Data4 Group, a recent addition to the European colocation market, has appointed former Digital Realty executive Adam Levine as its chief commercial officer.

The company, which buys up and develops promising data center sites, is backed by Colony Capital, a private real estate investment firm headquartered in Los Angeles. Established in 2013, it has already acquired facilities in France, Italy and Luxembourg, previously owned by small, independent operators.

“Having Adam on board gives a decisive impetus to DATA4 as we aggressively develop our next phase of growth,” commented Gary Kneip, CEO of DATA4.

“Adam brings with him a wealth of industry knowledge and contacts. This combined with his experience of large-scale, cross-border Data Centre transactions will significantly strengthen the DATA4 Group’s management team and accelerate the company’s growth.”

Into the fray
Data4 owns four data center campus in Luxemburg, a network of seven data centers in Paris and a brand new site in Milan, which is set to open its second building in early 2015.

The company says it can deliver a dedicated data center in an existing facility in less than 16 weeks, and install new clients in a colocated environment in less than four weeks.

Among other things, Data4 has developed its own patented cooling system to replace the traditional ‘raised floor’ model. It puts servers directly on the concrete flooring of the data halls, and distributes cold air through a ceiling plenum.

Prior to taking the CCO post at Data4, Levine had spent seven years working for its competitor Digital Realty as vice president of Sales, Business Development and Strategic Alliances for EMEA.

Data4 says Levine’s new responsibilities will include overseeing the organic growth of Data4 revenues in existing markets as well as strategic development in the new markets.

“The company is on the cusp of realizing significant growth implementing the very forward-looking investment strategies initiated by its reference shareholder, Colony Capital and I am excited to be leading the international commercial team that will translate those investment strategies into results,” said the newly-minted CCO.

Below, you can see Levine (Right) posing with the winners of the DatacenterDynamics award for Innovation in the Mega Data Center in 2012.