Lamda Hellix: The investment plans of American firm Digital Realty in Greece

Lamda Hellix, a member of the American Digital Realty Group, is preparing a new investment in Attica within the next year, after the announcement at the beginning of the week for the construction of the company’s first data center in Heraklion, Crete. Turning its attention to the next phase and Northern Greece, the company is facing a dense period of investment developments, starting with the opening of its third data center, ATHENS-3, at the company’s venue in Koropi.

The financial contribution of Digital Realty’s investment plan in Greece over a ten-year horizon is estimated at 1.1 billion euros, upgrading the country’s role in the data traffic sector in the south-eastern Mediterranean. “We want to create a legacy for Greece as part of our vision for the emergence of our country as a regional hub, why not a larger one”, said the president and CEO of Lamda Hellix, Mr. Apostolos Kakkos, yesterday in a meeting with journalists.

As he typically said, commenting on the investment boom in data centers over the last two years, he likened them to data airports

“We are building the Heathrows of data centers,” he said, emphasizing that the infrastructure being built is world class, with a high level of security, compatible with all providers. Besides, the leading international cloud providers, as well as social media providers, are clients of the Group.

It is characteristic that Athens-3 (ATH-3), which is expected to open its doors in December, i.e. just a year after its foundation, will be larger than the total capacity of the data centers that the country currently has, including of the two that the company already operates in Koropi. Its capacity will reach 6.8MW, with a total power of 20MVA. It will have four data rooms, capable of serving tens of thousands of high-density servers and peripheral systems, and approximately 3,100 sq.m. of total equipped space, in total building facilities of over 8,600 sq.m.

Meanwhile, the procedures for the licensing of Athens-4, two investments that add up to an investment amount of 140 million euros, are progressing. The issuance of the building permits is a matter of days or weeks at the latest and the 4th data center in Koropi will have the same capacity as Athens-3.

As Mr. Kakkos noted, 2/3 of the capacity of both new data centers has already been filled and within the first quarter of operation the first companies will be installed. Mobility in the data space is such that Lamda Hellix will make whatever investment is needed to meet the demand. Moreover, the firepower available to Digital Realty, which is also financing the construction of the company’s three new data centers, amounts annually to 2-2.5 billion dollars.