Interxion creates London-wide colocation datacentre hub through £1.1m fibre cable roll-out

Digital Realty-owned colocation provider Interxion claims to have created London’s largest interconnected datacentre hub, by linking eight of its facilities across the capital together with a 68-mile long high-speed, dark fibre cable.

The £1.1m cable means that datacentres at three of Interxion’s key London campuses in the City, Docklands and West Drayton in Middlesex will now be linked, which the company claims will open up opportunities for businesses across the capital to embark on digital transformation initiatives.

“Interxion’s newly connected datacentres offer a solution, creating London’s largest, interconnected data hub, giving more businesses access to high-speed connections and improved performance at lower cost,” the company said, in a statement.

“This means businesses large and small, new or established, that want to adopt fast growing technologies such as artificial intelligence and real-time analytics, can benefit from agile infrastructure, cloud connectivity and physical proximity to data all through one provider,” it added.

The company, which merged with Digital Realty in October 2019, said the dark fibre cable will be supported by managed wave equipment, which will provide a private connection between the three sites to provide faster connectivity compared to using leased line capacity on an existing network.

The development has won the support of John Whittingdale, the government minister for media and data, who said the project will play an important supporting role in the UK’s increasingly digital economy.  

“We want the UK to be the world’s number one data destination, so it's great to see Interxion investing in our data infrastructure to give our tech sector a further boost to grow, create jobs and help power our recovery out of the pandemic,” he said. “Data is the driving force of modern economies and, through our National Data Strategy, we are building a data economy that works for everyone and builds public trust in data use.”

Assad Noori, UK managing director at Interxion, cited the onset of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic as a reason why the deployment of the cable was necessary.

“Covid-19 has accelerated the pace of London’s tech innovation and some believe the capacity for new technologies to change our lives means we are at the start of a fourth industrial revolution,” he said.

“By creating London’s largest and most highly connected data hub, we are providing the city’s thriving tech sector and growing digital economy with the infrastructure it needs to be at the forefront of global digital transformation,” added Noori. “By linking sites from East to West London, we’re unlocking digital growth for hundreds of our cities’ businesses.”