SWITCH DATACENTERS
Paralleling global developments – the challenges of the Amsterdam market According to Van Essen , the Amsterdam market is a particularly difficult one for data centres .
“ The main challenges in the Amsterdam market are mainly about sustainability and getting power and permits . There ' s a lot of political pressure in this regard , and I think it all comes back to the public not understanding what data centres are about ,” Van Essen explains .
Continuing in this vein , he asserts that one of the industry ’ s key flaws lies in the fact that its leaders and innovators are talking exclusively in technical language . This mode of communication is actually creating a big gap , because politicians aren ’ t engineers , and the general public are unable to follow these explanations . As a result , those outside the
“ This optimisation game – data centre 1.0 , as I call it – was very technologyoriented and not at all society-aware . That is actually what caused a lot of frustration in Amsterdam with the policymakers and the public ”
EDGAR VAN ESSEN MANAGING DIRECTOR , SWITCH DATACENTERS aimagazine . com 71