Interxion Announces the Opening of MRS3, Its Newest Data Centre in Marseille

By AIT News Desk On Jul 1, 2020

Interxion continues to expand Marseille campus to meet strong demand from local, national and international customers

Interxion, a leading European provider of carrier- and cloud-neutral colocation data centre solutions and a Digital Realty company, announced the opening of the first phase of MRS3, its third data centre in Marseille. The Marseille campus sits at the heart of the global subsea cable industry, with 14 cables currently landing in Marseille and five to 10 additional cables expected to land within the next five years. Marseille serves as the digital nexus connecting 4.5 billion cloud and digital media users across Europe, Africa, the Middle Eastand Asia.

“With over 150 network service providers, Interxion’s Marseille campus has established itself as one of the world’s leading digital hubs for intercontinental data traffic,” said David Ruberg, Chief Executive Officer of Interxion, a Digital Realty company. “The opening of MRS3 will offer new and existing customers expanded access to the vibrant community in Marseille, including numerous connectivity providers, digital media and cloud segments along with local as well as global enterprises.”

Former submarine base restored and converted to a data centre

This state-of-the-art, highly connected data centre is located in a former World War II submarine base known as Martha. Abandoned for decades, this unusual building was built to be virtually indestructible – its specifications include terraced reinforced concrete to a thickness of 5.5 metres, the ability to withstand 10-tonne bombs, a length of 250 metres and a 12-metre high surrounding wall. The result is an architecturally unique structure that houses a 16.5-megawatt data centre and approximately 7,100 square metres of fully equipped IT space to be delivered in three stages. This first phase, comprising approximately 2,300 square metres, will be followed by two additional phases scheduled for delivery during 2021.

A latest generation data centre in one of Europe’s most dynamic digital hubs

MRS3 is situated adjacent to the MRS2 data centre and will benefit from the dense connectivity throughout the campus. As is the case for all Interxion’s data centres, MRS3 will benefit from 100% renewable energy sources. Uniquely, MRS3 and subsequent data centres will benefit from cooling from an unused water source at 15°C drawn from the former Gardanne mines, which will be available throughout the year. The heat drawn off will be available for heating purposes for homes and offices in the new Euroméditerranée districts.

“Our Marseille campus is well known for its national and international community of leading global digital media and cloud services providers, with a growing presence from enterprise customers seeking to evolve their hybrid cloud infrastructures in a secure and highly connected environment,” explained Fabrice Coquio, Interxion France Managing Director. “Given the scale of the campus, this project has been a formidable undertaking, transforming the site into a best-in-class, modern data centre purpose-built to provide our customers with the digital infrastructure requirements to scale at the speed and bandwidth they need. Thanks to the support of the local public authorities and the enthusiasm of our customers, Marseille has grown to be the world’s ninth-largest Internet hub. Our goal is now to see the city enter the top five within the next three years.”