// UK Grid´s December 2009 Newsletter

/ UK Grid Outlines Synergy House 2010 Expansion

After some extensive research of the Manchester data centre markets over the last 12 months, UK Grid has now finalised it’s expansion plans for 2010 with a new phase of Synergy House known as Synergy DC2. This will see the addition of a further 5000 sq ft of technical space for approximately 175 racks in Q2 2010. Following on from this phase, a further 6000 sq ft has been earmarked for Synergy DC3 in Q4 2010, further announcements on this will be made in the new year.

Pre-orders are currently being taken for space in both locations, please don’t hesitate to contact one of our account managers for further information on 0845 260 4743.

/ Environmental Update

UK Grid has been a pioneer in green measures within the data centre arena which has proven a success over the last 20 months in Synergy House. Cold Aisle Containment was implemented in Synergy House from day one (April 2008) coupled with blanking plate technology and energy efficient UPS systems. These methods allow UK Grid to operate at a PUE of <1.4 ensuring the facility is run at maximum efficiency and reduces UK Grid’s carbon footprint. Synergy House’s PUE is well below the UK data centre PUE average, and UK Grid is striving to reduce it further.

/ Virgin Media

Virginmedia formerly NTL:Telewest have announced they will be making Synergy House a node on their network this month. As Synergy House matures, it’s proving to be a popular hub for global carriers with the likes of Cogent Communications, GEO, BT, Level3, Neos Networks and TINet already present. Virginmedia will be offering it’s full range of services from within Synergy House.

The addition of Virginmedia to Synergy House is a welcome arrival, and gives UK Grid immense national reach over Virginmedia’s national Ethernet network. As companies continue to outsource their IT hosting to third party data centres such as Synergy House, Virginmedia makes for an excellent partner to facilitate this trend.

For further information on Synergy DC1’s carrier list please see our carriers page here http://www.ukgrid.net/carriers.shtml

/ IPv6

As part of our network expansion plans, we are starting the roll out of IPv6 on our backbone network and transit connections. The first stage of this work will be to upgrade our backbone routers to a specific version of IOS which will take place over the coming weeks. Maintenance updates will be sent in due course.

/ Christmas Operating hours

Our offices will be closed at 12:30 pm on Christmas eve and re-opening on January 4th 2010. Please follow the normal procedures for out of hours support/access and our onsite engineers will be available at all times to assist.

/ Merry Xmas

Lastly, all of the team at UK Grid would like to wish everyone a happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year and we look forward to working with you in 2010, Merry Xmas!!