Switch Datacenters’ Amsterdam 1 data centre achieves OCP-Ready status

The Open Compute Project (OCP) Foundation has granted Switch Datacenters from Amsterdam, the Netherlands the prestigious OCP Ready™ status, which means that the Switch AMS1 site complies with all site requirements for a colocation service provider to be able serve OCP customers and their hardware in its facilities.

  • Monday, 18th March 2019 Posted 5 years ago in by Phil Alsop

After several years of working with the Open Compute Project (OCP) Foundation and actively contributing to the OCP colocation standards, the company has successfully audited against OCP’s checklist for compliance and becomes one of the first European data centers (DC) to achieve OCP-Ready™ status. Accordingly, the Amsterdam AMS1 data center becomes a listed Colo Solution Provider on the OCP Marketplace.

Switch Datacenters runs three high-end sites in the Amsterdam region and offers colocation services in the fastest growing European metropolitan data center market, Amsterdam. Using a unique, patented own design, Switch Datacenters is amongst the greenest DC’s in Europe with a PuE of <1,15.

The three data centers operated by Switch have a total white space floor area of around 8000 m² / 86,000 ft².

Next to running their own colocation retail brand, Switch Datacenters also offers their unique design, build and operational skills as a wholesale service to international customers, facilitating the growing demand of companies who want to have their own highly connected, private data center in Amsterdam, securely managed by Switch on basis of a Service Level Agreement.

The Switch Datacenters AMS1 datacenter is located at a highly connected location in the Amsterdam South-East business district which is known for having one of the highest densities of international backbone carriers in the world.

The AMS1 data center will expand in the adjacent building with an additional whitespace of 1,560 m² and 5.4 MW ICT power. By achieving the OCP Ready™ status, Switch is now also able to offer this unique site development and colocation site to customers requiring a high-end, well-connected OCP Ready™site at a scarce AAA location in Amsterdam. 

In October 2018, Switch Datacenters, Rittal and Circle B jointly announced the opening of the first European Experience Center for OCP technology, also located in the AMS1 site of Switch Datacenters. The Experience Center is meant to help the OCP Community to increase the understanding and awareness of the advantages of OCP Hardware and OCP design architectures, and provides a real-life demo environment for customers to get introduced to OCP.

“While the data center market is exploding on a worldwide scale, we need to continuously keep looking for more efficient, smarter and greener solutions to be able to compete. OCP is one of the game-changing trends, and innovation is for us the only answer to grow. That is why Switch Datacenters is eager to cooperate and share our knowledge and learnings in an open community like the globlal OCP Community, and we welcome believers in OCP technology to our Amsterdam facility‘’ says Edgar van Essen, Managing Director of Switch Datacenters.

Steve Helvie, VP of Channel Development at OCP said, “The EMEA region has been identified as a primary region for OCP technology growth, which overall has a forecast 59% CAGR for the next five years. Colocation facility providers are a key to facilitating the use of OCP Hardware, so OCP is delighted to announce that Switch Datacenters – one of the most innovative data center developments in Europe –is an official provider of qualified data center white space for OCP deployments.”