IT infrastructure, which increases the flexibility of managing computing power and the return on investment in it,” VK said.
“St. Petersburg is a historically close region for VK; the holding’s key projects began here. We have long-standing partnerships, which we continue to develop with pleasure. That is why the decision was made to build a new data center in St. Petersburg,” said VK CEO Vladimir Kiriyenko. “A network of our own data centers will become the basis for ensuring high performance and reliability of VK services for users and businesses. The company plans to use cloud technologies as the basis for its IT infrastructure, which increases the flexibility of managing computing power and the return on investment in it.”
VK reportedly currently operates leased facilities in Moscow and St. Petersburg totaling around 1,300 racks.
The company recently launched a 5,400 sqm (58,125 sq ft) facility in the Domodedovo area of Moscow, known as the Pakhra Data Center. Two more in the city are reportedly planned.
According to VK’s 2023 data book, its data centers consumed 59.7 million kWh (kWh) of energy last year, up from 53.7m kWh in 2022.
The company said this increase was down to data center upgrades as well as system changes calculations – and was also influenced by the increased audience of VK services and the growth of content consumption by users on VK platforms.
According to TAdviser, VK’s IT infrastructure data center network is developed and maintained by its subsidiary M100.
“The VKontakte data storage and processing center has been operating in the Leningrad region for more than ten years,” Governor of St. Petersburg Alexander Beglov, said. “The development of data center infrastructure will strengthen the position of our city as one of the leaders of digitalization in Russia.”
