Infrastructure Management

CyrusOne announces new Frankfurt data centre

CyrusOne has announced plans for its seventh data centre campus in Frankfurt, named FRA7, located on a 63,000m2 plot at FRANKFURT WESTSIDE - a 73ha commercial and industrial mixed-use regeneration project managed by BEOS AG and Swiss Life Asset Managers, Deutschland. This latest news from CyrusOne follows a competitive selection process in which it was the favoured partner to deliver a data centre scheme that prioritises sustainability, provides re-used waste heat to the WESTSIDE campus, and is aligned to BEOS’ commitment to create spaces that support creativity, innovation, progress and productivity. Its partnership with BEOS and Swiss Life Asset Managers marks an important step in the company’s ongoing commitment to European expansion and a sustainable future. Starting with a total capacity of 81MW delivered across nine data halls in two buildings, the facility will benefit from its highly efficient data centre design to achieve a BREEAM ‘Very Good’ certification as a minimum and deliver an annualised PUE of <1.3, in advance of European energy efficiency directive targets for 2030. It will also fall in line with the anticipated energy efficiency targets proposed by German legislation. Innovative waste heat re-use methods will be deployed within both buildings with a potential 40MW of waste heat delivered to the campus heating network when at full capacity. The facility will be powered by renewable energy, as has CyrusOne’s entire operational portfolio in Europe since June 2021. In addition, specific practices are being implemented throughout the design and construction phase to source sustainable materials and lower CO2 emissions. Dedicated biodiversity initiatives will be prioritised, with ecological landscaping to increase biodiversity and provide habitats for wildlife, the provision of 5,500m2 of open green space, and the planting of over 60 trees. Over 1,800m2 of the facility walls and roofs will be ‘green’, not only creating an aesthetically pleasing outlook for the local community but also improving air quality by filtering pollutants, reducing noise, supporting thermo-regulation, and increasing the buildings’ energy efficiency. Demolition and site clearance is already underway and will be complete by Q1 2024. Construction will commence in Q3 2024, with the capacity delivered by Q2 2026. “Frankfurt is an incredibly important location for CyrusOne in Europe with 60MW IT capacity across four operational data centres and another 126MW under development. It is a real milestone to be planning our seventh facility in the city, and our biggest development to date in Frankfurt,” explains Andreas Paduch, Area Vice President, European Sales at CyrusOne. “We are thrilled to have BEOS, an experienced and innovative local organisation, as a key partner for this build at FRANKFURT WESTSIDE and this is the start of a longstanding partnership with this team. It’s fantastic to work with a company so aligned with us on sustainability and biodiversity goals as we move forward on the project together.”

nLighten acquires Proximity Data Centres

nLighten has completed the acquisition of Proximity Data Centres, which is a regional platform in the UK with 10 carrier-neutral edge data centres in Birmingham, Bridgend, Bristol, Chester, Leeds, Liverpool, Milton Keynes, Nottingham, Rugby and Swindon. RBC Capital Markets acted as financial adviser to nLighten on the transaction. “Through organic growth and strategic acquisitions this year, nLighten has grown into a leading pan-European edge data centre platform with 26 data centres, 53MW of potential capacity and 130 employees,” says Mohamed El Gazzar, Senior Partner of I Squared Capital in London. “We are excited that nLighten has grown so quickly and established itself in the three largest data centre markets in Europe: Germany, France and the UK.” As a mature market with large economic regions that can benefit from more distributed data centres, the UK is a logical choice for nLighten’s expansion. Proximity’s network of high-performance data centres, strong reputation, agility and impressive track record of entering local markets, position the company well for capturing the increasing shift to the edge across the country.  The regional distribution of Proximity’s data centres fit well within nLighten’s strategy of integrating data centres into regional markets and its high standards of sustainability align with nLighten, which aims to reduce the environmental footprints of its data centres. Its 10 data centres currently source 100% of their electricity from renewables, and the company intends to maintain that sourcing, even at full capacity. Given the evolving standards for data sovereignty in Europe, nLighten plans to keep the operational management of its data centres in the country and places great emphasis on their identification with the UK market.  “The acquisition of Proximity brings us a big step closer to our goal of creating the leading pan-European edge data centre platform,” says Harro Beusker, Co-Founder and CEO of nLighten. “Proximity’s edge data centres are a great fit for our portfolio, and the existing management team, staff and assets lay a solid foundation for our ambitions in the UK.” “Being part of the nLighten group of data centres will accelerate the expansion of our portfolio of new products and services tailored for the edge computing market,” comments John Hall, Co-Founder and Managing Director at Proximity. “We will also be able to provide a highly comprehensive solution to customers looking for a broad network of data centres across multiple European locations.”

VIRTUS unveils €3bn campus project in Germany

VIRTUS Data Centres has announced its latest venture, the VIRTUS Wustermark data centre campus, located in the Berlin Brandenburg data centre region. Situated in the municipality of Wustermark, just 30km from the Brandenburger Tor in Berlin and only 12km from Berlin’s city limits, this transformative project sets a new benchmark in mega scale data centre capacity for cloud and AI in Europe, with an innovative approach to the use of sustainable power, waste heat reuse and technology. Covering more than 350,000m2 of land, phase one of the Wustermark campus is projected to be operational by 2026. The strategic campus boasts 300MW of incoming power across two campus locations. The campus is poised to become one of Germany's largest scale green data centre campuses demonstrating VIRTUS continuing commitment to raising the bar in terms of scale and sustainability across Europe, as it has achieved in the UK. The development includes a strategic collaboration with the grid operator to use renewable energy at a key renewable energy grid supply point, which reinforces its commitment to sustainability and green power initiatives, and marks a significant step in its journey towards the goal of achieving net zero emissions on all reportable activities by 2030. Sustainable power generation: Adjacent to a major and important sub-station, the campus capitalises on electrical coupling to some of the largest contiguous onshore wind farms in the country that contribute to its power supply. With this focus on renewable energy, VIRTUS also has a vision to transition away from diesel fuel. The availability of renewable options and scale of facilities in the Wustermark area will support its ambitions in this space. State-of-the-art technology: At the core of the campus lies a dedication to state-of-the-art technology and innovation to ensure operational excellence and the delivery of scale and flexibility to meet the demands of new AI and ML workloads. Designed with the distinct purpose of supporting the growing demands of hyperscale, government and enterprise customers, the campus is primed to cater for the ever-expanding server computer density that is required by cloud computing and generative AI applications. Community collaboration: As part of the development, VIRTUS will make the waste heat of the campus available to the local municipality and support their ambitious project to deliver a future district heating distribution network for Wustermark. This aims to harmoniously integrate the campus with the local community and contribute positively to the region's infrastructure. Holger Schreiber, the Mayor of Wustermark, says, "The VIRTUS Wustermark Campus is a shining example of the positive impact that future-oriented partnerships can have on our community. This particular engagement not only demonstrates technological innovation, but also shows the potential for sustainable economic growth. It brings significant opportunities for the high-tech industry, our community of Wustermark, and the entire Havelland region.” Vision for sustainability: Christina Mertens, Vice President of Business Development, EMEA, says, "This ambitious undertaking is VIRTUS' second site in the Berlin Brandenburg region and follows hot on the heels of the announcement of our Berlin Marienpark campus in May 2023. It shows our commitment to sustainable innovation and dedication to meeting the evolving cloud and AI needs of our customers with another campus powered by cost efficient renewable energy, capable of growing to massive scale. As we take this step, we are proud to contribute to the vibrant data centre landscape of Berlin Brandenburg and reinforce our position as an industry leader, continuing our journey as a catalyst for transformative change."

Centerprise continues Wales expansion with second location

Centerprise International with its cloud solution, CiCloud, has announced the opening of its second CiCloud location in Newport. This strategic expansion within the Vantage Newport Data Centre is in collaboration with HPE and CloudSigma. The new location is set to empower Welsh businesses and public sector organisations with greater accessibility to advanced cloud resources, enabling them to harness the full potential of cloud computing technology in a cost-effective and scalable way. This latest announcement reflects the company's ongoing commitment to Wales, following the opening of a new £6 million IT operations centre earlier this year at its 17ac site in Ystrad Mynach, Caerphilly, that is set to generate over 70 jobs and opportunities. Exceptional connectivity and security with infrastructure resilience Harnessing the Vantage Newport Data Centre as its foundation, the new location will benefit from exceptional connectivity, as it provides exceptional security and infrastructure resilience.  Centerprise’s suppliers, HPE and CloudSigma, ensure that organisations in Wales will have access to the HPE GreenLake enterprise technology stack, which allows the seamless introduction of hybrid cloud solutions. CloudSigma’s strength is providing an interface that allows users to provision exactly what they need, when they need it and only pay for what they consume. Building momentum in Wales It will also offer a wide range of cloud services, including virtual servers, storage solutions and innovative workloads. This expansion adds to CiCloud’s existing cloud platform in England, enhancing its UK reach and capacity to serve organisations with tailored and dependable cloud solutions. Click here for more latest news.

Macquarie Data Centres supersizes data centre for hyperscalers

Macquarie Data Centres, part of Macquarie Technology Group, has announced a major expansion to its next data centre, IC3 Super West. This expansion gives IC3 Super West the potential to increase its IT load to 45MW, a 41% increase from its original plans. The expansion reflects the company's ambitious expansion plans to meet rapidly rising demand for power and data-hungry AI workloads in Australia, while creating the ideal home for hyperscale cloud customers. Macquarie Data Centres' Group Executive, David Hirst, says, “According to CSIRO, the Australian economy could gain A$315bn by 2028 through the integration of AI. However, unlocking the full potential of AI hinges on the availability of advanced AI-ready data centres. To ensure optimal performance in training and inference of these AI models, we are designing our upcoming data centres to meet and surpass the demanding requirements for higher densities.” IC3 Super West will be able to efficiently support the high densities and multi-MW power requirements of new AI chip and server infrastructure. The data centre will also have the cooling requirements to match, by optimising the latest in both air and liquid cooling technologies. This new data centre will be the third edition to the provider’s Macquarie Park Data Centre Campus in Sydney’s premier North Zone. The increase in planned capacity will mean the total campus IT load could reach 63MW. The company's ambitious growth plans were bolstered by a A$160 million capital raise in June 2023. It announced that the capital raise would be put towards its future-focused expansion strategy, which involves acquiring sites in Sydney to accelerate growth and support the AI megatrend.  Macquarie has voiced its support for AI innovation in Australia and is committed to strengthening its sovereign data centre and cloud services operations to facilitate this.

DataBank completes seven data centre expansions

DataBank has announced the completion of seven data centre expansions in Dallas, Las Vegas, San Diego, Irvine and Kansas City, as well as two in Atlanta. Combined, these colocation facilities have added 15MW+ of power and 114,000ft2 raised floor space during the past 12 months to their existing capacities.  “For organisations planning to deploy, or for existing customers already set up in these data centres, these expansions give them more room to grow,” says Tony Qorri, DataBank's Vice President of Construction. “They can avoid the hassle of moving to a new data centre, when it’s time to scale their compute resources.”  Customers also won’t have to worry about the cost of building out their existing facilities or migrating applications to a new data centre — which helps avoid risk. With these expansions, the seven data centres now enable customers to consume more power and leverage abundant raised floor space.  Each data centre features advanced power designs and cooling systems for redundancy, as well as modern dual-factor authentication for client access to the facilities. For onsite security, DataBank provides 7 x 24 x 365 staffing and CCTV. The data centres also comply with SSAE18, SOC1, SOC2, HIPAA, GLBA and PCI-DSS.  The seven data centres are strategically located in top US metros and serve as major interconnect hubs to extend customer network infrastructure to today’s edge —where end-users demand low latency.

Colt DCS launches fourth data centre in Japan

Colt Data Centre Services has announced the commencement of construction of its fourth major data centre in Inzai City, Japan. Inzai City is located in the Chiba Prefecture, northeast of Tokyo, Japan. This region is one of the most competitive areas of data centre real estate for enterprise, research and technology customers. The fourth data centre, Inzai 4, has been designed to meet the needs of hyperscale cloud service providers and large enterprises that require scalable infrastructure. The site is located 600m from Colt DCS' existing Inzai campus. Inzai 4 represents the second development under the joint venture between Fidelity Investments and Mitsui, following the announcement of the grand opening of the first development in Osaka Keihanna in March 2023. Colt DCS was appointed by the joint venture as the exclusive service provider for the design, development, operations and customer service management for the venture. The design of Inzai 4 will build on the company's key learnings as a long-time provider in the Japanese market, since 2001. It has a site area of 8,747m2 and a designed capacity of approximately 20MW and is already 100% pre-let. The combined IT capacity of the extended campus is nearly 70MW. Inzai 4 is an attractive proposition for customers. The data centre facility is located in an area with resilient fibre and connectivity solutions, a strong bedrock and a very low risk of natural disaster. It is easily accessible for customers and is located within close proximity to the three other Inzai data centres and Chiba New Town train station. Inzai 4 is approximately 30min from Narita International Airport and 35min from Tokyo by express train. The new data centre is expected to provide employment opportunities for 50 - 60 people. “Colt DCS’ latest expansion within Inzai City is part of our long-term strategy to provide scalable growth for our customers with refined data centre design and proven experience. We are trusted by our customers to effectively build their digital infrastructure, as well as manage and operate their data centre with their scalability needs in mind. We see this as an exciting opportunity to deepen our digital footprint and increase our IT capacity within the region. Colt DCS’ customer-centricity has always been at the heart of our operations and growth strategy, and we look forward to continuing our ethos with Inzai 4 – the fifth hyperscale data centre Colt DCS has built in Japan,” says Niclas Sanfridsson, CEO.

UNN and Vertiv to construct data centre in Brunei

A ceremony has been carried out by UNN Director, Yang Mulia Puan Hajah Amalina binti Haji Ghani; UNN Chief Executive Officer, Dr Steffen Oehler; Vertiv Asia Vice President, Mr Paul Churchill; and UNN Senior Vice President Data Centre and IT, Mr Daniele Cuocci, at UNN Tungku Submarine Landing Station to officiate the construction of a 51,000ft2 data centre facility. Leading the ceremony with recital of prayers and blessings were UNN Religious Committee Chairman, Pg Abdul Rahim Pg Hj Tuah, and officer at Department of Mosque Affairs at Ministry of Religious Affairs, Hj Md Azrol Alim bin Hj Zaini. In his welcoming remarks, UNN CEO, Dr Steffen, outlined the project’s progress since the signing of contract between UNN and Vertiv in March this year, with data centre modules and equipment already fabricated and the undergoing testing before they will be shipped to Brunei and erected at Tungku Submarine Landing Station, with Berakas Power Company progressing well with providing the location a second independent power feed to ensure high availability and resilience of the data centre facility. UNN data centre is built to host data centre, IT services, infrastructure of government and private businesses in Brunei. Together with other UNN’s existing data centre locations, the increased capacity and services are provided in geo-redundancy. To ensure the data centre facility is in a high availability and high energy efficiency state, UNN worked together with Vertiv to design and construct UNN data centre as an eco-efficient infrastructure that is in line with Brunei’s digitisation roadmap and to ensure on meeting Brunei’s increasing digital needs. The prefabricated modular data centre design which consisted of 200 racks provided by Vertiv offers deployment speed that is 30% faster than traditional builds, more flexibility and modularity that are efficient to install and set-up as opposed to the traditional brick and mortar design. Another advantage provided by Vertiv is that the data centre is also designed to reduce emissions by using state-of-the-art technology for environmentally conscious practices without compromising productivity, which is a priority to UNN. The eco-efficient data centre is estimated to be completed in five months and is expected to open by the early quarter of 2024. Click here for more latest news.

AIIM joins forces with N+ONE DATACENTERS

African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM) and N+ONE DATACENTERS have joined forces to develop a new pan-African data centre and cloud services platform with a short-term target capacity of 40MW. N+ONE will contribute its existing market leading portfolio of digital infrastructure assets and extensive products in Morocco, and AIIM will be contributing an initial USD90 million of growth equity through its latest pan-African infrastructure fund, African Infrastructure Investment Fund 4 (AIIF4). The platform will focus on the development of hyperscale and wholesale carrier-neutral facilities to provide solutions to enterprise, government and hyperscale customers across the continent. The partnership with AIIM paves the way for N+ONE to further expand its existing campuses in Morocco and Senegal, while developing new hyperscale locations in response to customer demand. AIIM's extensive infrastructure investment track record in Africa, with multiple digital infrastructure investments across the telecommunications towers, data centre and fibre sub-sectors, coupled with an active asset management strategy to support high-performing management teams alongside its ability to provide substantial growth capital, were key factors in forming the alliance.   The USD90 million growth equity contribution through AIIM’s AIIF4, will support the roll-out of the platform and construction of greenfield data centre infrastructure across West Africa. The investment will add to its current portfolio of digital infrastructure assets and accelerate digitisation on the continent. There is currently more than 300MW of installed IT load in Africa, the majority of which is in South Africa. Exponential growth in data generation and consumption in combination with an increased focus on data sovereignty will result in the onshoring of data onto the continent. With data centre demand expected to grow to over 1GW by 2030, significant investment is needed to support the growth potential of the continent’s digital economy. N+ONE recognises the pivotal role that digital infrastructure plays in accelerating digital transformation, fostering innovation, and driving economic growth. With a deep understanding of the African market, N+ONE aims to consolidate its position as a key player in helping to shape the digital future of the continent. The joint platform aspires to bridge Africa's current digital infrastructure gap by providing world-class facilities and services to stimulate the expansion of local businesses and enable multinational companies to extend their African operations. AIIM and N+ONE's commitment to alleviating Africa's digital gap stands as a testament to their dedication to unlocking the continent's tremendous digital economy potential.

Newmark launches data centre practice group

Newmark Group has announced the expansion of its capital markets services with the launch of the Data Centre and Digital Infrastructure practice group, further expanding its expertise in alternative assets. In tandem, Newmark has hired Brent Mayo as Executive Managing Director to anchor the practice group. The practice group, which is additive to Newmark’s global Data Centre Consulting Group, further solidifies its already dominant position in alternative assets, in which the company has ranked first in total investment sales representation for the last four and a half years. The data centre market has experienced remarkable growth and insatiable demand, and with advancements in generative AI and ML, this growth is expected to surpass the current estimated projection of a 10% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) through 2030, propelling the sector even further. “Newmark is committed to adding best-in-class personnel, with a focus on the areas where clients need guidance and where there is an opportunity to hire experts in those spaces, underpinning our growth trajectory and the talent we’ve amassed,” says Chad Lavender, President of Capital Markets for North America. Brent, based in the New York headquarters, will work with the company's capital markets advisors on capital formation, financing and asset and portfolio sales, and alongside the firm’s Data Centre Consulting Group advisors, leading the market in data centre strategies, valuation and advisory, management, evaluation and performance. “As digital infrastructure and data centres have become increasingly relevant in today’s global digital economy, we are excited to broaden Newmark’s reach with an industry leader and professional of Brent’s esteem, which significantly enhances our capabilities in an asset class as important as capital markets data centres and digital infrastructure,” adds Chad. Throughout his career, Brent has been involved in some of the most significant data centre and digital infrastructure deals in the last decade, including CyrusOne’s $16bn sale to KKR and GIP, ODATA’s multibillion-dollar sale to Aligned Data Centers; AtlasEdge’s formation and subsequent acquisition of DataCenter One; and Data Foundry’s sale to Switch data centres. Click here for more latest news.