Data center consultant Granlund grows in the Nordics
3.5.2021 – Pelle Ahlström to head business development in Granlund Sweden
Already working with several data center clients in Sweden, Granlund Group opened its Lidköping office in 2020. This year, Granlund Sweden hired Pelle Ahlström to head business development.
In the data center industry, Pelle Ahlström has worked with sales and business development for nearly 15 years. Before joining Granlund, he headed the sales at Swedish data center operator EcoDataCenter where they built the first climate-positive data center in the world.
Now Pelle Ahlström takes on a new challenge as a head of business development at Granlund Sweden. “My mission at Granlund is to look for new business opportunities and find innovative ways of doing business. This huge challenge excites me – I really like the way Granlund sees the business in the future. I look forward to learning new things within the industry and developing datacenters from design to project management”, says Pelle Ahlström.
The CEO of Granlund Sweden Marcus Karlsson is delighted to have Pelle on his team. “Pelle is a valuable addition for us. He brings such a strong customer understanding and sales approach to the team”.
Strengthening the Nordic presence
With experienced engineers and a solid background in technical building services, Granlund offers a holistic package from designing the data center from concept to commissioning. Granlund works with the biggest operators in the data center industry and with smaller local companies as well.
However, Granlund Sweden is the group’s first data center unit outside Finland. “We are very eager to be the trailblazers and grow Granlund’s data center presence in the Nordics”, says Marcus. “Every customer relationship is based on trust, and it takes time to build that trust. We are ready to put in the time”.
Granlund Sweden is also going to expand in the becoming years. “Our aim is to hire 50 more new employees in the next coming years”, Marcus says.
Pelle’s predictions: What are the key drivers for data center development now and in the future?
- More data. The amount of data is increasing constantly. The data center industry will reach its peak within 5-10 years.
- Sustainability 2.0. With the ever-increasing data, reusing power and utilizing waste heat created by data centers is essential. For instance, the Swedish power systems are developing fast and renewable energy sources are on the rise in the Nordics.
- Shifting approaches to handling data. It is a growing trend for large companies to outsource their IT and datacenter business.
- Data brought close. 5G, AI, self-driving cars – they all need low latency which means data processing close to the users. Is the solution small data centers in containers, or perhaps edge data centers?
- Cloud, cloud, and more cloud. Besides hyperscalers like Amazon and Google, more cloud-providers are emerging into the market. Traditional data centers are also changing their business.
- The industry never sleeps. The data center industry is hard to predict. We need to keep our ears and eyes open and listen carefully to our customers. Finding the silent signals and keeping up with trends is critical.
Read also
Granlund Sweden spelar en viktig roll i datacenterbranschen
Granlund expands its data center business to Sweden
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Marcus Karlsson
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