The German cloud is growing: Deutsche Telekom continues to develop Germany as its IT base

• Deutsche Telekom invests in the expansion of the "high-tech Fort Knox"
• 150 percent more cloud capacity at the Biere site
• International data hub with the highest data protection level

T-Systems, the corporate customer arm of Deutsche Telekom, will today lay the first stone in the extension of its data center in Biere, contributing to the further expansion of Germany as a base for cloud computing. Since the commissioning of the twin data centers in Biere and nearby Magdeburg in 2014, global demand for cloud services has continued to increase hugely. Some 600 corporate customers currently use secure cloud services provided by T-Systems, including internationally active groups such as Shell and Daimler.

Completion planned for 2018

In conjunction with Deutsche Telekom's global data center infrastructure, the twin sites of Magdeburg/Biere serve as an important data hub. By adding three additional data center modules to the site, Deutsche Telekom is boosting the cloud capacity at the Biere site by 150 percent. The new modules are scheduled to begin operation in the second quarter of 2018.

"The data center in Biere has become so well established on the German market and internationally, that the current capacity is already booked up. This shows that high-tech projects like this one, providing a digital heart for Europe, are possible in Germany. It also helps us to prove that investments on this scale in Germany pay off, while at the same time retaining technology expertise in this country. Now we are going to concentrate further on providing IT with no outages whatsoever. That is the great dream in our industry, and we want to be the service provider that comes closest," says Dr. Ferri Abolhassan, Director of the IT Division and responsible for Telekom Security at T-Systems.

"What has been created and is now expanding here in Biere is a first-class showcase project. It means that Saxony Anhalt is a major-league player in Europe for IT services. We are very proud that Deutsche Telekom chose our federal state as the location to build, and now extend, its data center. This also highlights the fact that we offer excellent conditions for companies here in Saxony Anhalt," says Dr. Reiner Haseloff, Minister-President of Saxony Anhalt.

Highest data protection and lowest energy consumption

The second building phase of the "high-tech Fort Knox" is also subject to strict data protection benchmarks: The buildings are protected by state-of-the-art security installations and access to them is strictly controlled. The servers can only be physically accessed via bridges, while powerful emergency generators ensure a constant power supply. On top of that, Deutsche Telekom gives its networks and data centers the highest possible level of technical protection from hacks and cyber attacks.

The new facilities will also consume about 30 percent less energy compared with similar data centers, and the energy mix will include a large share of renewable energy sources. The low-energy data center has an exemplary PUE rating (the relationship between the total energy consumed and the energy consumption of the computer equipment) of 1.3. Older data centers only achieve 1.8 or higher.

Deutsche Telekom is the leading cloud provider

T-Systems has again been named a leader in the Magic Quadrant for Europe for the sixth time in a row in the current cloud study by the market research company Gartner. The study assesses cloud service providers based on the criteria of completeness of vision and ability to execute. In terms of customer satisfaction, for the third year running T-Systems is among the best ten percent of all ICT service providers.

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