AI applications, industrial real-time processes and data-intensive services are fundamentally transforming the requirements for digital infrastructures. Fibre optics remain the foundation; however, proximity to computing power is becoming increasingly decisive. In an interview, Lutz Lohse, Managing Director of enviaTEL, explains why edge data centres in particular are becoming a strategic building block: they enable local data processing, reduce latency and create economic added value for industry and municipalities.

With the rapid growth of data-intensive applications, the demands on high-performance network infrastructures are also increasing. Wolfram Rinner, Managing Director of GasLINE, provides insights into current trends, innovation potential and the long-term outlook for modern fibre-optic networks. He will be a panellist at the German “eco Datacenter Plaza at fiberdays 26.”

Gcore operates its own global IT infrastructure across six continents and is the newest member of the Alliance for the Strengthening of Digital Infrastructures in Germany, founded under the umbrella of eco. In this interview, Elena Simon, Managing Director of Gcore DACH, addresses the key challenges and significant advantages of Germany as a digital location.

The Alliance for the Strengthening of Digital Infrastructures in Germany, founded under the umbrella of eco, will continue to be represented on the Board of the Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact (CNDCP) in 2026 and 2027.

In this interview, eco’s Managing Director Alexander Rabe talks about the importance of data centres for digital transformation and eco’s strategic role in shaping the political and technological aspects of digital change. The focus is particularly on fiberdays 26, where eco is designing the new German “Datacenter Plaza” for the first time.

According to Rabe, this trend is positive. However, eco’s Managing Director would have liked to see a little more consistency in the adjustments in some areas. This applies, for example, to the Design PUE. It is also regrettable that the flat-rate ERF values are still included in the law.

Data centres are the foundation of digital value creation in Frankfurt and the entire Rhine-Main region. The new study by IW and Detecon provides clear figures and shows that, in contrast to the economy as a whole, the industry is recording record growth. The city and the entire Rhine-Main region also benefit significantly from this.

The eco Data Centre Alliance criticises the German federal government’s failed location policy. In particular, the Federal Council’s proposal on grid connection allocation – rejected by the Economic Committee — together with yesterday’s coalition committee agreement on an industrial electricity price, are, in the association’s view, jeopardising the data centre industry in Germany.

With the AI transformation and structural change, the Rhineland region is developing into a digital hub in the heart of Europe. In an interview with eco, Emil Issagholian (RheinEnergie) explains the role of energy infrastructure in this development.

Data centres are a key growth driver for Germany as a business location. To enable Germany to realise the full potential of artificial intelligence and digital innovations, eco has formulated five key requirements for a data centre strategy of the German federal government.

Lower electricity costs for data centres mean more growth potential for the German economy – it’s basically a simple calculation. It is good that Reiche, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy in Germany, has recognised the potential of data centres for the German economy and brought it back onto the political agenda in the context of electricity price subsidies.

Digital infrastructures place high demands on power supply, cooling and system availability. Vertiv develops solutions specifically for these areas – such as data centres and industrial applications. In this interview, Sascha Horn, Regional Strategic Account Manager at Vertiv, provides insight into current trends and developments in the data centre market.

The Alliance for the Strengthening of Digital Infrastructures in Germany, an initiative founded within the eco Association by operators of digital infrastructure ecosystems, welcomes the data centre strategy announced today for the German federal state of Hesse and calls for a similar approach at the federal level to strengthen...

After the leaders of the CDU/CSU and SPD postponed the reduction in electricity tax originally agreed in the coalition agreement, the Alliance for the Strengthening of Digital Infrastructures in Germany, founded under the umbrella of the eco Association, appealed to the German Federal Government:

The eco Alliance welcomes the EU Commission’s intention to allow Member States to introduce an industrial electricity price. The initiative, founded by the eco Association, is now calling on the German federal government to act swiftly and include data centres in the electricity price compensation scheme, as announced in the coalition agreement.

With AI Gigafactories, the EU aims to catch up in AI development. At least one of the planned super data centres is supposed to be built in Germany — according to the federal government's goal. eco supports this initiative but warns of a bureaucratic obstacle hurdle.  

With the appointment of Jan Lange as the new CEO and Managing Director, TelemaxX Telekommunikation GmbH not only gains an experienced leader – the company’s engagement within the eco Alliance also receives a new face. In this interview, he talks about his vision, trends and innovations in the data centre industry.

The eco Data Centre Expert Summit 2025 in Mainz offered compelling insights into the dynamic development of the data centre industry and once again underlined the key role of digital infrastructures for Germany's future.

First-ever presentation of the eco Data Center Awards Bernhard Huter honoured as Data Center Person of the Year Jury presents Lifetime Achievement Award to Peter Knapp JH-Computers GmbH and akquinet outsourcing gGmbH receive awards for most innovative data centre projects Mainz, 6 May 2025 – As part of this year’s...

Whether for the optimisation of energy consumption, autonomous management of workloads or predictive maintenance – artificial intelligence is finding its way into data centres. In this interview, Artur Faust, Energy & Sustainability Expert at EkkoSense and spokesperson at this year's Data Centre Expert Summit, talks...

Artificial intelligence is transforming not only applications and business processes – it is also creating entirely new demands on the underlying infrastructure. In particular, data centre networks must keep pace with the rapidly increasing flood of data, new types of workloads, and extremely low latency requirements....

Data centres are the backbone of the digital world – and their technical infrastructure must keep pace with growing requirements. But what steps do operators need to take now in order to work efficiently, reliably and flexibly in the long term? In an interview with eco, Karsten Paeth, Marketing & Sales Director Central Europe at ABB, provides insights into current challenges and possible solutions.

Markus Blüm is Managing Director of Green Mountain KMW Datacenter GmbH and a speaker at this year's eco Data Centre Expert Summit on 5 and 6 May. In the panel 'Rethinking DC construction! Focusing on sustainability, innovation and synergies', he will share his expertise and practical experience, including the Green Rocks...

The demands on data centres are constantly increasing – topics such as redundancy, energy efficiency, sustainability and IT security are more in focus than ever. That's why Sven Kellputt, Head of Key Account Management at KAMP Netzwerkdienste, talks about the company's strategic direction, explains the advantages of outsourcing...

On Wednesday, 9 April 2025, the first AllianzTalk, a discussion series hosted by the Alliance for Digital Infrastructure, took place at the Telefónica BASECAMP in Berlin. At almost exactly the same time, the coalition agreement between the CDU, CSU and SPD was presented not far away in the Paul-Löbe building – one more...

For the first time, the eco Data Centre Award for particularly innovative data centre projects will be presented as part of the eco Data Centre Expert Summit, taking place on 5 and 6 May in Mainz.

This year, envia TEL joined the Alliance for the Strengthening of Digital Infrastructures in Germany, which was founded under the umbrella of the eco Association. Axel Schumann, authorised signatory and head of sales at envia TEL, presents the company in the welcome interview, discusses challenges in the expansion of digital infrastructures, and shares envia TEL’s vision for Germany as a digital location.

The Alliance for the Strengthening of Digital Infrastructures in Germany welcomes the investments and calls for a significant portion of the planned special fund to flow into the digital infrastructure ecosystem and accelerate digital transformation.

Dr. Daniel Schmitz is Team Leader and Sales Manager for Data Centres at GOLDBECK. He is a speaker at this year's Data Center Expert Summit and talks in advance in an interview with the eco Association about waste heat recovery from data centres, the acceleration of planning and approval procedures and sustainable data centres. How...

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