Europe’s data infrastructure has become a board-level priority

As regulatory pressure intensifies and concerns over digital sovereignty grow, European organisations are reassessing the foundations of their data infrastructure. Joost Rommelaere (Senior Digital and Cybersecurity Expert) and Baudouin Corlùy (Chief Market Development Officer at LCL Data Centers) join the conversation to explain the strategic importance of data centers and their role in digital transformation.

Rommelaere notes that data centers are essential, yet ideally invisible. “It’s important and not important at the same time. They just have to be there: reliable, available, and well-connected,” he says. A CIO should not have to think about them at all. That expectation, he argues, is precisely why the choice of cloud and data center strategy has evolved into a board-level concern.

Corlùy notes that sustainability, sovereignty, and compliance now dominate executive conversations as well. Regulations such as NIS2 and DORA highlight how infrastructure decisions are increasingly intersected with political, societal, and geopolitical considerations. “The data center decision isn’t just a digital transformation choice. It’s a political one,” he says.

Their message for CIOs and executives is clear: infrastructure choices shape competitiveness, digital resilience, and strategic autonomy.

Listen to the full dialogue now.

Europe’s digital leaders are rethinking data sovereignty

European organisations face a new strategic reality. With NIS2, DORA and the US CLOUD Act reshaping the rules of accountability and access, data sovereignty is no longer a compliance term. It has become a defining factor for resilience and competitive strength.

In this episode of Data Center Dialogues, Lieven Heuninck (CEO and managing partner, Apogado) and Lowie Schaubroeck (Managing director, Lebon.IT) explain why storing data in Europe does not guarantee sovereignty, how hidden dependencies inside cloud platforms create real exposure, and why board members now carry personal responsibility for cyber resilience decisions.

“True sovereignty requires full-stack awareness and architectural flexibility, not blind trust in hyperscalers.”

If you want to understand the forces reshaping Europe’s digital autonomy, this is a conversation worth your time.

Listen to the full dialogue now.

We’ve all been there: a webpage that takes just a little too long to load, or a video that pauses to buffer at the most inconvenient time. Behind these small delays lies something invisible but impactful: latency. It’s the fraction of time it takes for data to travel across a network. While it may only last a few milliseconds, it can still affect how users experience digital services.

As expectations for seamless digital performance rise, reducing latency isn’t just a technical concern. It’s a business priority. One way companies address this is by bringing infrastructure closer to their users through local data centers.

This article explains what latency is, why the difference between high and low latency matters, how geography influences performance, and what role global versus local data centers play.

What is latency and why does it matter?

Whenever data travels across a network, there is always a small delay. This phenomenon is called latency. It refers to the time it takes for information to move from one point to another. Latency can never be completely eliminated, as it is an inherent part of digital communication. The key difference lies in whether latency is high or low.

• High latency makes digital services feel slow: apps respond sluggishly, videos buffer, or cloud services don’t load smoothly.
• Low latency creates a fluid experience, where interactions feel instantaneous.

The difference may be measured in milliseconds, but its impact is tangible. In financial trading, healthcare imaging, or online gaming, low latency is not just a convenience, it is a strategic advantage.

Global vs. local data centers

A major factor in latency is geography. The farther data must travel, the longer the delay. Even with modern high-speed fibre networks, signals moving across continents accumulate extra milliseconds. For example, a user in Belgium connecting to a server in the U.S. may face a delay of 100 to 150 milliseconds.

For some applications this is acceptable, but for time-sensitive services it can influence performance. That is why many organisations are bringing infrastructure closer to their users through regional or local data centers. Shorter physical distance translates directly into shorter response times.

A familiar example is Netflix. The streaming giant stores popular content inside local ISP networks. For users, this means streaming from servers just a few kilometres away, instead of across the Atlantic. A difference that virtually eliminates buffering.

By moving resources closer to end users, companies reduce latency, meet regulatory requirements, and improve overall user experience.

The sustainability dilemma of edge data centers

Pursuing lower latency through distributed infrastructure, often called edge computing, means placing smaller data centers closer to users. While edge computing boosts performance, it’s often less energy-efficient than running workloads in large, centralised data centers. That’s because hyperscale facilities are designed for operational efficiency, especially in terms of power and cooling, benefiting from:

• Ideal climates for natural cooling, such as using outside air or low ambient temperatures to reduce reliance on mechanical cooling
• Advanced cooling technologies, like liquid cooling or AI-driven airflow management, which optimize energy use when natural cooling alone is not sufficient
• Beneficial power usage effectiveness (PUE) ratings (a metric that indicates how efficiently a data center uses energy)
• Green innovations like waste-heat recycling, where excess heat is captured and repurposed

Smaller edge sites often operate with higher PUE scores and lower utilization rates compared to hyperscale facilities. This is mainly because they lack the same economies of scale: large data centers can spread cooling, power management, and infrastructure costs across a much higher volume of workloads. Local facilities, by contrast, are designed for proximity and responsiveness rather than maximum density. When underutilized, they may consume proportionally more energy per workload, which is why aligning capacity with actual demand is so important. As organizations push for lower latency, this balance between performance and sustainability has become one of the most relevant discussions in the data center industry today.

Build or partner? A strategic choice

When it comes to local infrastructure, businesses face a key choice: build their own data center or partner with a colocation provider.

Owning a facility gives full control. But that control comes at a price. Power, cooling, security, and upgrades all require constant investment. Smaller setups also miss out on economies of scale, making each unit of compute more expensive. As time passes, older infrastructure struggles to meet new efficiency standards, especially with rising pressure from EU climate goals.

Colocation avoids many of the headaches of running your own facility.

Unlike in-house server rooms, colocation data centers are built and operated as a core business, not as a side activity. This means they come with the highest standards for reliability and compliance: from obtaining the right certifications, to providing redundancy not only in power but also across multiple geographically separated sites (often more than 15 km apart), as well as robust physical security and safety measures.

For businesses, this translates into peace of mind. Instead of investing time and resources in building and maintaining infrastructure themselves, they can rely on partners whose sole focus is operating data centers. Need to expand? Just rent more rack space. Shared facilities spread costs across multiple tenants, unlocking advanced features like efficient cooling, 24/7 monitoring, and sustainability practices, which are not top of mind, nor feasible for companies.

For most organisations, the logic is simple: working with established colocation partners offers low-latency access and enterprise-grade reliability, without the cost and complexity of running everything in-house.

Brussels as a strategic, neutral hub

As organisations weigh options for data center placement, whether self-built, collocated, or cloud-based, Brussels is gaining recognition as a strategic data center location in Europe.

While traditional FLAP markets (Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris) remain key, they’ve started to face limits. Years of rapid growth have led to space and expansion challenges, such as stricter permitting in Amsterdam and Frankfurt due to power grid pressure, or limited availability of suitable land near London and Paris. Brussels, by contrast, offers room to grow, without compromising on performance.

Its location is a major advantage. Within 400 km of Europe’s core hubs, Brussels sits at a crossroads of dense fibre routes. These connections enable sub-10 millisecond latency to neighbouring regions, making it ideal for regional service delivery.

For Belgian businesses, this means strong local performance and easy global reach. The city also benefits from the stability of EU regulations and a neutral geopolitical profile. Two factors increasingly valued in infrastructure planning.

Smarter infrastructure, better outcomes

Staying ahead in the digital world requires infrastructure choices that carefully balance speed, efficiency, and sustainability.

Whether built in-house or delivered through trusted partners, local data centers are becoming vital. They offer the responsiveness users expect, especially in settings where fast, reliable service matters most. For example, in financial hubs where milliseconds make a difference in trading, in healthcare settings that rely on real-time imaging and telemedicine, or in gaming and media platforms where user experience depends on instant response.

Looking ahead, it’s clear: organisations that weigh both performance and environmental impact will lead the way. After all, great infrastructure isn’t just about power and uptime. It’s about making choices that work. For business, users, and the planet.

We’ve all heard it: “make sure to save it in the cloud.” But what is the cloud, really? Is it some magical, floating entity, or something more grounded? At its core, the term “cloud” refers to a network of servers, real, physical machines housed in data centers and connected by tangible infrastructure. Understanding this fundamental truth is essential for making informed decisions about infrastructure, sustainability, and operational resilience.

Bringing the cloud back down to earth

It’s tempting to think of the cloud as some vague or ethereal concept, but in reality, it’s entirely physical. Every digital activity you perform in the cloud, whether it’s running software, storing files, or processing data, relies on real servers housed in data centers around the world. These facilities provide the essential power, cooling, connectivity, and security that make cloud computing possible.

As IBM puts it, a data center is simply “a physical room, building or facility that houses IT infrastructure such as servers and storage devices for building, running and delivering applications and services.” Major cloud providers like Microsoft (Azure), Google (Cloud), and Amazon (AWS) operate enormous data centers filled with racks of computing equipment. But the cloud isn’t limited to global tech giants or large companies. Organisations of all sizes, including public institutions and startups, also use the cloud. Some choose to run their own cloud environments, called private clouds, using infrastructure they manage themselves, either on-site or in shared facilities known as colocation data centers, where space and resources are rented but not owned. In every case, the cloud “lives” on real machines. Not in thin air.

Public, private, hybrid and multicloud

One useful way to understand the cloud is to look at the different types of cloud environments (public, private, hybrid, and multicloud) based on who manages the infrastructure and how it’s used. While these models vary in structure and control, they all rely on physical equipment in data centers.

• Public cloud services, offered by providers such as Microsoft (Azure), Amazon (AWS), and Google (Google Cloud), give users access to computing power and storage over the internet. These providers install and manage their own hardware in professional data centers, which they may either own or lease from specialized facility operators. While users don’t know exactly where their data is stored, they benefit from massive scale, flexibility, and global reach.

• Private cloud refers to a cloud environment used exclusively by one organisation or institution. It can be set up in a data center the organisation manages itself, or hosted by a third party. Unlike public cloud, the infrastructure is reserved for a single user group. Private clouds use similar technologies as public clouds. One of these is virtualisation: a method that allows multiple virtual computers to run on a single physical machine. The key difference is that private clouds offer more direct control over data, security, and performance. Organisations using a private cloud know exactly where their data is stored, as it is hosted on their own infrastructure.

• Hybrid cloud blends the two. For example, an organisation may store sensitive data in a private environment while using the public cloud for less critical or highly variable workloads. This approach allows flexibility, combining the strengths of both models.

• Multicloud means using cloud services from more than one provider, such as combining Microsoft Azure for certain tools, Amazon Web Services for data storage, and Google Cloud for analytics. This strategy helps organisations avoid relying too heavily on a single vendor and allows them to choose the best service for each specific need.

Regardless of the model, the cloud always relies on physical infrastructure (racks of equipment, network connections, and cooling systems) housed in secure, professionally maintained data centers.

From rivals to allies

Today, cloud and on-premises infrastructure are no longer seen as competing options. Most organisations now follow a hybrid approach, combining cloud services with on-site systems to build flexible and resilient IT environments.

This strategy offers several clear benefits. By keeping critical or sensitive applications in a private cloud (hosted either on-premises or in a professional data center), organisations maintain greater control over security, compliance, and performance. At the same time, they use the public cloud for scalable workloads, such as data processing or web applications, that need to grow quickly and cost-effectively.

As Microsoft’s Tiziano Durante puts it: “When we say hybrid, I see a hybrid model where the cloud runs on a hyperscale data center and the on-prem infrastructure is hosted in an enterprise data center.”  IT teams are increasingly combining in-house infrastructure or colocation in a professional data center with public cloud services. This hybrid approach enhances flexibility and resilience. Energy efficiency has become a key driver, encouraging organisations to move their IT infrastructure to specialised data centers.

Why sustainability is driving cloud adoption

Sustainability has become a major reason, alongside flexibility, scalability, security, and cost control, for organisations to move to the cloud. Beyond the operational advantages, modern cloud data centers are also built with energy efficiency in mind.

Compared to outdated server rooms in office buildings, centralised cloud facilities typically consume less power and generate lower emissions. They are professionally managed, optimised for performance, and increasingly powered by renewable energy. Independent research shows that centralising IT workloads in cloud environments can significantly reduce carbon footprints and improve overall energy efficiency.

In addition, cloud providers benefit from economies of scale, advanced cooling techniques, and intelligent resource management—capabilities that are hard to replicate in small-scale, on-site setups. In contrast, aging local servers often run inefficiently, leading to unnecessary energy use and maintenance costs.

For many organisations, evaluating whether to maintain their own infrastructure now includes sustainability as a strategic factor, alongside performance, governance, and long-term viability.

The cloud is built on real infrastructure

So, what is the cloud, really? It’s not an abstract or floating concept, it’s a network of real computers housed in real, physical data centers. Public, private, or hybrid clouds are simply different ways of organising that infrastructure. In every case, it all runs on data center foundations.

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Are you equipped for what’s next?

Cloud, on-premises or hybrid? As digital acceleration continues and compliance requirements grow stricter, choosing the right infrastructure model has become a strategic priority. In this first episode of Data Center Dialogues, we explore hybrid cloud strategy with Tiziano Durante (Cloud Region Lead at Microsoft) and Koen Van Loo (CIO & CDO at Group S).

While hybrid offers a pragmatic bridge between legacy and cloud-native systems, one trend is becoming clear: traditional on-premise data centers will gradually give way to professional, scalable and compliant infrastructure. Or as Tiziano puts it: “The server under the desk is no longer an option. So how can we work together to build the best fit for the company and stay in the fast lane, without making rushed decisions?”

We also dive into lessons learned from past challenges, the growing importance of data sovereignty, and key concepts such as latency and residency.

Tune in for a dynamic and forward-looking discussion on infrastructure decisions. Enjoy the listen!

A data center is a highly secure and specialised building where servers and other critical infrastructure – such as networking equipment, storage, and power management – work together to support everything from cloud services to real-time communication. Data centers form the backbone of today’s digital world, ensuring data flows where and when it’s needed.

But what is inside a data center? Behind secured doors lies a world of precision, divided into dedicated data center rooms. These include server halls, cooling systems, uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), backup generators, and fire protection systems – all designed to ensure continuous, round-the-clock operations.

And don’t worry, you’re not seeing double. Inside a data center facility, everything is duplicated. It’s a principle called redundancy. By doubling critical infrastructure, a data center ensures that if one system fails, another takes over. Both systems operate independently to keep everything running smoothly, without interruption.

Explore the setup in detail via our interactive image. Just click on the numbers and learn more about each asset and its role.

1) Connectivity

A data center without connectivity is just a room full of blinking servers. What makes it truly valuable is its ability to connect with the outside world. In a data center, connectivity ensures that data can be accessed, transferred, and exchanged – anytime and anywhere. That’s why fibre cables enter the building through multiple, physically separated routes converging in what we call meet-me rooms.

Click on number 3 for a detailed explanation of how meet-me rooms function.

2) Physical security

Security is a top priority for data centers, and that includes physical security. To protect the large volumes of sensitive data stored on-site, data centers often implement multiple layers of physical safeguards. The outer perimeter is usually secured with gates, perimeter fencing, and controlled access points to prevent unauthorised entry. Inside the facility, measures such as keycard systems, surveillance cameras, and biometric verification add further protection. Each data center applies a combination of these tools to ensure only authorised personnel can access critical areas like server rooms. To complement these systems, trained security guards are usually present 24/7 to monitor activity, check credentials, and respond immediately when needed. Each data center combines these measures to create a highly secure environment from the outside in.

3) Meet-me room (MMR)

The meet-me room (MMR) is a secure, central hub for all connectivity within the data center. It’s where telecom carriers, service providers, and organisations connect to each other and to their clients. From the MMR, cross-connections are made to customer racks, cages, or private rooms throughout the facility. Because traffic is exchanged entirely within the data center, there is no need to route data through external networks, which significantly improves efficiency and performance. Some data centers are carrier-neutral, allowing customers to choose from multiple carriers and select the one(s) that best align with their business needs.

Click on number 1 to learn more about the importance of connectivity in data centers.

4) Server room

A standard data center hosts multiple—often hundreds or even thousands—of servers each supporting critical applications and data for different customers. These servers are typically housed in racks and cabinets located within access-controlled server rooms. To ensure optimal performance, the environment is carefully climate-controlled: temperature and humidity are continuously monitored and regulated to prevent overheating. Servers are interconnected using structured cabling and patching systems. Depending on their needs, customers can choose between a private client room or a shared (colocation) environment. Even in shared spaces, each client’s servers are securely isolated to ensure that only authorised personnel can access them.

5) Transformers

The main power feeds enter the data center from the external grid and are first directed to transformers. These transformers convert high or medium voltage into low voltage, making it suitable for use within the facility. The transformed power is then routed to Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) systems, which ensure a stable and continuous power supply to the data center infrastructure.

6) Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS)

A data center must be able to rely on a continuous and redundant power supply. Since power outages can never be completely ruled out, robust backup systems are put into place to eliminate any risk of downtime. As mentioned earlier in the section on transformers (5), Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) systems play a crucial role in this setup. They provide instant emergency power from their batteries the moment the main feed fails. This ensures a seamless handover while the backup generators are automatically activated. A UPS can usually supply power for at least half an hour. That is enough time to bridge the gap between grid failure and generator takeover.

Click on number 7 to learn more about generators in a data center.

7) Backup generators

In the event of a blackout, backup generators take over as the primary power source until the issue is resolved. These generators, typically fueled by diesel or natural gas, will activate automatically when they detect an interruption of power, preventing any loss of power. This ensures that the data center remains fully operational at all times. Since generators take a few seconds to start, a UPS (see number 6) immediately supplies power to bridge that short delay.

Redundancy is essential here as well. It adds another layer of precaution: if the A feed fails, the B feed takes over seamlessly. Meanwhile, the UPS and backup generators ensure continuous power, even if both feeds are disrupted. Every layer supports the next to guarantee maximum uptime.

8) Cooling system

Just like your personal computer can warm up after running for a while, servers in a data center also produce heat during continuous operation. To keep everything running smoothly, data centers rely on advanced cooling systems that maintain a stable temperature and efficient airflow. However, as cooling consumes energy, it’s important to make data centers as energy efficient as possible. The effectiveness of a data center’s energy use is typically measured by its Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE). Lower PUE values indicate higher efficiency, meaning less energy is wasted on cooling and other non-IT operations. To achieve this, many data centers implement free cooling techniques, which make use of outside air or natural cooling methods to reduce reliance on compressors (most energy intensive component in cooling)—especially effective in colder or temperate climates as in Belgium.

Furthermore, from a sustainable point of view, it is important to use green power sources and know exactly where the electricity comes from. Ideally, it is locally generated renewable energy, which contributes to a more sustainable digital infrastructure. Finally, data center companies should minimise or eliminate the use of water for cooling, as it is a finite resource.

9) Fire detection and suppression systems

A data center is built with fire safety in mind to protect not only the equipment and data, but also the people working inside. Traditional fire extinguishing methods, such as water or foam, are unsuitable in this environment, as they can seriously damage sensitive electronic equipment. That’s why data centers are equipped with advanced fire suppression systems. These systems automatically release inert gases that reduce the oxygen level in the affected area to a point where fire can no longer sustain itself, without harming the equipment or endangering staff.

10) Network operations center (NOC)

In the Network Operations Center (NOC), thousands of data points are constantly monitored to ensure everything in the data center runs as it should. This includes temperature, humidity, power supply, connectivity, and the status of all critical systems. The NOC acts as the command center of the data center, overseeing performance, security, and availability in real time. It plays a key role in ensuring uninterrupted operations by detecting issues early, coordinating rapid responses, and scheduling preventive maintenance.