Increased demand fuels Node4 Northampton expansion

When the data centre opened in 2011, it put the town on the map as a hub for IT innovation. With approximately 3,809 sq m, it was the company’s fourth and biggest facility with a capacity of 720 racks. It combined the latest in power, fire control, security, cooling and humidification technologies.
Just two years on from the opening, work has begun on a new 450 sq m hall that will add space for a further 200 racks. The expansion is designed to boost Node4’s offering in response to the unprecedented growth within cloud computing and hosted IT services. The company has promised new features to improve efficiency including best of breed cooling technology which will ensure Node4 continues to lead the field as demand rises.
News of the new data hall, which is due to open in September follows the recent announcement of a management-backed buy out of Node4, a deal that will see the company continue to take bold steps in its upward trajectory.

Shane Dove, Sales Manager at Node4, said, “Node4 has always been a company that quickly reacts to the needs of its customers, so it was really important for us that we adequately prepared ourselves with the means to expand. There has been great demand for data centre and outsourced IT services in the South Midlands, Northamptonshire, and indeed nationwide and we are investing in the site to address this market. The expansion further cements our commitment to the local area and to providing leading edge technology to local companies.”

Node4 is positioned to benefit from the town’s tremendous growth as a nationwide hub for companies operating in the South East and London areas. As the region continues to grow, Node4 will continue investing in helping companies develop and serve its ever-demanding growing markets.
Shane continued, “We have seen a lot of interest from clients wanting large scale primary and disaster recovery (DR), so we commissioned the new hall with a design that better accommodates caged areas for customers who require private, segregated space. Our Northampton facility lends itself very well to these types of solutions within our own data centre footprint which is quite rare.”

The new hall offers the latest advances in security, resilience and power efficiency including a cold aisle containment system, a revolutionary ‘cool wall’ air conditioning system and power-efficient LED lighting. Fire safety is provided by VESDA early warning fire/smoke detection and IG55 argon/nitrogen fire suppression.

To guarantee maximum uptime the data centre has dual internet feeds and numerous connectivity options. Power is provided by dual redundant feeds to each rack from separate busbars, panel boards and an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) system and an N+1 generator backup with 72 hours of fuel onsite.

Shane concluded, “The new technologies and advanced cooling equipment that we are implementing with the Northampton data centre’s expansion will improve our efficiency and further reduce our carbon footprint.”