UK firm IXcellerate to invest $500 million in two new Moscow data centres – Kommersant

IXcellerate plans to invest $500 million to construct two new data centres in Moscow, aiming to cover a shortage of server capacity in Russia, the Kommersant daily reported on Tuesday.

The London-headquartered data centre operator will launch a network of such centres at two sites, including at a former brewery in southern Moscow, with a total capacity of more than 20,000 racks, Kommersant reported, adding that Russia’s entire capacity stood at 50,000 racks in 2020.

Server racks house the essential hardware in a data centre, from computer servers to patch panels.

One of the new data centres would be the largest in Europe, Kommersant quoted IXcellerate Managing Director Konstantin Borman as saying.

An initial 1,200 racks will be brought in during the first half of this year, the report said, while the other data centre, in northern Moscow, is expected to launch in 2022 with a capacity for another 2,000 racks.