Some of the biggest Netherlands data center service providers joined together in early January to form an organization with the goal of representing the interests of the Dutch data center industry with local and international stakeholders and sharing important information among member organizations.
The Dutch Datacenter Association was founded at the beginning of 2015 and already has the support of 20 data center service providers and telecoms in the Netherlands. Members include major names like Digital Realty, Equinix and Interxion.
The group is hoping to increase awareness of the sector within the government and provide a voice for the sector on policy issues. The DDA is also interested in developing and distributing best practices and standards to share information within the industry as a whole.
"We have a very good position in the cloud and data center market, and we want to keep the data center climate positive as well as promote growth of the sector, and act as a single voice," said Stijn Grove, managing director of the DDA. "We have a local traditional ICT trade organization, but they don't really focus on the data center sector specifically, which is one of the reasons why we got together and started the DDA."
Grove also noted that cloud applications and private cloud usage is helping the local market to grow, with Amsterdam data centers outpacing traditional European data center hubs like London and Frankfurt.
The DDA plans to highlight the fact that IT infrastructure and cloud providers in the region have had a positive effect on the country's employment and domestic income, noting that any favorable actions by the government would allow that trend to continue.
The group will have a five-member governing foundation board, including Grove and Equinix's Michiel Eielts serving as chairman.
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