Equinix Grows London Data Center Footprint

By Tudor Scolca

Equinix has started work on a new International Business Exchange data center at its Slough campus, in London. The company expects to invest approximately $120 million (£90 million) in the new facility, which will provide customers with colocation, interconnection and cloud adoption services.

Dubbed LD7, the new data center is Equinix’s 12^th IBX in the United Kingdom. Like the rest of its facilities, LD7 will be part of Platform Equinix, the company’s proprietary interconnection method that comprises 200 data centers across 52 global markets. Customers will have access to more than 1,000 businesses in London, more than 200 network service providers and more than 275 cloud and IT service providers. The IBX will have an initial deployment of 1,750 cabinets, with an expansion to 2,650 cabinets to follow.

Equinix is pursuing LEED Gold certification for its latest data center as part of the company’s commitment to a long-term goal of achieving 100 percent renewable energy and a minimal carbon footprint. Contributing to this is LD7’s cooling system, which employs chilled water in combination with an adiabatic heat rejection system, leading to much lower energy consumption.

Big spender

Equinix spent the last 12 months aggressively expanding its global footprint. Last December, the company entered a $792 million agreement to acquire Metronode, an Australian data center company, significantly increasing the interconnect capabilities of its offering. In February, Equinix acquired the Infomart Dallas building for $800 million in cash and stock. In the U.K., Equinix invested a total of $387 million year-to-date, with expansions at its LD10, LD9 and LD4 data centers, including a deployment of hyperscale infrastructure for cloud service providers.

Video courtesy of Equinix