Strengthening the data center location Frankfurt/Rhine-Main through innovations
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Innovation Alliance Data Centers in Hessen

Strengthening the data center location Frankfurt/Rhine-Main through innovations

Data centers are a key element of modern business. Without data centers, neither the media industry nor industrial production or research & development would be conceivable today. Developments toward the Internet of Things and Industry 4.0 will further increase the demands on data center capacities. Increasing mobile ICT use and usage patterns in private households are also placing ever greater demands on capacity.

Frankfurt and the Rhine-Main region is the top location for data centers

Frankfurt and the Rhine-Main region is the top location for data centers in Germany and also a leader in Europe. The DE-CIX, the world’s largest Internet node, is located here. The region also has the highest concentration of data centers in Germany: around 40 percent of Germany’s large-scale data centers are located here. Many data center suppliers and other companies associated with the data center industry, such as major software manufacturers or large system houses, as well as research institutes, are located in Hessen.

In order to secure the strength of the data center location Frankfurt/Rhine-Main also in the future and to stimulate further innovations, the Hessian Ministry of Economics and the Aktionslinie Hessen-IT started the Innovation Alliance Data Centers in Hessen. The focus is particularly on issues of energy consumption and energy efficiency. Borderstep was engaged to accompany the project in terms of content.

Within the innovation alliance, innovation potentials for energy-efficient data centers were identified and discussed together with the data center industry. In addition, measures were decided to further expand the strengths of the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main data center region and to seize economic and ecological opportunities as they arise.

Input for the Digital Hessen Strategy

With two working groups formed, a total of three expert workshops and one specialist event were held. The Data Center Innovation Alliance provided essential input for the Digital Hessen Strategy, in which data centers represent a central field of action. Borderstep also conducted a study on the data center market in Hessen as part of the project.

Some key findings of this study are:

  • Data centers have a very high economic importance. In Hessen alone, approximately 35,000 people are employed in the data center industry and approximately €2 billion is invested in Hessen’s data centers each year.
  • Hessen is the top location for data centers in Germany. Almost a quarter of Germany’s data center capacity – measured in terms of IT floor space – is installed in Hesse. In 2016, investments in Hessian data centers are expected to grow by almost 10% compared to 2015.
  • German data centers are among the most energy-efficient data centers in the world. Hesse is setting standards here with its modern data centers. Numerous examples in Hessen demonstrate the innovative strength and performance of German data center construction.

Several initiatives for follow-up projects have emerged within the Data Center Innovation Alliance, so that a continuation of the cooperation is guaranteed.

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