NEWS
VIRTUS Data Centres announces first facility in Italy
VIRTUS Data Centres, part of the ST Telemedia Global Data
Centres Group, has confirmed plans to establish its first facility in Italy.
Located in Cornaredo, within the Milan West data centre cluster, this new site represents a key milestone in VIRTUS’ European expansion strategy.
The facility will be developed on a 71,000 sqm brownfield site which has zoning in place for a 44,000 sqm facility. With the capacity to deliver 70MW of grid power, the site will provide ample capacity to support hyperscalers, enterprises and service providers as digital infrastructure demands in Europe continue to grow. minimising environmental impact while strengthening our presence in Europe’ s key digital territories.”
The Milan data centre is designed to support the increasing requirements of AI workloads, hyperscale environments and highdensity computing, while ensuring operational efficiency.
Consistent with VIRTUS’ commitment to sustainability, the project will incorporate best practices to reduce environmental impact.
The new facility is expected to be Ready for Service in 2027, bringing additional capacity to one of Europe’ s most important data centre markets.
Neil Cresswell, CEO, VIRTUS Data Centres, said:“ We are very excited to be continuing our expansion in Europe at pace. Milan is an important European technology hub, and this new development demonstrates our commitment to meeting the demands of our customers for reliable, flexible, high-quality infrastructure. By repurposing a brownfield site, we are
Digital Realty and EXA Infrastructure partner to advance Crete as a major connectivity hub
Digital Realty has announced the activation of a point of presence( PoP) in collaboration with EXA Infrastructure( EXA) to bring enhanced connectivity solutions to Crete.
The partnership will support the development of Digital Realty’ s first data centre in Crete, HER1 – scheduled to become operational in early 2025 with an expected initial capacity of 1 MW.
HER1 will serve as the first carrier-neutral facility in Crete, with intentions of addressing a significant gap in the region by allowing international and regional subsea cables to interconnect, a transformative step toward making Greece a major connectivity hub for
Southern and Eastern Europe, as well as regions beyond.
Fabrice Coquio, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, Europe Med, Digital Realty, said:“ By leveraging EXA’ s extensive network capabilities, HER1 will not only bridge critical connectivity gaps in the Mediterranean but also further position Greece as a strategic gateway for data traffic between Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, and beyond.”
Steve Roberts, Senior Vice President Network Investment and Product Management, EXA, said:“ Strengthening Crete’ s connectivity landscape, EXA will deliver robust connectivity between Eastern and Western Mediterranean.”
Extending connectivity further into Eastern and Central Europe, including key locations such as Zagreb and Vienna, EXA will also offer network links between Heraklion and Chania on Crete using HER1 as an interconnection facility to exchange traffic and optimise capacities. �
www. intelligentcio. com INTELLIGENTCIO EUROPE 15