Interxion expands colocation footprint in Marseille with second datacentre opening

Interxion has opened the first phase of its second datacentre in Marseille, France, in response to the growing demand for cloud services across Africa and the Middle East.

The 4,400 square metre facility is being constructed in three phases and is expected to cost around €76m to complete. The first phase is now done and dusted, resulting in 700 square metres now being made available to Interxion clients.

The carrier neutral colocation provider acquired its first datacentre in Marseille back in 2014, billing it as a delivery route for cloud and content providers wanting to offer customers across Africa, the Middle East and Asia lower-latency connections to their services.

The area has proven a popular location for telecoms and cloud firms to set-up shop, due to its close proximity to a dozen or so submarine telecommunications cables that connect Marseille to countries across Africa and Asia, too.

Legislative changes, relating to how users in these countries access content, have also put pressure on content providers to have a physical presence nearby, while the dearth of suitable in-country colocation sites are also known to have boosted Marseille’s appeal.

David Ruberg, CEO of Interxion, said the opening of its second datacentre is an important step in Marseille’s ongoing development into a major European digital hub.

“This investment in the heart of the Mediterranean will help us to respond to the growing demand of our customers who wish to expand to Marseille to develop their activity in Europe and reach emerging markets in Africa, the Middle East and Asia,” he said.

Mounir Mahjoubi, the French minister of state for digital affairs, hailed the opening as a boon for the country’s digital economy, before going on to talk up the contribution it will make to the economy from a job creation and financial perspective.

“This infrastructure will contribute to reinforcing Marseille as a growing digital hub, where new uses of the internet represent a true opportunity for France,” said Mahjoubi.

“Our country has many assets that can be leveraged by the digital sector, has very fine startups and companies, and already attracts a number of foreign investments.”

Interxion is not the only carrier-neutral colocation provider plotting an expansion at the moment, as Equinix set out plans earlier this week to increase the footprint of its 10,000 square metre LD4 datacentre campus in Slough.

The £29m project will see Equinix increase its datacentre footprint at the site by 3,300 square metres, freeing up space for it to add a further 1,075 server racks.