Beyond.pl is Expanding its Poznań, Poland Data Center Campus to 42MW

Beyond.pl is investing into an extension of its Data Center campus in Poznan. The energy capacity will increase more than fivefold  from the current 8MW to 42MW (megawatt) and will continue to be powered solely by renewable sources while its floor space will increase by almost four times.

Located exactly half way between Berlin and Warsaw, Beyond.pl is launching an investment that will make the data center operator’s campus one of the largest facilities of its kind in Europe in terms of surface area and power offered.

– The total gross area will increase from the current 12,000 square meters up to 45,000 square meters. This means that once the investment is complete, we will have one of the largest colocation sites in Central Europe. This will allow us to cater for the growing demand for collocation and cloud services in the region – says Michał Grzybkowski, Executive VP Technology at Beyond.pl. 

Beyond.pl featuring new power

The scale of the investment is best reflected in the total power capacity of the campus, which will increase by 34MW. Proportionally, power capacity will grow at a higher rate than floorspace, as the data center infrastructure will be designed in a way so as to meet high-density colocation needs of up to 20kW per rack while retaining very high energy efficiency. This, combined with the target power of 42MW, will allow Beyond.pl to address  infrastructure needs of the most demanding customers – both from Poland and especially abroad.

– The demand for state-of-the art server colocation space is growing dynamically. On the one hand, Polish companies already experiencing growth which has only recently been accelerated as a consequence of the pandemic have either launched or accelerated digitization projects. On the other hand, we are seeing increased interest from global cloud providers, SAAS companies, webscalers, and large enterprises in general who are looking to enter and better serve the Central European market. Beyond.pl has already been recognized by top tier global brands as an attractive location for primary and back up data colocation services. We are an attractive partner for our customers as we can ensure the provision of the same or even superior levels of physical infrastructure security and service availability when comparing against facility operators in Western Europe. In addition, our offer is very competitive as we have lower energy and labour costs comparing to western European markets. – points out Wojciech Stramski, CEO of Beyond.pl.

According to the operator’s representatives, being located in Poznan provides  an additional advantage, as the city has great connectivity to both Berlin and Warsaw and a highly qualified IT talent pool. – Our strategically selected location allows us to optimize data transfer speeds. Warsaw and Berlin are each only 4 milliseconds away from us, while Frankfurt is 10 milliseconds – adds Wojciech Stramski.

Choice offered by the operator

The company’s representatives declare that the carrier-neutral campus providing links to more than 20 telecom operators will meet high safety standards and offer a mix of Rated levels, from 3+ to 4. What does this mean in practice?

– Data Center 2 located within the campus is the only building in the European Union that meets the highest Rated 4 ANSI/TIA-942 standard. The building’s power and cooling systems are fully redundant and our operation is subject to periodic independent audits performed by the ANSI organization. These confirm Beyond.pl’s ability to ensure service availability of up to 99.9999% at an annualized rate. In turn, the new facilities on our campus will meet Rated 3+ requirements as a minimum. This will allow us to provide our customers with optionality to select the level of the standard that will meet their specific business needs – explains Michał Grzybkowski.

Will a smaller carbon footprint attract customers?

The campus is and will remain powered by renewable energy. Data Center 2 is already one of the most energy-efficient data processing facilities in Poland. At full capacity, it will reach PUE levels of even below 1.2, while the average currently available on the Polish market is somewhere in the range between 1.4 – 1.6. In practice, this allows Beyond.pl’s customers to reduce their carbon footprint and achieve significant energy cost savings. According to  Beyond.pl’s management, this will become an even more important selection criteria for customers on the data center market in the near future.

– One of the largest cost drivers of  data center services is related to the consumption of energy used to power and cool the data center and server infrastructure. The lower the PUE rate, i.e. energy efficiency, the lower the energy losses and data center operating costs. As a result, services can be cheaper for the end customer – underlines Michał Grzybkowski from Beyond.pl.

– For companies that place a great emphasis on environmental protection, sustainability, and their carbon footprint, our energy efficiency combined with the fact that the energy itself is 100% green can make us a really attractive option. Many large international organizations have made these values a key part of their strategy. As their partner, we help them lower their carbon footprint – explains Wojciech Stramski from Beyond.pl.

Investment boom

The extension of Beyond.pl, whose main shareholder is the Kulczyk Investments Group, is the largest investment announced on the Polish data center market following the investment projects recently announced by Google and Microsoft, with a total value of USD 3 billion.

According to PMR market research data, the domestic Polish data center market is expected to grow at a rate of 13.9% between 2021 and 2025 and will reach  166MW at the end of this period. However, the Beyond.pl investment is not reflected in this forecast which means that the adjusted Polish market will reach 200MW, of which 42MW will belong to Beyond.pl.

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• Beyond.pl is Expanding the Poznań Campus. The New Data Center to Reach 42MW