KDDI invests a further £135m into Telehouse’s London Docklands data centre campus

Telehouse International Corporation, one of the largest global data centre owner operators , is spending £135 million on a next generation mission-critical data centre to expand the leading network ecosystem in Europe. UK Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, Rt Hon Dr Vince Cable MP, said: “It’s good news that Japanese ICT company KDDI has decided to invest a further £135 million into their global data centre at the Docklands. Britain’s economy is growing thanks to Japanese investment and in 2013/14 they were the second biggest investor into the UK starting over 100 new projects and creating 3,000 new jobs.” The investment, in line with the UK Government’s policy of inward investment to encourage innovation, growth and new jobs, will enable businesses to take advantage of evolving technologies.

North Two will extend Telehouse’s Docklands data centre campus and represents a continued commitment by one of Japan’s largest ICT companies, KDDI Corporation. Over the last 25 years KDDI has invested over £272 million, with £172 million being invested over the last five years alone. This new investment represents the continued diversification and expansion plans of KDDI outside of Japan and provides the high tech infrastructure that will drive further investment in the UK’s technology sector at a crucial time of growth.

In North Two, Telehouse is building a New Site for a New Internet. From its foundation in the early nineties, the Internet today is an ecosystem which is continuing to evolve, impacted by the continued growth of Apps, Smart Phones and Tablets. PCs are used less and Cloud is a reality - 78% of all UK business has at least one Cloud service*. The creation of this New Internet means that Britain’s digital infrastructure must develop to meet its changing needs. This model is critical to UK companies, as consumers and business now expect IT to deliver outcomes rather than outsourcing.

North Two has been created with the New Internet in mind. It will house mission-critical infrastructure, which will enable the development of hybrid services for customers. Alastair Pooley, VP Data Centre Operations at Sophos agrees, “Sophos relies on a mixture of cloud and physical data centres to provide service to our customers. We believe cloud is key to our success but underpinning it are strong facilities where we can host our critical data on our own hardware platforms. I’ve used Telehouse as a hosting provider for over 15 years and they provide a solid facility with the best connectivity options in the UK.”

Telehouse’s Docklands data centre campus is already home to a high proportion of telecommunication carriers. Commenting on the carrier density and the Telehouse Docklands ecosystem, Tim Anker, Founder and Director of Colo-X, The Colocation Exchange Limited said, “Telehouse’s Docklands campus is the longest established and leading network system in Europe and forms a critical part of the UK’s, indeed the world’s digital infrastructure. The announcement of further capacity at Telehouse’s Docklands campus is important to ensure this vital network ecosystem can continue to expand and thrive to service the needs of the UK and Europe’s digital economy.”

North Two will be built next to Europe’s original data centre, Telehouse North; the first purpose-built carrier neutral colocation data centre in Europe. It will bring 23,134 square metres of floor space, taking the Telehouse Docklands campus overall footprint to 71,584sqm and Telehouse’s total presence in London to 73,395sqm. In Telehouse customers have an operator with a solid track record of over 25 years, longer than any other European provider.

Said John Souter, CEO of LINX: “This inward investment gives the Docklands campus the chance to build on its reputation as the hub of the Internet in the UK. What was once the most critical maritime port in the world is now one of the most connected places on earth. The Telehouse Docklands data centre campus already facilitates the majority of LINX capacity, and Internet traffic will inevitably grow, especially with the transition to 100G technology now underway. The vast majority of LINX's member-facing high capacity ports are in Telehouse. With such a huge proportion of all UK internet traffic flowing through LINX, this investment in the national critical infrastructure of the UK gives us great confidence.”

In answering the challenges of a New Internet, North Two sets a new benchmark for data centre design and build. Hiroyuki Soshi, Managing Director of Telehouse Europe comments, “The £135 million investment in North Two will be crucial to the expansion of one of the world’s most critical Internet hubs and, marks a new dawn for data centres. We believe that as the Internet continues to develop at such a dramatic pace, the underlying infrastructure in the Docklands must stay ahead to meet the needs of the future.”