November 5, 2004 — (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Colocation and managed service provider Redbus Interhouse Germany (interhouse.net) announced on Wednesday that its Frankfurt-based clients were able to continue their business operations unaffected by the power failure earlier this week. An explosion brought chaos and financial loss to the largest commercial district in Frankfurt for up to 10 hours on November 1 and 2, says the company, leaving Redbus Interhouse’s data center the only fully functioning building in the district.
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Redbus Interhouse’s data center allowed its clients’ customers, who amount to several million individuals and companies, to maintain their daily operations unaffected by the power outage caused by a fire in the transformer station of the city’s main electricity supplier, Mainova.
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Frankfurt’s airport was left powerless for 10 minutes, preventing planes from taking off or landing. Mainova has estimated the damage of the explosion in the Frankfurt transformer station to be 10 to 15 million Euros, not including the cost of lost business.
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“Germany’s power grid is extremely robust and is renowned as being one of the best in the world,” says Martin Essig, managing director of Redbus Interhouse Germany. “However, this incident demonstrates that blackouts, for extended periods, can happen at any time and anywhere and unless your mission critical infrastructure is housed in an appropriately resilient environment, such as Redbus Interhouse’s, the impact can be catastrophic – as many businesses in Frankfurt have found to their cost this week.”
