Equinix to Launch Eight-Story Amsterdam Data Center Next Month

The first phase of Equinix's $190 million, eight-floor data center in Amsterdam Science Park (AM4)—a key interconnection gateway to Europe and the world—will open on July 5, according to a company blog post.

This initial buildout of AM4 will provide space for 1,550 cabinets, and upon the completion of four future expansion phases, the 230-foot tall facility will support a total of 4,200 cabinets with a total usable floor area exceeding 124,000 square feet.

Read more: Equinix to Build Huge Amsterdam Data Center

This is the Silicon Valley-based behemoth’s second data center in that location, one that it claims is within a 50-milisecond network reach of 80 percent of Europe. It would have been the company’s third facility there; however, after Equinix acquired TelecityGroup early last year it was forced by antitrust regulators to sell it to rival and landlord Digital Realty Trust.

“Our new data center in Amsterdam is part of Equinix’s efforts to help our customers thrive at the digital edge. Our global colocation and interconnection platform, Platform Equinix, already includes 175-plus facilities in 44 markets on five continents,” said the company.

High connectivity makes Amsterdam Science Park an attractive location and cloud hotspot in Europe, which handles around 38 percent of the Dutch data traffic, making it the second-largest data route in the Netherlands.

Customers at AM4 will also have direct network connectivity to cloud service providers as well as the AMS-IX and NL-IX exchanges.

While an Amazon Web Services Direct Connect node resides in AM3--its existing facility in the Amsterdam Science Park--customers in other Equinix facilities in the city will have access to it through Metro Connect, the Equinix network that links all of its sites in the metro area.

Amsterdam is the third European market where Equinix offers direct private access to Amazon’s cloud.