Colocation London – carrier neutral Tier 3 London data centre.

The data centre world tends to agglomerate. The big centres - London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Paris account for 85% of the European data centre market. For a London data centre it is important to offer a service to specific niches or market segments. Being a carrier neutral London data centre is important.. Also, for modern London colocation, Tier 3 standards are essential, as is conformance to the ISO27001 security standard. This article from Capacity magazine explores the world of the big data centre locations.

Voice was once something which stood on its own, with its own rules, technologies and people operating in specialist London data centres. Over the last ten years, the voice telephony industry has changed beyond all recognition as the technologies of delivering voice and the technologies of datacomms have merged. Voice still needs special colocation. London offers the best choice of specialist VoIP colocation for voice over IP applications. Many of the best London colocation providers for VoIP are the same as the original London colocation providers for TDM voice, as they have the best carrier connectivity. This magazine article from Network Communications News explains.

The announcement of a London colocation partnership between City Lifeline and Gamma Telecom excited great interest in the market. This article from Comms Business magazine features Gamma's delivery of a broad range of voice, mobile and data services. Gamma specialises in SIPP Trunks and the movement of on-site PBX functions to hosted solutions via voice colocation. London data centre capacity for Gamma's VoIP colocation is provided by London data centres. City Lifeline's London data centre is ideally placed to service Gamma's needs.

Why does a central London colocation data centre need backup generators to its backup generators?

The data centre and colocation industries are mission-critical. The consequences of a failure of electrical power to the electronic equipment a colocation data centre supports are severe. Generator systems are often specified and installed at N+1 or 2N, meaning there is at least one backup generator available in case a backup generator fails to work. So why doesn’t everyone else in mission-critical environments do that? Office buildings are nowadays often specified with backup generators, but rarely at more than N+0. London data centres are mission-critical, but if there is a failure it isn’t a matter of life-or-death. In a hospital such a failure really is a matter of life-or-death. People die on operating tables if the power stops and die in beds if dialysis machines stop. Hospitals don’t usually have N+1 generators, so why do London colocation data centres need them? Even Dealing Rooms don’t have such levels of support (although the trading platforms which are in London data centres do).
Is it just about marketing – the competitors say they have N+1 so we must have it too? Or to meet the requirement for Tier Levels? Is it really needed for mission-criticality? Or is it just fashion? Or perhaps it’s to guard against poor Facilities Managers who may not do the maintenance properly.
Consider Tier Levels. These are defined by a commercial organisation in the USA called the Uptime Institute which has copyright protection on the designation. They are highly US-centric and reflect US conditions. Texas, for example, has frequent hurricanes and tornados. Much power distribution is on overhead lines because of the distances involved. So long power outages are not uncommon. Florida has frequent lighting strikes (Tampa is often described as “the lightning capital of the world”, fairly or not) which can result in serious prolonged outages. Do specifications designed for such places have any place in a sophisticated and temperate environment like London? A London data centre is sometimes described as a place where power outages are rare occurrences and only fleeting when they happen.
That is not the experience of City Lifeline, a London colocation data centre, right in the heart of London. We experience a short outage, just long enough to start the generators, maybe once a year. But in May 2008, we had a 6-hour outage on one feed and an 8-hour outage on the other (when the Whiston Road substation in East London blew up). That was followed by an 8-hour outage on both feeds exactly two weeks later. In May 2010, we had a 16-hour outage on both feeds for reasons which were never explained. So the Utility providers should provide SLA’s, guarantees and compensation, right? They don’t. They provide power if and when they can. If they don’t, well that’s a pity but never mind.
Above all else, a London data centre must be reliable and offer reliable London colocation to its customers. Mains electricity, no matter where, is not reliable. So who would design a reliable London data centre system that depended on an unreliable supplier?
The answer to this is that a London data centre, whether a London colocation data centre or not, does not run on mains electricity. It runs on diesel generators and must be designed so that the backup generators always work. In other words, the backup generators are the primary source of power for a London data centre. Mains electricity is there because it is cheaper than running diesel engines (by a factor of about 2:1, assuming that it would ever be possible to get planning permission to run high-power diesel engines continuously in somewhere like central London). Mains electricity is the secondary source of power, sometimes referred to as the “economic alternative” which leads to the odd and counter-intuitive situation where the primary source of power only operates 0.1% of the time and the secondary source of power operates 99.9% of the time. But it has to be that way, because only the diesel generator source of power can be made to be reliable to the standard required for colocation in a London data centre.
That thinking also leads to an interesting result from the question “How many mains feeds are best for a London data centre?” Everyone will be familiar with the salesman who pushes the idea that his data centre has two or three or four mains feeds and is therefore the best because of it. But if the mains feeds are only the “economic alternative” and exist solely to reduce the data centre operator’s power costs, then why does it matter how many feeds there are? The data centre has to be designed to work continuously at 100% performance level with any or all or none of them working. So perhaps having one mains feed is just as good as having four, even if that is not what Marketing wants to hear.
A London colocation data centre does need backup generators to its backup generators. If the generators are the primary source of power – the one that can never be allowed to fail – then N+1 or 2N is necessary to guarantee the integrity of the power supply. Mains cannot be relied on. And Marketing requires it too – if the London colocation competitor down the road has N+1 generators, then the London colocation competitor which cannot match that will fall behind in its customer’s perception.

Roger Keenan is Managing Director of City Lifeline, an independent central London colocation data centre. This article is based on a presentation given at Data Centre World 2012.

Businesses know their critical equipment and data is secure

City Lifeline, the central London colocation data centre, has today been awarded ISO27001 Information Security Management Certification. This accreditation confirms that City Lifeline’s security systems and processes meet the highest recognized international standards for physical security and for information security.

Security, both of equipment operation and data integrity, is critical for all companies and organisations. When asked, organisations using data centre and colocation services consistently rate security as their number one priority. Internationally administered and recognized ISO27001 certification gives customers confidence that a data centre operates to the highest level of security and that it consistently delivers what it claims.

Commenting on the achievement, Roger Keenan, Managing Director at City Lifeline said: “We are thrilled to have been awarded the prestigious ISO27001 accreditation. Achieving ISO27001 took us over a year of hard work. All of our existing processes and procedures were reviewed and overhauled where needed and comprehensively documented. City Lifeline has always been strong on security and this new certification confirms that companies and organisations can trust and rely on us to keep their equipment and data 100% secure.”

ISO27001 is an internationally recognised certification which sets out specific physical and information security standards, which must be continuously maintained by those to whom it is awarded.

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About City Lifeline

City Lifeline is a leading independent carrier-neutral colocation data centre in central London. Lifeline House is situated in an ideal location, just outside the central London Exclusion zone, in the emerging Silicon Roundabout / Tech City district.

With some of the best connectivity in London, City Lifeline provides a secure, reliable and resilient home for telecoms, networking and server hosting. Its customers have access to the fastest, carrier diverse networks in the UK connecting across the world.

The data centre offers a first-class, flexible and personal service coupled with the security, reliability and engineering teams to match.

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

Gary Willison of CRITS is the competition winner! At the recent IPExpo 2012 exhibition, City Lifeline offered a prize in a random draw to promote the London data centre and City Lifeline as a London colocation provider. Each entrant had to answer three simple questions about colocation. London, and Earl's Court specifically, was the venue and the questions related to London colocation in particular. After the show, a random number generator was used to select the winner from amongst the many entries. Gary's was the entry it chose.

Here, Gary (right) is seen collecting the iPad prize from Roger Keenan, Managing Director of City Lifeline's London data centre. The scene is the newly refurbished Suite 111 common data centre rack area in the London data centre. Roll on next year's exhibition and the next London colocation iPad competition!

RedRaw Internet has been a City Lifeline customer for many years. The company was originally formed in 1998 to bring the internet to rural areas across the UK that traditional operators did not deem cost effective. As RedRaw grew, it looked for a colocation partner to house its technically advanced services, it wanted a carrier neutral London colocation provider that understood the data communication industries. City Lifeline's London data centre fitted RedRaw's requirements perfectly. This case study, published in the respected Datacentre Solutions journal, sets out why the City Lifeline London data centre fits ReRaw's operations so well.

This is the view coming into the main entrance at IPExpo 2012 in Earl's Court. What stands out above all else? Why, City Lifeline of course! Looking straight down one of the main aisles from the front, the thing visitors see first is City Lifeline's main statement - Reliable London Data Centre. Who could ask for more? The new stand design carries the strapline "A Data Centre for Communications .... in the heart of London" It attracted a lot of interest, a lot of give-aways were given away, a lot of interest in London colocation and City Lifeline as a London colocation provider and proved a major boost for the London data centre. Roll on next year's show!

Businesses struggling to find their way in data centres can gain valuable insight and advice from City Lifeline at IP Expo 2012

City Lifeline, the central London colocation data centre, has today announced its attendance at this year’s IP Expo – Stand C13. City Lifeline will be on hand to offer expert advice and a free hosting health check for businesses, and will be helping to navigate the Cloud computing minefield that businesses of all sizes are facing, with an on-stand survey.

Commenting on City Lifeline’s attendance, Roger Keenan, managing director, said: “This event provides a great opportunity for companies to garner advice and expert opinion on key industry topics, and discuss first hand the upcoming trends in colocation and data centres. We hope to encourage companies, especially smaller firms, to drop and speak with our resident experts. With Cloud computing and virtualisation becoming ever more prevalent, it has never been more important for vendors to explain and demonstrate the merits of each, and we want to help.”

Roger Keenan will be on the stand throughout the day to offer expert opinion and advice, and will be running a survey to find out how both public and private Cloud computing is perceived, as well as querying any obstacles that are currently standing in business’ ways.

The event takes place on 17 – 18 October at Earls Court 2 Exhibition Centre in London, and City Lifeline is featured at http://www.ipexpo.co.uk/City-Lifeline.

-ENDS-

About City Lifeline
City Lifeline is the leading independent carrier-neutral colocation data centre in central London. Lifeline House is situated in an ideal location, just outside the central London Exclusion zone, in the emerging Silicon Roundabout / Tech City district.

With some of the best connectivity in London, City Lifeline provides a secure, reliable and resilient home for telecoms, networking and server hosting. Its customers have access to the fastest, carrier diverse networks in the UK connecting across the world.

The data centre offers a first-class, flexible and personal service coupled with the security, reliability and engineering teams to match.

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

City Lifeline will be exhibiting at IPExpo in October 2012. Come and visit us on Stand C13.

We will be discussing our London colocation skills, particularly in relation to the communications industries, to voice and data communications and for general IT purposes. Cloud computing will be a major topic for this show, and the City Lifeline London data centre will be right at the centre of things. Come and visit us. Stand C13. Or just click the logo above to go to the site!