Equinix, the global interconnection and data centre company, has officially opened the doors of its new International Business Exchange (IBX) data centre at its London Slough campus. The new £90M high performance data centre – named LD7 – forms part of a wider £295M investment from Equinix into the UK’s digital infrastructure throughout 2018/19. The site will provide interconnection and colocation to support businesses with their IT transformation initiatives.
This significant investment in the UK’s digital infrastructure, further supports London’s continued position as a major global financial hub, and one of the leading cities for business, regardless of the outcome of the ongoing negotiations around Britain’s decision to leave the European Union. The move to open this latest data center from Equinix has already been acknowledged by the UK government as a major vote of confidence in the UK economy.
LD7 marks Equinix’s 12th IBX in the UK and supports the increased demand for interconnection bandwidth – the capacity to directly and securely share data between businesses – from UK enterprises that want to gain a competitive business advantage in the continually evolving digital economy.
Each of these data centres are built on Platform Equinix which is comprised of more than 200 data centres in 52 markets globally. Including current expansion projects, Equinix will have invested over $1.2 billion to build and expand its presence in the London metro area.
This latest data center from Equinix further substantiates the company’s long-term commitment of using 100% clean and renewable energy, as it has been purposefully designed to have an energy-efficient foundation. Energy efficiency will be achieved at the site with the aid of an innovative chilled water system in combination with an Adiabatic heat rejection system. This will contribute to LD7 having lower energy consumption and a smaller carbon footprint than other facilities of its kind. As a result, the LD7 data centre will be built to LEED gold certified standards
The new LD7 data centre will enable customers to interconnect securely with 1,000+ businesses in London including leading capital markets participants, insurers and electronic payments firms, as well as 200+ network service providers and 275+ cloud and IT service providers. LD7 will add 1,750 cabinets in its initial phase and expand to over 1,625 cabinets at full build.
Russell Poole, managing director UK, Equinix, commented: “We are still seeing significant customer demand in London, as enterprises look to increase their business offering through implementing IT infrastructures that are able to keep pace with the continually evolving digital landscape.
“London has maintained its position as one of the most important connection points in the world, despite the ongoing Brexit negotiations, and this new data centre will be a welcome addition to our burgeoning London Slough campus, while also supporting the rollout of 5G in the UK. As one of the most technologically advanced data centres in the world, LD7 is also set to raise the bar for sustainability in the data centre industry, which is very important to us.”
