Come, lovely bytes, flow to Slough!

from Thebigpicture:

>>Come, lovely bytes, flow to Slough!

Communications providers can quite easily lay more fibre and provide access to the data centres; Equinix’s LD4/5 campus has a total of 35 communication providers with a point-of-presence. But the power supply network presented a bigger challenge for Equinix. The UK’s National Grid draws much of the power required for the Slough Trading Estate from the nearby Slough Combined Heat and Power Station. However, such is the scale of LD5 that Equinix had to make a significant investment in upgrading its connection to the nearest grid super-node at Iver to the west of Slough. This was essential in case the local power station itself was to fail and all power had to be drawn from further afield. As the number of data centres in Slough continues to grow, their owners need to work with power suppliers and the National Grid to ensure this does not become a problem for all in the area.