- Telekom continues to invest in the cloud
- Campus opened for Germany's largest data center
- "High-Tech Fort Knox" certified as a low-energy data center
T-Systems, Deutsche Telekom's corporate customer arm, has opened the campus for the largest data center in Germany in Biere, near Magdeburg. Tim Höttges, CEO of Deutsche Telekom, Sigmar Gabriel, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, and Dr. Reiner Haseloff, Premier of Saxony-Anhalt, ceremoniously opened the IT factory of the future after 18 months of construction. This new data center is Telekom's response to the steep increase in demand for secure cloud services based in Germany. The building complexes are fully shielded and top security measures protect data from unauthorized access.
"We are investing in Germany as a center of IT business because German data protection standards are highly valued. Our customers now have a "High-Tech Fort Knox" from a cloud provider they trust fully. IT made in Germany is in demand. We would be very pleased if the political framework continues to make ambitious IT projects possible in Germany, said Tim Höttges in his opening address. The new digital factory underlines his strategy to make Deutsche Telekom the leading European telecommunications provider. The combination of high-performance data centers and fast, secure networks is essential to push ahead with technological developments such as Industry 4.0, the Internet of Things, or big data analyses.
Telekom has fitted out an existing T-Systems data center in Magdeburg, not far from Biere, almost identically. The two data centers will work as twins, storing data in parallel, so that even if one of them goes offline, the data can always be accessed via its twin. The buildings are protected by state-of-the-art security installations and access is strictly controlled. The servers can only be accessed via bridges and powerful emergency generators ensure a constant power supply. On top of that, Telekom gives its networks and data centers the highest level of technical protection from hacks and cyber attacks.
T-Systems will bundle its IT production at eleven international sites by 2018. The Biere/Magdeburg twin site will be a significant hub in Telekom's worldwide data center infrastructure. The new building in Biere will be the largest cloud data center in Germany and one of the largest in Europe once all roll-out phases have been completed. With floor space of 5,400 square meters and space for around 30,000 servers, the current IT production area of the twin site can be expanded to almost 40,000 square meters.
Jobs for 880 employees T-Systems already employees around 750 staff in Magdeburg. The construction of the twin data center will generate 30 new jobs in Magdeburg and 100 jobs in Biere. "Jobs for highly qualified employees are very important for our state," said Dr. Reiner Haseloff, Premier of Saxony-Anhalt. "Investments in future technologies are just as important. With our two T-Systems data centers, we now play in the major leagues of IT locations."
The new IT factory in Biere is a shining example of energy efficiency. Its innovative cooling concept alone cuts its total energy requirements by around one-third relative to comparable data centers. This measurement is expressed in an internationally comparable value that expresses the total energy consumption relative to the energy consumption of the computers. Biere has a coefficient of 1.3. Older data centers only achieve 1.8 or higher. The low-energy data center has been awarded international LEED Gold certification (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), something that only ten data centers worldwide can boast. As such, the new data center also represents an important milestone for Deutsche Telekom's climate protection target: by the year 2020, the company intends to reduce its total CO2 emissions by 20 percent group-wide. With the low energy consumption in Biere, the Telekom Group is making an important contribution toward a low-carbon, forward-looking society.
Deutsche Telekom is the leading cloud provider The current study by market researcher Experton, "Cloud Vendor Benchmark 2014", confirms that Deutsche Telekom is on track for success in its cloud business: As in the prior year, Deutsche Telekom has taken the top spot in the categories "cloud market places" and "cloud services for small and medium-sized enterprises." T-Systems is number one in the categories "managed cloud services" "managed private cloud services," and "cloud workplaces" and is one of the top providers in other areas, too. In its annual study, Experton assesses providers of cloud technology, cloud services and transformation services in the German market. The corporate customers arm of Deutsche Telekom with around 600 corporate and business customers around the world has concluded more than 2,000 cloud computing agreements with companies.
About Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom is one of the world’s leading integrated telecommunications companies with over 142 million mobile customers, 31 million fixed-network lines and over 17 million broadband lines (as of December 31, 2013). The Group provides fixed-network, mobile communications, Internet and IPTV products and services for consumers, and ICT solutions for business and corporate customers. Deutsche Telekom is present in around 50 countries and has approximately 229,000 employees worldwide. The Group generated revenue of 60.1 billion euros in the 2013 financial year - over half of it outside Germany.
About T-Systems Drawing on a global infrastructure of data centers and networks, T-Systems operates information and communication technology (ICT) systems for multinational corporations and public sector institutions. On this basis, Deutsche Telekom's corporate customer arm provides integrated solutions for the networked future of business and society. Some 50,000 employees at T-Systems combine industry expertise with ICT innovations to add significant value to customers’ core business all over the world. The corporate customers unit generated revenue of around 9.5 billion euros in the 2013 financial year.