Amsterdam's Switch Buys Woerden, Netherlands, Data Center

Amsterdam’s Switch Datacenters has purchased the former ABN AMRO data center in Woerden, Netherlands (about 25 miles south of Amsterdam).  The facility is leased to a large unnamed cloud provider. The purchase price was €11 million.

The entire complex consists of two buildings with a total surface area of 134,550 square feet. The data center building account for 59,200 square feet. In total, the company’s data center footprint is about 150,000 square feet.

The location will complement its existing data center in the South East business district of Amsterdam. Switch will install a direct fiberglass connection between Amsterdam and Woerden so that data can be easily mirrored between the two data centers. Woerden will operate as a neutral Internet interchange for the surrounding region.

Switch will upgrade cooling, power capacity and efficiency of the data center to mimic the efficiency it sees in the Amsterdam facility, where one of the techniques it uses is the unusual practice of submerging server motherboards into dielectric fluid for more efficient cooing. The company said it uses 100 percent green energy and also leverages efficient cooling from StatiqCooling, an evaporative cooing systems vendor.

Switch puts a lot of research into cooling. In 2012 it launched an incubator to examine and test the technology.

Founder and CEO Gregor Snip said the “data center is an important addition to the product supply of Switch Datacenters that is concentrated on the larger cloud environments and customers with a need for twin data center.”

Amsterdam and often acts as an ideal location for European expansion. The country is well-connected with a skilled labor force, making it a good landing spot for companies overseas looking to establish an initial European presence.