August 29, 2024August 29, 2024 by Matt Seaton

Netwise to expand London East facility

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2025, data center, data centre, expansion, growth, new data centre, news

This month we’re very happy to officially announce the next major phase of development and expansion at our Netwise London East (NLE) data centre.

We’re facilitating this expansion by pushing into the adjacent building on the Datapoint estate, which sits alongside our existing four-hall facility. This will result in a single expanded facility housing six high-specification data halls.

Exterior — The new space will be a direct continuation of the design language already employed in the existing spaces at NLE

The initial fit-out phase began in July, with the main internal schedule of technical works set to begin in early 2025. This project will expand NLE by 168 racks, increasing the total internal area of the building by around 13,000ft².

The new building is being fully refurbished – both inside and out – following the departure of the previous occupants, ahead of the main work schedule which will start thereafter.

Interior — The new space will house an additional 168 racks, across two data halls, alongside a range of other client and staff amenities

This is our first major step towards developing NLE into a campus-style facility, which spans multiple buildings on the same estate. The two units will become a single operational building, with multiple pass-through points for clients and staff, as well as for the sharing of core services.

Alongside the additional rack capacity, this new space will also introduce further amenities and technical features, including increased capacity for staff, a second loading bay and storage area, more on-site parking and EV charging, as well as improvements to our water handling capabilities.

There will also be flexible space held for future use, which will provide additional service options for potential wholesale customers, for things such as private on-site NOC capabilities.

"This represents another seven-figure investment by Netwise in its own future, and the future of its clients. To be announcing this level of growth at NLE only a couple of years after the first clients moved in is something we're very proud of; it's a testament to the strength of this sector, and our own position within it."

Matt Seaton, Director

The uptake of services at NLE has been extremely impressive since it soft-opened in the spring of 2022, with the phased fit-out schedule just keeping pace with demand. The current building now has three of the four data halls deployed. The final hall in this building is scheduled to be online by the end of 2024.

The two new halls coming as part of the facility expansion project will be larger than the halls in the current building, housing 84 racks per hall at maximum rack density – a 33% increase per hall. These new halls will house three containment pods each, giving greater scope for private space options.

In June, the Netwise London Central (NLC) facility officially closed, having served clients for 10 years. The forthcoming expansion at Netwise London East would become one of the main driving factors behind the decision to shutter NLC, as many core components within the site reached end of life.

The large seven-figure reinvestment required to adequately refresh NLC has instead been diverted to the new facility, which has the forward-looking scope to springboard Netwise into the next phase in its growth cycle.

Matthew Butt, Managing Director, and Matt Seaton, Director, stood outside of NLC on the day of its final closure, after a decade of active service

The NLE expansion comes as Netwise continues to welcome an exciting range of new clients into its facilities, as well as facilitating the growth of its long-standing customers.

"We always knew that we'd be expanding NLE in time, to facilitate our growth trajectory, however to be at that stage already is a tangible demonstration of our performance and reputation in this industry. I'm very excited by this next phase, particularly as we come out the back of the NLC closure, which required considerable care and attention."

Matthew Butt, Managing Director

The expansion of NLE will bolster our position as a leading data centre operator in the high-demand East London / Docklands region, as we further the already significant investments made in our flagship facility, which has been in operation since mid-2022.

While finer details of the technical plans are still expected to develop over the closing months of 2024, the overarching plans are already locked in, and can be discussed with interested parties that may be looking to utilise bulk space in the new side of the facility.

The Netwise team cannot wait to show you around the new side of the facility as it develops. And as always, the #buildblog will be back in action, documenting the entire build process, so be sure to keep an eye out for new posts.

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.

November 3, 2023November 3, 2023 by Matt Seaton

London East Phase 2 Development Update 4

We’ve been reasonably quiet with the #BuildBlog of late, with focus squarely on the deployment of additional capacity at London East, leaving little room for deep dives into progress (unfortunately!).

But we’re now back with this latest instalment, as we begin tracking progress on Data Halls 3 and 4.

Looking back on our last instalment of the build blog, Data Hall 2 was still very much under construction. This space is now fully fitted out as a private data hall for a single client, and is now under occupancy.

We’ve also got plenty of other updates to report across a range of areas within our London East facility, thanks to an ongoing development programme which extends beyond footprint capacity alone.

Let’s move onto the update photos. This first set were actually taken back in June, however the next instalment of the build blog ended up getting significantly delayed, so here they are:

This was the view across Pod 1 in Data Hall 2, as of June 2024

The view across the Pod 2 footprint area, again in June — The view across Pod 2, again in June 2024

This is the B-side ODF in Data Hall 2 being pre-staged in the summer — This is the A-side ODF in Data Hall 2 being pre-staged in the summer

The view across to ODF B, as works continued in Data Hall 2 this summer

The checker plate bash protection was also fitted to the perimeter of Data Hall 2 around this time – this is the view of ODF A being pre-staged

Pre-staging the ODF enclosures allows for a speedier fit-out once the cabling process begins

ODF — Some of the control system cabling is being run overhead here

ODF — A view across Data Hall 2 as pre-containment works conclude

This view of LV Room B shows another UPS being rolled into place, ready to support Data Hall 3 in the near future

Here we see the A-side ODF in Data Hall 2 with some initial flood cabling underway, prior to termination – these are management cables, responsible for things like monitoring systems and CCTV

CREC HMI — This is the internal view of a CREC control system unit, with the front cover and control screen removed, as internal terminations conclude ahead of commissioning

General — Data Hall 2 just prior to having the racks and containment rolled in for assembly

DH2 — We jump forwards slightly here, to a view across the now assembled Pods 1 and 2 in Data Hall 2 – this is taken from the rear of the hall, showing the custom layout for this client (the reasons for which will become clear further down in this post)

Now we can catch up in time to where things stand today, with the next run of photos from the past couple of weeks – apologies for any gaps in progress, we’ve been very busy!

DH2 — Here we see Pod 1 inside of Data Hall 2, which is now handling live services

DH2 — This is a custom, installed-to-request workbench area for the private tenant of Data Hall 2, which sits behind the shortened Pod 2

DH2 — Having access to your own private data hall allows for additional deployment options, such as these storage cabinets for spare components

DH2 — This view across to Pod 2 in Data Hall 2 shows the inter-pod cable ladder in place, which is now handling active connections for this tenant

DH2 — This is a view of both live pods in Data Hall 2, ahead of some final finishing touches, such as the pod door vinyls and some custom lighting options as selected by the client

DH1 — Here we see the rear of Row D in Data Hall 1 – the next wave of racks will be deployed as part of Data Halls 3 and 4 in Q1 2024; we now have very limited availability, so get in touch early if you need assistance with space

Here are the CRECs in place for Data Hall 4, including all of the custom containment and blanking for the additional unit positions, matching the design for Halls 1 and 2

Having additional UPS systems in pre-staging will speed along the deployment time for Halls 3 and 4

This view inside of LV Room A shows one of the newly arrived UPS systems undergoing some staging works, with internal access granted via removal of a side panel

Loading Bay — Our loading bay has had some storage upgrades, including this full-height pallet racking wall, which has been loaded up with components to form part of our future expansion phases

We’ve developed a custom storage solution for our APC PDUs, with some of our on-site stock shown here making use of this new hanging system

Roof — We now have direct internal roof access, via this custom hatch, which has a detachable ladder system, for easy and quick personnel access to the roof for inspection of our hot air escape routes

Recycling — Each floor now has a dedicated waste handling area, allowing clients to dispose of both general waste and recyclables with greater ease

All toilets within the facility now have Dyson hand dryers, something we have carried across from our London Central facility – these are on backlit standoffs for an added luxury finish

Check In — Our custom check in system has now been live across both of our facilities for a little while, with the introduction of our new QR code system – this has been performing well for clients, representing a massive improvement over the previous system

Reception — Our reception area now has the same Naturewall cladding as our Build and Break Area, and as found in some other common areas, to continue through this visual motif

As you can see, despite the delay in getting this build blog instalment posted, we’ve been rather busy.

We’ll continue to get our head down with development work on the run up to the new year, as demand for our services remains exceptionally high. We hope to have another update prepared for our avid readers in the next couple of months.

We also have some further news on the horizon with regards to continued expansion, which we hope to be releasing early next year. Needless to say, we’re very excited for what 2024 will bring.

June 15, 2023June 15, 2023 by Matt Seaton

London East Phase 2 Development Update 3

Progress continues with Phase 2 development works at Netwise London East (NLE), as we head into the warmer summer months.

Data Hall 2 is approaching completion, which will be another fantastic milestone to reach in the total development journey of our newest facility. There have been solid advancements made in all aspects of the Data Hall 2 roll-out, with the most notable being the progress made on power and cooling infrastructure.

As before, we’ll keep things brief, and move straight onto the progress shots:

Containment — Here we see the underfloor electrical containment starting in Data Hall 2

Cabing — As with Data Hall 1, the underfloor power for racks in this space is deployed using several kilometres of cabling, to mounted underfloor commando sockets

Work Room — The first floor store room has been acting as our development side office, providing a space for site meetings, plans, and all other items necessary for a project on this scale to move ahead successfully

Further to the visual updates above, the supplementary / backup air conditioning system is also nearing the point of commissioning, with the pipework installation underway, following the same routes as with the system for Data Hall 1.

Once Data Hall 2 is livened up in terms of the power delivery system(s), the full commissioning works for the primary and secondary cooling systems can begin, which will bring the room to the point of safe occupancy (pending the fitout of the containment Pods, of course!).

We’ve been extremely pleased with progress on-site in the last few weeks. One thing that continues to shine through above all else is the quality of the work, which is something we and our clients alike have come to expect from a Netwise data centre. Every detail is carefully considered, resulting in a truly remarkable facility that we can be proud of for many years to come.

Working Phase 2 around an already active data centre has added additional challenges, not felt during Phase 1 (whereby the site was unoccupied by client deployments). While none of the works undertaken as part of Phase 2 pose any risk to live client services, there are many considerations to bear for enabling continued client access while many areas of the facility are being actively worked on.