Plutex GmbH is a German provider of colocation and managed services catering predominantly to the small and medium sized business sector. It owns one small data centre which has scope for further expansion and one back up data centre, both of which are on the same site.
Plutex presents itself as a managed service provider that offers extra services such as server housing, to widen its appeal. Those managed services are targeted at businesses that want to fully outsource their IT operations and cover consulting, backup, digital asset management, server monitoring and management and machine to machine communication.
Other service provided by Plutex cover small scale colocation, single server housing, cloud hosting, Microsoft SPLA for SaaS and virtual servers. It also offers an extensive catalogue of added value services, such as internet connectivity, SSL certificates, domains, email and web hosting and virtual storage.
Plutex offers a very personal, hands-on service which is ideal for smaller companies that dont need major space or power availability. Current space options start and end with single racks, so businesses looking to rent cages, suites or data halls arent really suited to the current facilities, although Plutex can offer these on demand. When Plutex does not have expertise in-house, it outsources and it is also worth noting that Plutex is generally not vendor neutral and enjoys a range of strategic partnerships with vendors and service providers.
Location
Plutex GmbH is based in Bremen, Germany and owns two data centres at its headquarters, one of which was created in a 2014 expansion drive to provide redundancy for data storage and back up. The two data centres are physically separated and each has its own fire protection and access security. The data centres are certified to ISO 27001 for Information Security and were recertified in February 2015.
Plutexs main data centre covers 400 m² and can house approximately 1500 servers, with extra space up to 2,200 m² available for future development. The back-up data centre covers an area of 144 m² and has enough room to house 2160 servers on 54 racks. The data centre is not carrier neutral but does provide connectivity via its own dark fibre backbone network and IP connectivity to two external backbone providers.
Both buildings benefit from UPS, emergency Diesel generators, redundant air conditioning and extensive fire and intruder alarm systems. Access security is strict too, with CCTV and entry control preventing unauthorised access. A building management system also maintains permanent monitoring of all systems, infrastructure and servers.
Energy
Plutexs data centre boasts a power usage effectiveness of just 1.4, achieved through a variety of energy saving and sustainability measures. These measures include the optimum configuration of the UPS and cooling mechanisms to ensure minimum energy use throughout the year, with just 3000 mechanical cooling hours required on 24/7 operation.
Funding/business model
Plutex is a privately owned, German limited liability company with two owners/shareholders. It was first registered in 2008 and currently has loan liabilities slightly in excess of 200,000, an amount roughly equal to its assets.
Customers and partners
Plutex supports an exciting range of small and medium sized businesses, almost all of which are German owned. Its current customers include Mobil Macher, a company that enables businesses to create customised mobile applications and websites, and Mekos-S GmbH, a colocation services provider.
Other clients of Plutex include Bavaria Film Interactive GmbH, Nordfinanz Bank AG, Heinz, Audi, Thomas Krenn, TecMedia Services, Germanys PlusNet, CKB Informationstechnik, Saacke and many more.
Plutex is also a founding member of the Open Cloud Alliance, an open source cloud platform through which cloud providers can share and develop cloud applications, software and connections to major open source directories.
Technology partners of Plutex include Cisco, Kaspersky, Microsoft and Juniper Networks. Strategic partners, from whom Plutex purchases services and technology, are IT Systemhaus Trading.Point (a hardware vendor), 3rd party data centre RZ OWL in Bielefield and tecmasters.net, an Enterprise Content Management solutions provider.
A solid option for SMEs in Germany
Plutex GmbH is very much a regional company with a regional scope. Its small data centre and personal service will appeal to Bremen based companies and those businesses looking for a strategic data centre base in the thriving North West of Germany.
Certain elements of Plutexs services may be less attractive to companies that demand autonomy over their managed services spending, as Plutex is neither carrier nor vendor neutral. That being said, Plutex does also offer extensive self-managed housing and colocation options, so for SMEs that like the company but wish to retain control, Plutex is well placed to cater to them.