Italian fiber firm Open Fiber has launched an Edge data center in San Giovanni Teatino, outside Pescara, Italy.

Specifications of the facility weren’t shared. The company said the new data center will bring computing capacity close to their source, reducing latency and enabling AI, IoT, and 5G applications.

The data center is part of the first phase of Open Fiber's national plan to build a network of distributed Edge Data Centers, already operational in Rome and Milan. First announced in 2024, up to fifteen nodes distributed across the country are planned by the first half of 2026. After that, additional data centers will be added based on demand: the company’s website suggests up to 100 could be built, with five per region.

"With the Pescara Edge Data Center, we are making a concrete and tangible contribution to the region's digital development," said Andrea Lazzaroli, head of business marketing at Open Fiber.

"This infrastructure is the result of a national plan that aims to transform the way we manage data: not just centralized, but also distributed, close to where it is generated and used."

Open Fiber is an Italian wholesale fiber firm with a 157,000km network across Italy. The company is 60 percent owned by CDP Equity (part of the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti sovereign wealth fund) and 40 percent by Macquarie Asset Management.

The company was established in December 2015 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Italian energy company Enel. The following year, the company acquired fiber from Metroweb from F2i SGR and Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, with the latter’s CDP unit acquiring a 50 percent stake in Open Fiber. Enel divested its 50 percent stake in Open Fiber to Macquarie and CDP in 2022.