Bremen, 15th November 2017 - After five years of construction work, one of Europe's most modern data centers, ColocationIX in Bremen's Westend district, has been opened. The data center had previously served as a nuclear fallout shelter of the federal government, and was originally built as a high-rise bunker during the Second World War. Behind two-metre-thick reinforced concrete walls, five of the eight floors were converted on the highest possible physical and digital security level into a state-of-the-art data center of medium size. On an area of around 2,500 square metres, highly secured space has been created for up to 50,000 servers.

In front of more than 100 guests, ColocationIX was ceremonially opened by its shareholders, the sister company, Bremer Consultix GmbH, and Martin Günthner, Bremen's Senator for Economic Affairs, Employment and Ports as well as Justice and Constitution. "Our goal was to create a data fortress for regional, national and international companies that could not be attacked from the outside or from the inside," said Andres Dickehut, CEO of Consultix GmbH. Bremen's Senator for Economic Affairs, Martin Günthner, emphasized the importance of securing the "raw material data" for Bremen's companies: "This is a central issue for our companies and ColocationIX fits very well with our digitization strategy.” The senator wished the new data center success and "charisma" for the regional economy.

ColocationIX is built for the world’s highest level of data center security, the US TIA942 Tier 4 standard, the DIN EN50600 Class 4 and is audited for the highest German security standard ISO 27001. The data management fully complies with the new General Data Protection Regulation of 2018 (GDPR). When looking for a suitable building, we were surprised to find that Bremen is probably the safest location for a high-security data center in Germany," said Andres Dickehut. In contrast to Frankfurt, for example, which has the highest density of data centers in Germany (> 50 percent market share), the Westend site in Bremen shows no earthquake or flood risk and the lowest lightning intensity in Germany. ColocationIX's structural parameters comply with the specifications for Critical Infrastructure Buildings. A completely self-sufficient water and power supply ensures uninterrupted operation of the data center even in the event of a disaster. The concept was developed in cooperation with engineering offices, scientific staff and students of the University of Bremen/Advanced Energy Systems. The cooperation was mediated by the Bremen Economic Development Agency (Wirtschaftsförderung Bremen, WFB) and the Energy Consensus. Prof. Stefan Gößling-Reisemann from the University of Bremen described ColocationIX as a "pioneer" of energy efficiency: "In particular, as the two components of energy meet here, the physical and the digital. The joint energy concept set new standards already in the planning phase. In 2014, it was awarded the German Data Center Award for its energy efficiency.

Security doors of the highest German security standard RC 6, 24-hour video surveillance by more than 200 cameras and three-factor authentication via code, chip and biometric detection are just some of the external parameters that make ColocationIX impregnable. Even an aircraft surcharge would not shake our data center, "said Andres Dickehut, "The concrete shells of nuclear power plants are considered to be absolutely safe at 1.30 meters, our walls are two meters thick”. Inside, permanent oxygen reduction and the installation of non-flammable materials ensure fire protection, while a system of mirrored infrastructure in 10 separate security zones eliminates the smallest theoretical risk. Altogether, the conversion costs amounted to a seven-figure sum", says Andres Dickehut. Specifically, he names the digital "Intrusion Prevention System", which is considered to be one of the world's most secure software systems for identifying and defending against digital attacks: "The list price here is 1.7 million euros," says Andres Dickehut.
Companies of all sizes and industries are the target group of ColocationIX. Bremen, with its highest export quota in Germany, naturally has an increased interest in an absolutely secure physical and digital infrastructure", said Andres Dickehut.

ColocationIX is securely connected via fiber-optic link to the world's largest Internet Exchanges in Frankfurt (DE-CIX), Amsterdam (AMS-IX), London (LINX) and China. The relocation of their private or public cloud in ColocationIX pays off for companies", says Andres Dickehut: “The personnel and financial expenditure of companies for the operation of their data centers is enormous, although there are usually still many risks. We guarantee the highest possible risk exclusion at a cost level which, due to our high energy efficiency, is generally lower than the companies' expenses ".
As one of the very few buildings in Bremen's Westend district, the high-rise bunker survived the bombing storms of 1944 unscathed, and as a nuclear fallout shelter it ensured its survival in the Cold War of the 1970s. From now on, ColocationIX is one of the most modern and secure fortresses in the digital war of the present day, which has become one of the biggest concerns of companies in Germany, at the latest due to global attacks like "Wanna Cry".

Media Contact
Birgit Pankofer
Consultix GmbH
Wachtstraße 17-24
28195 Bremen
Tel: +49 (421) 333 88-0
E-Mail: Info@consultix.net

About ColocationIX GmbH
ColocationIX GmbH is a sister company of Consultix GmbH, an international IT service provider based in Bremen. Founded in 1994, the owner-managed company has evolved into a technology leader in the management of personal data. In addition to its flagship product, the CRM System/Secure Customer Engagement Hub ProCampaign^®, Consultix GmbH offers dedicated hosting, private cloud services, integration of public cloud services, VMware services, disaster recovery, cyber security and DDoS Attack Mitigation. www.consultix.net / www.procampaign.com  / www.colocationix.net