Virgin Media Business (VMB) has unveiled a new co-location service, spread across 11 data centres linked via its existing fibre-optic network.
VMB has teamed up with data centre provider ICM to offer access to facilities in Glasgow, Leeds, Birmingham, Farnborough, London (Wapping and Old Street), Manchester, Romford, Bristol, Sevenoaks and Uxbridge.
The data centres all have prebuilt diverse power feeds, on-site generators and service level agreements with energy suppliers which go together to offer a 99.95% availability guarantee. The sites also offer locked racks, CCTV and controlled access through ID cards and access lists. The company also highlighted its recent NGN 2-2-4 security accreditation.
The data centres will be plugged straight into VMB’s dedicated fibre-optic network and offers a range of high-speed connectivity options, such as High Capacity Services, Ethernet, IP VPN or managed internet access.
Virgin reckons that customers will be interested in the space and power benefits gained from keeping servers off-site. It is hoping to tap into the cloud and virtualisation markers as well, according to Andrew McGrath, executive director, commercial, Virgin Media Business.
"Organisations are enthusiastic about Cloud services and are keen to take advantage of the benefits it offers," McGrath said. "But, realistically many wish to progress cautiously whilst they build confidence. They need to be happy that they can trust a supplier with their applications and support them through this process. Co-Location is often the first step towards fully embracing a virtualised IT environment."
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McGrath added that having a number of data centres across the UK will also appeal to potential customers: "Our regional approach means that customers are moving their critical infrastructure to a street nearby, rather than thousands of miles away. So whether or not they are looking to migrate into the cloud or simply want a more robust business continuity plan, they remain in the driving seat."
