November 18, 2020November 18, 2020 by Matt Seaton

The importance of sustainable data centres in London

The internet is used by more than 4 billion people worldwide.

The UK makes up for 60.3 million of these internet users, Great Britain bringing in 46.6 million as of 2016. That’s 92.6 per cent of our nation’s population; and growing.

We in London spend large chunks of our days on the internet, amplified further at the moment by the current COVID-19 restrictions. Whether it’s viewing our feeds on social media, sending work emails, video conference calls, uploading files, sending messages, downloading information, or simply surfing the web, data centres in London are working rigorously to transfer this information from one sector to the next.

Simply put, it’s fair to say that the majority rely extremely heavily on the internet.

We spend a lot of our lives online, and yet the environmental impact caused by our heavy use of the internet is commonly overlooked.

As we increasingly become more digitalised, the internet continues to play a key role in our lives. As such, there comes a time in which we must address the effect the internet has on the environment. There’s no doubt the internet requires a massive amount of energy to operate, so how can we remedy the effects of our carbon footprint? Where do we begin to address these effects?

It all starts at the data centre.

The internet in tangible form – data centres

It’s easy to fall short in understanding just how the internet requires so much energy due to its “invisible” nature. Nevertheless, there are four main areas that drive the digital world; devices, networks, manufacturing, and data centres. The latter being of tangible form and largely contributing to the egregious energy consumption the internet partakes in.

Think of a data centre as you would a modern-day factory. They are physical facilities that function as large scale communication hubs and centralised computing facilities. These buildings can essentially be viewed as a collection of specialised computers, known as servers. These computers house a wide variety of things, including databases, websites, communication platforms, AI systems, and much more.

In short, data centres are the internet, materialized. They are the closest thing to the internet in physical form and they are one of two main components of the internet that contribute to having a very notable impact on the environment.

Why do data centres consume so much energy?

Think about data centres as you would your own personal computer. Your computer generates heat when in use. This heat is that energy. You know you’re generating a lot of heat when you hear the fans in your computer start to hum. Now imagine this but on a much, much larger scale. Millions of these specialised computers, known as servers, which are often many times more powerful (and power hungry) than your average home computer.

As a result, more than 4 billion individuals indirectly contribute to the IT sector’s energy consumption, which equates to 10 per cent of all energy consumption worldwide. This number is on continuously on the rise as we become more and more digital. It’s predicted that this number could increase to as much as 33 per cent by 2025.

Because of your indirect contribution to this consumption through use of your various digital services and platforms, a fair part of your carbon footprint comes from the operation of data centres. As an end-user, you have no input regarding what kind of energy your indirect data centre operators are purchasing and using.

So, what is there to do?

The future of internet sustainability

Thankfully, we’ve too found ourselves in a collective cultural transition into renewable energy and the IT sector has followed suit – in fact, it’s lead the way in pervasive use of renewables. As society has shifted to having more concern for our impact on the environment, corporations have also looked to shift towards sustainable energy.

Data centre operators have been racing towards a completely renewable internet for quite some time. Not only is this change great for the environment, it’s also advantageous from a financial standpoint; sustainable energy is consistent in its nature, and therefore holds great value for companies and investors.

‘Going green’ has become standard in terms of what business are looking for when choosing a data centre partner. Because of this, modern internet companies are now actively pursuing green, more sustainable providers to partner with on a long-term basis. Finding a truly sustainable data centre operator in the centre of a city like London can be tough, but they are

Sustainable data centres In London

We at Netwise want to be a part of the solution, in creating sustainable data centres to house critical business systems here in London. We do so currently as the UK’s leading colocation and data centre service provider, delivering end-user content on a global scale. We’ve been able to put together two sustainable data centres right in the heart of London, with our third centre in London East coming in 2021.

Our London Central facility uses 100 per cent renewable energy. We aim to be a part of the solution. We aim to keep London sustainable and set the standard for corporations to follow. This enables the reduction of carbon footprint concerns for you as an end-user, as we lead the way in reducing data centre power consumption in the capital.

London East is the next chapter in our journey. We’re taking note from our London Central facility, amping up to a facility with 256 racks, and of course remaining 100 per cent renewable in our purchase and consumption of energy.

Our mission is to provide world-class data centre facilities in enviable locations, while always operating on 100 per cent renewable energy. Our data centres are some of the greenest in all of Europe, powered by energy sourced from the wind, sun, and sea, ensuring you enjoy services with a reduced carbon footprint.

So we ask you, why not come and be part of the solution? Feel free to get in touch or schedule a tour at any of our facilities, or check out our blog for more detail on our upcoming data centre, London East.

London deserves this. London deserves sustainable systems to be put in place and so does the world. We cannot fall short and disregard the invisible nature of the internet. Together, let’s be part of the solution and never the problem.

November 17, 2020November 17, 2020 by Matt Seaton

London East Build Blog – Weeks 30 and 31

We’re very excited to show you another transformative fortnight of works on-site at NLE, as the internal envelope of our new data centre reaches full completion.

We’re now looking at a complete internal shell, giving us the physical structure we need to begin installing equipment and deploying electrical services.

Weekly overview

As you can see from the range of shots below, we’re now at a major turning point in this project. The internal shell has now been signed off as complete (with one final pass for minor snags pending), meaning we have the final internal structure of the building set and ready for the next phase of works that will take us into early 2021.

The facility is now presented with immaculate, high specification white spaces for all technical deployments, as well as our usual top tier front of house amenities, something our clients continue to take great advantage of at our London Central data centre.

Floor — A look at the flooring in Data Hall 3 as it moves across the space, towards completion

Doors — A look at the doors installed in the Build Room and Customer Breakout Area, showing a solid twin-leaf riser door set on the left, and the main room access door on the right, ajar

Envelope — A final pass of envelope finishing works are now also underway, with this shot showing a new custom finishing trim installed to cover the ground-to-first floor joining seam in our double-height atrium

Equipment — Here we see a pair of UPS’s and their associated battery enclosures, along with a set of core network racks, which are being held in one of our LV rooms – with temporary dust bags / wraps still in place

Coolers — Here we see four CRECs in place on their custom plinths in Data Hall 1, which will cool the opening phase of this space, to be followed by a further four units when required

Exterior — A night time exterior shot, taken from the front compound, looking towards our warehouse and loading bay

As you can see in some of the shots of our new doors above, we’re using a fully integrated Paxton system, with the card readers forming part of the handle assembly. This not only keeps our facility access installation as neat and as clean as possible, but will also massively improve the time to onlining the system, as these readers operate wirelessly.

We’ve also been working on some addition access infrastructure, including our main entrance turnstile, and the pedestrian access gates which lead from reception into the technical side of the facility; more on this next time.

All of our lighting cable specifications are now with our manufacturer, who are going to be assembling these for us for compatibility with our Klik system. These are all being made to length, using the specialist Klik hardware, which will enable rapid installation to the overhead grid once it all arrives on-site. This will allow us to light all rooms using the overhead LED panels, and allow for the removal of all temporary site lighting.

We’re incredibly excited to have reached this point, as we now begin what will be the most critical phase of technical works – preparing to properly energise the facility. This is still a little way off of course, however we are now moving into the set of works that will enable this to happen.

What else has been happening?

After a lengthy wait while we got everything just right, we’re now also in a position to tease our new van, which will be the first of our new fleet – aptly named ‘001’.

Van — The side of our van features both our main logo, as well as an oversized matt finish logomark as an abstract background

Van — The rear of the van features a full Chapter 8 chevron kit, as well as more detailing on the door panels – amber light bar still to follow

This, coupled with our custom flight cases, makes inter-facility migrations and new deployments an absolute breeze.

Since our last instalment of the build blog, we’ve also seen new restrictions come into play with regards to the national response to COVID-19. We are of course following these guidelines closely, as we did during the first set of restrictions earlier this year, and will continue to do so.

As a result, we’ve now implemented Test and Trace QR codes at both of our sites, which should be used during normal check in procedures. This helps us to keep everyone safe, and to keep our facilities running without a hitch 24×7, as your businesses rely more heavily than ever before on remote services held within data centres.

What’s next?

With the envelope now complete, we will be moving onto electrical works in the very near future. This includes both internal LV work, and external HV work.

On the lead up to this next phase beginning, we will be undertaking a wide range of tasks to bring other aspects of the project either to completion, or to a stage that makes their completion post-electrical works much more straight forward.

November 16, 2020 by Matt Seaton

Do you need a colocation centre to store your business data?

Every year, businesses collectively spend trillions of dollars on IT products and services worldwide. In fact, the global forecast for the sector reached $3.46 trillion for this year, which is quite a staggering figure.

All over the world, businesses have to make the right decisions in IT management every year. So how can you make the correct cost-effective moves that will truly protect your business?

Most businesses have basic IT needs such as affordable server space and server hardware.

If you’re looking for more in-depth options to manage your business data, here’s how and why a colocation centre might be the best solution for your organisation.

What are colocation centres?

Colocation centres, or “co-lo” data centres, contain enterprise data servers at a remote location away from your own business premises. This is a purpose-built facility designed specifically to house business data systems and infrastructure.

Your own IT technicians are then able to visit the site for any maintenance or updates, or use the facility operators in-house technical team to assist you remotely.

The transfer process

Your service provider may supply you with the physical server hardware, or if you already have hardware in place, you can choose from a variety of service packages for the space you need.

To find how much infrastructure you require, you will need to consider a variety of factors, including the power requirements for each of your servers. Your provider can help you understand what specification service you’d need to support your systems.

During this process, you should evaluate how much space and resources you need, both now and in the future. You may also want to take this opportunity to immediately upscale or downscale, since you’re now entering into the process of bolstering your technical capacity.

Common issues in business data management

For many businesses, server space is a limited commodity on-premise. This is especially true for small businesses that typically have smaller operations.

IT resources simply grow in proportion to the scale of large businesses. No matter how much building capacity your business has now, more data in the future tends to mean more space will be required.

Physical space is just one of the issues that many businesses run into when growing their systems. Overall costs for data solutions can grossly overtax a business’s financial resources.

Colocation centres are uniquely designed to hit both of these major pain points for business.

In general, a colocation data centre helps businesses centralise their data management and scale the space to their needs. This offers more flexibility, reliability, and predictability to help you achieve your operational priorities.

Maintenance and flexibility

Colocation data centres often function like managed IT services. Because of this, data service providers can conduct regular maintenance on your behalf. This can be a big cost saver, and reduces stress on internal technical resources that can spend more time on core business functions. This also reduces the in-house personnel required to perform maintenance.

However, you also have the option to manage your own hardware maintenance through your internal IT department if you choose.

Reliability

Choosing to make use of an outsourced colocation service provider will always offer you increased security and reliability over going in-house.

Colocation server hosting can be an alternative to cloud storage. Many organisations that made the leap to cloud services when they began taking hold a few years ago are now moving back to physical colocation services. This is because they offer greater value for money, decentralise the control of data from the large US cloud service operators, and allow for far easier compliance when it comes to data domicile and security.

Being able to point to your own server hardware, and make physical changes to it, has major operational advantages.

Predictable expenses

Operating costs for data management can become expensive over time. When businesses choose to manage their own IT needs the expenses typically include:

Electricity to power servers
Maintenance and equipment
Security
Data recovery
General overhead costs

Fortunately, you can reduce these expenses when you choose a colocation data centre. One of the best advantages to outsourcing your IT management is that providers offer services at predictable, contracted rates.

Breaking down monthly costs

For example, a proper colocation plan will show you exactly how much space your services will occupy. These spaces are typically measured in “rack units,” also labelled as a “U.” Units will be the first expense in your data management plan, usually coming with a monthly rate for the space.

There are also predictable monthly rates for power flowing to your servers and your network bandwidth.

Some providers may also offer additional consulting or hardware resources that may be included in your service free of charge. However, some may come at additional cost.

At any rate, the necessary expenses for colocation data centres are largely predictable and simplified. This allows you to anticipate the costs by tailoring your service to the specific needs of your business.

Unlike traditional IT management, you don’t have to worry about surprise costs. You simply pay for exactly what you need.

Find better business data solutions

The best advantage to colocation data centres is the fact that you can customize your service to the needs of your business.

Whatever your data management goals are, we’re here to help you achieve them with colocation solutions.

If you’d like to discuss your business data solutions, please get in touch with us by email, chat, or phone. We have some of the top award-winning locations in London to provide the safest environment for your data.

November 4, 2020November 4, 2020 by Matt Seaton

London East Build Blog – Weeks 27 to 29

We have three more weeks of fantastic progress on-site at NLE to report, as we rapidly approach completion of the internal envelope.

We’ve seen dramatic changes across the entire facility, as the raised access floor begins to be installed throughout the building, supplemented by ongoing works across a wide range of areas.

Weekly overview

We’re now beginning to see the finished floor surface in the technical spaces for the first time, following the top surface leak protection coating which has been applied to the first floor mezzanine structure.

Aside from the hanging of the internal doors and some cooling plant integration to the rear of each hall, the data halls are now essentially complete, ahead of the first items of equipment rolling into place next month.

Containment — Klik box, conduit and bulkhead installations have now begun across the entire facility

Lift Wall — The lift shaft wall has now been clad in MDF, which will serve as a backing surface for our double height green wall

Another view of the newly clad lift shaft wall, including some of the finishing trims

Alongside the mezzanine floor surface protection paint, which you can see above, we’ve also completely silicone sealed each room to complete the leak protection in each hall. The cold corridors in each hall will also have a full vinyl tank installed, as the areas which house the CREC units themselves.

We’ve begun lighting the facility with the final overhead LED panels, by temporarily wiring up each of the newly installed Klik boxes. The Klik system allows for rapid installation, along with enhanced control and functionality, including emergency lighting and PIR sensors.

Emergency exit pathways have begun to become more clearly visible in their final guise, with the installation of the emergency LED bulkheads that will light the way to the nearest exit once the facility is open to clients.

Quite a considerable amount of time over the past couple of weeks has been spent in the movement of materials from ingress to final point of use, as the second container of raised access flooring materials arrived with us (not photographed this time around). This has enabled the on-site trades to continue to work at pace as we approach finalisation on the internal envelope.

What’s next?

Works on the floors and access doors will continue into the beginning of November, along with some final finishing trims, which will take the envelope to completion.

The doors have already begun to go in, however we’re saving those shots for the next instalment of the blog, to give a clearer picture of the finished envelope.

Next time around, we’ll also be able to show the completed emergency exit gantry which is now installed at the rear of the facility, which gives a new emergency exit pathway to the rear of the first floor.

Our van is now also complete, but again we’re going to wait for a final detail on that before showing photos – so watch this space!

October 13, 2020October 26, 2020 by Matt Seaton

How to align colocation costs with business needs

Colocation services allow you to share the resources of a data centre with other businesses, without having to invest in your own private space. The cost of your organisational IT is something that you always have to consider.

As with any professional business service, choosing the cheapest option is probably a bad idea, however it’s important to explore all options to ensure you’re paying fair rates that provide solid value to your business.

Here are some things to think about when measuring and deciding on your colocation costs.

Aligning colocation costs with your needs

There are several benefits to colocation. Alongside the clear benefits, there are a number of factors that you’re best keeping in mind as you begin to explore such a service:

1. Make sure you choose the best colocation company

Focus on quality over everything else. If you find the best colocation company in your area, don’t let price be a serious deterrent unless they’re charging outrageous fees that strip the value out of the service.

Not every data centre is put together to the same high standards. With the build and ongoing operational costs of a data centre being so high, an immediate red flag during your enquiries would be a bargain discounted rate, which is either being used to hook you in, or is a sign of problems with the facility and/or it’s operation.

The best colocation companies in their industry set the market, so finding out what they charge will also give you an idea of the going rate. Get referrals to make sure that you’re choosing the most competent professionals with the highest quality infrastructure.

A few of the things that you’ll need to look for when taking a colocation service include network carrier and power delivery redundancy, service flexibility, a capable support team, and physical security measures that keep the critical infrastructure secure.

2. Shop for the right fee structure

Aside from the rates themselves, you should also consider a colocation operator that offers a payment structure that works for you. Colocation rates can often be billed very flexibly, from monthly, quarterly, annually, or even by the hour in some unique use cases.

You should also find out whether they lock-in the prices for the contract term or whether the contract is revised on different time frames.

3. Figure out which hardware you want to buy

Buying your own hardware is one way to fully align your costs to your needs. Some colocation companies can also organise leasing agreements for you to rent equipment as needed, if an outright purchase is not possible.

Leasing or renting kit is great for many reasons. For example, you don’t have to pay the full price for the equipment upfront, and only pay for what you need. Under this sort of agreement, you can get top of the line, brand new equipment based on a recurring monthly rate, rather than a full, upfront capital investment.

However, it’s worth noting that these agreements do require you to keep paying well after you’ve exceeded the value of the hardware. Depending on your needs, it might be better for you to buy your hardware outright, rather than paying for it each and every month.

This is especially helpful if you are able to get a good deal on some hardware by getting it on discount or refurbished. You’ll need to figure out what makes the most sense for your company and align those needs accordingly.

4. Assess the rack capacity

When you’re looking for server colocation services, you need to figure out how much rack space you need to house your equipment.

You’ll then be able to correctly specify how much space you need to house your kit, without over-committing to more (or less!) space than you need, which will keep the costs properly aligned with your requirements. You can then scale upwardly when it’s time to expand.

5. Pay attention to cyber security measures

Always educate yourself on the latest cyber security measures to keep your company well-protected.

Without question, cyber security breaches can end up costing you lots of money. A single breach can cost your company a lot to get back up and running, and even more in any relevant fines from controlling bodies.

Ask the colocation provider what kinds of security they have in place for you, and which areas will need to be factored in by yourself.

Many of these data centres also have emergency plans and policies laid out that will help stem the bleeding if you do happen to get breached. This saves you the time and money of having to figure things out on your own and also helps to eliminate mistakes.

Cost-effective colocation services

Handle your colocation costs with care and consideration, taking note of the tips above. By following these handy pointers, your company will have a greater chance of success in employing use of world-class colocation services.

We can help you with any of your colocation needs. You can get in touch with us online, or by calling 0845 430 9900.