1&1 Retrofits Nuclear Facility

• By David Hamilton, November 11, 2008

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(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- Web hosting giant 1&1 Internet (www.1and1.co.uk) is planning one of Europe's largest data centers to be built within a former nuclear fuel facility in Hanau, Germany, providing space for as many as 100,000 servers in an area of 10,000 square meters (or 32,800 square feet), and using power only from renewable sources.

According to 1&1's Tuesday announcement, the never-used nuclear facility, named "New MOX," will be 1&1's latest European data center, located in Hanau, which is part of the Frankfurt metropolitan area.

"It is a very pleasing side-effect that a formerly contentious nuclear plant is now being transformed into a green data center," 1&1 chief executive officer Oliver Mauss said in a statement. "Whilst Internet servers require electrical power, 1&1 only uses renewal energy. We also pay much attention to saving energy - after all, the power bill is one of the largest parts of our operational expenses for such data centers. The buildings and the surrounding area provide sufficient space to install energy-saving coolers that use the outside temperature for cooling and thus significantly reduce power consumption."

New MOX is scheduled to go online towards the end of 2009. It will primarily host dedicated server services, but will also provide capacity for new services such as Software-as-a-Service and cloud computing that will help move applications and hardware from a user's desktop into the data center.

"The new data center in Hanau will further optimise the operational efficiency of our Internet services," Mauss said. "The geographical distance from our existing European data centers is an important aspect of our business continuity strategy, and the new facility will further bolster our pan European backbone."

The company said the new data center will also create approximately 20 new jobs in Hanau and many more at the company's research and development facilities in Karlsruhe, Germany.

"Telecommunication perfectly fits the high-tech location of Hanau," Hanau Mayor Claus Kaminsky said in a statement. "Hence, we are very glad that 1&1, one of the world's largest providers, has opted for our city. A very positive aspect is that finally a very reasonable use has been found for these highly specialized buildings."

The facility was constructed in the late 1980's to produce mixed oxide rods made from enriched Uranium and Plutonium. Former owners Siemens AG gave up the facility because it never became operational by the end of 1995, however, it was off-limits for reuse because of nuclear control legislation. It was finally open for re-purposing two years ago.

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