Sustainability concept

Today, hardly any area of society or the economy can keep its essential processes running without data centres. Acting sustainably therefore also means handling energy and non-renewable resources responsibly.

We have set ourselves the goal of implementing every measure that is economically reasonable for the size and purpose of our company, so that data centre operations are as economical and environmentally friendly as possible.

Outsourcing to a professional data centre is itself a contribution: it is considerably more efficient than running many small, poorly air-conditioned server rooms.

We review the measures in this concept regularly for relevance, proportionality, room for optimisation and the current state of technology. The use of renewable energy plays a central role.

A data centre concentrates a great deal of computing power in a compact space – and the power demand for operation and cooling is correspondingly high. Because of the high scaling factor, even small improvements have a strong effect.

Efficient air conditioning

• Our heat exchangers support free cooling, that is, the use of cool outside temperatures. We only choose new heat exchangers that allow free cooling over as wide a temperature range as possible.
• An intelligent central control system uses only as many heat exchangers as waste heat and climate conditions require – their number and sequence follow efficiency criteria.
• Air-conditioning units in unused technical areas stay switched off as long as their cooling capacity is not needed.

Targeted airflow

• Sealing of the raised floor and separation of cold and hot aisles prevent hot spots. Cold air is drawn in at the front via the raised floor and released at the back.
• Slightly raised chilled-water temperatures and targeted cold-air routing reduce the total energy demand further.
• Cold aisle containment is planned as standard for new colocation projects.

Server technology and virtualisation

• We consolidate physical servers onto virtual machines and use resources to the full – so operations need less hardware and less power.
• For network and servers, we use only brand-name hardware with a proven record of reliability, power efficiency and long service life.

Lighting on demand

• Motion detectors switch the light on only when someone enters the technical area, and only in the section where it is needed.
• The ceiling lighting uses energy-efficient LED lights.

Energy management

• We continuously review and improve the energy factors in the data centre to keep the PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) value as low as possible over the long term.
• Sustainability requires ongoing monitoring of measures and facilities – we practise this as a continuous process.

Even in an IT company, not everything runs automatically. Behind our systems are people who give their best for our customers every day.

We encourage our employees to shape the working environment that suits them best:

• Individual weekly working hours – whether 10, 20 or 40 hours. What counts in the end is the result.
• Free choice of where to work: in the office, at home or now and then somewhere warmer.
• Equal opportunities from the application onwards: name and gender do not have to be given at first – qualifications and skills are what count.
• A team from a wide range of cultural backgrounds, and interdisciplinary, self-directed collaboration across departments.
• Individual further training, regular feedback and new working methods in the spirit of New Work.
• Company fitness with a nationwide sports and health network for all employees.

Social projects

• We support the initiative “Gesicht Zeigen!”, which encourages people to take action against racism, antisemitism and right-wing extremist violence.
• We support the Förderverein für freie Netzwerke im Norden e.V., which works through the Freifunk network for free access to communication, information and education.
• We sponsor the youth football of VfB Wülfel, right in the neighbourhood of our head office.

Machines

We are aware of the often poor working conditions in chip and hardware manufacturing. We cannot do without certain components entirely – where possible, we turn to manufacturers committed to humane working conditions, or to fairly produced hardware.

Efficiency

We use resources efficiently. We do not dispose of old hardware prematurely, but weigh it against buying new. Memory, processors and other components take a lot of energy and hard-to-source raw materials to make – so reuse and recycling make sense both ecologically and economically. Where used equipment meets our quality standards, we use it.

Long-term planning

We think long term, consider the effects of our decisions and develop strategies as a team to minimise risks and use the opportunities arising from social and ecological change.

Innovation

We look particularly closely at new environmentally friendly technologies and products – they help us improve at every level.

Stakeholder engagement

We work closely with employees, customers, suppliers and society, take their needs into account in our decisions and aim for long-term partnerships.

Transparency

We report regularly on goals achieved and new plans. New approaches are reviewed and documented.