OVH to Open UK Datacenter
LONDON, U.K., Jan. 9 -- OVH, the European cloud leader, has chosen the inner suburbs of London as the location for its first of three datacenters planned for the United Kingdom. This first datacenter, with a capacity of 40,000 servers is expected to be operational by the end of May 2017.
The first of the three datacenters planned in the United Kingdom will be interconnected to OVH’s point of presence in London through a double fibre path, creating redundancy. Its proximity to two substations makes it possible to provide a high electrical capacity on site.
Located less than half a millisecond from OVH’s point of presence (PoP) in London, the facility benefits from a direct connection to its datacenters in Gravelines (then Roubaix and Paris), Amsterdam (then Brussels and Frankfurt), Montreal, and New York, through the fibre network that the OVH group has deployed worldwide to allow the lowest latency possible.
An operational datacenter in 6 months
OVH’s first UK datacenter will cover 4,000 square metres with no colocation space. True to its values of agility, the European cloud leader expects the datacenter to be operational at the end of May 2017, first through its “Discover OVH” offers, then through its entire catalog.
OVH’s expertise and end-to-end management of the web hosting chain has helped the rapid deployment of the datacenter. This is aided by the very nature of the facility that formerly belonged to a telecommunications operator.
Three datacenters in the United Kingdom
The two other datacenters that OVH plans to set up in the United Kingdom will provide users with a backup solution: a second site on the outskirts of London, and a third one that is sufficiently remote to be a recovery site outside the failure domain of the two other sites. These three datacenters will be interconnected, like the other datacenters of the group, through the vRack, a private network developed by OVH to facilitate the deployment of multisite infrastructures.
Rajesh Agrawal, Deputy Mayor of London for Business, said: "With access to world class tech talent and infrastructure, London is a leading hub for European technology companies. OVH's decision to open its first UK data centre in London offers further proof that London remains open to investment, talent and innovation from all over the world. We look forward to welcoming more innovative technology businesses such as OVH to London."
OVH has had a presence in the UK since 2007, via a subsidiary based in London, and is located a few kilometers from the future datacenter. The company has already attracted many British customers, including startups (like BulbThings, which aims to revolutionise asset management through data mining), and large accounts (such as Lineup Systems, a company that specialises in online advertising tools, and XTM International, an English leader in translation technologies).
An ambitious expansion plan
After announcing the opening of three datacenters in Australia, Singapore, and Poland last October, OVH is continuing to invest in Europe. In order to fund its global expansion project, OVH completed a capital increase of €250 million with two investment funds, KKR and TowerBrook in 2016. The company also announced a €1.5 billion investment plan over 5 years. This will cover the construction of several additional datacenters by the end of 2017 in the United States, Italy, Spain, the UK, the Netherlands, and in Germany, where OVH has just acquired its first site near its PoP of Frankfurt.
At the end of its deployment plan, OVH will offer its customers—more than 1 million today—a choice of datacenters in 11 countries, across 4 continents, all interconnected through its own network, with a current capacity of 7.5 Tbps.
About OVH
The OVH group was founded in 1999. It innovates at the very heart of the web, data centers and networks, and today it is a key player in the global cloud arena. Through OVH.com, So you Start, RunAbove, Kimsufi and hubiC, the OVH group offers simple and powerful tools and solutions that put technology at the service of business and significantly improve the working practices of its 1 million customers around the world. As always, the company remains firmly committed to respecting individuals and their freedom, and providing equal opportunity of access to new technology. For OVH, "Innovation is Freedom".
Source: OVH
