What are the implications of the new data center rollout?

Alibaba Cloud has opened a new sustainable data centre to meet growing demands for digital transformation
Alibaba Cloud, the digital technology and innovation subsidiary of Alibaba Group, has announced today that it has launched its third data centre in Germany to support the growing digital transformation demands from customers across Europe.

Located in Frankfurt, the data centre provides a wide range of cloud computing products ranging from storage, network to database. With the data residing in Germany, the data centre adheres to the highest security standards and the strict compliance regulations set out in the Cloud Computing Compliance Controls Catalog (C5) in Germany. 

In a statement, the company said that the three data centres offer European customers high availability, exceptional resilience and robust disaster recovery capabilities, the company said in a statement.

Alibaba Cloud's new Frankfurt data centre launched in line with its commitment to serving German and European markets
“The third data centre launch underscores our continuous commitment to serving the local German and European markets,” said Raymond Ma, General Manager of Europe, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence. “With our proven innovations and competitive solutions that meet strict security and compliance requirements, we are determined in our mission to support our customers with their digital transformation demands.”

With the introduction of the new data centre, Alibaba Cloud now boasts a network of 84 availability zones in 27 regions across the globe, offering a highly secure, scalable, robust and sustainable cloud infrastructure to support global customers embracing digital innovation.

The new data centre also features free cooling operation via dry coolers - using naturally cool ambient air instead of mechanical refrigeration. The full free cooling hours is expected to reach over 7,000 hours a year. In addition, the datacenter is committed to using 100% green electricity to power its operation, along with an intelligent cloud-based platform to monitor and optimise its daily carbon footprint for a more sustainable operation approach.

Alibaba Cloud has been collaborating with customers in the automotive, manufacturing, retail and gaming sectors in Europe since it unveiled its first data centre in Frankfurt in 2016. Since then, Alibaba Cloud has also introduced multiple AI services to the market, such as Intelligent Speech Interaction, a Machine Learning Platform for AI (PAI) and GPU clusters to support clients’ demands for ongoing cloud-based innovation.

As a member of the Trusted Cloud Initiative of the BMWK, Alibaba Cloud was also the first cloud service provider to receive the C5 test certificate with extended requirements from the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI). It also successfully passed the audit of German AI Cloud Services Compliance Criteria Catalogue (AIC4), the first applicable testing standard established by Germany's Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) for certifying the security of AI applications deployed in Germany. It has also partnered with companies including Siemens and SAP to drive digital transformation in China.