Yes, after 14 successful years running the AHF Fleet data centre, it is time for an upgrade and I want you to know that we have chosen ARK, probably the finest data centre in the UK, to move to and I hope the following summary will give you confidence in the move and our future together.
Why are we moving from AHF (Aspen House Fleet) GU51 2UT to ARK Farnborough GU14 0LH and what are the benefits for you:
• The need for Security – 24×7 physical on site security, our new facility is built to Banking standards and Government “official” security standards
• Access – 24×7 on site security provides better/easier/safer and more secure customer access (AHF required security patrol call out)
• Resilience / Uptime – Improved resilience with more carriers, newer generators, latest UPS’s and modern low PUE cooling systems with seasonal free cooling. Datanet customer racks will be across 2 halls each with their own independent energy centres for resilient power and resilient cooling
• Efficiency & Renewables – Newer, cleaner more efficient cooling and UPS systems improving your carbon footprint and any sustainability and environmental initiatives you may be pursuing, more on this below and attached
• Bandwidth – More bandwidth and a choice of more carriers for Internet transit and private fibre circuits
• Fire suppression – VESDA very early smoke detection alarm together with two knock gas fire suppression (AHF had VESDA but not the gas suppression)
• Business location – More secure business park and less residential influence (AHF Ancells Park has become more residential)
• Local – same junction, M3/J4a barely a few minutes difference from AHF to the new Datanet at ARK Farnborough, Bramshot Lane, GU14 0LH
• Future proof – Datanet is taking a 15 year lease with options to extend, we are here for the long term
• Minimal impact – Together with Sunspeed our IT relocation experts, the racks and server move is all planned for minimal impact and downtime
More about the Sustainability, Renewables and our/your Carbon Footprint:
• Does Datanet at ARK use renewable energy across the Farnborough site? Yes, we use 100% REGO backed renewable energy
• Does Datanet at ARK have a carbon offset programme? Yes, ARK are members of the Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact
• Does Datanet at ARK have a carbon net zero target? Yes, as part of the above pact ARK have committed to being carbon neutral by 2030.
• How else can Datanet at ARK help with our carbon reduction goals? you can read the ARK Sustainability Data Sheet, ARK are eliminating diesel in our generators, reducing water consumption, maintaining the lowest PUE’s, using renewable energy, reducing waste and supporting biodiversity
What is the time frame?
• All customer colocation racks and servers will be moving by Sunspeed specialist IT movers from late April to mid-May
• New rack customer onboarding will commence early April
How will Datanet move the racks?
• The big 47U racks will be moved by specialist IT relocations experts Sunspeed they are specialists and move racks as their core business
• Phase1, audit all cables and devices in each rack several weeks before the move and produce a detailed audit plan, share this audit plan with our rack customer
• Phase2, pre-wire the new racks at ARK in advance of the move using new cables and template devices
• Phase3, on the agreed night or day of the move, our customer will power down their servers and Sunspeed will de-rack all devices into special server flight cases and load on to an air-suspension IT lorry
• Move to new site 3 miles down the road and re-install and double check all cables and device positions against audit plan
• Datanet staff together with Sunspeed staff will be on site whilst you power back up to help with any issues. Consider the order of powering back up and advise us
• We recommend that in the next few weeks you take the opportunity to remove any unwanted devices and cables from your rack, preferably before the audit
• We further recommend that you re-boot any devices with mechanical spinning disks and fans to get an early warning of any likely failures
What do you, our customer, have to do?
• If you have racks at our AHF data centre you will likely have already heard from us and we are planning your rack move together with you
• If you have other managed services at the Datanet AHF data centre such as Physical or VMware servers, Managed or Dedicated Servers, Shared CoLo we will be managing the whole process with minimal downtime and we will be in touch closer to the time with further information
What is the address?
• New Data Centre – Data Rooms 2&4, Building A101, ARK Data Centres, Pyestock Gate, Cody Park, Bramshot Lane, Farnborough, Hampshire, GU14 0LH
• Post & Mail and Office, no change – Datanet.co.uk Office – Aspen House, Barley Way, Ancells Business Park, Fleet, Hampshire, GU51 2UT, Tel. 01252 810010, info@datanet.co.uk
• Is the office relocating – yes the office will move after the data centre move, more on that later
What do you think of all this?
• Rest assured that the friendly, helpful and reliable people at Datanet are here to continue to look after you and I can assure you we will be doing everything possible to ensure the smoothest move with the least downtime together with our IT moving partners. I hope the above summary of the plan will give you confidence in both the move and our future together. Many thanks for your ongoing support, business and friendship for so many years
• You can email our MD with your feedback Conleth.McCallan@datanet.co.uk please use the subject: Datanet at Ark Data Centre Move
Why Sunspeed: Sunspeed is the leading IT relocation company specialising in moving critical IT equipment.
Call Datanet now on 01252 810010 to discuss how quickly and efficiently we can move your IT into our data centre, or click on the image below to read the pdf…
Why choose Datanet to host and look after your IT
- Probably the finest data centre in the UK with 2 data halls fed by independent energy centres, independent cooling systems and multiple carriers on site
- Secure facility meeting Government “official” standards together with 24×7 security on site
- Datanet engineers on site to support your Racks and Hosting
- Your IT in private dedicated rack space in this class leading M3 data centre
- Extend your office LAN out to the data centre with Gigabit connection from as little as £499 pm (subject to location and survey)
- Rack Hosting complemented by work space and meeting rooms
- Include a FortiGate Enterprise class next generation firewall for maximum protection
- Read the full FortiGate 100F datasheet here and the Gartner Magic Quadrant report here
To find out more about how Datanet can help, call Jeremy or Conleth on 01252 810010, or email sales@datanet.co.uk or simply fill out the form below and we will be in touch.