- Energy-efficient data center in Biere turns 10 years old
- Home to around 970 petabytes of data
- Twin-core data center important location for the global economy
One of the most energy-efficient data centers in Europe is celebrating its 10th anniversary today. After the foundation stone was laid in 2012, it was opened a year and a half later on 3 July 2014 in Biere in the municipality of Bördeland. Today, the data center provides a home for around 970 petabytes of data on around 100,000 servers and a total area of around 11,000 square meters. While capacity was increased once again in 2018 and another building was added with 'Biere II', the energy efficiency of the data center has remained stable over the years with a PUE (power usage effectiveness) value of less than 1.3. The main reason for this is the concept for a particularly sustainable and energy-efficient data center, which was already taken into account during the construction phase. Together with its twin data center in Magdeburg, the data center forms a twin core that also stands for maximum data and operational security.
"I am very proud that we have established a certified, state-of-the-art and sustainable data center for Deutsche Telekom's global cloud infrastructure here in Biere. This enables us to offer our customers the greatest possible security for their data as well as the best availability and reliability in accordance with the strict requirements of German data protection law," says Dr. Ferri Abolhassan, CEO of T-Systems.
"T-Systems' investment has paid off. The twin-core data center in Biere and Magdeburg is an important location for our federal state - not only for regional companies, but also for the global economy. Saxony-Anhalt has now been playing in the premier league of IT locations for ten years," says Dr. Reiner Haseloff, Minister President of Saxony-Anhalt.
Planned for the future
The idea for an energy-efficient data center in Saxony-Anhalt and Magdeburg was born in 2010. After a complex selection process, the Biere site was chosen. Criteria included the classification of risk factors such as flooding or earthquakes and a stable and expandable power connection. Even the planning stage was geared towards ensuring that the Biere data center would be one of the most advanced data centers of its time in terms of sustainability and reliability. Part of the waste heat has been used to heat the office buildings and storage areas since the inauguration in 2014. A sophisticated concept of several emergency power generators also ensures the availability and accessibility of data even in the event of a blackout lasting several days. And if there is a fire? Fire protection was a high priority from the very beginning. A system for the early detection of fire gases and several gas extinguishing systems guarantee maximum data security.
Reliable, safe, available and sustainable
It is not only the twin in Magdeburg that ensures that the data at the Biere data center is available redundantly and securely. Biere can also boast awards for availability and reliability. In 2022, the data center was one of the first German companies to receive Tier III certification from the Uptime Institute. In September 2023, it was certified by TÜV IT in accordance with DIN EN50600, the European standard for data centers. The certification ensures that the operational excellence, physical security and availability of a data center are designed to provide users with a highly resilient business-critical infrastructure. An important prerequisite for certification is the assessment of a data center's availability as well as a series of infrastructure and operational criteria, which are tested according to strict and detailed rules. In addition, the data center was awarded the European Code of Conduct Award in 2023 as one of the most energy-efficient data centers in Europe.
Services for business and private customers
Telekom and Telekom subsidiary T-Systems offer services for business and private customers in Biere. In addition to regional customers, international business partners and the public sector have also stored data in Biere. The Open Telekom Cloud is also based in Biere. With around 1,340 employees, Telekom is an important employer for the state of Saxony-Anhalt.
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