Sustainable data center colocation provider DigiPlex has reached an agreement with the European Environment Agency (EEA) to host the organization’s server park. Previously, the EEA had deployed its server infrastructure in a server room at their offices in Copenhagen, Dnmark. The servers are now migrated to DigiPlex’s colocation data center in Copenhagen.
Located in the heart of Copenhagen, the European Environment Agency had reviewed its data storage strategy. It became obvious for them that their on-site server room framework had to be upgraded to significantly improve the protection against fire and water damage. The server room ventilation and cooling system also needed an upgrade to modern standards.
Data Center or Cloud?
Various cloud and data center colocation options were assessed based on a number of operational and financial parameters. Eventually, a colocation solution with DigiPlex in Copenhagen was selected.
The European Environment Agency has many small applications handling the same workload throughout the year. It turned out to be uneconomic to transfer the applications to public cloud delivered by AWS or Azure. Moreover, they were not designed to benefit from such a transfer. An alternative solution to an “expensive” overhaul of the facilities was to rent space and obtain server room expertise from a data center. The possibility to grow and to team up with a supplier with a green and sustainable profile were key priorities.
“A key consideration in the decision-making process was for me to know the precise location of our data, and with the colocation solution from DigiPlex we have reached that goal – and our data is now located in a green data center close to our offices,” said Søren Roug, Head of IT and Information Systems, EEA. “The solution has proved to be a financial benefit as it has saved us the cost of an overhaul and of ensuring protection against fire, burglary or sabotage and upgrading of the electricity, cooling and ventilation system in our existing server room. On top of that, office space has been made available, enabling us to terminate expensive office leases elsewhere and move staff to the headquarters.”
Green Data Centers
The chosen colocation solution is in keeping with the European Environment Agency’s aim of supporting the environment and sustainable IT solutions. A colocation solution would offer them a host of advantages as they share the physical framework with others in a flexible and scalable manner while at the same time taking advantage of economies of scale in connection with the purchase of green electricity.
“We are extremely pleased that the European Environment Agency (EEA) has chosen a colocation solution from DigiPlex in Copenhagen,” said Fredrik Jansson, CCO, DigiPlex. “We share the same vision of protecting the environment, and DigiPlex only builds and operates entirely green data centers, where we utilize innovative and sustainable solutions to be able to constantly meet the growing demand for data storage. It is obvious that an increasing number of social-minded businesses consider green IT and data center solutions where DigiPlex is an obvious partner.”
DigiPlex was established in Copenhagen in 2018 following the takeover of an existing data center from Telia, which subsequently became one of DigiPlex’s key customers. This colocation data center spans 1,600 square meters.
Just last month, DigiPlex announced it had expanded its Danish portfolio further through the acquisition of a plot of 110,000 m2, while securing enough renewable power to support the development, as well as onsite water, planning and building permissions to construct five data centers for a major new campus site. This second DigiPlex data center site in Denmark will feature waste heat recovery technology to feed into the existing district heating system as part of a significant environmental sustainability commitment.
