Welcome to the High Availability Hosting Blog

The latest update to the Sheffield Data Centre website is now live at:  http://www.sheffielddatacentre.com

We’ve included options for 16A and 32A full racks, 8A half racks, and single servers up to 4U.  We’ve also simplified our pricing for extra power and bandwidth, with extra power at only £22 per month per Amp, and extra bandwidth at only £33 per month per synchronous Megabit.

The current lead-time for half racks and full racks is around 5 working days, and lead-times for single servers are as quick as next day subject to space.

The response to our go-live has been fantastic, with potential clients already queueing to come and see us.  If you’re interested in visiting us give us a call on 0114 228 0022 or email sales@sheffielddatacentre.com

We’ve also got some advertising going live next month into some local Sheffield publications, as below.

Sheffield Data Centre Now Open advert

It’s with delightful pleasure we announce the first customer has moved servers into the Sheffield Data Centre.  A local web hosting company occupied “Rack 3″ yesterday and their kit is now live on the Internet.

We are now accepting orders and inviting customers to colocate kit with us.  Current lead-times on half and full racks are around 5 working days.  Single rack servers can be moved in immediately.

• Full rack (up to 16A):  £575 per month.
• Full rack (up to 32A:  £700 per month.
• Half rack (up to 8A):  £295 per month.
• 1U single server (1A):  £27 per month.
• 2U single server (1A):  £36 per month.
• 3U single server (1A):  £45 per month.
• 4U single server (1A):  £54 per month.
• Tower server (1A):  £35 per month – lead time July 2009.
• Extra power available at £22 per Amp per month.
• IP addresses up to a full class C (254 usable) available.

(All prices are ex-VAT)

Another 8 racks were delivered yesterday, with another 4 due either today or Monday.  Cabling works on these racks will begin straight away.

Our VMware Dedicated Server platform (www.hahosting.com), and our Web & hosted Exchange platform (www.thevirtualcloud.com), will be moved from the current colocation providers to the Sheffield Data Centre in early July.

The construction of the Sheffield Data Centre is split over 3 phases, with phase 1 is now complete.  The next phase will see the backup generator installed; final project plans for this will be drawn up in July.  Phase 3 (FM200 fire suppression) will be later in the year.

The web site will be updated over the weekend, but you can take this as official that we are open for business.

Contact us on 0114 228 0022 or sales@sheffielddatacentre now!

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

We’ve had lots of enquiries for racks with power over 16A, some up to a full 32A.

As advertised we’re including an APC UPS into the base of each rack, providing power up to 16A.  We’ll include 12A in the monthly price of the rack and any extra power you need is charged extra.

This is fine for regular servers and devices where the total rack power is less than 16A, but with newer technologies such as blade servers and SAN storage more power is required.

We’ve futureproofed the design of the Sheffield Data Centre by including 32A Commando sockets under each rack, and adjacent racks are on different phases of electricity.   For an extra fee we’ll be providing options to have a full 32A supply into a rack, with dual-UPS’s, dual-PDU’s and dual-phase supplies.  Obviously the cost will be higher and more room will be taken up in the cabinet with UPS’s.  But for clients who want blades, disk arrays, storage robots etc… this will be an ideal option.

Why seperate UPS’s?

We’ve been asked “why seperate UPS’s per rack?” – the answer is simple – Scalability.

In order to scale the Sheffield Data Centre from 1 rack up to 25 racks easily without upgrading (and possibly causing an outage) on a central power supply, or even worse putting service at risk by having a central UPS which can’t supply enough power, each rack will have a local UPS with it’s own mains feed.

There is a cost advantage too, because each UPS is the same, battery packs will all be standard and we can keep costs down.  Helping to give you (the customer) a more stable, secure, cost-effective service!

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

We’ve had lots of enquiries regarding half racks – and I’m pleased to announce the Half Rack Specification and pricing is now available for colocation in The Sheffield Data Centre.

Tier:           2
Lead time:      June 2009
Redundancy:     N+1
Space:          18U usable in 800mm (w) x 900mm (d) racks
Access:         24hr with own key fob and rack keys
Power:          1150W (5A) @ 230VAC included
IP Addresses:   Up to 16 included
Bandwidth:      3Mbit FREE until 2010
Network ports:  Up to 2 per server 

Half racks will cost £295 per month + VAT, and will be available when The Sheffield Data Centre opens in June. 

Extras:

• If you need more power than the 5A included, this is available up to 12A at additional cost.
• If you need more bandwidth than the 3Mbit included, this is available up to 50Mbit at additional cost.
• If you need extra IP addresses than the 16 included, these are available up to 64 addresses at additional cost (more may require justification to RIPE).

The full specification for Half Racks can be found at the newly updated Sheffield Data Centre website:

http://www.sheffielddatacentre.com

Further build updates and announcements will be posted as they become available.  If in the meantime you’d like to know more about our half racks, full racks, or single server colocation – give us a call on 0114 228 00 22 where we’ll be happy to help.

- Stuart.

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

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