Build Blog – One year on

When we began the lengthy design and build process for our new London Central data centre, we decided to start a comprehensive build blog which would track the progress made each week, including photographs of the changes and a short write up of what’s been happening.

This ended in July 2015, shortly after we soft-opened the facility to existing clients. From a technical standpoint, the facility was indeed ‘finished’, however we still had plenty of additions to make with regards to customer amenities. We officially launched the new facility in February 2016, after completing another run of works inside the data centre.

We posted our first build blog update in November 2016, which documented the overhaul of our much-loved Build Room for data hall one. We’re now almost exactly a year on from our official launch event, and so thought it would be a good opportunity to provide an update post that documents all the changes we have made over the past 12-18 months.

This photographic tour of the facility shows all of the key spaces in their current configuration, bringing the build blog fully up to date with the facility as it stands today.

NOC

Our NOC screens command centre stage in our open plan office.

Workstations

All workstations in our office now have a triple-screen setup.

Office

Our open plan HQ office has become a real hive of activity over the past 12 months.

Meeting Room

Our much-lauded meeting room is a real favourite with site visitors.

Meeting Room

Two large conference screens sit at the head of our Vitra board table.

Reception

Our reception now sports a sleek desk with custom white logo.

Reception

We have a new tube status readout screen above the main entrance, for the convenience of visitors as they leave.

Reception

A look up at the soaring atrium in the main entrance.

Customer Lounge

Our new Customer Lounge is very much a space that will evolve over the coming months, but it is already a uniquely interesting space that our customers love to use.

Customer Lounge

Our new Customer Lounge is very much a space that will evolve over the coming months, but it is already a uniquely interesting space that our customers love to use.

Customer Lounge

Our new Customer Lounge is very much a space that will evolve over the coming months, but it is already a uniquely interesting space that our customers love to use.

Customer Kitchen

Our dedicated customer kitchen, while still a blank canvas awaiting further work, is rarely pictured.

Customer Kitchen

Our dedicated customer kitchen, while still a blank canvas awaiting further work, is rarely pictured.

Electrical Intake

Our electrical intake room has had colour coding for both A and B sides applied, with further colouring to come soon.

Electrical Intake

Our electrical intake room has had colour coding for both A and B sides applied, with further colouring to come soon.

Showers

Our shower facilities received a full make over shortly after opening.

Build Room

Build Room 1 received a full overhaul recently, much to the praise of its users.

Build Room

Build Room 1 received a full overhaul recently, much to the praise of its users.

Build Room

The two workstations in Build Room 1 are always ready for customer use.

Data Hall 1

A look down the length of Data Hall One as it stands today, an ever-evolving modular space.

Data Hall 1

A look down the length of Data Hall One as it stands today, an ever-evolving modular space.

Data Hall 1

An alternative view of Data Hall One, this time from Row B/C.

Data Hall 1

A look at the new optical distribution infrastructure recently upgraded in Data Hall One.

We have additional improvement works scheduled for 2017, including additional perimeter fencing with razor wire and a man trap, the deployment of additional rack and cooling capacity in data hall one, as well as improved on-site amenities for both customers and staff.

Frank Pearson joins Netwise Hosting

We are very pleased to introduce you to the latest member of our ever-growing support team; Frank Pearson.

Frank

Frank Pearson

Frank is now a part of our critical out-of-hours support team, looking after customer support enquiries that come into the NOC overnight.

Digital security is where Frank excels, with a vast array of real-world experience to draw from in helping our customers with their support requirements. With work for the likes of Google on his resume, you know you’ll be in very safe hands if you happen to deal with Frank during a support case.

Frank is also an integral part of our internal development team, assisting with the build and execution of new systems and software solutions that benefit our customers on a day-to-day basis, with a keen focus always placed on security.

Our support team is growing, with additional operatives joining us over the next few months. Keep an eye out for further introductions coming soon.

London expected to break the 400MW supply barrier in 2017

London, Europe’s foremost colocation centre, is expected to surpass the 400MW supply milestone for the first time in 2017, according to the latest European Data Centre Marketview report from CBRE. This will make London the first European city to break through this barrier, as we head out of what has been a record-breaking Q3 of this year.

Total data centre supply across the ‘big four’ FLAP markets (Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam and Paris) has now reached 879MW, after a 20MW supply increase over Q3 2016. As an impressive indicator of growth here in the UK, 13MW of this 20MW total comes from London alone.

Graph credit: CBRE Research, Q3 2016

Graph credit: CBRE Research, Q3 2016

A big driver behind the growth in London is the opening of Telehouse North Two, which launches this winter. The Netwise Hosting team will be in attendance of the official launch event as we continue to build out our presence in Telehouse North and the campus as a whole.

Our London Central data centre continues to welcome new tenants as we head into 2017, as well as facilitating the impressive growth of our existing customers as they expand. We have additional pods coming online in the new year, which will ensure we meet ever-growing demand and operate as Central London’s leading independent data centre service provider.

Build Blog – Build Room 1 Update

Our last official Build Blog entry was in July 2015, shortly after the soft-opening of our facility to existing clients. That was nearly 18 months ago, and it’s fair to say that the facility has evolved fairly extensively since then.

Anyone that knows our data centres will understand our obsession with quality and progression, which permeates everything we design and build here at Netwise. As much as the build room for Data Hall 1 functioned perfectly well, it’s fair to say that we are not huge fans of plain white rooms. The inclusion of the sound system in September was of course a welcome addition, however the space was still lacking some imagination.

Build Room 1 now adheres to our new technical design direction, which will follow suit in Data Hall 1 in 2017. The space has 360 degree wrap-around checker plate cladding, and a newly inviting entrance to Data Hall 1 – giving a greater indication that you are entering the primary technical space inside of the facility.

The old white space masked up for painting

The old white space masked up for painting

First coat of paint on both wall and door

First coat of paint on both wall and door

The finished paintwork

The finished paintwork

The first of the check plate being installed

The first of the check plate being installed

A look at the more intricate corner detail

A look at the more intricate corner detail

A look across the build room as the checker plate reaches completion, with work benches re-positioned

A look across the build room as the checker plate reaches completion, with work benches re-positioned

The space returned to normal function, pending final orange accents

The space returned to normal function, pending final orange accents

The space returned to normal function, pending final orange accents

The space returned to normal function, pending final orange accents

The space returned to normal function, pending final orange accents

The space returned to normal function, pending final orange accents

February 2017 will mark our first anniversary since officially launching to the public. Check back here in late February for a special Build Blog post; one year on, which will detail all of the changes to the facility since launching.

Why choose London colocation?

Sometimes, you may ask yourself what the driving factor behind the critical importance of London as a colocation centre really is. After all, why not look into colocation options outside of the city, in the surrounding counties, or even further afar in a secondary market such as Manchester?

London data centre

The simple fact of the matter is that ISPs and colocation operators naturally gravitate towards centres of economic activity, where network density and commercial potential are at their strongest. In Europe, the most prominent hubs of this kind are London, Frankfurt, Paris and Amsterdam.

London and New York are currently estimated to be the world’s biggest retail colocation markets, according to TeleGeography, with each having at least 7 million square feet of gross data centre space. This of course makes London the largest in Europe – by a very considerable margin – over second place, Frankfurt in Germany.

Choosing colocation services in London means choosing to place your critical IT infrastructure in a location which lives and breathes excellence in global technology. Demand in the capital is high as carriers and service providers jostle for access in what is by far Europe’s most important technology hub. This in turn attracts a plethora of tech-start ups and international technology firms, who wish to call London home for their growing businesses.

London is arguably one of the best-connected cities in the world, with every major global carrier having a large presence here. By virtue of this, London is a vital artery between the USA, Europe and Asia – and being on-top of this pulsating technology centre provides you with the very best in connectivity, service and value.

As a consumer, your choice of service providers in the capital is dizzying – a luxury not found in many other metro-areas. Whether you require a single unit of colocation or your own private suite, there are a wealth of options available to you across the city.

Our private, bespoke London data centre is centrally located for easy access, yet remains outside the highly-congested City and Docklands areas. Additionally, our London Central facility is directly connected to both Telehouse North and Harbour Exchange / LD8, forming part of our own private high-capacity fibre ring. This allows us to combine best-in-class amenities with unrivaled Central London value.

We’d love to speak with you about your business requirements, and to tell you more about London as one of the world’s foremost colocation cities, so please do feel free to get in touch.