Digital Realty Expands Data Centre Reach in Mediterranean

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Heraklion-1 will make Digital Realty the only data centre platform on the island of Crete and the most south-eastern data centre in Europe.
In partnership with Exa Infrastructure & Schneider Electric, Digital Realty is expanding its connectivity in Crete, with the Heraklion-1 data centre

Digital Realty has celebrated the progress in the construction of Heraklion-1, a new data centre based in Crete's capital city, Heraklion. Digital Realty is one of the biggest global providers of cloud- and carrier-neutral data centre, colocation and interconnection solutions. 

Its global data centre platform PlatformDIGITAL® provides customers with a secure data meeting place and a proven Pervasive Datacenter Architecture solution methodology for efficiently managing data challenges. 

Digital Realty expands Mediterranean reach with Crete's new data centre

Heraklion-1 is scheduled to begin operations in the first quarter of 2025. Yet it has already attracted interest from businesses in various industries in the region. This strong response highlights the need for reliable data centre solutions, a role which Heraklion-1 will play.

Digital Realty customers have access to a global data centre footprint of 300 facilities in 50 metros across 25 countries on six continents, but with Heraklion-1,its reach will grow. 

Heraklion-1 will make Digital Realty the only data centre platform on the island of Crete and the most south-eastern data centre in Europe. This will not only enhance Digital Realty’s Mediterranean presence, but also link it with Asia, the Middle East and East Africa, through a dense network of subsea cables.

Crete's capital city, Heraklion, is ready for the new data centre, the Heraklion-1

“Our vision to transform Greece into a digital hub by establishing a cutting-edge data centre in Europe's southeastern corner is quickly becoming a reality,” said Alexandros Bechrakis, Managing Director at Digital Realty in Greece. “We are delighted with the timely progress of Heraklion- 1's construction and are expecting to launch the facility in early 2025. We look forward to providing a top-tier connectivity hub that will support business growth throughout the Mediterranean and create links between Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa."

In addition to this, Digital Realty has signed Memorandums of Understanding with various key players across the digital infrastructure and subsea cable sectors, including Exa Infrastructure. This will secure more diverse connectivity routes from Europe to various global destinations. These collaborations will strengthen existing relationships and make room for further expansion. Additionally, routing through Greece will decrease latency, improving the user experience for various destinations in Eastern Europe.

Digital Realty and Schneider Electric partner for circular economy initiative at PAR6 data centre

While Digital Realty continues to grow its presence globally, it became the first global data centre organisation to join the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) in 2020 and announced plans to reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 68% and Scope 3 emissions by 24% by 2030. As part of this ambition to reduce its Scope 3 emissions, Digital Realty has partnered with Schneider Electric to deliver an innovative circular economy initiative at its PAR6 data centre in Paris.

The circularity project at PAR6 aims to extend the lifespan and maintain the operational integrity of mission-critical electrical infrastructure, including Schneider Electric low-voltage (LV) and medium-voltage (MV) equipment, switchgear and three-phase uninterruptible power supplies (UPS). Digital Realty is also implementing new take-back, recycling and refurbishment programmes to reduce e-waste, Scope 3 emissions and the use of high-impact greenhouse gases like SF6. 

Over the next five years, this project will help Digital Realty save up to 70% of the embodied carbon within its LV, MV and three-phase UPS equipment. It will also prolong the equipment lifecycle and widely improve its environmental impact.

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