Digital Realty and Schneider Electric create a new digital gateway for Southern Europe

• The new digital hub in HER1 reduces the missing links in the connectivity and infrastructure of Southern Europe by enabling the interconnection of international, regional and local submarine cables to better serve EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) regions.
• Digital Realty’s new HER1 facility uses Schneider Electric’s modular data center solutions to meet the challenges of short time-to-market and remote deployment in just 12 months, while meeting stringent sustainability and energy efficiency standards.

Schneider Electric, the global leader in energy management and automation, has partnered with Digital Realty (NYSE: DLR), the world’s largest provider of cloud solutions, a carrier-neutral, colocation and interconnection data center to install its new HER1 data center in Heraklion, Crete.
Launched in April as the island’s first carrier-neutral facility, HER1 plays a crucial role in reducing the digital connectivity and infrastructure gap in southern Europe through the ability to connect international, regional and local submarine cables, which is a prerequisite for cloud, telecom and content (CDN) delivery networks to better serve this and its neighbouring regions.
Working in tandem with emerging markets including Athens, Barcelona, Marseille, Rome and Tel Aviv, HER1 forms the core of Digital Realty’s Mediterranean data center platform and is an important step towards establishing Greece as a strategic connectivity hub for Southern and Eastern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.

Following the successful implementation of a modular data center at its Marseille 2 facility (MRS2), Digital Realty used a Level 3 solution from Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxureä Modular Data Center portfolio to overcome multiple challenges for HER1. These include requirements for accelerated market entry into service within twelve months, increased energy efficiency levels, and remote production and testing due to the remote location of HER1 in Crete.

To achieve this, Schneider Electric provided a tailor-made solution comprising two fully integrated prefabricated power modules containing medium and low voltage equipment, transformers, UPS and air cooling systems. In addition, the project includes the installation of two large-scale all-in-one data halls equipped with capacity, cooling and IT, applying Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure monitoring solution for building management and power management systems (EPMS).

In addition, Schneider Electric provided a full range of data center design, construction and consulting services, including complete mechanical, electrical (M&E) and software equipment, manufacturing, installation, commissioning and security services. This allowed Digital Realty’s HER1 facility to cope with tight implementation timelines while minimizing the risk of damage during on-site installation.

“Digital Realty’s significant investment in our new data center in Heraklion underscores our commitment to establishing the Mediterranean as a global connectivity hub, a point of contact between continents and a location with digital transformation potential,” said Fabrice Cocchio, Senior Vice President of Digital Realty in France. “Through our strategic partnership with Schneider Electric, we are accelerating the time-to-market of this critical project to rapidly respond to the region’s growing digital traffic demands, while increasing network resilience and diversity for businesses and communities alike.”

New digital gateway to Southern Europe

According to Telegeography, international broadband communications in southern Europe

have recorded more than 30% compound annual growth since 2016, representing a six-fold increase in transmission capacity to the region.

Due to its geographical location and continued investments in subsea networks such as 2Africa, Andromeda, East to Med Corridor (EMC), Medusa and Thetis, many organizations choose Crete as a strategic destination for cable terminals and data center deployments – making the region a global hub for interconnectivity that connects different continents.

HER1, Digital Realty’s first all-vendor and carrier-neutral data center in Crete, is located next to the grounding point of several of these submarine cabling systems and will offer highly resilient data center capacity to cloud system, submarine cabling, and connectivity communities.

“For many years, Schneider Electric has partnered with Digital Realty to meet stringent standards for building data centers globally, and our joint work on HER1 demonstrates the tremendous potential that prefabricated solutions provide to meet tight deployment timelines while minimizing risk,” said Schneider Electric Pablo Ruiz Escribano, Senior Vice President of Energy Security and Data Centers at Schneider Electric Europe. “The successful delivery of HER1 represents an important turning point for data center deployment in southern Europe, and by creating this new global connectivity center in Crete, Digital Realty will connect customers on different continents for many years to come.”

Note: Schneider Electric is a member of SHUKALB