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.

NLC closure and migration project

What’s next?

Related