Energy-efficient Facility ITB2 Datacenters

As it has a calculated Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) of 1.07, which is incredibly energy-efficient, the ITB2 data center in Apeldoorn has been nominated as a finalist in the category Improved Data Center Energy Efficiency.


ITB2 Datacenters is one of four finalists in the category Improved Data Center Energy Efficiency, which also include Telecity Group and Colt. The ITB2 data center in question has been nominated as a finalist in another category, too, namely for Innovation in the Mega Data Center. In this second award category, the highly energy-efficient ITB2 data center in Apeldoorn will do battle against three fellow finalists who have also developed innovative data center designs, including Facebook and Green Mountain Data Centre – a data center housed in a former NATO bunker, buried deep in the rocks surrounding one of the Norwegian fjords.

On 12 December 2013, at a gala ceremony to be held at the Lancaster London Hotel in London, it will be announced whether the data center in Apeldoorn is actually the most energy-efficient and/or has been voted Europe’s most innovative data center. The DatacenterDynamics EMEA Awards jury has nominated finalists in a total of 13 categories, the winners of which are all to be announced on 12 December.


“I think that it is already quite an honour to have reached the finals of the DatacenterDynamics Awards in recognition of our innovations in the data center environment, as this is the leading award in our industry,” said Niels Hensen, director and founder of ITB2 Datacenters. “The fact that our data center in Apeldoorn has been nominated as a finalist in two separate categories of the DCD Awards, however, is highly significant in my view.”

“Of course it would be tremendous if we were actually to win one of the awards,” Mr Hensen added. “However, reaching the finals in two categories is confirmation, to me at least, that our data center design is indeed a quite unique achievement. Particularly when you consider that we are to do battle in the finals of the DCD Awards with global giants including Facebook, Telecity Group and Colt.”

“Given its calculated PUE rating of 1.07, our colocation facility in Apeldoorn is extremely energy-efficient,” Mr Hensen continued. “The manner in which we achieved this level of efficiency, however, is unique in Europe as far as I am aware.” ITB2 opted for huge air ducts with extremely low airflow rates and what is known as indirect adiabatic cooling technology. This is key to the entire energy-efficient design of the data center in Apeldoorn. The ITB2 data center is fitted with a sumptuously dimensioned fresh air cooling system – which is housed on a separate floor of the building – comprising heat exchangers and an air recirculation climate control system, which cools the premises while the cooling air does not actually enter the data center itself.

ITB2 Datacenters is a Dutch data center operator, which focuses on the domestic market for colocation services. Its energy-efficient data center in Apeldoorn had already attracted international attention other than that of DatacenterDynamics alone. In fact ITB2’s energy-efficient design reached the finals of another international data center industry awards ceremony back in June 2013. Its data center was among the nominees shortlisted for the International Datacentres Awards 2013 organised by BroadGroup.

ITB2 Datacenters announced earlier this month that Reesink Support BV, a subsidiary of the market-listed trading company Royal Reesink NV (ALRRE.AE), had selected ITB2 Datacenters to accommodate Royal Reesink’s IT operations. ITB2 Datacenters’ energy-efficient data center is located at the Ecofactorij industrial estate in Apeldoorn where Royal Reesink also occupies various premises.

The outsourcing of Royal Reesink’s IT hosting basically implies that Reesink Support has relocated the firm’s office computer systems, data storage, private cloud environments, ERP systems, websites and telephony environments to ITB2 Datacenters. The ITB2 data center in Apeldoorn has 10 Gigabit fibre connections to Royal Reesink’s office premises at the site.