Our monthly roundup of all the latest mission-critical news from across Europe returns with a new name. This is the Data-Centre Debrief with William Cooper-Bevan.
This month's top stories:
AWS VP Moves To Google
AWS ex-VP Chris Vonder Haar has recently announced his move to Google.
This move came as the current AWS VP, Urs Hölzle, decided to step down after 24 years to focus on his true passion for solving hands-on technical engineering problems.
Urs posted on Linkedin about his move stating, “for some time, I’ve been wanting to get back into deeply technical work. I enjoy the technical challenges we have in this time of rapid evolution, and I very much enjoy working with the people I get to work with every day”
Vantage Data Centre appeals application decision
Over in Ireland, Vantage Data Centers is appealing the decision to refuse a data centre application in Dublin.
The application was first filed on 4th April with plans to build one two-story data centre with a floorspace of 13,000 sqm.
The application was rejected on May 29th due to concerns regarding energy use and environmental impact.
The council pointed to the “lack of a fixed connection agreement to connect to the grid, the lack of significant onsite renewable energy to power the proposed development and the lack of evidence provided in relation to the applicant's engagement with a PPA in Ireland”
I’ll be interested to see the outcome of this dispute as its always great to see new an exciting projects come to Ireland
DataBank sells centres to Etix Everywhere
Over in France, DataBank has agreed to sell five of their France based data centres to the French developer, Etix Everywhere.
The deal is expected to be complete before Q3 2023 and will increase Etix's portfolio in France to 12 live facilities.
Louis Blanchot, CEO of Etix said, “We deeply think edge data centres will be a key component of tomorrow’s lives. This new acquisition is a strategic move to strengthen our leadership position in the French regional market and accelerate our development in Europe where we aim to double our DC portfolio in the next 3 years.”
Green Mountain cleared for TikTok Data Centre campus
Norwegian company Green Mountain has been granted government clearance to build a data centre campus for TikTok.
Not everyone in the government was happy with this decision. A party spokesperson said: “Here the government disappoints greatly. We need electricity for emission cuts and new industrial workplaces that create the goods we need, not for cat videos and other unnecessary things, such as TikTok.”
Norway are looking to introduce new policies to introduce more regulation, which could propose challenges to developers.
Google to build Belgian data centre campus
Google have filed to build a new data center campus in Belgium which will span some 53,000 sqm.
Construction will start at the end of the year and will open in 2025. The first phase will span around 7,500 sqm
Hugues Bayet, a Belgian politician, said the campus would include photovoltaic panels and heat recovery in order to power an urban heat network.
Data Centre Spotlight
As part of the data centre de-brief we will now be featuring a company spotlight to give you a overview of some of the biggest players in the industry.
This months spotlight feature no other than Equinix.
Equinix are an industry leading data centre provider which was founded in Silicon Valley, 1998.
They immediately burst into the market, delivering their 50th data centre as soon as 2010, which was located in London.
Now in 2023 Equinix owns and operates an impressive network of over 240 data centres located across 71 major locations globally.
They also have a record quarter in Q1 2023, reporting $2B in revenues which was and increase of 7% compared to the previous quarter.
Their success came from over 4000 newly closed deals with more than 3000 customers.
All in all the future looks bright for Equinix.
Charles Mayers, the CEO stated
“We have an unwavering commitment to become the trusted centre of a cloud-first world. Our global platform and our team of over 12,300 of the industry’s most talented people make amazing things happen. The future beckons with opportunities, and Equinix will be where these opportunities connect”
True Expertise Delivered
They were the top highlights from the European data centre market in July.
If you have a mission-critical project coming up, CMC provides engineering, construction and project management services to help you deliver your project ahead of schedule and under budget. Get in touch with us to learn more.