Facing increased digital infrastructure demands from use of high-performance services such as cloud-based applications and artificial intelligence (AI), European hosting provider Hetzner has upgraded its datacentre and core network infrastructure to scale efficiently, improve automation and maintain industry-leading uptime, ensuring seamless digital experiences for businesses and end users.
Founded in 1997, the German IT company and internet service provider operates several thousand servers in modern, energy-efficient datacentre parks in Nuremberg and Falkenstein in its home territory, as well as in the Finnish capital of Helsinki and with expansion of its infrastructure to Singapore and the US. Addressing businesses and internet projects of all sizes, Hetzner said its dedicated servers and virtualised server infrastructure are optimised for performance, reliability and efficiency.
In late 2024, after observing that artificial intelligence was taking centre stage in new innovations and technologies, resulting in the need for powerful server solutions, Hetzner announced the installation of the GPU Server GEX130 for compute-intensive workloads such as training AI models.
At the heart of the GEX130 is an Intel Xeon Gold 5412U 24-Core Sapphire Rapids CPU and an NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation Graphics Card with 48 GB of GDDR6 ECC graphics memory. The combination is said to result in processing capacity ideal for speedy and efficient data analysis and for evaluating large amounts of data.
The upgrade – now live in Germany and Finland and set to expand across Europe — will see the deployment of Nokia carrier-grade routing solutions to maintain its “industry-leading” uptime, ensuring “seamless” digital experiences for businesses and end users.
The Nokia solution includes 7750 SR-1x routers, designed for carrier-grade reliability, power efficiency and scalability. This means that Hetzner can use single-lambda 100G transceivers, enhancing density and energy efficiency while reducing infrastructure costs.
Nokia’s gNMI-based telemetry provides real-time network visibility, allowing Hetzner to automate and optimise operations with minimal intervention. With a future-ready architecture supporting 400G and 800G interconnectivity, Hetzner believes that its network is equipped for long-term growth.
In addition to optimising its network with high-performance connectivity, Hetzner believes that it is reducing operational complexity. Nokia’s routers also boast advanced automation and real-time telemetry to provide Hetzner with visibility and resilience to support next-generation workloads.
“Through close collaboration with Nokia, we have been able to integrate new technology effectively into our system,” said Hetzner head of network, Martin Fritzsche. “This has ensured we remain flexible and agile while improving our datacentres to meet our customers’ needs.
“Whether it is higher bandwidth, improved network availability or optimised energy efficiency, we always find the best solutions by working with Nokia and further receive the responsive support we have grown to rely on.”
Matthieu Bourguignon, senior vice-president for network infrastructure Europe at Nokia, added: “Empowering one of Europe’s largest hosting providers with state-of-the-art reliability and performance is key to driving the next generation of digital services…Hetzner [now] gains the scalability, automation and energy efficiency needed to meet growing demands while optimising operational efficiency.”
