The Future

The Victorians developed and operated powerful machines in factories, massively increasing output and productivity. Now, over 200 years on, we find ourselves at another major flexion point underpinned by the huge strides made in technology and the massive computing power available to us.

We are all of course intimately responsible for the exponential technology boom – wedded as we are to our smart phones, our applications, emails and the Internet. The central message is simple – data centres and the technological change driven from within them are now a fundamental component of our modern lives.

The manner in which we deliver public services, shop, bank, travel, research, digest media, communicate and form opinions, have all rapidly evolved and will continue to do so into the foreseeable future. Our modern technology enables the automation that accelerates processes and outputs and allows the analysis of vast data pools. At its heart, the Internet provides global access and these technological developments can, if fully harnessed, deliver real advances in both the private and public sectors.

The situation is complicated by the fact that this technological change is not taking place in a vacuum but instead in a period witnessing a vast global power shift from west to east and the old developed countries confronting huge economic challenge.

In the midst of this upheaval there is one technology constant - all the IT equipment driving our current computing power plugs into our modern day ‘digital factories’ – data centres; they are our foundation.

Our digital factories, unlike their Victorian predecessors, do not belch out plumes of black smog but the technology equipment they house is extremely power hungry.

Here, modern highly efficient data centres, have a real and very positive contribution to make. Many old data centres are inefficient and worse, too much of today’s technology equipment is resting in normal offices and other building space, inefficiently consuming huge amounts of energy. A move away from this current mode of operating to a more consolidated, modern data centre footprint would greatly aid energy efficiency, drive real cost savings and save significant amounts of carbon. Energy aside there are other matters to be addressed; examples being – access to and cost of key resources (land, power, fibre), security and access to a skilled work force.

Challenges exist but data centres are now a key component of modern life, housing as they do the incredible technology available to us. The question is how do we most efficiently and effectively utilise, capitalise and build on that computing power now available? With these challenges properly addressed, the opportunities that follow are vast.

Many positive initiatives are afoot to better help regulate and manage the data centre industry. On carbon emissions and energy usage, Ark is already at the cutting edge and our intent is to stay there. Data centre owners carry a great responsibility and an incredible opportunity to influence both energy efficiency and environmental issues and can have a very positive impact. Steering and lobbying groups are forming to give guidance and debate best practice.

Thought leaders are coming together from all corners of the globe, to share their collective experience and vision for sustainable buildings, better use of green technologies and different ways by which to most effectively build our future digital factories to support the requirements of the data boom, deal with the legacy of inefficient, energy hungry, polluting data centres and best enable the digital economy while safeguarding our planet. The data centre industry must grow its voice and proactive engagement on these big issues. It is Ark’s declared intent to be front and centre of this movement.

Ark’s Role Moving Forward
As aspiring leaders in the data centre industry, Ark aims to lean in on these issues and to be a real partner to our clients – to work to understand their business needs and deliver truly efficient, resilient, secure and cost certain data centres. Thus providing Ark clients with a stable platform from which they can compete in what are very challenging markets.

In these highly competitive times businesses require data centre partners who, by deploying their transformation expertise and financial muscle, can assist in driving cost out of the client’s existing infrastructure and migrate to a new, cost effective platform. Ark’s leadership team contains vast experience and expertise around such transformational change and very real financial backing. The arm’s length, highly transactional, historic data centre engagements no longer suffice and are not the Ark way.

Ark owns its real estate, has all regulatory requirements cleared, can rapidly stand up purpose built data centres (18 weeks) which are as a result highly efficient and secure. Its’ sites are rich in both power and fibre. Ark can, if needed, build on client sites to aid consolidation and transformation. Its own campus sites allow constant innovation, refresh and flexibility. Given this speed of delivery, efficiency, security and cost effectiveness, Ark can advance an extremely compelling proposition that delivers the lowest Total Cost of Ownership in the UK.

What does this all mean? Ark puts the client first and wants to partner. Ark leads the field on efficiency and Total Cost of Ownership. This is all good but in pounds, shillings and pence what is the real impact at the most basic level? Take an average data centre PUE as 2.5 (generous in a lot of instances!) and the fact Ark can cap its PUE at 1.25 and that amounts to annual savings of £1.1M per MW and 6000 tonnes of carbon.

ABOUT ARK

Ark design, construct and operate the UK’s most efficient data centres, known as The Arks. Recapitalised in 2012, Ark is rapidly expanding to serve the needs of organisations demanding operational excellence. The leadership team, selected for their proven track record of success in the technology industry, are driving Ark to being the recognised market leader for high integrity data centres (Arks). Led by the CEO, Huw Owen, the company’s culture puts the client front and centre of everything that Ark does and carries a zero tolerance approach to anything that may put client business at risk.

Ark currently operates data centre facilities on two campuses spread across 74 acres in Wiltshire and Hampshire. With access to 160MVA of diverse power, these facilities are situated within secure compounds, protected to a minimum of Business Impact Level 3 (BIL3) but capable of operating to BIL6. BIL3 is Ark’s standard offering and is provided at a highly competitive cost point – indeed the lowest Total Cost of Ownership in the UK.

Ark with its highly efficient, secure, price competitive data centres, true financial resilience and an energetic leadership team with in depth experience of delivering business transformation, is well positioned to take advantage of an industry fuelled by the continued explosion in personal and corporate data usage, big data analytics and cloud computing and technology services and companies with a desire to drive down their infrastructure costs.

We at Ark would be delighted to talk to you about your data centre needs and challenges.

Huw Owen
Chief Executive Officer

Huw Owen joined Ark as Chief Executive Officer in November 2012, leading a new Senior Leadership Team following a recapitalisation of Ark in July. Huw will move the business to the next level and ensure it is capable of becoming the leading player in the UK Data Centre market. Huw joined Ark from BT where
he was a member of the BT Global Services Leadership Team and
President of Global Health.

Prior to joining BT, he was Managing Director & Regional Vice President of Hewlett Packard’s UK Defence and Security business, leading the delivery of major transformational projects, and providing innovative technology solutions across the UK and European defence sectors and into military theatres of operation.

Prior to this assignment Huw was the Chief Executive of the Atlas Consortium, delivering the Ministry of Defence DII (Defence Information Infrastructure) programme.

For more info:
www.arkdatacentres.co.uk

Head Office: 0845 389 3355

Ark Data Centres
Spring Park
Westwells Road
Hawthorn
Corsham
Wiltshire
SN13 9GB

@Arkdatacentres