Equinix LD5

LD5 is part of a cluster of data centres in Slough run by Equinix. Others include LD4, LD6 and LD10. They're 16,000 sq m (LD5), 10,000 sq m (LD4), 8,000 sq m (LD6) and 4,000 sq m (LD10).

hSo:Wholesale services available at Equinix LD5

• Colocation
• IP Transit
• Data Centre Interconnects

Building

• Colocation Space: 177,222 sq ft (16,000 sq m)
• Building Type: Steel frame with in situ concrete slabs
• Floor Type: Raised
• Floor Load Capacity: 261 psf (12.5 kN/sq m)
• Fire Supression: HI-FOG pre-action water mist triggered via double knock detection of fire alarm

Facilities

• Power and Cooling Density: 4.0 - 6.0 kVA per cabinet <-- This is a key line. It's double what many data centres in central London offer.
• Utility Feeders: 2
• UPS Configuration: Distributed redundant
• UPS Redundancy: N+1
• Standby Power Redundancy: N+2
• Cooling Configuration: Air-cooled chillers
• 100% renewable energy through Equinix's utility green program

Security

• Physical: Man trap entry
• 24x7 security officers
• Electronic: Card Readers, Biometric Readers (at entrance), Biometric Readers (optional), CCTV and Recorders

Equinix's Certifications

• SSAE16/ISAE3402 SOC-1 Type II
• ISO 27001
• PCI-DSS
• FACT
• OHSAS 18001
• ISO 9001
• ISO 50001

Why Host In LD5?

Data centre operators in central London have a problem. Their data centres fill up but then further expansion is almost impossible. The adjacent property is expensive, there are power supply constraints and rents only rise upwards. The typical solution is to stay put, raise prices for existing tenants and search for an alternative location that's far cheaper, not too far away, and that's expansion friendly. 

That search for cheap close-enough expansion-friendly space is the reason Docklands became popular with ISPs and hosting firms in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Docklands is still expanding, but only slowly, as it has become far more expensive now its Britain's second financial district. So Slough has become the next Docklands, at least when it comes to data centres: 

• The centre of UK's Internet - the London Internet Exchange (LINX) - has 11 sites on its London LANs. Most are in Docklands, but you'll find the LD4/LD5 campus is one of the 11 sites.
• Lots of financial firms now have access nodes or matching engines housed in LD4/LD5.
• When Amazon chose five edge locations to enable UK customers to connect to it physically, it chose LD5.
• In OFCOM's Business Connectivity Market Review, it determined that certain postcodes were so competitive for connectivity that BT could be exempt from the usual pricing controls in those locations. Most of the exempt postcodes were in central London, but so were lots of ones in Slough including SL1 4, the area in which LD4, LD5, LD6 and LD10 reside.

Just as the Docklands Light Railway made Docklands easily reachable, Crossrail (the Elizabeth Line) is set to do the same for Slough, reducing the Slough to Liverpool Street journey time to 39 minutes.   

Address and Location