July 23, 2024July 23, 2024 by Matt Seaton

London East Phase 2 Development Update 6

It’s been a while since we last published a Phase 2 update from Netwise London East (NLE), so we thought it would be a good time to update everyone on the current state of play.

We’ve been remarkably busy with both the ongoing expansion works at NLE, alongside the closure of Netwise London Central (NLC), which was retired from active service in early June.

Data Hall 4 went live in May, and quite remarkably, it’s already a touch over half full, despite opening to new clients just a couple of months ago. This is in large part thanks to the absorption of our customer base from NLC, which we migrated over the course of eight evenings in May, however we have also welcomed a host of exciting new clients into our latest data hall.

Let’s take a look at what’s been happening. We start with updates from back in mid-April, before jumping ahead to current day:

Cooling — As part of commissioning the primary cooling system in Data Hall 4, a number of adjustments were made to the global cooling control system, as we implemented a new hot air extraction methodology

Power — Commissioning the power delivery system inside of DH4 formed the latter stages of the deployment schedule for this room

We commissioned UPS systems for both DH4 and the forthcoming DH3 at the same time, to front-load some of the later commissioning works for the final hall deployment in Phase 2

Bringing UPS’s online is a major part of any data hall commissioning schedule, enabling the delivery of power to end user racks

Here we see the rear of the fully-completed and commissioned UPS arrangement in LV Room B

This is a view of the fully-completed and commissioned UPS arrangement in LV Room A

We showed you our LOTO board in the last update, but here’s another look at the customised board, which is used extensively as we continue to deploy capacity at NLE

Rescue — In addition to the LOTO board and accessories, we also have rescue boards in each of the LV Rooms – we’re adding some additional exciting electrical safety features in the coming months, which haven’t yet been seen in UK data centres, so watch this space for more news on that

Core B — Here we see the core network upgrade as deployed on the B-side of the network at NLE – this was part of our full network-wide upgrade, which happened across several months in Q1/2, a six figure investment in our network as it continues to grow rapidly

DH4 — This is the view across Data Hall 4, a few days before racks would begin landing for our new client waiting list, as well as the first racks migrating from NLC

This is another view across DH4 as we prepared the space for imminent client move in dates

DH4 — Here we see the first racks being positioned, based on the initial requirements within the space – the containment systems for Pods 1 and 2 were then constructed around racks after the first wave of new client installs and rack migrations from NLC

Another view of early staging works in DH4

Now we jump ahead to DH4 as it stands today, in July 2024

Here we see both pods within DH4 at around 50% capacity, ahead of the glass door vinyl’s being applied

A view across DH4, with a crash cart in use – we have these Ergotron models deployed in each hall

DH4 — The hall is now under heavy use by new and existing clients – we now move onto the deployment schedule for DH3

It’s fair to say that this summer has already been one of our busiest periods on record. Deploying a new data hall at NLE is no small task in itself, but to deliver this alongside the decommissioning of NLC – which also involved the in-house planning and execution of an entire facility migration – leaves us feeling incredibly proud of the team we have driving Netwise. The complexity of successfully realising a multi-faceted project like this cannot be understated, and seeing these tasks result in tangible improvements to service for our clients is always incredibly pleasing, particularly after making seven figure investments in our future here at London East.

But as with any operation of this nature, these are just the headline deliverable outcomes that have been worked on over the past several months. We’ve undertaken plenty of additional projects in tandem over the last quarter, which may be of interest to our readers.

We completed our full core network upgrade in May, with the final upgrade – and the most major works list – happening at our HEX/LD8 node. This involved a full conversion of this location to our Supernode architecture, which in this case required a full cabinet swap to accommodate. This type of thing requires considerable planning, however our team were able to complete the entire works list within the four hour maintenance window, which was an impressive feat. We also undertook a minor upgrade to our core node in Redcentric Shoreditch (formerly CLL), which brought the entire network upgrade project to completion. This comes as demand on our network grows rapidly, delivering world-class connectivity to clients across all of our on-net locations.

We also grew our fleet in spring, with the addition of an electric pick-up truck, and our own low-loader, which is perfect for rack migrations. The latter vehicle comes in a relatively rare specification for us, with extra height and a 750kg tail lift, which makes it absolutely ideal for the movement of fully populated racks – a game changer for most facility migration projects.

Fleet 002 — The first addition was 002 – this is our electric pick up truck, which is perfect for trips between our various London PoPs

Fleet 003 — The most recent addition to the fleet is 003 – this is our low loader with uprated tail lift, which makes for the perfect rack migration vehicle

These join 001 – our original van which is still our most utilised vehicles

As part of bringing Data Hall 4 online in May, we rolled out new cooling system architecture, which involved some adjustments to how the extraction side of the system works. We now have a twin-hall shared extraction plenum, with a centralised control system, which we believe to be the first of its kind for an evaporative system such as ours. This involved the expert design work of multiple teams, and will also be a part of the roll-out for Data Hall 3 later this year.

Further to this, we have additional cooling being deployed in all data halls in the next few weeks, through the modular installation of further evaporative coolers. Each room is growing from four CREC units, to six CREC units.

NLC closure and migration project

In May, we migrated all of the clients in our London Central facility to our new London East facility.

We’re closing our London Central facility, and here’s why

What’s next?

The biggest upcoming build work will be the onlining of Data Hall 3, the final hall in the current building at Netwise London East. Work will begin on this hall in the coming weeks. This will be the final component of Phase 2, before Phase 3 works begin in late 2024 / early 2025 – this will be a major development phase.

We hope to announce the next phase of works in an official capacity in the next few weeks.

Otherwise, we will continue to welcome new clients to our world-class facilities, along with the provision of assistance to existing clients looking to grow. This is an exciting time for Netwise, and we look forward to sharing more news with you very soon.

March 27, 2024March 27, 2024 by Matt Seaton

London East Phase 2 Development Update 5

It’s been another very busy stint of work over at Netwise London East, as we continue to deploy Data Hall 3 and Data Hall 4.

While we’ve taken a relatively lengthy break from the #BuildBlog since the last update, the same cannot be said for the development schedule itself, which has been continuing at pace without pause.

Let’s get straight to the photo updates:

Cabling — Before Christmas, we pulled in the supply cabling for both Data Halls 3 and 4

DH4 — Here we see some of the infrastructure within Data Hall 4, in position and being commissioned – this view predominantly shows the A-side ODF as the main harness fibre is run in

DH4 — Here we see the B-side ODF, ahead of termination and the internal fit-out beginning

DH4 — This wide view shows the position of the backup / supplementary AC systems, as well as our new distribution board designs, as part of the new power delivery system being deployed in halls 3 and 4

DH4 — This is a slightly closer view of the A-side distribution board, as well as the A-side supplementary CRAC

DH4 — Here we see some of the complex containment work as part of the sub-floor power delivery system, ensuring all cable routes are carefully contained and managed

DH4 — This view shows the new busbar / track system which is being used in halls 3 and 4

DH4 — Here we see the B-side distribution board, alongside the dual-fed mechanical distribution board

DH4 — The primary cooling system can be seen here, ahead of final commissioning – this is our CREC system, which is largely responsible for our world-leading PUE figures

DH4 — Some of the systems that sit outside of the hall itself can be seen under commissioning here – this is the fire control panel, as cabling is put away

DH4 — The A-side ODF again pictured here, shortly before all internal infrastructure is installed

DH4 — Underfloor cabling has progressed further in this shot, showing additional routes dressed into place, and terminations about to begin

DH4 — This internal view of the bottom section within the dual-fed mechanical board shows the enclosure empty, ahead of internal commissioning

Elec Test — We’ve added to our in-house electrical testing kit, as part of our recent NICEIC Approved Contractor status – more on this soon

Metering — We deployed some custom metering enclosures across our live data halls in the closing stages of 2023, which have been serving us with a host of power metrics ever since

LOTO Board — We’ve had a LOTO board custom made, which now sits outside of LV Room A – this serves as an enhanced electrical safety measure, as we continue to bolster our in-house capabilities across the board

This all sits alongside a whole host of additional organisation-wide projects, which includes the full upgrade of our entire core network, across all on-net locations. This will see the staged upgrade of all routing assets on our core network, to cope with ever-increasing demand from our clients. Telehouse has already been undertaken, with our London East site to follow in the next couple of weeks. Equinix LD8 will follow shortly thereafter.

We’ve also had another major round of development work undertaken on our customer portal. This predominantly concerns the backend of the system, with a custom IPAM administration and deployment module now live. We also have additions to the client-side coming very soon, which will improve the booking, tracking and handling of deliveries.

We’re tantalisingly close to announcing some very significant expansion news, but we’ll have to hold back on that for a little while longer – keep an eye on announcements in the coming weeks / months.

February 15, 2024February 15, 2024 by Matt Seaton

Team in focus: Nathan Desmond

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in focus, management, Netwise, projects, team, Technical Manager

We’re thrilled for you to meet Nathan Desmond, our Technical Manager.

Nathan joined us from a fast-rising career in critical technology for a major UK retailer (the one with the excellent, tear-jerking Christmas adverts!), overseeing their internal data centre operations. Nathan’s broad experience across multiple disciplines will assist in taking the customer experience at Netwise to the next level, as we continue to grow our dedication to true in-house expertise.

Nathan joined the Netwise family in late 2022, and has been making an incredibly positive impact on our operation ever since. His addition to the core Netwise management team came as expansion continued at our London East facility, taking Data Hall 1 to capacity, welcoming a single client to Data Hall 2, and building out Data Halls 3 and 4.

Nathan has already proven invaluable in the continued development of bleeding-edge technology in and around our world-class data centres.

We very recently deployed a major upgrade to part of our core network, at our Supernode in Telehouse North. Nathan naturally played an integral role in the success of this roll-out, from planning, to physical adjustments, through to completion.

THN Engineering — We fully replaced one of the core routers on our network, which included a chassis replacement and a full complement of new line cards

THN Router — This type of critical operation is never easy, so having an expert like Nathan in your corner is always welcomed

You can expect to meet Nathan busy working across all corners of our data centre estate, keeping your mission-critical data centre services in tip-top shape. You may even find his expert input on the odd support ticket from time to time depending on the issue at hand.

January 3, 2024January 3, 2024 by Matt Seaton

A look back at 2023

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2023, data, data center, data centre, end of year, internet, review, summary, year in review

Another 12 months in the books, and another record-breaking period for Netwise, which we’re immensely proud to share with our clients and stakeholders as we look ahead to another equally exciting year.

As we step into 2024 for the first time this week, we’ll take a moment to look back and appreciate the year gone by; the first full year of live operation at Netwise London East.

The headline is that development works have continued at pace at our London East facility, as we prepare to bring Data Halls 3 and 4 online in early 2024, enabling our next phase of growth and expansion.

General — Engineering works continue at NLE

At the point of closing out 2023, we’ve pushed development works into all corners of our London East facility, with upstairs now fully deployed (Data Halls 1 and 2), and downstairs deployment underway (Data Halls 3 and 4). The site has been a hive of activity over the past year, and we have plenty to show for it.

Notable projects from 2023 include:

We fully deployed Data Hall 2 – the second active Data Hall within NLE welcomed its single long-term tenant in 2023; a major milestone for both parties. We enjoyed watching the space fill out with a wide range of cutting-edge hardware in Q4 2023.
Phase 2 works have ramped up – while we technically included the build of Data Hall 2 in the Phase 2 works schedule, the real meat of this phase comes in the form of Data Halls 3 and 4. These two new halls are being readied for occupation in early 2024, with the closing stages of 2023 seeing real traction in this area; Data Hall 4 now has its primary cooling system deployed, as well as much of the core electrical distribution infrastructure.
Josh Carvalho joined as Engineering Manager – in September, we expanded our team with the joining of Josh, our new Engineering Manager. Expect a full introductory post very soon.
NLC again exceeded its design PUE, reaching a remarkable 1.09 – back in 2022, London Central achieved a real-world PUE of just 1.11, beating the design PUE target of 1.12. In 2023, we managed an incredible 1.09. We’re extremely excited to see where we can get NLE as occupancy rates rise rapidly, looking towards the design target of just 1.05.
We added a range of niceties and features to NLE – we rolled out a range of new features at our London East site, such as on-site EV charging, recycling and general waste points, Dyson hand dryers throughout the building, improvements to lighting, additional Naturewall cladding; all of which we hope will improve customer experiences inside the facility.
Our next round of software development works began – in the closing stages of the year, we set in motion a wide range of software development works, including improvements to our customer portal (for power and bandwidth monitoring), an in-house IP management tool, and the roll-out of our own QR code check in system, the latter of which has been working well for us since its full roll-out in the summer.

The general focus over the past 12 months has been to expand into the current footprint at NLE more completely, moving from the initial deployment phase of a single hall, to making use of all four halls within the current building. We now have active works underway across every sector of the site.

London Central has also seen its fair share of input, largely in the form of ongoing maintenance operations, with activity across many critical systems. NLC is also now home to our significant stock of APC racks, which are being pre-staged there before heading to NLE for active service.

Beyond the exciting physical development works, we’ve posted exceptional financial growth metrics again in 2023, which will support our ongoing expansion aspirations, and of course contribute to continued rock-steady reliability for clients all around the world. Base revenues for the year grew by just over 30%, which for our fourteenth year of trading is something we’re extremely proud of.

UPS — Adding to our core power infrastructure over the past 12 months has certainly formed a main component of our ongoing expansion activities

We have some very exciting news to share about additional future expansion at London East very soon – enabling Phase 3 of development – taking us to new heights at our ever-evolving Canning Town address.

November 14, 2023July 23, 2024 by Matt Seaton

We’re closing our London Central facility, and here’s why

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In June 2024, we will be permanently retiring our London Central (NLC) data centre from active service.

This article will explain why this is happening, as we look to shift all active services across to our new London East (NLE) site.

Background

London Central has now been serving clients for nearly a decade. We welcomed our first anchor tenants to the facility back in 2015, having taken control of the shell in 2014, building what would become our flagship site and a landmark London data centre for the following 10 years.

After the wildly successful launch of our new London East facility in 2022, London Central now simply falls short of our exacting standards for data centre design and operation as we look ahead.

The reasons for closing London Central at this point in its life cycle are plentiful, but the most important are:

The site no longer meets our standards for efficient, sustainable data centre design and operation.
Some major infrastructure components are reaching end of serviceable life, requiring overhaul / refit.
Available site power can no longer support the increased requirements of client systems as we head into a new era of computing power.

While refit was an option we workshopped for a considerable period (until very recently, in fact), it would have still required completely gutting the site to bring it up to standard, and there are some aspects of London Central (namely available power in the area) that would still leave the site lagging behind our future capability requirements as we continue to expand operations.

More on our new standards for efficiency and sustainability

Our ongoing commitment to efficiency and sustainability formed a core component of the London East design journey, and has left the legacy systems at London Central lagging behind in every metric.

A view of the legacy CREC system servicing Data Hall 1 at London Central

The cooling infrastructure at NLC is our first-generation evaporative system, and while this has served our clients very well over the years, it is now legacy technology, and in the hottest days of the year it struggles to keep supply temperatures in-check. We have to bolster this with additional roll-in cooling in peak summer temperatures, which is highly inefficient, and represents a manual intervention process; something always best avoided.

The latest generation CRECs as deployed at London East

Despite London Central still performing at the very sharp end of global efficiency metrics – with a real-world PUE as low as 1.09 in 2022 – London East is set to achieve a truly exceptional PUE of just 1.05. It is this new level of excellence that we’re striving for across the board.

More on critical infrastructure maintenance

All critical infrastructure has a design life, and many aspects core to service delivery at London Central are now showing signs of age.

The in-row UPS system design methodology at NLC can be seen here during the early stages of fit-out

The UPS systems are now legacy models, and have seen out their design life, meaning they’d be due for a full replacement in the very near future. We are seeing a higher failure rate of internal components as a result, which has required a dramatic spike in maintenance actions in the last ~18 months.

Our diverse LV rooms form the beating heart of NLE, and are dedicated to housing our new modular UPS systems (alongside critical distribution and control systems)

A dramatic overhaul of the entire site would be required to bring things up to standard, both in terms of correcting core system age-out, and the fabric of the building itself, such as new wall and flooring systems to better match the deployment flexibility of our London East design.

Rather than investing very heavily in London Central to complete a full internal overhaul, the decision has been made to direct such investment into the continued development of our London East location, as it has far better underlying utility support to enable decades of future growth.

More on next generation computing requirements

As technology continues to develop at considerable pace, so too do the requirements of data centres to match the ever evolving needs and expectations of next generation systems and users.

Thanks in no small part to its centralised, primarily residential location, London Central suffers from a lack of available power in the local area. This hindered expansion of the site into the planned second data hall space on the ground floor, a space which could never reach its full potential as a result.

Electrical Intake — The compact electrical intake room at London Central suited the scale of the location, however it cannot be compared to the core power infrastructure deployed at London East

We’ve seen a dramatic uptick in higher density power requirements, for tasks such as AI, ML and GPU-accelerated computing. As such, London East has been designed from the ground up to cater for much more power hungry workloads, both in terms of average capacity and peak capacity.

The main switchboards at London East, as seen here in LV Room B – just one of these boards is many times the size of all the distribution infrastructure at NLC

GRP — Having our own on-site HV transformer infrastructure forms a central component of the power capacity level-up at London East

The increased capacity we have available to us at London East comes as a result of its very close proximity to a major substation (the same which powers the Telehouse Campus in Docklands), as well as a central location within Canning Town’s most major light industrial region, which has been designated with increased access to available power, in support of its economic impact.

In summary

London Central has been an incredibly successful location for Netwise, spring-boarding us from a 20 rack ‘proof of concept’ data centre right through to our new high specification campus-style site in Canning Town.

The lessons learned through the design and build of London Central have directly fed into the operation at London East. It exceeds London Central in every single metric, thanks in no small part to the evolution-ready DNA it has inherited from our previous build projects. With each iteration of our data centre design and implementation programme, we have taken enormous leaps forward; London East is no exception.

In summary, London East:

Is more sustainable
Is more efficient
Is more resilient
Is better connected
Has greater rack capacity
Has better customer amenities
Enables high power density deployments
Has improved in-house engineering capabilities
Utilises more advanced technology across the board

BuildRoom — London East’s on-site customer amenities are industry leading

15 years of prior design and build experience has fed into London East, which is an enormous level up for Netwise, sitting comfortably as one of the highest specification data centres in London (and beyond), and one of the most efficient in the world.

While this has been in planning for quite some time, a final decision on timescales and logistics could only be confirmed and locked in very recently. We’ve given as much off-ramp as possible for this change to take place, while also factoring in the various interwoven factors that make up a large, complex strategic change such as this.

The future

Our future now sits firmly in the build out of our London East campus. We have plans to extend our current 224 footprint space to nearly 400 footprints in the next 12 to 24 months. Beyond this, we have early-stage plans that could see a localised campus with extension options of over 1,000 footprints. We’ll have more news on this in due course.

London East also has approved plans for on-site solar generation, as well as EV charging which is already available in the front compound / car park – both plans we wanted to see happen at NLC, but without the localised means to do so.

We grew by nearly 26% in 2023. No small feat for a company approaching its 15th birthday, and thanks in large part to what London East has brought to the table. This is why our future focus rests squarely on a site which can scale with us long into the future.

In addition, we are always on the lookout for acquisition opportunities to extend our private data centre estate into other areas in London and the surrounding regions. As sad as we will be to see London Central close its doors, we’re extremely excited by the prospect of welcoming new clients to London East, as we make this our highly-scalable new home for the next phase of our growth cycle.