Equinix, Inc., a global provider of interconnection and data centre services, has announced that it will open its first data centre in Hamburg this year. Equinix is investing approximately US$36 million in the purchase, conversion and expansion of the new data centre ‘HH1’ at Vierenkamp, which is expected to be operational in the third quarter of 2019.
With Hamburg, Equinix will soon enter the fourth market in Germany. In addition to the data centres in Frankfurt, Dusseldorf and Munich, HH1 will be the 10th IBX data centre in Germany.
Hamburg will play an important role in Equinix’s business in Germany. One of the strategic advantages of the location, for example, is the geographical proximity to the North Sea, which offers new possibilities for connecting to submarine cradles. As the most important commercial and business centre of Northern Europe, Hamburg also plays a major role for the European and German economy. Thousands of national and international companies are based in the region and benefit from connectivity with companies, partners, network and cloud providers within Equinix data centres.
Highlights
- HH1 will be the first Equinix data centre at the new Hamburg location. The data centre will have 12,000 square feet of whitespace and 1,875 cabinets
- The new data centre is geographically located close to the North Sea and offers further possibilities for access to submarine cradles. In the past few years, Equinix has already won more than 20 submarine cable landing points
- In 2015, the Hamburg Senate adopted the ‘Digital City’ strategy, the aim of which is to establish Hamburg as the leading digital location in Germany and Europe. The strategy should bundle processes and create structures. With its infrastructure, Equinix can contribute to the realisation of these processes
- In addition to the reopening in Hamburg, Equinix plans further investments in Germany by the end of 2019. It was only in October that Equinix announced the expansion of the Frankfurt site. The company also committed to spend over US$150 million on the organic expansion of its German data centres for the 2018-2019 fiscal years
- More than 900 companies use Equinix data centres in Germany to connect with partners, customers and service providers within their digital value chain
- Today, Equinix operates more than 200 IBX data centres in 52 markets, giving its customers many opportunities to connect with other companies around the world through the Platform Equinix
Donald Badoux, Managing Director Equinix Germany GmbH, commented: “As a port and commercial city, Hamburg has always been known as Germany’s ‘Gateway to the World’. With the help of our interconnection and colocation services, we will soon make sure that this also applies to the digital world. The expansion to Hamburg was the next logical step for us in Germany. With our locations in Munich, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt and now Hamburg, we can meet the rapidly growing demand for interconnection services nationwide.”
Björn Böttcher, Senior Analyst Crisp Research, also commented: “Hamburg plays a decisive role in Germany’s digital development. With its many research institutes, the port and a very strong footprint in the field of e-commerce, media, online marketing and games, Hamburg has a lot of potential to succeed even in a digital world. Projects like the smartPort also show that investments in future technology fields such as IoT and cloud computing are increasing. The innovative power is also borne by a vibrant startup scene and success stories such as Jimdo, CoreMedia, Xing and MyTaxi show the city’s commitment and potential.”
