UK Grid Enables Manchester to AMS-IX Networks

Monday, 19th of September 2011, Manchester, UK
AMS-IX, IX Reach and UK Grid have today announced details of a collaboration to enable customers in the North of England to connect directly to the Amsterdam Internet Exchange AMS-IX from UK Grid’s carrier neutral datacenter, Manchester One @ Synergy House.

The three-way partnership has been formed to facilitate immediate peering and connectivity to 457 connected AMS-IX customers from UK Grid’s Manchester One @ Synergy House data centre. This makes Manchester One @ Synergy House - the first datacenter to be ‘AMS-IX Enabled’ under the new program being launched by AMS-IX.

Being ‘AMS-IX enabled’ allows UK Grid to offer their customers direct point to point Ethernet connections into AMS-IX using IX Reach’s pre-configured International capacity between Manchester and Amsterdam.

The partnership with IX Reach allows any network present in Manchester One @ Synergy House - to connect to AMS-IX in a very cost effective way with capacity readily available starting from 100Mbps and up to multiple 10Gbps. IX Reach provides an SLA that guarantees 24/7 monitoring and maintenance of each connection they provide to AMS-IX via their UK based Network Operations Center (NOC).

“Manchester is a fast growing city in Northern Europe with continuous influence in the telecoms market which makes it one the key cities that has captured our attention so we are very pleased to be partnering with AMS-IX and UK Grid to offer our signature cost effective solution to connect AMS-IX to all the existing networks in the North of England” said Monica O’Meany, CEO of IX Reach. “We have been a partner of AMS-IX for many years and have multiple International customers who use our streamlined and straight forward approach to access one of largest Internet Exchanges in the World.”.

Cara Mascini AMS-IX Chief Marketing Officer said, “With over 450 Internet related companies connected, AMS-IX provides unique peering possibilities beyond borders. For customers taking just one connection at UK Grid’s datacenter, the AMS-IX route server ensures that over 300 parties can potentially be reached from day one by only one peering session. When entering new regions it’s vital for AMS-IX to work with partners that can deliver on quality and service and it’s a bonus when we find a collaboration of parties who complement each other - UK Grid and IX Reach fit the bill perfectly.”

Now offering private connections to AMS-IX, UK Grid’s Manchester One datacenter is a carrier neutral facility offering Tier III SLA’s. The datacenter provides collocation solutions within 25,000sq ft of datacenter space and recent expansion has delivered capacity for up to 300 further racks.

Rob Garbutt, UK Grid CEO comments, “This is exciting news for both UK Grid, British interested networks and our customers. UK Grid has always placed high value on strong relationships with reputable and proactive partners such as IX Reach and AMS-IX to deliver business class solutions to our own clients. Again we’ve shown that through these partnerships we can continue to be a pioneer in the collocation market place.”

From today, AMS-IX connections can be delivered directly to UK Grid collocation client equipment via single cross connects via IX Reach equipment.

About AMS-IX
AMS-IX - Amsterdam Internet Exchange - is a neutral and independent Internet exchange based in Amsterdam-The Netherlands since the early 1990’s. AMS-IX has more than 450 Interconnected global networks and traffic peak of over 1300 Gbps (1.3 Terabit per second), making it one of the most diverse and largest Internet Exchanges in the World. The AMS-IX platform provides a professional, high quality, non-blocking peering services for all types of IP traffic, be it regular IP data such as e-mail or web content, to also video/TV and voice. AMS-IX additionally hosts the first mobile peering point worldwide, the Global GPRS Roaming Exchange (GRX) and the Mobile Data Exchange (MDX) and the first interconnection of IPX networks (Inter-IPX).

More information on: http://www.ams-ix.net

For more information about AMS-IX, please contact AMS-IX marketing:
Tel: +31 20 305 89 99 Fax: +31 20 305 89 90
E-mail: pr@ams-ix.nethttp://www.ams-ix.net

About IX Reach
IX Reach is a Telecoms company that specializes in creating tailored solutions, offering a full range of network connectivity services, data center collocation and enterprise IP products. Our international network extends to cover over 25 major cities in Europe and America. IX Reach’s aim is to help customers to extend their network footprint quickly and cost effectively so that they can connect to International Internet Exchange points in a fast, flexible and reliable way. We deliver traffic from anywhere to anywhere so that all network operators can benefit irrespective of size and location. For more information please email enquiries@ixreach.com or visit our website www.ixreach.com

About UK Grid
UK Grid provides carbon neutral, carrier neutral collocation solutions across four data centre facilities in London and Manchester. With over 300 clients and 75,000sq ft total data center space, this makes UK Grid one of the largest independent collocation suppliers in the United Kingdom. UK Grid offset all CO2 emissions through environmental projects, are members of the Green Grid and are certified to ISO27001, IS09001 and ISO14001. UK Grid were named in the UK’s top 10 fastest growing technology companies by Deloitte (Fast 50). For further information please contact sales@ukgrid.net, call 0845 260 4743 or visit www.ukgrid.net

UK Grid Data Centres Selected to Bring 6PS Corporation Brands to the UK Market

UK Grid Data Centres Selected to Bring 6PS Corporation Brands to the UK Market

Manchester, August 22nd 2011 - UK Grid, providers of carrier neutral data centres and colocation solutions throughout the UK, today announced that it has signed contracts with 6PS to colocate their UK server platforms within the UK Grid owned ‘Manchester One @ Synergy House’ data centre in Manchester.

6PS Corporation is an international web hosting and IT services company operating a number of brands in different markets and languages aimed at maximising efficiency and effectiveness by standardising operations through a number of products and brands. These brands encompass products such as hosting services, dedicated servers, cloud computing solutions and creative online web development and marketing services.

Jamie Whittingham,6PS Co CEO comments; “6PS has been looking to enter the EU market for quite some time. We have looked at a number of different data centers and decided to go with UK Grid for several reasons;

They are on our door step, reducing call out wait times for our tech’s to arrive onsite.

The price was right. Pricing in the UK is very different than in the USA. We were able to agree on a great solution at a price that suited both parties.

We experienced a friendly, easy to work with, “can do” attitude from UK Grid. The staff are very helpful and have taken great care of us. Who ever said customer service is dead!

Routing. Routing is one of the most important parts of our business and UK Grid offer market leading routes between the USA and the rest of the world. Most of our clients are currently in the USA and having a good direct route is a big deal. No one wants to wait 30 seconds for a website to load …. Let’s leave 56k dial-up speeds in the 90’s.

Once in a while a great partnership is founded and we here at 6PS are looking forward to the fruits of this relationship.”

UK Grid will be providing 6PS with a dedicated resilient footprint backed up by N+1 UPS and diesel generator systems. The service will also be protected by 24x7 on site security and support, extensive fire protection systems and advanced server cooling technology.

In addition, 6PS Corporation will be utilising UK Grid’s on-site carrier neutral network options to maximise the performance, availability and resilience of their solutions.

End

Press Enquiries

Vicki Edgley

v.edgley@ukgrid.net

0845 260 4743

UK Grid, Vaioni & Geo get the North West IT Industry Re-Connected

On Thursday 7th July, UK Grid, leading provider of UK carrier neutral data centres, hosted another in their quarterly series of ‘Re-Connected’ networking events for Internet and IT professionals.

The Gallery Bar at Dukes 92 in Manchester was the perfect venue for a summer event; even the showers couldn’t dampen the mood of the attendees. There was a great atmosphere and plenty of networking opportunities.

The event, sponsored by Vaioni & GEO Networks attracted registrations from 120 business leaders from the Manchester region and beyond.

The Re-Connected events are informal and relaxed enabling industry professionals to unwind after a hard day at the office whilst still developing business relations and strengthening useful business contacts.

Post event feedback has again been excellent, some of which is listed below. The date for the next event has immediately been announced as 6th October 2011. The venue for the next event is yet to be announced.

Sponsorship opportunities for upcoming events are available. For more details, or to register your interest for the event on the 6th October, please contact Vicki Edgley at UK Grid on 0161 850 1528 or email v.edgley@ukgrid.net.

Feedback from the Re-Connected Networking Event, 7th July 2011;

Christine Suckley -TKR Services: ‘It was great to meet you and what a great event it was! Made some great contacts and thought the location and the relaxed but professional ambience that UK Grid added to the occasion was the perfect mix. Well done and please ensure I am on the list for the next one’

John Walton- Hibernia: ‘Re-connected is a great opportunity for all of us in the telecoms industry to get together and connect with people we would not normally come into contact with. It is a very professional event but at the same time relaxed allowing people to mingle and interact at their own pace. I will certainly be pushing our sales people to ask why we are not involved sponsorship wise’

Phil Alton-Geo Networks: ‘Congratulations on a fantastic event last week. The best I have ever attended’

Colocation Sales Professional, Matthew Edgley Joins the UK Grid Team as Northern Sales Manager

MANCHESTER, U.K. — Jun. 30th, 2011 — UK Grid, one of the UK’s leading colocation providers, today announced that Matthew Edgley has joined the company's Management team as their Northern Sales Manager.

Reporting to the UK Grid Board of Directors, Edgley will be responsible for building and maintaining UK Grid’s new and installed client base throughout the Northern region via direct client relationships and a developing partner channel.

"We are delighted that Matt has chosen to join our team. He has a rich and varied background in business to business sales, accompanied by a highly competent and knowledgeable consultative approach. His recent and successful positions at IFL and Telecity has given him a great understanding of the colocation, telecommunications and data centre outsourcing industries where he is held in particularly high regard, and this will help to underpin our considerable growth and aggressive targets in these areas," said Garbutt. "Matt’s proven business development expertise and professional reputation will be a huge asset as we continue to expand our presence in Manchester and other areas of the UK."

Prior to joining UK Grid, Edgley worked as Sales Manager for IFL where he was solely responsible for whole of UK sales, marketing strategy and revenue delivery, building turnover from less than 500k through to the company’s sale for more than £20million 5 years later. Edgley subsequently worked as Account Director for TelecityGroup, where he was directly responsible for revenues and client retention within their Manchester market and beyond.

Matt has also served as a security solutions sales executive for Comodo Group, and has previously held positions with Compaq, Fujitsu and Hewlett Packard. Edgley also holds a (CIM) Professional Diploma in Marketing.

"It's an exciting time to be joining UK Grid at the start of a huge expansion program as momentum continues to build for the company's highly respected data centres and colocation solutions," said Edgley. "I look forward to working with the UK Grid Board and sales team and our direct and partner networks as we continue to help clients achieve maximum certainty, performance, availability and efficiencies for their IT operations."

Contact:

Matt Edgley

m.edgley@ukgrid.net

0161 850 1693

UK Grid Complete 300 Rack Upgrade at Synergy House

Manchester, 28th June 2011

UK Grid (www.ukgrid.net), a leading provider of UK carrier neutral colocation solutions, has today announced that expansion work has been completed at one of their Manchester data centre facilities, known as ‘Manchester One’ at Synergy House on Manchester Science Park.

The expansion project sees the commissioning of an additional 6000sq ft of colocation space to accommodate 300 server racks within two new data halls. A second substation along with dedicated N+1 UPS and N+1 Generator infrastructure provides mains power and backup to the new space that is independent from other areas of the data centre. The total power availability at the site is now 4MW.

Full racks are available at the facility starting from £450 per month, with power densities of up to 7kw per rack available.

In order to expand connectivity options into the new zones, a number of telecommunications providers have brought their fibre networks and IP Transit services into the new area to satisfy client connectivity requirements.

Matt Edgley, UK Grid’s Sales Manager comments;

“This expansion project ensures that we can continue to accommodate the high levels of demand we’re seeing for high quality data centre space in the North until our new Parkway 2 data centre comes online in Q4 2011.

In Synergy House we offer a data centre that’s truly fit for business, carrying ISO27001, ISO14001 and ISO9001 accreditations. The colocation facility has also been rubber stamped as being compliant with the EU Code of Conduct for Data Centres, so any organisation considering UK Grid can be sure we’re doing the right things in the right way.”

The overall target PUE for the new data halls is 1.32 making the colocation facility one of the most efficient data centres in the UK. To continue with their ‘Environmentally Responsible’ approach UK Grid state that Synergy House is and will continue to be completely carbon neutral owing to their forestry projects that offset all carbon emissions from their data centres.

About UK Grid

UK Grid provides carbon neutral, carrier neutral colocation solutions across four data centre facilities in London and Manchester. With over 300 clients and 75,000sq ft total data centre space, this makes UK Grid one of the largest independent colocation suppliers in the United Kingdom. UK Grid offset all CO2 emissions through environmental projects, are members of the Green Grid and are certified to ISO27001, IS09001 and ISO14001. UK Grid were named in the UK’s top 10 fastest growing technology companies by Deloitte (Fast 50).

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UK Grid, to Host Manchester Internet Networking Event with sponsors Vaioni and Geo Networks

Manchester, Monday 20th June 2011

UK Grid, to Host Manchester Internet Networking Event with sponsors Vaioni and Geo Networks.

UK Grid, leading providers of carrier neutral colocation solutions and data centres, will be holding the next in the regular series of networking events for Internet professionals on the 7th July 2011 in conjunction with Vaioni and Geo Networks.

The regular networking events, called ‘Re-Connected’, are hosted at popular venues in Manchester and are focused on bringing business leaders together in a relaxed environment to discuss Internet business opportunities, forge new partnerships and make valuable new connections within the industry.

The nest event will be held on 7th July, in ‘The Gallery bar’ at the popular nightspot Dukes 92 between 6pm and 9pm. A complementary bar and canapés will be provided for all attendees as the events aim to create a relaxed environment, promoting conversation with no rigid agendas and hard selling to a minimum.

Rob Garbutt, CEO at UK Grid comments, “Our aim is to create an informal yet focused atmosphere where business leaders and professionals can come together for mutual benefit. Many of the attendees that have registered are from the Internet industry directly, but we also have a number of attendees from outside the industry attending the event to discover how Internet services can benefit their business.”

Registration for the forthcoming event is still open. For further information contact Vicki Edgley, v.edgley@ukgrid, 0161 850 1528

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UK Grid Launch New London Colocation Facility – ‘London One @ Staples Corner’

Press Release: London – Thursday 5th May 2011

UK Grid Launch New London Colocation Facility – ‘London One @ Staples Corner’

UK Grid, leading providers of carrier neutral colocation solutions, today announced the launch of a new 22,000sq ft North London data centre, named ‘London One @ Staples Corner’. The facility shall accommodate in excess of 500 server racks and is due to open in Q3 2011.

The new site, conveniently located at the Staples Corner junction of the M1 (NW2), will see the company’s carbon neutral data centre footprint grow to 75,000sq ft and will ensure that UK Grid have one of the largest portfolios of colocation capacity in multiple cities of the UK. As a result of the expansion up to 30 new jobs will be created locally to manage the London One site and help meet client needs.

UK Grid state that the data centre will carry the ISO27001, ISO14001 and ISO9001 certifications, abide by the EU Code of Conduct for Data Centres and comply with relevant aspects of stringent security standards such as PCI-DSS. UK Grid are members of the Green Grid and claim to offset all CO2 emissions generated by client equipment.

Critical infrastructure from UPS systems, to cooling units and diesel generators will all be provided to a minimum configuration of n+1 and the data centre will provide high levels of security and 24 by 7 on-site technical support services.

The company are beginning discussions with potential anchor tenants and are offering pre-opening discounts and bespoke solutions for contracts signed in advance of the go-live date in Q3 2011.

Rob Garbutt, CEO at UK Grid, commented: “The launch of this site is an milestone moment for UK Grid as opening a major London data centre is something we‘ve always aspired to do. When you consider it’s a multi-million pound commitment to open a data centre of this scale, it’s rightly taken us some time to find the right location and facility. Now, after discounting many, we’re confident that London One is the data centre to provide the quality standards required from the I.T. outsourcing sector in the coming years.”

The new London One site, which is also carrier neutral, will continue with UK Grid’s philosophy of low energy consumption and highly efficient technology that has made UK Grid’s other UK sites a benchmark of quality in the data centre sector. Reducing energy consumption is the biggest challenge facing large scale data centre providers, and UK Grid have consistently matched leaders in the sector by achieving low PUE ratios and minimising energy losses. London One is being designed with a target PUE of 1.2.

UK Grid state that the extension of high capacity fibre networks into London One will deliver a wide choice of high performance, low latency connectivity and network solutions with existing communications partners, such as Geo Networks, who are already present in their other three UK sites.

The London One site launch is the latest in a string of developments for the company in London and the city of its origin, Manchester. Recently, the business was named in the top 10 fastest growing technology businesses in the UK, in the Deloitte Fast50 list.

Garbutt continues: “We feel that much of our rapid growth is attributable to our client-centric approach. We work with our clients as partners not just their suppliers and so naturally develop long term relationships based on trust and understanding of business need. Our value proposition is not only the nuts and bolts of a data centre, but also the manner in which we design and deliver our solutions according to individual and varying requirements. Our customer retention performance is testament to this. Refreshingly, we don’t increase contract prices year on year, in fact we haven’t at all for four years now.”

About UK Grid

UK Grid provides carbon neutral, carrier neutral colocation solutions across four data centre facilities in London and Manchester. With over 300 clients and 75,000sq ft total data centre space, this makes UK Grid one of the largest independent colocation suppliers in the United Kingdom. UK Grid offset all CO2 emissions through environmental projects, are members of the Green Grid and are certified to ISO27001, IS09001 and ISO14001. UK Grid were named in the UK’s top 10 fastest growing technology companies by Deloitte (Fast 50).

Press Contact
Vicki Edgley
Marketing and Communications Executive
UK Grid
v.edgley@ukgrid.net
+44 (0)161 850 1528

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UK Grid Exhibiting at Internet World 2011, 9th – 12th May 2011

UK Grid will be exhibiting at this year’s Internet World Event at Earls Court, London between 9th and 12th May 2011.

This will be our first time exhibiting at the industry’s premier event and as well as looking forward to the event itself, we’re especially excited to be revealing details of a brand new data centre facility during the three day exhibition. The new facility launch marks the start of a brand new era for UK Grid, and our clients.

With Over 300 solution providers, Internet World is the event for digital marketing and online business. If you are one of the 12,000 visitors please be sure to come and take a seat at stand E1126! We would be delighted to see you.

UK Grid – Stand E1126, right next to the Internet World Theatre

UK Grid & Geo get the North West IT Industry Re-Connected

On Thursday 7th April, UK Grid hosted their inaugural Re-Connected networking event for Internet and IT professionals at the Living Room Bar on Deansgate in Manchester. The event, co-hosted by GEO Networks attracted registrations from over 100 business leaders from the Manchester region and beyond.

The aim of the Re-Connected events is to create a relaxed and informal atmosphere encouraging likeminded professionals to meet outside of the board room to bolster their contacts and generate new business opportunities and partnerships.

Following extremely positive feedback on the inaugural event, some of which is listed below, the date for the next event has immediately been announced as 7th July 2011. The venue for the next event is yet to be announced.

Sponsorship opportunities for upcoming events are available. For more details, or to register your interest for the event on the 7th July, please contact Vicki Edgley at UK Grid on 0161 850 1528 or email v.edgley@ukgrid.net.

Feedback from the Re-Connected Networking Event, 7th April 2011;

John Walton- Hibernia Atlantic: ‘Firstly many thanks for doing such a great job for Thursday nights event. I had a tremendous evening so well done there. I hadn’t really realized how much potential business there was around the Manchester area and am going to be keeping in touch for future events. From my point of view this was a very successful event and I do hope you will continue to hold them.’

Laura Norfolk- Vaioni: ‘The Get-Reconnected event is great not only for meeting prospective partners for Vaioni but also for getting to know some people better who we already deal with. The atmosphere is very relaxed and it’s a great way to meet new people and get the Vaioni name out there.’

Alex Morris –Metronet: ‘The event was very good indeed and the networking for us was very useful. Thanks again for the invite and we look forward to the next event, I would also be interested in investigating what your sponsorship opportunity offers.’

Martin Kelly – Vtesse: ‘A short note to say what a great evening you and the team put on last night – outstanding! I also know how much effort goes into to these events, so congratulations on getting it so right!

From Porsches to Peugeots, UK Grid Directors driven to be green

UK Grid is moving from turbo-charged to re-charged as its directors swap Porsches for electric cars.

The Carbon Neutral colocation provider, run from headquarters based at Synergy House on Manchester Science Park, is using energy-reducing technology to cut its carbon footprint.

Directors Rob Garbutt, Patrick Doyle and John Sweeney have handed in the keys to their existing company vehicles – two Porsches and a Mercedes – and have switched to three state-of-the-art Peugeot iOn electric cars.

The four-door, battery powered iOn has a range of 93 miles and a top speed of 80mph. It costs just £1 to charge, working out at almost 1p per mile to run.

UK Grid will install three charging points at Manchester Science Parks which will allow any users of electric cars to roll up, charge their vehicles and get back on the road.

The technology remains in the early stages, but with more major car companies committing greater resources to the research and development of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, there is expected to be a greater roll-out of charging points over the coming years.

Mr Garbutt, chief executive at UK Grid, said: "We will not only be the first business in Manchester, but one of the first in the UK to switch to electric cars for company use, but we will also provide the first charging point in Manchester.

"We have always had a strong company ethos on renewable energy and carbon footprint reduction.

"This is a natural next step for us. By making the decision to switch to alternative technologies as our mode of transport, our carbon footprint is further reduced and hopefully we can demonstrate to other businesses across Manchester the great strides forward that are being made in electric car technology and capability."

Peugeot’s fleet director Phil Robson said: "As soon as we announced the commercial details for iOn, we received enormous interest from both private and public sector organisations who like its environmental credentials, simple finance and low running costs.

"But perhaps more gratifying is the positive response in terms of driveability, safety and flexibility; all areas where it has to compete with traditional vehicles."

In their bid to become carbon neutral, UK Grid has planted trees in 200 acres of woodland on its farm in Scotland three years ago – which is now maturing, and is in the first stages of building a windfarm in Kircudbright in Dumfries and Galloway, which will provide 16 mega watts of electricity to the National Grid.

Mr Garbutt added: "The company has made a commitment to invest in wind technology to reduce its energy usage burden as well as generate power for the National Grid.

"It’s early days but it’s an innovative way to bring green renewable energy to the regions.

"As a company which uses electricity at an industrial level, we want to be as environmentally-friendly as possible."

About UK Grid

UK Grid are the largest independent provider of Carrier Neutral Colocation solutions in Northern England. With a network of business class data centre facilities UK Grid provide solutions to organisations looking to outsource their data centre in order to secure and protect critical server, data, applications and telecommunications equipment. All UK Grid colocation facilities provide power protection, high capacity cooling systems, fire protection, high levels of security and a wide range of network and communications options. All UK Grid’s facilities are 100% carbon neutral.
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UK Grid Begins Final Phase of Synergy House Data Centre Expansion

Manchester, 1st March 2011

UK Grid (www.ukgrid.net), the largest provider of carrier neutral colocation solutions in Northern England, today announced that work is to commence immediately to expand one of its Manchester based data centre facilities, Synergy House.

The three month expansion project will bring two additional colocation zones online during Q2 2011. Creating two new data halls on separate floors in the North Wing of the building, areas DC4 & DC5 will release an additional 6000sq ft at Synergy House for a range of colocation offerings starting from quarter racks up to private suites for 5 full racks and above.

Power to the site has been upgraded and a second dedicated substation has been built to serve the new areas. Once upgrade works have been completed, power availability at the 23,000sq ft facility will be increased to a total of 4MW and the second substation will ensure mains power redundancy from existing zones at Synergy House – DC1 and DC2.

In order to expand connectivity options into the new zones, Geo Networks have brought their national fibre network into the North Wing as well as the South Wing, giving fully diverse national fibre connectivity.

Rob Garbutt, UK Grid CEO comments, “This announcement is great news for UKGrid, our clients and any organisation looking for quality data centre space outside of London. With existing Synergy zones DC1 and DC2 at capacity and DC3 at 50%, the expansion should allow us to satisfy demand over the next 12-18 months. It’s an exciting period as we’re simultaneously executing on our longer term and large scale expansion strategy to ensure a continuation of high quality data centre space estimated to see us through into 2015.”

The overall target PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) for all Synergy House data halls is 1.32 making the colocation facility one of the most efficient data centres in the UK. To continue with their ‘Environmentally Responsible’ approach UKGrid state that Synergy House is and will continue to be completely carbon neutral owing to their forestry projects that offset all carbon emissions from their data centres.

Patrick Doyle, UK Grid CTO comments; “Whilst we do our upmost to minimise energy wastage, a sizeable data centre provider will always have a significant carbon footprint, so we’ve invested heavily to balance our impact through meaningful environmental projects such as the UK Grid forestry. This plantation offsets all carbon emissions generated at all of our facilities and will do so well into the future. As well as being environmentally responsible, this means our clients can immediately claim that their UK Grid hosted IT platform is one hundred per cent carbon neutral’.

The project is expected to create up to 10 additional jobs in Manchester and the company’s projected turnover from the redeveloped site once full is £6.5million.

About UK Grid

UK Grid are the largest independent provider of Carrier Neutral Colocation solutions in Northern England. With a network of business class data centre facilities UKGrid provide solutions to organisations looking to outsource their data centre in order to secure and protect critical server, data, applications and telecommunications equipment. All UKGrid colocation facilities provide power protection, high capacity cooling systems, fire protection, high levels of security and a wide range of network and communications options. All UKGrid’s facilities are 100% carbon neutral.
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Zen Internet signs long term contract with UK Grid

UKGrid, Manchester’s largest carbon neutral colocation provider, today announced the signing of a multi-year colocation contract with Zen Internet, one of the UK’s leading independent Internet Service Providers (ISP), to provide a large private footprint at one of their carrier neutral facilities.

Zen Internet provides a range of high quality award-winning Internet services to the business and home user, from the latest in high speed DSL Broadband Internet access to IP VPN and Hosting solutions. They will be using the space at UKGrid’s Synergy House to offer its growing Hosting customer base additional high quality data centre capacity that’s geographically diverse from its primary data centre at its head office in Rochdale.

“Many of our customers have requirements to locate equipment in two separate data centres that are geographically diverse, yet still within travelling distance of their main offices in the northwest. The UK Grid facility meets our requirements perfectly,” said David Barber, General Manager Hosting, Zen Internet.

In addition to Zen’s immediate requirements, UKGrid have reserved space and power to enable Zen Internet to increase their footprint at the same location.

Barber continues, “UKGrid demonstrated refreshing flexibility and were understanding of our need to reserve contiguous space for the long term. This, coupled with the quality of their product offering, meant we were more than comfortable to sign a long term deal that runs into the next decade.”

Rob Garbutt, CEO, UKGrid comments, “This new partnership is a shining example of how complementary and at times competing businesses can collaborate for mutual benefit. We’re delighted to welcome Zen Internet to our facility where our carrier neutral status means clients can now peer direct with them and take business internet services from another reputable ISP at Synergy House”.

Having recently announced large scale expansion, UKGrid provides over 50,000ft sq of carrier neutral colocation space in Manchester and announced its 100% Carbon Neutral status in December last year.

UK Grid to add a further 27k sq ft of Data Centre space to it's portfolio

UK Grid, the Manchester-based data centre provider, has made its boldest move yet in its programme to supply businesses in the UK with carbon neutral data centre space, with the launch of a 27,000 sq ft site, Parkway 2.

The introduction of the site will bring online over 50,000 sq ft of carbon neutral data centre space, and will ensure that UK Grid has the largest portfolio of data centre capacity in the North of England. In addition, 15 new jobs will be created to help manage the sites and help meet customer needs.

The new Parkway 2 site, which is also carrier neutral, with dark fibre being supplied by SSE and Geo ,contains all of the low energy consumption technology that has made UK Grid’s primary Synergy House site at Manchester Science Parks a benchmark of quality for the data centre sector, and has been such a success for customers. Reducing energy consumption is the largest challenge facing data centres, and UK Grid has led the sector with its use of energy saving technology such as cold aisle containment.

In addition to energy reducing technology, UK Grid will be offsetting its carbon use at the Parkway 2 site by launching sustainable forestry on its farm in Scotland, through its offshoot business UK Grid Renewables.

Rob Garbutt, CEO at UK Grid, commented: “The launch of the Parkway 2 site is a proud moment for UK Grid, as it is what we have been working towards for a number of years. Not only have we created the largest portfolio of data centre space in the North, but all of the capacity is carbon neutral. This is something no other company in our sector can provide, and offers our clients and customers an environmentally sound product.

“We are targeting a mix of SMEs and corporate businesses who are looking for data centre space, and the site will be in full operation by February 2011. However, customers are already buying space and our sales team has been run off their feet which is a fantastic sign.”

Neil Hutchings, Managing Director of SSE Telecoms, commented: "The extension of the high capacity SSE Telecoms fibre network into the new UK Grid Parkway 2 data centre complements our strategy of targeting key locations within the North West region. High performance, low latency connectivity is critical for data centre operators and their customers. We are pleased to provide UK Grid with access to our regional and national connectivity solutions."

The Parkway 2 site launch is the latest development in a busy year for the company. Only six years old as a business, UK Grid is currently undergoing expansion of its existing sites in Manchester and London, has committed to invest in green technology including wind farms over the coming years. Most recently, the business was named in the top 10 fastest growing technology businesses in the UK, in the Deloitte Fast50, coming second overall in the North of England.

Its good to TalkTalk for UK Grid

Data centre provider UK Grid has announced a lucrative deal with TalkTalk as the telecoms company seeks more capacity to serve customers in the north west.

The landline and broadband provider has taken on 2,000 sq ft of data centre space at UK Grid’s flagship site in Manchester.

TalkTalk says it needs to increase capacity because its customers are making more calls and sending more data through its network.

It already has two data centres in Birmingham and two in London and the new deal increases the group’s coverage in the north west. Irlam-based TalkTalk’s Graham Chisnall said: “It has been good to work with another north west-based company enabling TalkTalk to expand capacity in the region.”

UK Grid designs, builds and operates data centre facilities, connecting networks for some of the country’s biggest broadband providers, and hosts servers for customers including Arts Council England, AQA,
Kitbag and Clickandbuy.

It has doubled its turnover every year since it was founded in 2004, with revenues of £2m in the 12 months to March and is forecasting sales of £4m for the current financial year.

The firm currently has three data centres in Manchester, with a fourth scheduled to open in November and a fifth in January. It will also have a centre in London within 12 months.

TalkTalk recently announced revenues of £444m for the first quarter of 2010 and has 4.23 million customers.

It is to launch mobile phone and data services under its own brand after striking a deal with Vodafone. Rob Garbutt, chief executive at UK Grid, said: “We are delighted to have completed this deal with TalkTalk. The company is ambitious and is already working hard to increase its services to over four million customers and more than 100,000 businesses.

“We believe that the agreement with a provider of this calibre shows the growing confidence and interest in the UK Grid model of cost-effective, cleaner and efficient data centre provision, and we are pleased to have TalkTalk Technology on board.”

UK Grid Nominated for Green Initiative Award

UK Grid is proud to have been nominated for "Best European Green Initiative" award at the 6th Data Centre Europe event. Nominees for this award and others has attracted the likes of Telecity Group, Equinix Europe, BT, Control Circle, IBM and Interxion.

The Best European Green Initiative award looks at initiatives a data centre has implemented to reduce its environmental impact and how it measures its environmental efficiency. It then goes on to look in percentage terms, what impact your initiative has had on your environmental impact and how this is measured.

The awards ceremony is at the events closing gala dinner in Nice on the 23rd April 2010.

This award highlights the drive for data centres throughout Europe to reduce their carbon footprint and to build and operate carbon balanced data centres to reduce their impact on the environment.

UK Grid Joins the Green Grid

The Green Grid is a global consortium dedicated to developing and promoting energy efficiency for data centres and business computing ecosystems by:

• Defining meaningful, user-centric models and metrics
• Promoting the adoption of energy efficient standards, processes, measurement methods and technologies
• Developing standards, measurement methods, processes and new technologies to improve performance against the defined metrics

The Green Grid has set out to develop a standard set of measurements to make it easier for an end-user to manage their facilities and thus achieve optimal energy efficiency within data centres around the world. The Green Grid, comprising of peers throughout the data centre and computing industries, seek to unite global industry efforts to standardise and agree on a common set of metrics, processes, methods and new technologies to further its common goal.

Two such matrices are the Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) and Data centre infrastructure Efficiency (DCiE). The Green Grid is also developing a third matrix, Data Centre Productivity (DCP).

UK Grid made the decision to join the Green Grid to work with some of the industry leaders in developing the ultimate in energy efficient data centres, thus lowering operating costs and also reducing UK Grid's carbon footprint.

The Green Grid's advice to data centres is to constantly measure your PUE and UK Grid have followed this advice to the letter, enabling our PUE to be reduced from 1.5 to 1.35. UK Grid has a target PUE of 1.2 in some of our newer facilities utilising free-cooling technologies which we will see come online towards the end of 2010.

UK Grid Launches New Blog Site

A new blog has been launched by the UK Grid team to discuss the green issues and challenges faced within the data centre arena. The blog is called "it's not easy being green" and can be found at http://blog.ukgrid.net

The site also contains a data centre industry news feed linked into twitter and soon a digital development feed about the rapidly expanding Manchester digital community.

The site will be updated by the UK Grid team and more feeds will be added soon so please check back.