July 20, 2020July 24, 2020 by Matt Seaton

What is colocation, and how does it work?

As your business grows, so too will your IT-related needs. Instead of automatically choosing to house multiple private servers on-site (that take up lots of room and energy), you may wish to consider other solutions to this problem.

One possible workaround is colocation. So, what is colocation, and how does it work?

What is colocation?

Colocation is a way of housing privately-owned servers and networking equipment off-site, in a third-party data centre.

Instead of the traditional scenario whereby your business may have a separate office or basement area to keep your servers, your business can rent space in a third-party location to safely and securely house your critical IT equipment.

There are many examples of successful, high-growth enterprises choosing this option. Take, Catchpoint, Krystal Hosting, and EveryCity, as prime examples.

Why colocation?

In short, it’s a positive and cost-effective alternative to cloud-based systems and onsite storage. Colocation enables total control over your own servers and equipment, and you have the freedom to pick a location that is most convenient to you.

It also addresses the perennial problems that many UK businesses have: lack of space.

The European Office Outlook report found that businesses are increasingly using more flexible office space solutions. This includes taking space on a per-desk basis.

In situations like this, space is at a premium. As such, colocation offers a practical solution to server storage to meet this need.

The idea has grown in popularity in the UK, with anticipated industry growth of almost 7% between 2015 and 2020.

Not only that, but using a colocation service provides direct access to resilient, high-bandwidth connectivity, redundant power and cooling systems, top-level security, and excellent 24×7 technical support.

Data centres are a far more reliable option over housing servers on-site, because they offer greater protection across all areas of technical operation, something not found to the same degree in-house.

What about safety and security?

Colocation data centres are an extremely secure choice for your critical systems. Typically, there will be CCTV monitoring, biometric access control, uninterruptible power supplies, fire detection, and highly efficient cooling systems.

There will also be backup generators in the unlikely event of unforeseen area-wide power outages.

The right colocation centre will have a highly trained support team that offers technical assistance, security and surveillance 24/7/365.

With corporate and charity data breaches on the rise, finding a secure colocation centre for your data is essential.

In fact, the latest cybersecurity breaches survey for the UK showed almost half of businesses in the UK (46%) and a quarter of charities (26%) reported data breaches or attacks in the past year.

How does it work?

A good data centre gives its clients the choice of various flexible configurations that best suit their needs. One thing that colocation isn’t is a one-size-fits-all solution.

There are several space options available, whatever the size of your organisation:

1 Unit, 2 Unit or 4 Unit Colocation – 1U/2U/4U

These are individual rack units tailored to suit businesses of different sizes; it’s possible to choose or upgrade storage needs as the company expands. There are many package configurations available depending upon the number of units required.

The 1U option is seen as an “entry-stage” choice where your company installs a single server in a shared cabinet.

Quarter rack colocation and half rack colocation

Quarter rack colocation is ideal for smaller businesses or startups with smaller systems. This option offers 10U of colocation space in a private and locked cabinet.

Half rack colocation is a mid-range option, offering 20U of secure colocation space. It’s a perfect choice for businesses that are expanding or planning on expanding, and have larger deployments.

Full rack colocation

This is a 42U cabinet option; an entire rack dedicated to one business. It’s designed for companies with larger systems that need more room to grow. Full rack colocation also comes with higher power availability.

Is it cost-effective?

In short, yes it is.

Managing systems internally means businesses are responsible for any major or even minor expenses and variables. Not only does this take time, but it means recruiting new teams on top of employees who are managing daily business operations.

Will my business stay connected?

One of the biggest reasons businesses choose colocation at a data centre is because they guarantee you will stay connected. Their infrastructure means that you don’t have to invest in your own core network to accommodate your high-uptime requirements.

Colocation centres offer access to fully diverse, high-capacity networks, with direct connection capabilities to more than 500 service providers and carriers, and the best global routes and routing technologies.

Interested in colocation for your business?

We hope now having read this article, you now know the answer to the question: what is colocation?

If you’d still like to find out more, please feel free to contact our friendly team today.

If you’re interested in booking a free tour of our London data centres, get in touch. We look forward to speaking with you soon!

July 13, 2020July 13, 2020 by Matt Seaton

London East Build Blog – Week 13

What a transformation we’ve seen this week at the NLE data centre project. The main mezzanine is now in place, ready to receive walls, doors, raised floors and ceilings, which will form the data halls and all other technical spaces. The true scale of the build has now begun to show itself.

What was once an empty, blank canvas of a building is now well on its way to becoming our newest flagship London data centre.

Weekly overview

This week, we’ve had two teams on-site installing our new heavy-duty mezzanine system. This system was designed here in the UK by our structural engineering contractor, and manufactured in Sweden.

Quite remarkably, this structure went up in just 3.5 days. That’s the entirety of the steel work, and nearly 20 tons of surface boarding, in a little over half a week.

Delivery — The first of three articulated lorries arrive on-site from Sweden

Mezz — A look at some of the steel work awaiting installation in the front compound

The visual change on-site over the last five days has been incredible. This is set to continue, as we look ahead to the full envelope installation, which will present us with the final building layout.

What you’re looking at here is a 470 square meter mezzanine floor, designed to support 450 tons, but with a max design loading of around 700 tons.

This will be holding up the two first floor data halls, along with service corridors, build and breakout rooms, and a fully-featured DR suite to match that on-site at NLC.

The underside will house a further two data halls, plus our heavy plant and electrical switchgear rooms.

We couldn’t be happier with the outcome of this tranformative phase of the project, and while we are acutely aware of the work that still lays before us, we’re extremely happy to see such a major milestone reached.

Our time lapse camera has been running throughout this phase of the build, so we’ll be pushing out a quick cut of the process soon.

What’s next?

Next up, will be the walling and door / access installation, which will fully zone off each area. There may be a week or two of layover ahead of this installation, so there will be plenty more supplementary works ongoing throughout this time.

July 10, 2020July 20, 2020 by Matt Seaton

6 data centre migration mistakes and how to avoid them

When it comes to migrating a data centre, you can’t afford to make mistakes.

Data centre migration is something that businesses may need to undertake from time to time, for a variety of reasons, and with many risks involved. The migration process is complicated, because you have to transport a lot of critically important equipment, work with a number of different parties to ensure everything runs smoothly.

Although difficult, understanding what some of the common mistakes are and how to avoid them will let you better prepare. Preserving critical business data and getting a new data centre operating can be done without a problem.

Keep on reading to learn more about six common data centre migration mistakes, and more importantly, how to avoid them!

1. Lack of infrastructure assessment

One of the main things that goes wrong during a data centre migration stems from an improper initial assessment of infrastructure. When it comes to infrastructure, you need to thoroughly assess everything so you can move kit successfully. This includes things like knowing what you’re currently using and what you’ll need at the new location.

Taking a full inventory of what you have in place will help shape key decisions, not only in terms of what you’ll need to deploy at the new site, but also how this is handled to avoid any unnecessary downtime.

2. Unclear leadership

You must have a project leader. This isn’t something that should be overlooked. Unclear leadership will prevent your team from working effectively. There are many moving parts and variables involved in a migration task, so having someone with a top-down view to orchestrate things is critical.

Communication will play a major role in any successful migration process, so a project manager will help to ensure everything is running smoothly. They’ll keep track of everything and come up with solutions whenever the team faces a problem.

3. Lack of clear procedures

Alongside having a project manager, you’ll need to have clear procedures written out that everyone can follow. You should include step-by-step procedures for various tasks, including what equipment you’re taking and how best to move it.

This is something a project manager can come up with, but if you have a major role, you should also contribute your own know-how to the migration plan. If you happen to be the project manager, ensure that you’re thinking about all parts of the migration process so that you can include them in the detailed plan.

After making a list of procedures, make sure everyone has seen them ahead of time.

You’ll then need to enforce these procedures when you start migrating. Should someone fail to properly follow the procedures, you can give them a quick reminder of what they should be doing.

4. Not checking if equipment will fit

Before you start taking equipment to a new data centre facility, you need to check that it will fit. This is something that many people overlook when they start migrating and they find themselves without room for all of their hardware.

The best way to do this is to measure all of your equipment. You’ll also need to find if the new location’s elevators (if needed) can handle the weight of everything. Go to the new location, check out the hallways, and measure the size of the space you have available to you.

Buying new equipment before you’ve measured anything will run you the risk of wasting a lot of money. Always measure before you move anything or purchase something new. You’ll want to do this well before you start migrating so that you can make accommodations for issues in good time.

5. Underestimating the time required

Another thing that people drastically underestimate is how much time is required to migrate kit. Moving even comparatively small systems can take a considerable amount of time, particularly if not planned adequately in advance.

You’ll need to evaluate available manpower so that you can work around your team and migrate as quickly as possible. Consider assigning roles for the migration so that your team can handle various tasks at the same time.

If you come up with a data centre migration budget, you can prevent yourself from overspending or purchasing the wrong equipment. If you buy too many things, you can delay the migration process because you’ll have to try to send them back and get something new.

6. Lack of a backout plan

A backout plan is necessary for most things, especially when it comes to data centre migration. Should something happen that prevents you from migrating, you’ll need a plan that lets you change your strategy. This can be considered as a “Plan B,” typically centred around bringing everything back to your original location.

Whether you need to go to a new location or purchase new equipment at the last minute, these are things you need to consider when putting together a backout plan. Keep in mind that you should try to follow through with your original plan, the backout plan is just a last resort.

Now you’re ready for your data centre migration

Data center migration requires a lot of teamwork and coordination, so you can’t afford to make a mistake that will slow down the entire process. By understanding how to avoid these six mistakes, you’ll be better prepared to execute a successful migration.

We recommend starting with the creation of a suitable plan to follow with detailed procedures. From there, everything else will fall into place as you go through the process.

Get in touch with us today to learn about the expert assistance we can provide you in migrating your critical systems between data centres!

July 3, 2020July 3, 2020 by Matt Seaton

London East Build Blog – Weeks 11 and 12

A short-and-sweet instalment of the build blog this time around, as the real meaty content starts in anger from next week.

It’s been another fortnight of completion and tidy-up works across a number of areas at London East. This will be the final post of what has effectively been a prelude to the main build blog content, which will begin on Monday – the envelope installation process.

Weekly overview

We’ve spent time this past fortnight across a number of areas, to bring open tasks to their conclusion ahead of the main envelope installation. We’ve also spent time away from the NLE project, with ongoing maintenance and improvement works at NLC, and the finalisation of our new core node deployment at CLL.

Mezz 1 — A look at the finished lifting edge, now nosed in checkerplate, and pending the fitment of a protective mesh backing

Mezz 2 — Another look at the protective nosing now fitted to the storage mezzanine lift aperture

Mezz 3 — Contrasting top step nosing fitted to storage mezzanine staircase

We’ve now setup our permanent timelapse Go Pro rig to document the main mezzanine and containment envelope installation

As you can see, we’re fairly light on fresh visual content for NLE this time around, both in part due to the nature of the work, and also due to time spent on other projects in the past couple of weeks. This will all change in a very big way next time around, which we’re all very excited about.

What’s else has been happening?

In other news, much time has been spent back at NLC this past two weeks, across a number of areas. The bulk of the time has been spent finalising plans for the primary construction work to begin at pace next week; logistics mainly.

We’ve also completed other works outstanding at NLC, and finalised the commissioning of our new POP at CLL.

NLC Checkerplate — A view of the end-wall checkerplate installed to the rear of Row A, in Data Hall 1 at NLC

A view of our new core rack in CLL, containing the routing and MUX infrastructure for this location

CLL — A look at the top half of the core rack, showing a compressed version of our Supernode setup in THN, and still pending installation of the MUX hardware for all route options

A look at the containment pod we now occupy at CLL, which now also contains client systems delivered with on-net services

CLL — Our custom flight cases enjoyed an outing throughout this process

Busy times indeed for the team at Netwise, as we maintain ongoing growth and expansion like this across our estate, as works continue at NLE.

What’s next?

Next time around, we’ll be reporting back on progress of the main envelope build. We have two teams coming in from Sweden to undertake the first phase of the envelope, which will be the large mezzanine structure destined to contain all of the technical spaces in the new facility.

Drawing — A look at the ground floor data halls, with racks positioned temporarily for scale, pending final containment pod layouts, which are highly adaptable / flexible

We’re very excited! We hope you’ll share in the next few months of the build with us, which will be the most transformative of the entire process.

June 19, 2020June 19, 2020 by Matt Seaton

London East Build Blog – Weeks 9 and 10

Another two weeks of work are now in the books on-site at NLE. We’re now just two weeks away from the main mezzanine going in, which will house the technical side of the facility, including all four data halls.

This most recent fortnight of work has seen some of the open jobs complete – or at least reach near-completion – as we look to totally sign-off all preparation works before the large envelope construction begins.

Weekly overview

Focus remained on preparing our new loading bay and warehouse area on-site at NLE this past couple of weeks, along with time spent back at NLC completing some other necessary works and actions.

Our new loading bay, warehouse and workshop area is now complete (though still pending a final photo of the mezzanine end-capping in the final grey finish), which ties in with the visual language of the workshop and loading bay area at NLC.

We’ve also taken delivery of some more interesting items, including the turnstile for NLE, another forklift to join our growing fleet, and some of the main components of the UPS for NLE phase one.

We’re also able to share with you some new design drawings, which show the forthcoming mezzanine installation for the envelope portion of the build – an exciting look behind the scenes.

Warehouse 1 — Hung ceiling being installed to the underside of the storage mezzanine

Warehouse 2 — Detailed finishes being installed to the staircase hand rail

Warehouse 3 — A look at the detailed finishes to the top of the storage mezzanine staircase

Warehouse 4 — Custom-built access gate for lifting pallets up to the top level of the mezzanine

Warehouse 5 — A look from the loading bay up to the custom pallet access gate

Warehouse 6 — LED lighting being installed to the underside of the storage mezzanine, for illuminating the workshop area

Warehouse 8 — A wide view of the storage mezzanine from across the open space, showing progress on the shelving, workshop area and custom end-capping (final photo coming next time!)

Turnstiles — A look at the newly delivered turnstiles, to match the one found at the main entrance of NLC

Office 1 — The NOC workstations coming together, clearly showing the visual language of Netwise

Office 2 — A look across the NOC, as workstations are onlined

Office 3 — The 4K TV for the meeting room has arrived, which has helped with on-site meetings – pending sideboard installation to match NLC

What we hope comes across most clearly from photos of non-technical works is the extreme level of quality and attention to detail we’re carrying over to NLE. It’s a large part of what NLC is known for, and something we’re extremely proud to carry through to every aspect of our operation.

What’s else has been happening?

We’ve bought another new forklift!

Meet Linde V2. She’s been delivered to NLC to assist with the movement of some heavy equipment, including 17 tons of UPS and batteries which have now been shipped across Europe.

She will be heading over to join Linde V1 at NLE in the coming weeks.

We’ve also started installing some new checkerplate at NLC. The entry door to Data Hall 1 has been clad on both sides, with more to be installed inside the data hall in the coming two weeks.

Build Room CP 1 — The Build Room side of the DH1 door, now clad in custom-cut checkerplate

Build Room CP 2 — The Data Hall side of the door, clad in checkerplate to match

We’ll provide updates on the data hall installation of the same checkerplate as it goes in.

Envelope mezzanine design

We’re working with a number of design and build contractors for the steel work, along with a private building services coordinator, for getting our in-house designs realised – both initially in 3D, and in later in reality.

Here are a few early-stage output renders of the main mezzanine, showing the access staircase and open atrium that will also house the lift shaft.

Next time around, we’ll show you more of the containment for the data halls, as they’re coordinated into our master drawings.

We’ll be providing further insight into the design side of the build project over the coming weeks, as more of our area and system designs are coordinated into the master drawings.

What’s next?

In short, another fortnight of preparation works.

From 6th July, the main envelope works will begin in earnest, likely to take around two months to fully complete. While our contractors undertake this work, we will also be bolstering the perimeter compound fencing, to match the security standards found at NLC.