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.
-- ENDS --
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
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.
-- ENDS --
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.
-- ENDS --
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
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.
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.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
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.
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.
Monday, September 6, 2010
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.”
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.”
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
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.
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.
Monday, March 8, 2010
UK Grid Joins the Green Grid
• 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.
Tuesday, March 2, 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.netThe 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.
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