Equinix is building its third data center in Amsterdam, an International Business Exchange which will follow LEED best practices and use hot and cold storage in ground wells, reducing the need for powered cooling.

Buildings close to the Amsterdam Science Park, where the data center will be located, will be warmed by the data center’s excess heat, reducing its carbon footprint.

The data center park, is one of the most carrier-dense locations in Europe, with more than 150 networks, Equinix EMEA President Eric Schwartz said.

"The extremely high carrier density at the Amsterdam Science Park enables customers to improve their networks’ and applications’ flexibility and resilience," Schwartz said.

"As with other IBXs in Amsterdam, AM3 will deliver this high level of carrier connectivity combined with the Equinix Carrier Ethernet Exchange."

Equinix’s new data center there will offer 6,400 sq m of customer floor space, and phase one will offer 1,400 cabinet equivalents. Phase two will double this.

Schwartz said the data center will offer "a full range of premium colocation, interconnection and support services for industry sectors including financial institutions, networks, enterprises, content, cloud and IT services firms".

Amsterdam’s growing data center industry has been looking more closely at green technologies in recent years.

Local provider Evoswitch, which has one of the largest data centers in The Netherlands, in Amsterdam, opened in 2006.

Evoswitch managing director Eric Boonstra said since opening it has been looking at innovation with regards to data center technology to help it run more efficiently.

"It is about more than cost leadership for our customers, there is law and regulation on the horizon for emissions (in The Netherlands), similar to the carbon credit scheme in the UK," Boonstra said.

"Especially here in Amsterdam, the city is focused on being one of the greenest cities in Europe and is focused on the reduction efforts for carbon emissions) on data centers, which are one of the largest consumers of energy in the city.

Furthermore, Boonstra said the Dutch government has also set rules for its own procurement, and is putting initiatives in place which mean the government will only deal with large businesses it feels are running in an efficient manner.