Deutsche Telekom has commissioned T-Systems to build it a 1.61m sq ft data center in Saxony-Anha as demand for its cloud services booms among its 130 million subscribers.

The project is the biggest that the telco, its builder (T Systems) or indeed Germany has ever seen.

The new data center will combine with the telco's existing Magdeburg site to form a core of two facilities which offer a high level of data and operational security, said T-Systems.

Upon completion of the last expansion stage at both locations, the data center space will span an area of almost eight soccer fields approximately 430,000 sq ft.

The new Biere site, in Saxony-Anhuf, will be complete in 2014 and will be used to satisfy growing global demand for cloud services, said Dr. Ferri Abolhassan, member of the Board of Management at T-Systems.

Germany's Federal Data Protection Act has given German businesses a massive boost by clarifying matters that have yet to be resolved in other countries, he said.

“Germany already has a clear advantage in terms of location,” said Abolhassan.

The TwinCore data centers and zero error strategy provide the reassurance clients need, he said.

“On the basis of this network with data centers in Asia, America, Europe and Europe, we are giving our customers the most modern IT and cloud technology in the world.”

The new center will use energy-savings techniques developed at T-Systems' Munich research facility Data Center 2020, which its runs in partnership with Intel.

New developments in ambient temperature, air humidity, chilled water supply temperature and the flow rate of the fans will help reduce the centre's carbon footprint and make it climate-neutral, according to T-Systems.

The venture is being funded by Hannover Leasing as primary investor with a grant (thought to be around three million euros) being contributed by the state of Saxony-Anhalt.

With 130m mobile customers, 33m fixed-network lines and more than 17m broadband lines, Deutsche Telekom is one of the world’s biggest telcos.