Carrier neutral Central London colocation Tier 3 data centre for server hosting

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Angela Woodward / Donna Bennett
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New survey reveals fears of double-dip recession will not stop IT spending next year

12 November 2010 – Over three-quarters of IT managers (86 per cent) will continue spending on IT services and equipment next year, despite the threat of a looming double-dip recession and recent spending review, according to a survey conducted by City Lifeline at this year’s IP Expo.

When questioned, 74 per cent of IT managers also claimed they are prepared to spend between five to ten per cent extra on purchasing green IT equipment and services. The survey, conducted over two days at the IP Expo exhibition, interviewed just over 100 IT managers from both the private and public sector.

Roger Keenan, managing director at City Lifeline comments, “It’s really encouraging to witness a positive outlook on the subject of IT spend for 2011. Many of the IT managers we spoke to realise the value of investing in the latest IT advancements to ensure their organisations remain competitive during what are still quite difficult times.

“IT managers also clearly see the long-term benefit of investing in green IT and are prepared to spend more on green technologies as they know they will save money over time by using more efficient equipment and services. Plus, many of the IT managers we spoke with are being encouraged by senior management to be green either for CSR or financial reasons.”

City Lifeline’s survey also revealed that 57 per cent of IT managers rate security as their top priority when selecting a data centre, followed by price (14 per cent) and a good choice of network and telecoms providers (12 per cent).

Respondents were also asked if they would be tempted to locate their critical equipment in a remote location to save money. Nearly two thirds were concerned that connectivity and security would be adversely affected if they located equipment remotely; with 26 per cent of this group saying they wouldn’t even consider operating their equipment in a remote location, such as Northern Scotland or Iceland.

All respondents were automatically entered into a prize draw to win the latest iPod Nano. Following the exhibition City Lifeline held a draw and awarded the new iPod Nano to Ms May Phoon, database and ICT officer at Bond, a UK membership body for non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working in international development.

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Notes to editor

City Lifeline interviewed 102 IT managers at IP Expo at Earl’s Court on 20-21 October 2010. Full details of the questions asked and any further information regarding the survey can be requested from Ascent PR.

About City Lifeline
City Lifeline is the leading independent carrier-neutral colocation data centre in central London. With some of the best connectivity in London, City Lifeline provides a secure, reliable and resilient home for telecoms, computer and server hosting. Lifeline House is situated in an ideal central London location with a wide choice of carriers connecting across the world. The data centre offers a first-class, flexible and personal service with the security, equipment, plant, services and engineers to match.

For further information about City Lifeline visit: www.city-lifeline.co.uk

City Lifeline customers who came to the Christmas Party last year will remember The Prophet – a most excellent bar and restaurant in Shoreditch that we took over for an evening of fun, drinks and the ability to encourage customers to talk to each other and to the City Lifeline staff and directors about colocation in London and related issues. Some months later, The Prophet and the rest of the entertainment complex it was in caught fire and burnt down. We always hoped this was nothing to do with the City Lifeline customers or staff (it was a good party, but it wasn’t that wild), and the subsequent investigation showed it was all down to one IKEA candle. The article below is from the London Evening Standard (whose copyright is acknowledged).

It started with a kiss: moment of passion led to £40m City fire

It was a huge inferno that engulfed the City in thick smoke and took more than 100 firefighters to put out.

But the blaze at Sosho nightclub in Shoreditch that devastated several buildings and caused an estimated £40 million of damage was today blamed on an innocent kiss.

The fire in March reduced the night-club and neighbouring private members’ club The East Room – which had a combined turnover of £5 million – to blackened shells. Jonathan Downey, owner of both clubs, today told how the blaze that was caused by an Ikea tea light could have been prevented if it were not for a couple kissing in one of the booths. CCTV footage shows how a waitress lighting candles at the club at 6pm refrained from lighting one of them because of the couple.

She returned to light it half an hour later, but at the end of the night it was forgotten about.

All the other eight-hour candles had gone out by closing time at 2am; however the one candle remained alight.

After watching the fire take hold in real time on the CCTV, Mr Downey said: “We realised the reason the waitress couldn’t light the candle at the same time as the others was because she couldn’t get into the booth because she didn’t want to disturb the couple who were having a snog.”

The fire needed 20 engines to put it out and brought nearby City Road to a standstill. By about 5am it had spread across four floors and the neighbouring buildings. No one was injured. Six months after the fire, insurance company Royal Sun Alliance has not paid out, leaving Mr Downey tens of millions of pounds out of pocket.

The entrepreneur, who owns several bars and clubs across the capital including Milk and Honey, plans to reopen The East Room by Christmas at a site nearby. He said: “Even though the cause of the fire is clear, even though it’s on CCTV and even though it’s exactly what you have insurance for, they’re refusing to pay it at the moment.”

A spokesman for Royal Sun Alliance said: “Based on the information given to us so far we do not believe there was insurance cover in place.”

New survey reveals fears of double-dip recession will not stop IT spending next year

2 November 2010 – Over three-quarters of IT managers (86 per cent) will continue spending on IT services and equipment next year, despite the threat of a looming double-dip recession and recent spending review, according to a survey conducted by City Lifeline at this year’s IP Expo.

When questioned, 74 per cent of IT managers also claimed they are prepared to spend between five to ten per cent extra on purchasing green IT equipment and services. The survey, conducted over two days at the IP Expo exhibition, interviewed just over 100 IT managers from both the private and public sector.

Roger Keenan, managing director at City Lifeline comments, “It’s really encouraging to witness a positive outlook on the subject of IT spend for 2011. Many of the IT managers we spoke to realise the value of investing in the latest IT advancements to ensure their organisations remain competitive during what are still quite difficult times.

“IT managers also clearly see the long-term benefit of investing in green IT and are prepared to spend more on green technologies as they know they will save money over time by using more efficient equipment and services. Plus, many of the IT managers we spoke with are being encouraged by senior management to be green either for CSR or financial reasons.”

City Lifeline’s survey also revealed that 57 per cent of IT managers rate security as their top priority when selecting a data centre, followed by price (14 per cent) and a good choice of network and telecoms providers (12 per cent).

Respondents were also asked if they would be tempted to locate their critical equipment in a remote location to save money. Nearly two thirds were concerned that connectivity and security would be adversely affected if they located equipment remotely; with 26 per cent of this group saying they wouldn’t even consider storing their equipment in a remote location.

-ends-

Notes to editor

City Lifeline interviewed 102 IT managers at IP Expo at Earl’s Court on 20-21 October 2010. Full details of the questions asked and any further information regarding the survey can be requested from Ascent PR.

About City Lifeline

For further information about City Lifeline visit: www.city-lifeline.co.uk

People talk about the different ways of spelling colocation. Microsoft Word defaults typing the word “Colocation” into “Collocation”. So what is Collocation and why is it there?

Collocation is a word used in linguistics, not in data centres. Microsoft Word was specified by linguists, not computer or communications data centre operators. So Collocation is important to them. Colocation isn’t.

Collocation is a specific combination of two words used together for a unique meaning. An example of collocation is the different adjectives used to describe a good-looking man and a good-looking woman. We talk of a beautiful woman and of a handsome man, but rarely of a beautiful man or a handsome woman.

(It is quite possible, in fact, to describe a woman as handsome. However, this implies that she is not beautiful at all in the traditional sense of female beauty, but rather that she is mature in age, has large features and a certain strength of character. Similarly, a man could be described as beautiful, but this would usually imply that he had feminine features. Calling a man pretty is most often done as an insult.)

In another familiar example of collocation, we talk of high mountains and tall trees, but not usually of tall mountains and high trees. Similarly a man can be tall but never high (except in the sense of being intoxicated!), whereas a ceiling can only be high, not tall. A window can be both tall or high, but a tall window is not the same as a high window. We get old and tired, but we go bald or grey. We get sick but we fall ill. A big house, a large house and a great house have the same meaning, but a great man is not the same as a big man or a large man. You can make a big mistake or a great mistake, but you cannot make a large mistake. You can be a little sad but not a little happy. We say very pleased and very tiny, but we do not say very delighted or very huge. And so on - there are endless examples of this kind of difficulty!

The problem for the learner of English is that there are no collocation rules that can be learned. The native English speaker intuitively makes the correct collocation, based on a lifetime’s experience of hearing and reading the words in set combinations.

This doesn’t really have much to do with colocation or data centres, but there’s hours of fun to be had with it. For example:

• What is the difference between a high window and a tall window?


• Choose the most usual collocation:
  • strong tea / powerful tea
  • a strong car / a powerful car
  • a strong computer / a powerful computer
  • a strong drug /a powerful drug
• The opposite of strong tea is weak tea. What is the opposite of strong cigarettes, a strong wind, a strong smell?


• What is the usual way of describing someone who smokes a lot?
  • a big smoker
  • a strong smoker
  • a hard smoker
  • a heavy smoker
  • a furious smoker
• Someone can be very tired, but not very awake or very asleep. What do we say instead?


• What is the opposite of sweet wine?


• Which of the following are the usual collocations?
  • completely beautiful
  • incredibly beautiful
  • absolutely beautiful
  • extremely beautiful
  • totally beautiful
  • utterly beautiful
  • thoroughly beautiful
• The following collocations are incorrect. Can you sort them out?
  • to get in a building
  • to get on a car
  • to go in a ship

With thanks and acknowledgement to Paul Shoebottom at the Frankfurt International School http://esl.fis.edu for permission to use most of the above.