Public data centers are high-tech architectural facilities where private companies and public organizations can allocate their IT infrastructure. The infrastructure of each data center includes multiple backup of communications, multi-level fire safety systems, guarded premises, comprehensive air cooling, heating and maintenance of a constant temperature in the data hall.
Many data centers in Europe provide their clients with services like hardware rental, maintenance, high-speed Internet connectivity and the largest cloud networks. All data centers are traditionally categorized by size, reliability, purpose and compliance requirements. The generally accepted Tier standard assumes four levels of data center reliability.
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Tier 4 data centers are the most secure, but also highly expensive. The requirements for data centers of this level imply almost total fault-tolerance of the infrastructure, i.e. in case of failure of any hardware, including the main and duplicate one at the same time, the backup infrastructure is automatically switched on. In the rapidly growing data center market in Europe, a significant share is currently held by Tier 3 class facilities, as this very level offers an optimal competitive balance, information security and quality. Level three data centers are characterized by a high level of redundancy and simultaneous usage of multiple power and cooling paths. For Tier 3 data centers access uptime is equal or below 99.982%, which translates to downtime of 1.6 hours or less per year. These are the key features.
| Tier 1 data center | Tier 2 data center | Tier 3 data center | Tier 4 data center | |
| Minimum number of components supporting the load in data center | N | N+1 | N+1 | N+ After any failure without limit |
| Input power distribution channels in data center | 1 | 1 | 1 active and 1 reserved | 2 simultaneously active |
| Distribution of uninterrupted power supply in data center | 1 | 1 | 2 simultaneously active | 2 simultaneously active |
| Option of simultaneous maintenance in data center (24×7 maintenance possible) | No | No | Yes | Yes |
The largest number of Tier 3 European data centers is located in Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam and Paris. This consolidated geographic district is often referred to by the acronym FLAP. Other European data center markets in regions such as Oslo, Berlin, Zurich, Milan, Warsaw and Madrid are gradually increasing their potential, but according to forecasts, in the near future they cannot yet compete with FLAP on the European data center market in terms of the number of Tier 3 facilities and technical capabilities.
European data center market
The data center market in Europe is represented by both the largest companies and medium-sized businesses. The terms and conditions are such that more than 25% of the market is accounted for by the top five data center operators:
- CyrusOne Inc.
- Equinix Inc.
- Global Switch Holdings Limited
- Vantage Data Centers
- NTT Communications
At the same time, global presence on the market in Europe is not the single and not the major indicator of high quality in the data center industry. On the basis of our own market research we have identified TOP 10 best European data centers on the market in the ratio “price of services/quality of service” and made a small overview. We also took into account the possibilities of presence in different regions of Europe and real feedback from clients of each data center.
1. CloudKleyer Frankfurt GmbH
We give the first place in our rating to CloudKleyer Frankfurt GmbH, the German operator and service provider from Frankfurt am Main, the Internet capital of Europe. This unusual choice is explained not so much as by the scale of the operator as by the variety of digital services, the number of free bonuses and client support in messengers, which itself has become an exceptional rarity in the European data center market.
Here is an incomplete list of services that CloudKleyer provides in Europe: rental of racks and rack space, sale of physical servers on a rent-to-own basis, provision of VPS with any configuration, cloud solutions and direct network connectivity with low latency, construction of private and hybrid corporate clouds, operational repair, full technical maintenance and operations for data center relocation. To all this we can add free services that CloudKleyer offers as a bonus to all clients: unmetered Internet, server migration and physical connection to DE-CIX networks.
For allocation of infrastructure segments CloudKleyer can also offer 9 data centers around the world that use renewable energy, including Germany, UK, Netherlands, USA and Eastern Europe. A rich set of technical capabilities and flexible approach to agreements makes this provider the most attractive choice in the European data center market for both large companies and small startups when it comes to optimizing infrastructure costs in the face of increasing workloads. All data centers are certified according to Tier 3 compliance standards.
2. Equinix Inc
Equinix, one of the largest data center operators in the world, is next in the top three leaders. Today, this American company operates 260 data centers in 33 countries. On the European market of data centers, Equinix has a presence in 13 countries, including every city in the FLAP sector: Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam and Paris, as well as Portugal and Sweden. Equinix’s core data center services are colocation, hardware provision for rapid deployment of enterprise data centers and cloud solutions. In particular, on the market Equinix introduces and actively promotes the latest concept of multi-cloud networks as the basis for efficient AI development in its largest data centers in Europe. Equinix is committed to utilizing renewable energy, investing in innovative solutions and green technologies to lower its environmental footprint.
3. CyrusOne Inc.
CyrusOne is the world’s leading data center operator, the largest U.S. player in the market, managing more than 50 public data centers worldwide. It has high-tech facilities, located in six countries across Europe: Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands. One of CyrusOne’s specialties is building enterprise data centers with custom designed floor space. For this purpose, the company uses its own technologies based on the principle of modularization of external design of buildings together with communication and cooling system. Public data centers in Europe can offer providers and businesses colocation services, network and cloud solutions, including hyperscaling and direct connections to the world’s largest clouds, such as AWS, Microsoft Azure and others.
4. KDDI/Telehouse
Telehouse is one of the largest international operators in the global data centers market. The company is related to the Japanese telecom corporation KDDI and is its subsidiary. Telehouse manages 47 global data centers. European data centers are located in Germany, UK, France and Turkey. On the market it offers a wide range of services for corporate infrastructure colocation, network and cloud solutions, technical maintenance, and peering services. The corporation takes care of the environment, strives to use renewable energy sources for its facilities and is implementing an environmental program of total carbon neutrality with an expected end by 2030. Its clients in Europe are both large corporations and small commercial companies.
5. Global Switch Holdings Limited
Corporation headquartered in London. It manages 11 data centers around the world. In Europe, Global Switch’s facilities are located in Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Spain and France. According to the last financial reports, this operator is one of the leading players in the market with the highest credit ratings from Fitch, Moody’s and S&P Global Ratings, which indicates high financial sustainability and reliability. Global Switch’s clients are big government agencies and commercial companies of various sizes. Among its main services are Colocation, deployment of energy efficient data centers for business on demand, technical maintenance of corporate infrastructures.
6. NTT Communications Ltd
NTT Communications is a large corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It manages 98 data centers in 20 countries around the world. In Europe, NTT’s high-tech facilities are located in Germany, the UK, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Austria and Switzerland. In combination with Colocation, the company offers its customers a wide range of services, including network and cloud solutions, a variety of AI capabilities, private mobile 5G and even infrastructure management application development. According to the report, up to 70% of the data centers’ electricity comes from renewable energy sources. NTT Communications data centers in Europe can be recommended to both big industrial companies and startups, for which it is important to optimize infrastructure costs.
7. Digital Realty Trust
Digital Realty Trust is an American corporation with 309 data centers worldwide. In Europe, Digital Realty Trust is represented by data centers in 10 countries, including the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain and the Netherlands. The main service it offers to the clients is Colocation. Installation, connectivity and maintenance support are also available as part of the Remote Hands. The infrastructure and construction of the data centers are specifically optimized to accommodate high-performance hardware, taking into account future trends and record market demand for research technologies using artificial intelligence.
8. Vantage Data Centers
Vantage Data Centers is an American corporation with 35 high-tech facilities on 5 continents. In Europe Vantage Data Centers is represented by 12 high-tech centers in Germany, Great Britain, Italy and Poland. The main specialization is the provision of premises for corporate data centers and offices for specialized projects, including space planning, technical design and installation work according to the client’s specifications. In Europe the company also operates in a popular segment of services: racks and rack space of data center rental and technical maintenance. The offers of Vantage Data Centers are mainly focused on big and medium-sized businesses. This company owns the largest data center in Europe, Vantage Cardiff data center in Newport (Wales), with a total capacity of about 35,000 square meters of data halls within one location.
9. QTS Data Centers
This is another American company with an expanding strategic presence in the United States. QTS Data Centers manages 41 data centers and only two of them are located in the European country of the Netherlands, one each in Groningen and Eemshaven. The plan is to launch another designed facility in Cambois in the UK. The company focuses on a strategy to support Enterprise level clients and offers a wide range of tools and applications for advanced monitoring of large-scale infrastructures in addition to the direct service of hosting corporate infrastructures.
10. Iron Mountain
Iron Mountain is headquartered in Boston, USA. The company has 26 data centers around the world, including 21 in the United States. In Europe Iron Mountain is represented by data centers in London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Madrid. The pool of offers includes Colocation, migration of servers and data centers, creation of corporate infrastructure segments and their maintenance as part of the Remote Hands. All data centers are 100% powered by renewable energy sources, thus achieving almost complete carbon neutrality. An objective plus is a wide presence in the USA. At the same time, growth and expansion in the American market are important for the company, thanks to which the most advanced solutions and technologies are implemented primarily in America.
Top 10 Europe Data Center companies
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Article author Olga Boujanova Consultant on hosting solutions, network and cloud technologies
