The “Fort Knox of data” is in Saxony-Anhalt
The greyish brown concrete block is slightly amiss with regard to the usual view in the small town Biere near Saxony-Anhalt's state capital Magdeburg: barbed wire fences, video and infrared cameras and access controls are conspicuous.
Yet anyone who is ever allowed into the cloud data centre that was opened in mid-2014 should expect identity checks, security checkpoints and biometric security systems. Nevertheless, the inner workings are rather austere, featuring endless snow-white corridors and floors. Signs in the Telekom design show the way. If you enter into one of the server rooms, the hum of computers and fans increases in loudness. The cabinets are standing in long corridors, lined up like those formerly in an archive. They are what transform the austere building into a high security area.
Actually, one does not speak about their customers, says Nicole Schmidt press spokeswoman from T-Systems, but she reveals: they come from the automotive and logistics sector, and Microsoft Germany also uses the ultramodern data centre, in which all data are subject to strict German data protection. It is a long time since documents, projects or software reached users on data carriers. And in turn these had to be installed at the workplace or at home. Today the Internet and a few clicks are adequate. The future is the cloud. Memory and computing power are used when the customer and user needs it. And the cloud data centre in Biere with its twin in Magdeburg provides exactly this flexibility.
And so Industrie 4.0, the 4th Industrial Revolution, manages with faint humming and without smokestacks puffing away. The globally available volume of data is increasing daily. And yet it does not solely concern the volume of data. It also concerns the speed with which the applications for customers shall be performed.
Yet speed alone is not the measure of all things for T-Systems. The new cloud data centre in Biere near Magdeburg stands for “security made in Germany”. So T-Systems reflects all data available here. The twin is located not far away in Saxony-Anhalt’s state capital Magdeburg. Data loss or interruption is out of the question, and customers are able to access data at any time, says Benjamin Fischer from the data centre operation in Biere. Moreover, physical barriers such as fences, cameras and security checkpoints are merely part of the high security concept in Biere. The digital protective mechanisms are much more important. And these are so enormously high that Biere already bears the nickname “hacker’s hell” in the hacker scene, says Benjamin Fischer, grinning with a sense of pride that is not insignificant. Secure data are more valuable than gold today.
So even now, the most modern and probably also the most secure cloud data centre in Germany is located in Biere near Magdeburg. Among other things, a predetermined radius from the company Solitär in Magdeburg, safety against floods and the connection to power supply networks was decisive for the location. But in addition to local conditions, the accompaniment and support from T-Systems by the state of Saxony-Anhalt was also decisive, says Nicole Schmidt. It is a good connection, which T-Systems would like to further expand. Plans envision expanding the location by an annexe, says the corporate spokeswoman. Even now enough areas are reserved in order to be able to meet the constantly increasing demand. More and more major customers from Deutsche Telekom are making their way towards the data centre in Biere. The secure German cloud is in demand like never before, so that an expansion of the location in Saxony-Anhalt is already being planned by Deutsche Telekom. Then the somewhat austere brown concrete block in the middle of Biere would become Deutsche Telekom’s most important European data hub.
PS: this text was written, stored and processed in the cloud.
Author: Alexander Greiner