FLAP-G: How Ghent is Emerging as Western Europe’s Next Data Center Powerhouse

The European data center landscape is evolving, and nLighten is uniquely positioned to capture the opportunity. While the traditional FLAP markets – Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, and Paris – have long dominated the continental data center scene, Ghent, in Belgium, is rapidly emerging as a fifth strategic hub. With nLighten’s state-of-the-art facility and the arrival of new high-capacity connectivity, Ghent is not just entering the conversation, it is becoming essential.

The Strategic Geography Advantage

Ghent’s location at the crossroads of Western Europe is undeniable: within 500 kilometers, it connects to London, Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, and Brussels. That proximity gives enterprises unrivalled options for latency-sensitive, resilient, and sovereign deployments.

But location alone is not enough. What transforms Ghent’s geography into a true digital advantage is the combination of nLighten’s edge infrastructure and new connectivity investments from players like EXA Infrastructure.

Next-Generation Connectivity: 1,200km of High-Performance Fiber

EXA Infrastructure’s new route, which includes 1,085 km of new low-loss G.652D terrestrial fiber for end-to-end connectivity and a 115 km subsea build from Margate, UK to Ostend, Belgium, utilizing ultra-low-loss G.654C cable, is a testament to the growing importance of alternative connectivity paths in Europe. The new fiber infrastructure delivers exceptional performance metrics, achieving 6.2 ms latency to Amsterdam and 9.4 ms to Frankfurt while supporting bandwidth capacities that exceed 5 Petabits per second.

By establishing this high-capacity fiber connection through Ghent, EXA has created new possibilities for businesses seeking diverse routing options between major European financial and business centers. The route doesn’t just connect these cities, it positions Ghent as an active node in the network, rather than merely a waypoint.

Connectivity + Infrastructure: A Symbiotic Advantage

EXA’s 1,200 km high-performance fiber route linking London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Brussels, and Ghent is a strong signal of the city’s rising importance. Yet fiber without compute, power, and interconnection is only half the equation. This is where nLighten creates the missing link:

• EXA provides the pathways, nLighten provides the destination.
• EXA creates diverse routing, nLighten makes it usable for enterprises and workloads.
• Together, they establish Ghent not just as a transit point, but as a true node of European digital infrastructure.

For enterprises, this means the ability to deploy workloads in Ghent with the assurance of carrier diversity, low latency across FLAP markets, and resilient edge compute capacity, all within a sustainable, sovereign facility.

nLighten’s Ghent Data Center: Built for the Future

Central to the rise of Ghent as a data center hub is nLighten’s state-of-the-art facility, located in the Ghent-Terneuzen Canal Zone. This strategic position provides excellent transport links and immediate access to major European business centers, allowing this nLighten edge data center location to serve as a bridge between the traditional FLAP markets.

nLighten’s facility in the Canal Zone is designed as an edge-native data center, optimized for modern density, sustainability, and connectivity. By being tightly integrated with both local ecosystems and pan-European routes such as EXA’s, nLighten transforms Ghent from a geographic midpoint into a digital powerhouse.

Designed for modern sustainability and efficiency standards, the facility meets the growing demand for environmentally responsible infrastructure among European businesses. With robust power systems, advanced cooling, and extensive fiber connectivity – including the new EXA Infrastructure route – nLighten Ghent offers the reliability and performance that customers demand.

The Path Forward: From FLAP to FLAP-G

As organizations digitize operations and demand greater infrastructure resilience, the value proposition of geographically distributed yet well-connected data center strategies becomes increasingly clear. Ghent’s position between major European markets, combined with facilities like nLighten’s edge data center and connectivity through routes like EXA’s new fiber deployment, creates compelling opportunities for businesses seeking to optimize their European digital infrastructure.

The evolution from FLAP to FLAP-G isn’t just a catchy acronym, it represents a development in building out a highly connected network of European data centers. It’s not about replacing existing hubs, but about de-risking and extending them. With EXA reinforcing Ghent’s role in connectivity and nLighten providing the infrastructure to host, cool, and secure workloads, enterprises gain a balanced ecosystem that combines:

• Diversity of routes and redundancy.
• Density of infrastructure for HPC/AI and cloud repatriation.
• Sustainability in line with European priorities.

As connectivity improves and businesses become more sophisticated in their infrastructure planning, Ghent is establishing itself as an essential component of Western Europe’s digital backbone. The question isn’t whether Ghent will become a significant player in European data centers, it’s how quickly businesses will recognize and capitalize on the opportunities this emerging hub presents.