DRIVEN BY ENERGY EFFICIENCY

Data center service provider, Orange, has announced the commissioning of its two new data centers, located in Amilly, Centre-Val de Loire and Val-de-Reuil, Normandy, both in France.

These new data centers are designed to span a total of 16,000 square meters, including 5,000 square meters of computer rooms. The Normandy facility joins the company’s first data center in the region which has been in operation since 2012.

Including the first Normandy facility, all three data centers are being positioned by the company to host all Orange business and residential customer data and services, as well as the company’s in-house information system.

By 2030, Orange plans to have closed its 17 other data centers and concentrate all its hosting activities on these 3 data centers. According to the company, this is part of its efforts to attain Net Zero Carbon goal by 2040.

“These new data centers are truly strategic assets for the Group. They support the growth of our internal usage and that of our customers, in a framework of trust while significantly reducing energy and environmental footprint. These data centers marks a significant milestone to the consolidation of our data centers fleet,” said Fabienne Dulac, Deputy CEO of Orange Group and CEO of Orange France. 

As designed, these 3 facilities are expected to operate for more than 10 months a year without the use of air conditioning, thereby using a free cooling system. The outside air and the design of the data center buildings provide natural cooling for IT equipment, which reduces their energy impact by 30% compared to older generation of Orange data centers.

The PPAs that Orange has entered into with Boralex, Engie and TotalEnergies cover the consumption of the three data centers with electricity from renewable sources. The company also expects these facilities to deliver an estimated Power Usage Effectiveness of 1.3.