On Tuesday, Stéphane Richard (Chairman and CEO of the Orange Group) and Marc-Antoine Jamet (Mayor of Val-de-Reuil) welcomed the start of construction of the new Normandie 2 data centre at the Val-de-Reuil campus (18 hectares), which is also home to another data centre opened in 2012. The new site will be completed in 2020.
The foundation stone ceremony was also attended by Françoise Guégot, Vice-President of the Normandy Regional Council, Stéphanie Auger, Vice-President of the Eure Departmental Council, and Bernard Leroy, President of the Seine-Eure Metropolitan Community.
The Normandie 2 building will cover 16,000 m², including 5,000 m² of computer rooms. It will host Orange business and residential customer data and services, as well as our own in-house information system. Orange has invested over €100 million to build these two data centres.
A second “green” data centre
Like the first Orange data centre in Val-de-Reuil, Normandie 2 will be an eco-efficient, resilient and highly secure data centre to respond to growing requirements in terms of data hosting.
The Normandy region was chosen once again to host a data centre as it offers various benefits including ideal weather conditions for the use of “free cooling”, a technology to optimise data centre energy consumption. It uses ambient fresh air to cool IT equipment for eleven out of twelve months, reducing the use of artificial air conditioning by over 80% across the year.
Orange believes that the savings made at the Normandie 1 site by using this technology correspond to the annual domestic electricity consumption of a city with approximately 30,000 inhabitants. The ISO 140001 and ISO 50001 certified data centre reflects Orange’s efforts to reduce its environmental impact in line with its Corporate Social Responsibility initiative.
The growth in data traffic on networks and in the coming years make these powerful data centres a forward-looking project for Orange and its customers.
“Supporting our customers’ increased use of digital technology”
“I would like to thank Marc-Antoine Jamet for his involvement and commitment to allow the creation of this second next-generation data centre in Val-de-Reuil. We are delighted that the partnerships we have formed with local elected officials over the years have paid off. These data centres are real strategic assets for Orange: they will allow us to support our customers’ increased use of digital technology in a trusted environment, whilst also allowing us to significantly reduce our energy and environmental footprint”, stated Stéphane Richard, Chairman and CEO of the Orange Group.
“There is a long-standing partnership between Orange and Val-de-Reuil. The partnership is based on excellence and trust. The trust of an operator which has chosen to invest in an easily accessible, well-served site adapted to its needs and strategy to store and manage its data, as well as that of its customers. In terms of security, Val-de-Reuil could be considered Eure’s digital “safety deposit box”. EDF, which operates its largest data centre there - plus its neighbours BNP, Sanofi and Naval Group - have been pleased with the service. Excellence for the local authority - the company is keenly aware of the architecture of its buildings, their environmentally responsible nature (particularly the choice of free cooling technology) and their technological performance. For the youngest commune in France - the newest of the Villes Nouvelles (New Cities) - it is important to build a history and a reputation. The Orange brand has given it the opportunity to put itself on the map through this facility, and to promote the region thanks to its industrial performance. This Data Centre will create much-needed jobs and resources in the local area. I would obviously like to thank Stéphane Richard and his teams in Normandy and nationwide. Our side of the project - from approval of the building permit to organising this ceremony - went as smoothly for this second data centre as it did for the first. Orange’s buildings in Val-de-Reuil allow us to plan for greater and more diverse cooperation in the future. I hope that is the case”, declared Marc-Antoine Jamet, Mayor of Val-de-Reuil.
“This is a real opportunity for Normandy to see a company like Orange invest in the region to strengthen its offer in data centres, which make digital usage possible and which depend on organisations’ digital transformation. This project will significantly improve our region’s appeal, and it is in line with the region’s ambition to make Normandy a leader in digital development. The Region intends to play a key role in its digital development, both for access to infrastructure and services as well as the development of new uses, and each year it contributes between €20 and 25 million towards this strategy”, declared Françoise GUEGOT, 3rd Vice-President of the Normandy Region in charge of higher education, research, innovation and digital development.
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