WikiLeaks servers safe in Stockholm nuclear bunker

STOCKHOLM: On a main street in one of Stockholm's hippest areas, a snow-covered hill topped by a church conceals a nuclear-proof bunker, home to a futuristic data centre holding 8,000 servers -- two of which belong to WikiLeaks.

"All the global fuss is made by these two little boxes," said Jon Karlung, chairman and founder of Bahnhof, one of the companies providing server space to the whistleblowing website.

Karlung is crouched on the floor, pointing to two slim black plastic boxes surrounded by wires. Each blinks with a blue light, indicating that they are active.

The servers are kept in a locked white cabinet along with rows and rows of others in a large room with stone walls -- it has been carved directly into the mountain.

The vault buzzes with the sounds of the servers and the fans needed to cool them down.

The besuited businessman closes the white cabinet door, and continues his guided tour of the data hall, the centre of much attention since WikiLeaks, a client since October, started releasing a slew of secret US embassy cables.

By the chairman's own admission, the data centre is essentially like any other, and WikiLeaks is treated just like any other client Bahnhof provides server services to.

But the place looks like something straight out of a science-fiction or espionage film, reflecting the secretive character of its most talked-about tenant, WikiLeaks' enigmatic leader Julian Assange.

Assange is now sitting in jail in London pending a hearing on extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over sexual assault allegations. Until Interpol sent out a notice for his arrest, even his exact date of birth had been kept secret.

A visitor enters the data hall through sliding glass doors, engulfed in the steam caused by the evacuated heat of the servers, on the side of Vita Berget (The White Mountain) in a trendy corner of the Soedermalm borough of Stockholm.