We use the latest state of the art technology to power our hosting presence. The Dell PowerEdge servers are in a private Berkshire dedicated data centre (Bluesquare), which has class-leading security and power facilities. We have multiple 10 gigabit network connections and there are staff onsite 24 hour a day, 7 days a week. Our Network ConnectivityOur network is fully switched, with multiple redundant routers, and multiple connections to different ISPs, allowing us to provide absolute availability of the network with no down time. The network is designed around a high-speed switched architecture. Each server is plugged into at least a 100mbit, fully-switched port on an edge switch. Each edge switch is then in turn plugged into two separate aggregation switches at 1gbit, with failover redundancy allowing either 1gbit link to fail. We have 50,000mbits of network connectivity including Level3, Tiscali, Deutsche Telekom, and LINX, AMSIX, and LonAP. We have over 200 peering sessions set up on UK exchanges. We use the latest generation Cisco hardware to host some of the most bandwidth-intensive clients in the UK. We are connected to this range of providers via redundant routers. With this configuration if one of the routers fails, the secondary takes over the full routing within a matter of seconds. Our network design is fully redundant and high performance, with low latency and high throughput. Once traffic has reached our core switches it is routed by our multiple, redundant routers on to the internet over a number of different connections. We are among the very few UK hosts that can boast they maintain their own AS number and run BGP4. This means we are not tied down to one particular provider, and can swap between providers, distribute traffic between them, and peer for faster network performance. SecurityThe data centre features comprehensive 24/7 security by on-site personnel. This includes security barriers, visual verification of all persons entering the building, CCTV video camera surveillance. All persons entering the data floor have proximity tags to gain access which are logged and verified. PowerWe have a scalable and sustainable power supply. All the facilities are built to at least an N+1 standard; put simply, this means that if two generators are required to provide non-stop power, then there’ll be three installed. So rather than guaranteeing 99.99% availability, the guarantee is 100%. Fire ProtectionThe fire detection and suppression system is one of the most advanced available. Very Early Smoke Detection Apparatus (VESDA) is installed in every facility. This is coupled with a gas based fire retardant that is environmentally friendly, to put out fires instantly, without damaging equipment. |
