Author Archive for Robin Balen - Gyron

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Submarine fibre cable network maps

Published on September 17, 2009 in General Bloggery and Pictures. 0 Comments Tags: fibre, map, network, submarine cables.

Yesterday, the BBC had a detailed article on the front page of their news website about a new high speed fibre cable being installed in to East Africa. Along with the article, there were some interesting network maps, provided by Telegeography.

We have a large Telegeography world submarine cable map on the wall in the reception area of our Centro datacentre facility, which always attracts a lot of attention and scrutiny from the slightly geekier of our visitors. The maps are also available to download as desktop wallpaper.

Centro reception area, with large network map

Centro reception area, with large Telegeography network map

On the subject of submarine cable systems, there is a detailed and fascinating (and quite long!) article by the well known author Neal Stephenson available in the Wired magazine archives here. It’s certainly worth checking out if the subject interests you.

We’re hiring — PHP/MySQL developer wanted!

Published on September 5, 2009 in General Bloggery. 0 Comments Tags: developer, hiring, jobs, mysql, php.

We are looking to hire a developer to work here at Gyron improving and extending our internal systems and scripts. You must have wide experience with PHP and MySQL, and some knowledge and experience with SNMP, XML, and interfacing with other code via APIs would be a bonus.

The role will be on a full time contract basis, based out of our offices in Hemel Hempstead, however there is also the possibility to work from home for some of the time.

Please send an email to jobs@gyron.net to find out more about the role. Don’t forget to include a bit about yourself and give us some examples of the work you done previously. Absolutely no agencies please!

Centro Cooling efficiency

Published on August 28, 2009 in General Bloggery and Green Tech. 3 Comments Tags: air conditioning, centro, efficiency, green grid, power, PuE.

Early on in the design stage for our new Centro datacentre, we recognised the importance of in depth monitoring, reporting and trending capabilities across the entire facility, both for troubleshooting and early warning purposes, and for analysing efficiency data.

As such, the facility is equipped with an extensive Building Management System (BMS), which tracks around 2,000 variables in real time, including the status of the fire protection equipment (zoned detectors, VESDA, and FM200), leak detection system, cooling plant (CRACs, chillers, pumps/inverters), and power infrastructure (branch circuit metering, as well as meters on every outgoing way on main and distribution electrical switchgear, UPS plant and generators).

This level of monitoring has recently had even greater importance attached to it given the upcoming requirements for cap and trade carbon taxes, allowing us to collect data on energy usage (kWh, kW, power factor, voltage, and current) on a per-rack basis, and report this to our customers.

Our Centro datacentre facility has been up and running for nearly 3 months now, so we thought it would be worthwhile doing some analysis on the efficiency of our cooling equipment. We have installed highly efficient Computer Room Air Conditioning (CRAC) units, with electrically commutated (EC) fans, and have also used high efficiency over-sized inverter driven pumps, and high efficiency external packaged chillers with a higher than usual return water temperature, so we were hoping for promising figures.

We’re pleased to announce that our initial analysis shows a PuE figure of 1.63! We are especially happy with this as our current situation with a large number of customers still populating their racks presents several big issues with part-load efficiencies on key plant equipment, particularly UPSs and Chillers.

The Green Grid specify:

Some preliminary work indicates that many datacenters may have a PUE of 3.0 or greater, but with proper design a PUE value of 1.6 should be achievable

We are continuing to improve the systems and processes in place at the Centro facility and hope to make even greater efficiency savings with additional investment in plant in the coming months.

Press release: Leading telecommunications provider Fluidata goes online at Centro datacentre

Published on July 29, 2009 in Gyron News and Press Releases. 0 Comments Tags: centro, customer, fibre, fluidata, network.

London July 2009. Fluidata, a leading telecom provider, opens a new point of presence at the cutting edge Centro datacentre in Hemel Hempstead in collaboration with datacentre specialists Gyron. The datacentre, which comprises extensive power capabilities as well as strong security measures, successfully meets the increasing demands of businesses and telecoms companies of today.

See also:

- Comms Dealer

Built by Gyron, this data centre offers connectivity right out to the last mile, as a result of Fluidata’s broad range of connectivity products such as ADSL2+, SDSL and Fibre.

Robin Balen, Managing Director at Gyron states:

Our Centro datacentre in Hemel Hempstead has been built from the ground up with high density power and cooling systems, along with diverse dark fibre connectivity. This, coupled with our location just outside of the M25, makes the facility an ideal choice for disaster recovery and cloud computing applications. Connectivity to the end user’s premises is a key part of any such outsourcing strategy, and one which many datacentres overlook. We look forward to working with Fluidata and their wide range of connectivity services to meet this need.

Piers Daniell, Managing Director of Fluidata states:

In today’s climate, it is increasingly important for businesses to consider hosting and virtualisation in the cloud as a viable business initiative.

At Fluidata, our offering includes multiple data centres across the UK operating on a dark fibre network, configured to operate as one: This is a significant development and an important requirement for businesses looking to host key applications within the cloud. Coupled with national last mile coverage it is a compelling business case for virtualisation.

-ENDS-

About Gyron

Gyron was formed in March 2000, and offers colocation and a wide range complimentary managed services from two facilities — the London Hosting Centre in the heart of the London Docklands, and the Centro datacentre in Hemel Hempstead. Both datacentres are supported by 24/7 on-site teams of engineers and offer redundant power, cooling, and connectivity, all covered by 100% uptime service level guarantees. For more information, visit http://blog.gyron.net/.

About Fluidata

Fluidata is a leading, independent telecommunications provider offering flexible, innovative and high speed internet solutions for all sectors across the B2B market. The firm has a strong product and service portfolio, providing companies of all sizes (in particular SME’s) with bespoke, cost effective, highly robust and extremely reliable internet connections and support. For more information, visit http://www.fluidata.co.uk/.

Mini tour of Centro datacentre

Published on July 23, 2009 in Centro fit-out and Pictures. 1 Comment Tags: air conditioning, centro, racks, suite 1, vesda.

Now that our Centro datacentre has been successfully up and running for nearly 2 months, we’ve finally had chance to take some photos showing the completed facility.

With over 70% of the capacity of our first phase of fit-out already sold to customers, we’re already planning the roll out of additional capacity at the site. For more details and pricing, contact sales@gyron.net!

Datacentre lobby area. All lighting is motion activated to save energy.

Secure areas with fire panels, separate VESDA systems, and access control

Suite 1 with first two pods live, and plenty of expansion room

20 rack pod in Suite 1 with hot aisle containment

2x 20 rack pods in Suite 1 with hot aisle containment

Suite 1 Plant Room showing DFUs, FM200 bottles and distribution boards