Lamda Hellix: A Digital Realty Company (NYSE: DLR) and leading provider of carrier- and cloud-neutral colocation data center solutions, today announces that the construction of Athens-3 (ATH3) – its third data center in Athens – has commenced. The continued development of the Athens Data Center Campus represents a strategic expansion of PlatformDIGITAL®, a first-of-its-kind global data center platform for scaling digital business. When fully built out, the new site is expected to offer up to 6.8 megawatts (MW) of IT capacity, with four available data halls, able to serve more than 50,000 high-density servers and approximately 3,100m2 of total equipped space.

 

The first phase of the carrier-neutral multi-story facility is expected to be ready in Q4 2022, with project completion scheduled for Q3 2023. The new facility will form part of the Athens Data Center Campus located on the outskirts of Athens, and it will be interconnected to the existing facilities, Athens-1 and Athens-2.

The new data center forms part of Digital Realty's broader vision to establish a new era of open, secure and dynamically connected data communities in major hubs around the world, as outlined earlier this year in the industry manifesto for open interconnection. Greece is evolving into a major interconnection hub where digital transformation is the key factor accelerating growth, exploiting the country’s geo-economic advantages.

 

According to IDG Research, 1€uro invested in a multi-tenant data center in Greece will generate 8.23€uro in return for the economy, resulting in positive impact on the country’s prospects on various fronts, including attracting more investments in 5G technology, subsea cables, AI, Cloud and Big Data.

 

As Athens grows into a thriving hub for data-led businesses, facilities like ATH3 will become increasingly vital in helping businesses that operate in, and connect through, Athens to thrive and avoid the increasing effects of Data Gravity, the phenomenon of large amounts of data attracting more data and applications into the same place. Cities with strong, open data exchanges with other cities often generate the greatest Data Gravity - bringing major strategic advantages to businesses in those cities, as long as they are able to move and take advantage of the data and aren’t overwhelmed by volume.

The most recent Data Gravity Index DGx™ – which measures the creation, aggregation and private exchange of enterprise data across 53 metros – revealed the volume of enterprise data being created, aggregated and exchanged among European cities is the largest in the world; even larger than North America. The average Data Gravity score across Europe is twice the global average and Europe is expected to extend its lead as the world’s enterprise data superpower even further by 2024.

By providing new capacity for businesses to process their data; new connectivity to help them share and aggregate it; and access to a community of more than 700 network and content providers, 600 cloud and IT providers and 800 enterprises through PlatformDIGITAL®, ATH3 will help ensure enterprises in Athens reap the advantages of Europe’s authority and the city can continue to grow as a center for data.

 

Quotes:

Apostolos Kakkos, Chairman & CEO of Lamda Hellix

“ATH3 will be the largest data center in Greece, further enhancing our diverse data community and the country’s competitive advantages stimulating technological growth. It is part of our vision to promote Greece as the region’s interconnection hub and a gateway to Eastern Europe. We have submitted the building permit application for Athens-4 (ATH4), which will be located within the Athens Data Center Campus offering the same capacity as ATH3. Following Marseille’s example of becoming the world's ninth-largest internet hub within six years, we are confident that through ATH3 and ATH4 and our continuous investments we will further strengthen the country’s attractiveness on the global digital map.”

 

A. William Stein, CEO of Digital Realty

“Greece is one of the fastest growing data center markets in the region where some of the most innovative interconnection DC projects at European level are already implemented. ATH3 extends the coverage, capacity and connectivity options as part of PlatformDIGITAL® setting the foundation to further promote the country as the main investment hub of the region. Our continued investments in the country supports the delivery of carrier-neutral solutions enabling the digital transformation strategies of local and global customers.”