Magenta with new data centre in Graz

Expert opinions, project management, client consulting for construction, general planning, construction supervision, strategic facility management, support with EN 50600 certification

One of Europe’s most modern data centres is being built in Graz on behalf of telecommunications provider Magenta Telekom. From 2022, it will provide additional capacity for gigabit internet, 5G mobile communications and HD television for Magenta customers in Styria and the southern provinces. – FRAUSCHER CONSULTING is supporting Magenta in this project from project definition to commissioning and ensuring that the high quality requirements of Magenta and EN 50600 are met.

New innovative products such as the provision of data centre space are being developed for business customers. The new data centre is being built and operated by COOLtec Systems, which is planning and managing the entire project. With this project, Magenta is investing tens of millions in the digital future of its Styrian customers and in a highly efficient digital infrastructure for the Styrian business location.

“The new data centre in Graz will be our second most important infrastructure location in Austria. Thanks to the additional capacity, we will be able to continue offering our customers in the Styrian capital and beyond outstanding products and solutions in the future. This is only possible with state-of-the-art data centres, powerful hardware and an excellent infrastructure. I am delighted to have found a partner in COOLtec Systems that is ideally suited to meet these high standards for the new data centre in Graz,” says Volker Libovsky, CTIO Magenta Telekom.

“It is important to us, and at the same time a major challenge, to build and ultimately operate one of Europe’s most modern and energy-efficient data centres for our future tenant Magenta Telekom. Our companies are linked by a long-standing partnership and many successfully implemented projects,” said Harald Köfler, Managing Director of COOLtec Systems.

Excavation work is being carried out to lay data cables as part of the construction of the data centre. A positive side effect is that new households and businesses in Graz will be connected to Magenta Telekom’s fibre optic cable network. Magenta currently supplies 115.000 households and businesses in Graz and the surrounding area via its fibre optic cable network. Customers have access to high-speed internet speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second, equivalent to 1.000 Mbit per second.

The new data centre in detail

The recently launched construction project in the southern district of Graz sets high standards. Covering an area of 1.120 m2, a total of 380 server cabinets with a capacity of up to 3,6 megawatt will be in operation after commissioning in 2022. Sufficient reserves allow for future expansion. However, data centres are currently undergoing many changes. Data exchange has increased rapidly, new technologies such as virtualisation and cloud computing are in use, and power consumption has risen in a way that no one could have predicted a few years ago.

Cooling and power supply are two major challenges in this context. As a data centre operator, COOLtec Systems therefore focuses primarily on energy efficiency and sustainability. Water-cooled systems and air conditioning cabinets with indirect free cooling are used for cooling. This ensures maximum system efficiency and operational reliability. Energy efficiency, one of the most important criteria for a data centre, is measured worldwide using Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE), a value that compares the energy consumed to the energy input.

While a European data centre averages 1,3 PUE, the data centre operated by COOLtec Systems in Graz achieves a significantly more efficient and sustainable result with 1,15 PUE. There are plans to have the data centre certified according to the latest European standard for data centres (EN 50600). In order to implement all the requirements of this high standard, the project is being supported by Frauscher Consulting, the leading data centre planner in Austria.

Data centres and locations operated or used by Magenta Telekom in all federal states are continuously being upgraded. Cooling systems are being replaced with more energy-efficient solutions and server hardware is being brought up to the latest technical standards. At some locations, the power supply is provided by photovoltaics. Magenta Telekom has been 100% carbon neutral since 2015.