Kapsch, with annual turnover of EUR1 billion in IT, telecom and technologies for intelligent transportation systems, is considering building a data center in Romania in order to take advantage of the increasing volume of digital data generated by companies and by the public sector, Jochen Borenich, chief operating officer of BusinessCom – the group’s division which provides integrated IT&C solutions, told a media meeting.
“Our strategy is to build data centers in Romania and Poland,” Borenich said in answer to a question.
“We are currently at the stage of conducting feasibility studies for the data centers, we are looking at potential locations and talking with clients. But we plan to create a cloud services offer for the two markets anyway,” he added.
In Romania some of the largest data centers are operated by IBM, Omnilogic, Romtelecom and Star Storage.
But until a decision is made regarding the construction of the data center, the Austrian group is seeking clients in Romania who would be interested in storing their data in a bunker in Kapfenberg. The bunker was built in the Austrian mountains in the ‘40s – during World War II and was meant to accommodate the production of tank components. The bunker, consisting of a complex system of tunnels dug 350 m into the mountain, was never used as a tank production facility. Giant DaimlerChrysler turned it into a data center and sold it to Kapsch in 2008.
What companies in Romania could be interested in storing their data in this center, which Kapsch says is one of the most secure in Europe?
“We address large companies with critical information, we clearly don’t address SMEs with this center. The question is whether the client needs this security,” Borenich says.
How big is the price difference between the center in the Austrian mountains and a “regular” center?
“Costs depend on the size of the project. There is a ‘premium’ of 10-20% on the standard industry cost,” the Kapsch official added. The Austrian group currently has around 100 clients for its data center in Kapfenberg.
The servers are located in the mountain tunnels in high-security containers, which can withstand a fire for an hour, allowing time to salvage data.
(English version by Daniela Stoican)