Wirtschaftsforum: Ms. Brill, TWL-KOM started over 20 years ago as a classic telecommunications company. What are your core competencies today?

Melanie Brill: Founded from a municipal energy supplier, our focus initially was on providing and accelerating internet via fiber optics. Over the years, we have grown steadily, often in conjunction with our customers. The German Weather Service, for example, has outsourced its data to us. This is how our data center was established. For a hospital network, we initially managed two clinics, but now we cover over 100 facilities. Today, we are a full-service IT provider and operate our own data center with a special redundancy concept. We still provide telecommunications services, so we can offer all services from the famous 'single source.'

Wirtschaftsforum: What is special about the redundancy concept of your data center?

Melanie Brill: We achieve redundancy through UPS systems and a direct connection to a waste-to-energy power plant. We maintain the highest availability level that can be achieved worldwide, TIER IV.

Wirtschaftsforum: What topics and projects will you focus on in the coming time?

Melanie Brill: Cyber Security remains an important and very dynamic topic. We continue to educate and develop ourselves and our customers in this area. Furthermore, we will be expanding our data center. The cloud also remains a dominant topic. We will work on this even more intensively and actively engage in discussions with our customers. Our advantage is that we offer a cloud that is located in Germany.

Wirtschaftsforum: You talk about expanding your data center. What are you doing to improve your ecological footprint, for example, to save energy?

Melanie Brill: A data center needs electricity. Here we partially use adiabatic cooling. This means we do not cool with air but with water. We cool the servers directly, with water heated to over 20 degrees Celsius, which is transported directly to the CPU of the computers. This is more effective and uses less energy. In addition, we offer our customers the option to use green energy. Appreciation has always been a cornerstone of our philosophy. This includes valuing our environment.

Wirtschaftsforum: How do you live appreciation, apart from the responsible handling of nature?

Melanie Brill: People are our core focus. We value everyone who is involved with us and our company, especially our employees. Each employee is important for our success. Therefore, we support our people individually and specifically, both horizontally and vertically. Since we need leaders and experts, we actively promote professional careers. That is why we offer our employees various benefits and regularly thank our teams and also for individual performances. My door is always open if there are problems. Regarding our performance, we want to convey values, true added value for our customers. Therefore, we act efficiently and are innovation-oriented, always staying on the cutting edge and open for collaborations. In this context, we have also launched the TWL-KOM connect event series.

Wirtschaftsforum: What exactly is behind TWL-KOM connect?

Melanie Brill: We open our doors several times a year, offer Deep Dives, tours and breakfast events. Here one can specifically exchange and network. Innovation through collaboration is created this way. We communicate on an equal footing, maintain transparency, are collegial and collaborative. We are a team with a friendly atmosphere. Our customers feel this. We will continue to cultivate this culture in the future.