The global interconnection and data centre firm is building its latest AM4 data centre at its existing Amsterdam Science Park facility, which will meet regional demand for data centre colocation and direct access to global cloud, network and content providers. It also handles around 38% of the Dutch data traffic, making it the second-largest data route in the Netherlands.
Eric Schwartz, EMEA president of Equinix, emphasised the strategic importance of Amsterdam as a digital gateway of Europe, stating that businesses can reach 80% of Europe within 50 milliseconds. He said: “As one of the most pivotal connection points in the world, Amsterdam continues to play a significant role in facilitating the flow of data that supports the digital economy. With the build of AM4, Equinix will bring to market more opportunity for interconnection to connect companies to their customers, employees and partners and to ultimately accelerate their business performance.”
The AM4 data centre’s first phase of development is expected to be completed and operational by Q2 2017 and will see it house 1,555 cabinets. On completion of the four expansion phases, the facility will stand more than 70 metres high and represent a total investment of $189 million. It will provide 4,200 cabinets on eight floors of data centre space with a total usable floor area of more than 124,000 square feet.
Equinix already operates two Amsterdam data centre campuses and it will add capacity to meet growing demand for hybrid cloud, interconnection and connectivity to business ecosystems across a number of vertical markets and internet exchanges.
Following the recent acquisition of Telecity Group, Equinix now operates more than 145 data centres globally across 40 markets including seven data centres in Amsterdam.
Equinix has also announced that it is now offering direct connectivity to AWS in Amsterdam.
