GDA Award for Sustainable AI-Ready Data Center FRA7 in Frankfurt
As part of the German Datacenter Talents & Impact Awards, the German Datacenter Association (GDA) recognizes innovative projects, companies, and institutions that actively contribute to shaping the data center industry. The GDA honors outstanding achievements as well as cross-industry and interdisciplinary collaborations in five categories. This year, the winner in the “Sustainability & Green Data Centers” category is firstcolo GmbH – with the Blueprint Project FRA7 for a sustainable, AI-ready data center in Rosbach vor der Höhe.
“We are delighted to receive this recognition,” said Jerome Evans, founder and CEO of firstcolo GmbH. “With FRA7, we are continuing our commitment to building sustainable, competitive data centers. The ICT sector already accounts for around two percent of global CO₂ emissions, with data centers representing a significant share. As data volumes grow, energy demand surges, and climate action becomes imperative, our industry is rethinking its future. FRA7 demonstrates how high performance, sustainability, and data sovereignty can go hand in hand.”
A future-ready blueprint
The jury highlighted firstcolo’s holistic sustainability strategy, proven reductions in energy and resource consumption, and the project’s strong potential for innovation, scalability, and transferability to other sites.
“The journey to FRA7 began with a clear strategic vision: to build a facility that stands as both a technical flagship and an ecological benchmark,” Evans recalled. FRA7 combines next-generation cooling technologies with a modular, scalable architecture designed for high-density and AI workloads, targeting a Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) of below 1.2.
“High-density liquid cooling shows the path forward,” Evans added. “It achieves efficiency levels beyond what air cooling can deliver. FRA7 will run on certified green electricity, while excess heat will be fed into the municipal district heating grid. Recyclable materials will also play a key role in construction.”
Built as a dynamic infrastructure, FRA7 is designed to evolve with new technical capabilities while maintaining consistently high efficiency. “Its significance extends beyond the site itself,” Evans concluded. “FRA7 demonstrates that high-performance data centers can operate sustainably while being fully integrated into local energy and heating networks.”
firstcolo GmbH
As an operator of data centers in Germany, firstcolo GmbH, based in Frankfurt am Main, provides its customers with the highest level of service quality. In addition to classic colocation and the rental of server systems, firstcolo’s range of services also includes managed services, security solutions and cloud services.
