“ We are quite ambitious to get more marketshare and present ourselves to the wider European DC market as a viable , costeffective alternative to giant DC providers ”
FRISO HARINGSMA MANAGING DIRECTOR , DATACENTER UNITED
DCU ’ s Partner Ecosystem In terms of its current energy needs , one of DCU ’ s partners is Elinex , “ who are very good partners ”.
“ They provide us with many benefits , but one thing is they have a good culture and vision , and organise to build certain solutions . They are also really hands-on and are a good fit for us ,” says Haringsma . “ They also know what they ' re talking about . We have around 10 or 15 UPS ( Uninterruptible Power Supply ) brands , and it ' s hard to keep track of what they ' re all doing in the market and their constant evolution . Elinex can take us directly to brands , and they really help us provide solutions while also providing the right information to allow us to be an effective provider .”
“ We also partner with Huawei , whose equipment – according to my technicians – is really well-designed and allows us to be more efficient in our DC provisions ,” he says .
Belgium is in the middle of the FLAP ( Frankfurt , London , Amsterdam and Paris ) region , which makes up the primary DC market . DCU has high hopes that the
Belgian market will grow even more than it already has in the past few years .
As for future trends , Haringsma says : “ I see consolidation in the market . There is a lot of money involved , and it seems that everyone wants a piece of the pie when they hear the words ‘ digital infrastructure ’. When they say ‘ 5G ’, I say , ‘ ok show me ’. A lot of bubbles are created by those who don ' t know how DCs actually work .
“ Transparency will also be a central theme , but as complexity accelerates , there will be too many applications that can potentially break down , so diverse solutions will be needed . Most importantly , the customer has to be able to focus on their own business , and more partnerships will be able to make this happen .”
Ever-expanding , DCU has just received approval for the expansion of their current Antwerp Datacenter flagship location , adding another 6000 sqm of IT space , bringing it up to become a 20 MW facility .
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