Secure, Redundant, Connected: How Modern Data Centre Infrastructure Is Built

How must data centres, network connectivity and power supplies work together to ensure that digital infrastructure operates reliably, securely and remains fit for the future? This question will be a key focus of the Data Center Roadshow on 26 November 2026 in Hanover. Ahead of the event, Christoph Seffner, Managing Director of Data Centres at Avacon, discusses the requirements for modern data centre locations, the importance of redundant network connections, and how hybrid IT environments and growing data volumes are changing infrastructure planning.

With its new data centre in Sehnde, Avacon has opened a new facility in the Hanover region. What business customer requirements were central to its design, and what role does network connectivity play?

When designing the Avacon Data Centre in Sehnde, our primary focus was on business customers' requirements for maximum security, data sovereignty and regulatory compliance. The data centre provides companies and operators of critical infrastructure with a highly available IT environment, with data stored in Germany, clearly defined access rights and the technical foundation needed to meet increasingly stringent requirements under NIS2, DORA and KRITIS. A reliable power supply is also essential for secure operations. The site's location directly adjacent to a substation makes it particularly well suited to these requirements.

Another crucial factor is high-performance network connectivity. Thanks to redundant fibre-optic connections and our network expertise, customers benefit from high availability, low latency and excellent connectivity to their own locations and major Internet Exchanges. This creates a secure, regional yet high-performance infrastructure for business-critical applications.

What advantages does the close integration of data centre operations and fibre-optic connectivity offer, particularly when an operator can draw on its own network infrastructure?

The close integration of data centre operations and fibre-optic infrastructure offers customers significant advantages in terms of performance, availability and security. High-performance fibre-optic connectivity is essential for low latency, high bandwidth and reliable access to business-critical applications.

By operating a transport network over our own infrastructure in Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, we can provide direct connections to customers. In addition, we can use existing interconnections with other network operators to ensure optimal connectivity for customers located outside our own transport network.

Network connectivity requirements also vary depending on the IT architecture. When are Layer 2 or Layer 3 solutions appropriate, and what criteria should companies consider when making their decision?

The starting point is the customer's application. The application determines the type of connection required, which must be identified in close consultation with the customer. While high-bandwidth Layer 2 connections are generally the preferred choice for interconnecting data centres, online shops and other web applications, for example, tend to require high-performance Layer 3 solutions. We can offer both solutions, either individually or in combination.

For business-critical applications, availability and resilience are essential. How must a data centre's network connectivity be designed to ensure that redundancy remains effective even in the event of a failure?

To support business-critical applications, our data centre's network connectivity is designed with consistent redundancy, both internally and externally.

At the Avacon Data Centre, both fibre-optic connections and the power supply are therefore protected by multiple layers of redundancy. Crucially, connections are routed along physically separate paths, ensuring that incidents such as construction work, cable damage or technical faults cannot disrupt all connections simultaneously. This is complemented by redundant active network components and connections to multiple higher-level network infrastructures.

Cloud services, distributed IT environments and growing data volumes are changing the requirements for corporate networks. What developments are you observing among your business customers, and what do these mean for connectivity between company locations and data centres?

We are seeing a trend towards hybrid IT environments among many companies, with on-premises systems, data centre services and cloud services becoming increasingly interconnected.

At the same time, data-intensive applications, AI, digitalisation and regulatory requirements are driving growing demands for bandwidth, availability and data security. As a result, high-performance, highly available connectivity between company locations, cloud platforms and data centres is increasingly becoming business-critical.

These developments are also accompanied by rising energy requirements. Both energy supply and bandwidth capacity can be closely coordinated and provided according to individual customer needs.

Register now for the Data Center Roadshow in Hanover!