Digital Realty Partners with RIEDEL Networks for an Enhanced Backbone and a More Connected Future

Frankfurt is a critical location for internet traffic—not just for Germany or Europe, but for most of the developed world. Having a resilient, highly redundant network is vital, especially for ambitious and fast-growing brands.

Increasing network resiliency has been our goal at Digital Realty for more than 20 years. Digital Realty is the world’s largest interconnected data center platform, underpinning today’s fastest-growing technologies. We have 333+ data centers in 51 metro areas around the globe and are actively involved in the tools shaping tomorrow, from AI and cloud computing to everything in between. We specialize in global connectivity, so we understand the importance of delivering continuous uptime so companies can take advantage of new opportunities.

This level of operation requires an incredible amount of power and resources. Digital Realty works with 1,100+ IT and cloud providers, and we operate on six continents across 25 countries.

That’s one of the reasons we’ve attracted our partner RIEDEL Networks: their wide portfolio of different solutions helps us deliver premium services to customers using our data centers. Their solutions enable us to enhance our offerings. Like us, they want to ensure that their customers have access to everything they need to succeed.

A new production facility requires a new backbone

RIEDEL wanted to expand its backbone network by adding a new Point of Presence (POP) in Düsseldorf. Riedel opened a new media house for video production, producing content like halftime shows for the UEFA Champions League. That new facility requires a redundant network between Cologne, Düsseldorf, and Wuppertal. To ensure a smooth viewing experience, connectivity issues aren’t an option.

Creating a new POP in Düsseldorf would help RIEDEL Networks’ new facility. It would also improve the company’s infrastructure, make it more reliable, and give them new ways to share traffic between locations.

As the commercial sales manager at Digital Realty, this project became one of my top priorities.

To ensure network stability and redundancy, RIEDEL’s Düsseldorf POP would need to be designed to be integrated into the existing backbone network via at least two redundant connection paths: Düsseldorf and Frankfurt (DUS-FRA) and between Düsseldorf and Wuppertal (DUS-WUP).

There were other requirements as well:

• redundant power supplies
• at least 99.9 % availability 24/7—we even offer 99.999%
• access to cloud partners, such as Google and Amazon
• existing connections with RIEDEL’s other carrier partners so they could pass traffic easily
• ability to meet the 8–10-week timeline

They also had to consider the cost of technicians and service. Taking a 360°-view of the parameters, Digital Realty came out on top.

Finding success with a long-term partner

It made perfect sense for them to trust us with the project. We’ve worked with RIEDEL for 10+ years. They’re entering new markets, and our global footprint aligns with regions with growing demand for RIEDEL's infrastructure. We want to take advantage of those opportunities to host their IT infrastructure so they can continue to expand. We communicate and operate at eye level and are very transparent with one another, which would ultimately drive this project forward.

Given our tight timeline, there was no time to waste. Our first kickoff calls took place immediately after the initial agreement, as soon as we collected signatures from both parties. We quickly established ongoing communication via MS Teams, facilitating fast and honest dialogue. Over the following weeks, network engineers from RIEDEL Networks and Digital Realty met regularly to make sure everyone fulfilled each task as expected and the project stayed on track.

We completed the implementation and construction of the new POP in less than six weeks and went live without issue. Even though the initial project is complete, our team continues to work directly with RIEDEL Networks to ensure they have everything they need to be successful going forward.

Thanks to RIEDEL Networks' newly expanded backbone, the company enjoys new peering opportunities, particularly for the transfer of local access traffic. The connection of these Frankfurt and Düsseldorf data centers guarantees robust connectivity and highly redundant network architecture, which is crucial for meeting the needs of media customers at RIEDEL Networks' new facility.

A partnership built on people

We strive to offer more than providing space and power. Our goal is to act as a trusted partner and advisor, and to extend the value of our solutions to our partners and clients in a highly-connected world. The only way to do that is by working "shoulder to shoulder" with our trusted customers and partners. In this case, we knew exactly what was important for RIEDEL and even delivered ahead of the targeted timeline. 

People buy from people, and working with a reliable team makes a big difference when developing high-quality, value-based solutions. We know we can trust RIEDEL Networks' word, and they know they can trust ours. That’s the foundation for future projects and expanding into new markets together.