Welcome to the High Availability Hosting Blog

After several delays (mainly caused by bad weather, contractor delays, and Christmas!) we’ve finally had the footings dug out and concrete poured for the generator enclosure.

The grass banking was dug out on Tuesday 23rd, and concrete poured Thursday 25th.  Blockwork has been delivered and the enclosure itself is scheduled to be constructed next week.  Once the encloure is complete we’ll pull the thick generator cables through and move the generator itself into position.

We’re confident that (if there’s no more snow – which apparently doesn’t help concrete set!) the generator will be in position mid-March!

Digging out the footings

Ready for concrete

Concrete finally poured!

The generator, in storage. Waiting to be positioned.

It’s with great pleasure I announce that the hosting room of the Sheffield Data Centre is complete.

The first 4 racks are fully installed and (nearly) cabled.  We’ve this week placed an order for an additional 12 racks to meet customer demand, and we’ve started to show the first prospective clients round the building.

The “snag list” is nearly complete too, with only a few jobs remaining – most notibly the gassing of the air-conditioners which is scheduled to happen this Thursday. 

Today was also the day our 100Mbit fibre went live, with a connection straight through to the Internet.  We’ve now got a few days of testing and firewall building ahead, which is where the “fun” starts  :-)

So the question everybody’s been asking us… “when are you going to open??”.  Providing the air-con gassing goes ok, and the network build is complete and tested over the weekend, we’ll begin to offer colocation from next week.  So if you’re interested in colocation with us, now’s the time to email us and arrange a visit.

We’re booking people in to see us from next Monday (22nd), so either give us a call on 0114 228 0022 or email sales@sheffielddatacentre.com.  If you’ve already got your details registered with us you’ll be getting a more personalised invitation later this week, or you could queue jump and contact us!

And finally the usual update pics…

Computer room build complete

100Mbit fibre live

This week we hit a major milestone taget – getting the internal “heavy” construction complete, and taking delivery of the first 4 racks to go in the Sheffield Data Centre.

All the major work within the computer room is now complete, and we can turn our attention to cleaning and removing waste from the computer room.  Elsewhere the carpet tiles have been delivered and are being installed, the air-conditioners are due to be gassed next week and the first phase of Cat6 wiring has begun.  We should also be able to use our office as an office from next week!

The first four racks are due to be positioned Monday, these racks are for the internal comms, CCTV, fibre, infrastructure servers etc… and for the first phase of customer colocation.  Extra racks are on order and will be delivered when appropriate.

We’ll be making an “opening” announcement very soon - but we’re committed to having the first phase of colocation live before the end of June.  Check the blog next week for updates.

Latest pictures…

Computer room construction complete

Rack van

...here they come

First 4 racks ready to be installed next week

Pics of the fibre B-Side install by Openreach…

Openreach on site again...

Fibre jointing in the street

B-End fibre termination

BT Openreach were on site yesterday to install the B-Side of our 100Mbit fibre connection to Virgin Media.

The fibre installation at our end went smoothly, and Openreach have left a loop connector in place so they can begin loopback testing from the A-Side (at Virgin Media / Telewest / NTL).

Elsewhere on site more raised access floor has been layed, and more wiring for emergency lights, CCTV and security has been installed.

Pics to follow soon!!

Another milestone passed!  The computer room is on it’s own lighting and power circuits!  All the temporary lights and sockets have now been removed, and the final lighting grid (complete with emergency bulkheads) are in place.  The decorating is (nearly) complete – just the touch-ups left to do where people have been unkind enough to drill holes for wires and the like  ;-) 

 

Lights being installed in the computer room

Finished lights

After nearly a week of waiting (so much for the next day service!) the raised access floor arrives on site!  Thanks must go to the nice chap with the forklift too  :-)

Floor tiles arrive on site

Cabling works are scheduled to start straight after the bank holiday, with cable trays and commando sockets being installed as the floor goes down, next week is set to be another busy one… watch this space!!!

Less than a month after construction started, the final plastering has been completed and the decoration has started throughout.  Elsewhere Openreach have been in to terminate the 10-pair copper which will be used for phone lines, DSL, and the redundant access services.  The access-control controller boxes are being configured, and finally the 2nd fix electrics in the office are now going in.

This week promises to be a milestone in the project – not only will Friday be the one-month-marker, but the raised floor is due on site.  Before the end of the Bank Holiday we hope to have the raised floor in place where racks 1 and 2 will go, so Openreach and Telewest can come in and terminate the fibre from next week.

Final plastering complete

Decoration well under way

Office second fix electrics

Openreach on site

Sorry for the update delay!  Been a busy week on site but not much photo worthy…

We’ve had the first fix electrics installed in the office, and the second fix electrics installed in the loading bay and entrance hall.  The ceilings and office partition walls have been skim plastered rather than filled (this is what’s taken most of the week to organise), the steel fibre trunking is complete, and we’ve installed the Paxton Access Control units and the generator automatic transfer switch…

…and finally BT have made live the first of the copper circuits entering the unit.  We’ll use this for DSL for management access.

Loading bay construction ongoing

Generator transfer switch arrives on site

Access control system installed

Computer room ceiling plastering underway

Steel fibre ducting under raised floor complete

2nd fix electrics ongoing, sockets and light switches installed

While most people have been eating chocolate eggs, our team have been busy over the Easter break pressing on with construction in order to meet our June deadline.  Thanks go out to all involved over the Bank Holiday!

We’ve now removed all the original wiring from the unit, and temporay lights + sockets have been installed, all the computer room and office ceilings have been borded ready for finishing, the entrance hall has been boarded, and construction of the loading bay has begun.

We also got our first real look above the computer room ceiling.  This is where the air conditioning condenser units will go, recycling and cooling the air in the roof void rather than air from outside.  Not only will this enable us to use less power for cooling, but will help create a constant environment in the whole building, recycling the hot air removed from the computer room.

Temporary lights and sockets

Above the data centre

Office walls nearly complete

Into the entrance hall

Watch out for further updates during the week as work progresses!