First announced in 2020, the company has been working on a project to develop four state data centres – two in Vilnius and two in Kaunas.
Lithuanian company Telecentras has launched two data centres in Vilnius. The company – a state-owned owner and operator of broadcast infrastructure – recently had an opening ceremony near the Vilnius TV tower.
Both state data centres (VD3 and VD4) are located 20 kilometres apart within the capital city. Combined, they total 288 racks. The company said it had invested more than €20 million ($21.5m) in the projects.
“These two new data centres will ensure our seamless, accessible, efficient, and most importantly, secure storage of the state’s information resources. Considering the current geopolitical situation, this is and will be extremely important for us. What’s more, due to its high energy efficiency, this new centralised infrastructure will help save our state’s resources,” said Minister of Communications Marius Skuodis, who attended the inauguration.
The company said the two facilities will get a large part of their electricity from the Telecentras’ own solar power plants, which have a total capacity of 8MW.
The waste heat of one of the two data centres is expected to be used for the preparation of hot water for the residents of Vilnius in apartment blocks. This experimental project is reportedly the first in Lithuania and is carried out together with Vilnius heat networks (Vilniaus šilumos tinklai).
“The new data centres are energetically more than four times more efficient, compared to the average level of existing state servers. Due to their higher efficiency, they would allow savings of over 30 million kWh of electricity and reduce CO2 emissions by about 15 t/year,” added Telecentras Manager, Remigijus Šeris.
Construction firm Viconas was involved in the project.
“During the implementation of this project, we also grew – working with technological and data storage solutions and special security requirements, we had new experiences. I am glad that our team coped with this task perfectly. The main challenges that we have also overcome are the deadlines and the compatibility of parts of the project,” said Renatas Viršilas, the Head of Viconus.
Founded in 1926, the Lithuanian Radio and Television Center (aka Telecentras) is owned by the state, through the Ministry of Communications of the Republic of Lithuania. The company owns radio and broadcast transmission infrastructure, as well as data centres.
Located next to the TV tower, the 1,800 sqm (19,375 sq ft) VD3 offers 128 racks across 600 sqm (6,460 sq ft) of technical space, with the capacity to expand to 192 racks. It offers densities up to 10kW.
First announced in 2020, the company has been working on a project to develop four state data centres – two in Vilnius and two in Kaunas – as part of a major government migration project. The four sites will total 400 racks and see the IT hardware of 700 state institutions moved over. Ground was broken on VD3 (the facility by the TV tower) and the other Vilnius facility, VD4, in 2023.
Telecentras’s DC4 has been added to the list of state data centres – meaning it is authorised to host equipment of state institutions. That 1.5MW facility offers capacity for 96 racks across 270 sqm (2,905 sq ft) of technical space.
Work on the 100-rack VDC5 in Kaunas is due to start next year; the 96-rack VDC6 in Sitkūnai (Kaunas district) starts up is due to launch in 2025.
Completed in 1980, the Vilnius TV Tower (Vilniaus televizijos bokštas) is a 326.5m (1,071 ft) high tower in the Karoliniškės micro district of Vilnius. It is the tallest structure in Lithuania,
A data centre was installed underground at the TV Tower back in 2012.
