Equinix, a global digital infrastructure company, has opened a new International Business Exchange (IBX) data centre in Frankfurt, Germany. Located in the west of the city, the new site, named FR8, helps Equinix meet the growing need for private connectivity and digital infrastructure in Germany and supports enterprises across all sectors with their Digital Transformation journeys.
Equinix has invested a total of US$103 million in the new build. The first phase of the site, which has now opened, adds 4,800 m² to the company’s colocation space. This offers customers direct access to a global digital ecosystem of more than 10,000 companies across a wide range of industries, as well as networks, clouds and services through which they can interconnect and innovate to ensure future business success.
Customers can leverage a broad range of interconnection and colocation services at the carrier-neutral FR8. These include the software-defined Equinix Fabric service, which enables enterprises to quickly and flexibly connect to leading cloud and network providers globally; and Network Edge, with which customers can virtually modernise networks. The automated bare metal service Equinix Metal is also available through the Frankfurt campus, allowing customers to configure and provision physical infrastructure within minutes.
“Frankfurt is not only a European financial capital, but also one of the world’s leading data hubs,” said Jens-Peter Feidner, Managing Director, Germany, Equinix. “With the accelerated digitisation manifesting across industries, the need for computing power and private connectivity has also increased. Data centres are an essential part of the digital economy, providing the fundamental infrastructure through which businesses, clouds and services interconnect to innovate and succeed. The sustainable expansion and operation of this infrastructure is a key concern for us; FR8 not only provides customers with a high-performance IT infrastructure, but also one that aims to be as efficient and climate-friendly as possible.”
FR8 has been designed with the aim to meet the highest sustainability and efficiency standards. Like all new Equinix builds in Frankfurt, the data centre will have a greened facade and roof. This measure helps the building blend into the cityscape and also positively contributes towards the local microclimate. Equinix is the first in its industry to commit to the goal of achieving global climate-neutral business operations by 2030 based on science-based targets (SBTs) and is a founding member of the Climate Neutral Data Centre Operator Pact, which reinforces this goal at a European level. As with all Equinix sites in Germany, the new data centre is powered with 100% renewable energy-guaranteed by a green power certificate from local supplier, Mainova.
According to the 2020-21 Global Tech Trends Survey, published by Equinix, sustainability is already one of the most important business drivers for over 40% of companies surveyed in Germany (this figure is even higher globally, at 54%).
“By colocating in data centres, customers can save on their own hardware, reduce operating costs and improve the energy efficiency of their digital infrastructure,” said Jennifer Ruch, Sustainability Director, Equinix. “On a global scale, Equinix aims to continuously optimise its data centre design and invest in energy efficiency upgrades and new technologies to further reduce CO2 emissions. One local example of this is a joint pilot project with Darmstadt-based start-up etalytics in Germany, which aims to optimise the energy required for cooling data centres through the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI).”
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