EvoSwitch: A data centre industry first for the Netherlands
Established in 2007, privately owned internet services company EvoSwitch has grown significantly. Situated in Amsterdam, Europe and the US, with a colocation facility situated in Northern Virginia near Washington, the company provides a multitude of colocation and data center services for national and international clients.
With a number of solutions on offer, ranging from shared colocation, private cages and suites, the company has adopted a sustainable focus, and has become home to the largest data centre campus in the Netherlands.
Aiming to expand its footprint within the growing European market, the Amsterdam area has become a hotbed for data centre entrants. With the need for businesses to securely house large quantities of data, EvoSwitch has situated itself within a competitive market against a rising client demand. Customers are wanting increased interconnected and hybrid cloud services, catering for a customer base that is both national and international. Amsterdam in particular has become home to a large number of new entrants, in addition to international players who seek to grow their services worldwide. Nonetheless, EvoSwitch has become a force to be reckoned with, with their 15 MW datacenter campus. Such growth has consequently enabled the company to become the largest privately-owned internet-services and data centre service provider in Europe.
Energy efficiency
With an increased number of data centre builds emitting large quantities of heat, energy efficiency has become a core focus for EvoSwitch. “From day one, we started being green,” explains Chief Executive Officer Eric Boonstra. “If you look into the world and environment, it is becoming increasingly important. From day one we started becoming energy efficient.”
With 12,000 square metres of premium space, there is scope for expansion opportunities to house the company’s colocation and data centre services. Additionally, the current energy capacity of 15MW could be upped to 60MW, but with less power than traditional builds thanks to the building’s innovative design.
The Amsterdam facility is carbon neutral and features extremely low Power Usage Efficiency (PUE) scores. With indirect adiabatic free cooling, air freely flows into the cooling system, where warm air from the building becomes mixed and cooled with external air through heat transfer. This cooled air then re-enters the building, providing an optimum cooling solution. Utilising 100 percent renewable energy sources, such as hydropower and wind power, the building also adopts a modular design, enabling additional modules to be added in and provides future scalability for businesses to grow and utilise EvoSwitch’s services.
Design Innovation
The EvoSwitch private suites are containerised and therefore genuinely modular. In fact, they are almost stand-alone data centers, with their own multiple UPS backup, distribution boards, cooler units and fire suppression systems. Boonstra explains that ‘’customers enjoy total autonomy – their own module, their own access and security control dedicated to the individual suite.’’
‘’The latest generation modular containers offer 88 racks with 340 KvA; and these are extendable, like a harmonica, thanks to eight rack conjunction modules, which makes the EvoSwitch modular system even more modular’’ Eric adds.
The containerised technology deployed by EvoSwitch delivers such high levels operational efficiency and customer value that it has been made proprietary with registered patents and IP.
A changing landscape
The demand for data centres, cloud and colocation services will revolutionise the way businesses will operate in the future. “Most of the business will be in the cloud,” reflects Boonstra.
With 70 percent of EvoSwitch’s clientele becoming hosting and cloud providers, the company also houses direct connections with public clouds, such as Google, Azure and Amazon through EvoSwitch’s own cloud platform, OpenCloud. This cloud-neutral, partner-rich cloud interconnection platform beholds dozens of active members and keeps growing. OpenCloud creates a dynamic marketplace for the sale, development and consumption of next generation cloud architecture. It brings together enterprises, networks, cloud infrastructure providers, specialist partners, and leading Internet Exchanges, offering a huge variety of low latency cloud connection options.
This enables businesses to choose whether they want part of their business on their own servers, or as part of a cloud service. “The role of the data centre provider will change more into an ecosystem, offering hybrid clouds. All these possibilities combined give the customer the opportunity to develop strategic advantages in an optimal environment in terms of security, compliance, performance and costs” Boonstra adds.
Service with a unique touch
Nonetheless, with larger chain corporations building an increased number of data centres worldwide, there is a danger of compromising the level and quality of customer service. With this in mind, listening to customer requirements is an area of particular focus at EvoSwitch, which is clear through the company’s tailored services to meet specific customer requirements. “Customers will never become a number with us,” adds Boonstra. “They will have 24-7 support with a human touch. We know our customers and we act accordingly.”
This strategy has extended throughout the company’s operations, both with clients and highly experienced staff. Working as one team, with one result in mind, Boonstra explains: “Just because you are a director, it doesn’t make you more important than any other employee. We all need each other.” With close contact between internal staff and suppliers, such as Priva, General Electric (GE) and Schneider, the company places as much emphasis on active communication and contact as possible to ensure customers receive world-class services and support. “It’s what we hear from our customers when we undertake our yearly customer survey,” comments Boonstra. “They all tell us that especially our support and commitment is key and very good in comparison to other places in the market.”
With an increased number of large corporations building data centres, Boonstra concludes that EvoSwitch is THE alternative, which can provide a bespoke level of service, flexibility and custom solutions, with quality results and quick turnaround. With a 24-7 support service, incorporating dedicated technical and engineering support 365 days a year, he adds, “that’s how we work and how we set up our support team, who do more than the average data centre provider.” With an OpenCloud marketplace and a variety of cloud solutions, partnering with customers further enables increased connectivity and collaboration, leading to future business growth.
