Christian Schmitz, Director OpenSource at the German cloud provider plusserver, explains which factors can influence data sovereignty in an eco interview. He also talks about the potential of open source solutions and Gaia-X.

Tomorrow, Thursday, the German Bundestag will discuss the Energy Efficiency Act in its first reading. The Alliance for the Strengthening of Digital Infrastructures in Germany, founded under the umbrella of the eco Association, considers the current version of the draft approved by the Federal Cabinet in April to be detrimental to Germany as a digital location.

Recent innovations and developments in AI have intensified the debate around data protection. Prof. Dr Anne Riechert, Board Member of the AI Frankfurt Rhein-Main Society gives a first insight into the topic and presents the activities of the AI Frankfurt Rhein-Main Society.

The Alliance for the Strengthening of Digital Infrastructures in Germany calls for data centres to be included in the current discussion on the introduction of industry electricity prices. The German federal government should recognise the importance of the industry as the backbone of digitalisation and part of the solution in achieving climate goals.

To take stock of the German federal government’s digital policy, the Network Policy Forum will take place on 25 April with German Digital Minister Volker Wissing. In advance, eco Chair Süme formulates three core requirements for the implementation of the Digital Strategy.

The Alliance for the Strengthening of Digital Infrastructures in Germany voices criticism on the draft for a new Energy Efficiency Act adopted yesterday by the German Federal Cabinet. While this act sets out the right objectives, the obligations it imposes on data centres to release their waste heat cannot be implemented in such a format and could lead to data centres relocating to neighbouring European countries.

Dr. Béla Waldhauser, spokesperson for the Alliance for the Strengthening of Digital Infrastructures in Germany, founded under the umbrella of eco – Association of the Internet Industry, comments on the new draft act for a German energy efficiency law that was released this Monday, 3 April 2023.

In Germany, the amendment to the electricity price brake is expected to be passed in today’s cabinet meeting. eco and the Alliance for the Strengthening of Digital Infrastructures are strongly critical of the amendment introduced by the Federal Ministry of Economics.

On the strength of the Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact, the international data centre industry is supporting the climate goals of the European Commission. Dr Béla Waldhauser, Spokesperson of the Alliance for the Strengthening of Digital Infrastructures in Germany, is now once again a candidate for the upcoming board election.

With DC Smarter, founder and CEO Jörg Hesselink ensures that service technicians in the data centre receive more important information and recommendations even more efficiently – at the right time and in the right place.

In a three-question interview, plusserver CEO Alexander Wallner talks about opportunities and challenges for Germany as a digital location and what he believes should be at the top of the political agenda.

The Alliance for the Strengthening of Digital Infrastructures in Germany, initiated by the eco Association, denounces the Blue Angel guideline revisions planned by the German Environment Agency (UBA) as still unsuitable and impractical. Dr Béla Waldhauser, spokesperson of the Alliance for Strengthening Digital Infrastructures in Germany, comments.

On Monday, Hessen’s Digital Minister Kristina Sinemus presented a study on the status of the information and communications industry (ICT) in Hessen in Frankfurt. The study also highlights the importance of data centres for Hessen’s economy.

At the cross-competence group event “IoT CG/ Data Centre CG: Data Centres as an Integrative Element of Sustainable Smart City and Smart Building Solutions”, which was jointly implemented with ABB and its subsidiary Busch-Jaeger Elektro GmbH, eco Association started the discussion on the topic of smart ecosystems with various experts from the IoT and data centre environment.

On the occasion of the “G7 Multi-Stakeholder Conference on the Digital-Environment Nexus”, eco’s Managing Director Alexander Rabe will moderate the breakout session “Role of Data Centres: an integral component for sustainable and climate-neutral digitalisation?”.

Digital infrastructures are the basis for more CO2 savings and more sustainability – thanks to digitalisation. However, to fully exploit these potentials, more interdisciplinary cooperation is needed.

The Alliance for the Strengthening of Digital Infrastructures in Germany, founded under the umbrella of eco – Association of the Internet Industry, warns against unrealistic obligations for data centre operators under the planned German Energy Efficiency Act. As part of the recently released draft act of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, waste heat levies of up to 40 per cent are included.

An electricity shortage in the energy crisis could have a negative impact on the operation of data centres and become a risk factor for user companies. Companies fear serious consequences for their business and call on the German federal government to include data centres in emergency plans.

Opencast lignite mining for power generation shaped the Rhenish region in the west of Germany for many decades. With the energy transition, the region is facing an economic structural change. But how can the former coal-mining region be transformed into an “Innovation Valley Rhineland”? Around 70 experts from the digital industry discussed this in Bedburg in October.

eco, bitkom and the German Datacenter Association (GDA) have published a joint position paper for a sustainable German data centre industry by 2030. In the course of an impending energy crisis, the three associations call for data centres to be recognised as system-relevant IT infrastructures, regardless of their size, and to be prioritised accordingly in the event of supply shortages.

eco has just launched a campaign website under the motto of “JOINTHESOLUTION: We are part of the solution – the Internet industry”. The campaign focuses on digital technologies and services that provide solutions to burning societal issues.

Dallas 560.17 Gbps, Frankfurt 12.43 Tbps, Hamburg 280.2 Gbps, Marseille 170.16 Gbps... and that's just this week. It might be the core season for holidays in northern hemisphere, but the data throughput at DE-CIX Internet Exchanges keeps on growing.

The roll-out of digital infrastructures and renewable energies are fundamental prerequisites for reducing CO2 in the future with the help of digitalisation. This is illustrated not only by the hybrid event of the eco Alliance in Berlin but also by a survey by the DE-CIX Internet Exchange.

How should SMEs prepare for IT emergencies and crises? How important is a careful risk assessment and a well-prepared emergency plan? And how can the damage be minimised after an emergency occurs so that companies can continue with their core business as quickly as possible? An interview with Sebastian Lacour, Manager SI & Cloud Germany, Veeam Software on Business Continuity Management.

Waste heat from data centres ensures more sustainability: eco Alliance in an exchange with Patrick Burghardt, State Secretary for Digital Strategy and Development and CIO of the German Federal State of Hesse, at the Data Center Expert Summit.

Dr. Béla Waldhauser, spokesperson for the Alliance for the Strengthening of Digital Infrastructures in Germany, founded under the umbrella of eco – Association of the Internet Industry, is a new member of the Board of the Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact, a European self-regulatory initiative under whose umbrella leading data centre operators and associations joined forces last year.

What disruptive potential do digital ecosystems offer? This is a topic covered in this short eco interview with the gridscale CEO Henrik Hasenkamp. At the Data Center Expert Summit in Darmstadt on 9 June, he will talk in detail through the role that cloud-based IT infrastructures play on this path.

The digital transformation has an impact on various aspects of sustainability, meaning that the new German traffic light coalition is closely interlinking the topics of digitalisation and sustainability. The Alliance for the Strengthening of Digital Infrastructures in Germany warmly welcomes this development and emphasises just how important the rapid roll-out of renewable energies in Germany is.

The Omicron wave is set to peak: In Germany, the incidence nationwide is higher than ever before. This makes the reliance of society and the economy on high-performance digital infrastructures even more important in the here and now. Such a reliance is the precise factor that the Alliance for the Strengthening of Digital Infrastructures in Germany, founded under the umbrella of the eco Association, is campaigning for in the political and public spheres.

This year, it’s not just the Covid-19 pandemic, but also the threatening climate change which will continue to drive forward digital transformation in the economy and society. “Digitalisation is part of the solution to many challenges,” says eco Chair of the Board Oliver Süme.