It matters where you store your data

April 26, 2021

It matters where you store your data

Given the unprecedented nature of recent events, the concept of ensuring access to not only your data, but the systems you use to create, manipulate and manage it, should be more readily accepted by even the smallest of businesses.

Here at CCE, we talk at length about the need for organisations to implement both backup (BaaS) and recovery (DRaaS) solutions, always with the advice to utilise cloud-based, off-premises storage solutions.

There are huge benefits to cloud-based solutions over the traditional storage solutions that have served businesses well for many years, including off-premises replication, but when we talk of off-premises storage, where exactly are we storing your data, systems, applications, etc.?

As the value of your data, or more accurately perhaps the value associated with a disruption to your ability to access it has increased, the importance of securing it has grown in direct proportion. Which is why business for the very best ultra-secure data centres is booming.

Best-of-breed data centre Telehouse West

Given the importance of the need for security, resilience and availability when assessing data centres to integrate into our BaaS and DRaaS solutions, there could only really be one choice for us here at CEE, Telehouse West in London.

Telehouse West was opened 2010 and is one of four data centres at the company’s Docklands campus in East London, which is home to Europe’s most carrier-dense data centre environment, including internet exchanges and cloud service providers like us.

The data centre is carrier neutral with many tens of points of presence from different providers, ensuring low latency and diverse connectivity, whilst holding the highest security certifications, like ISO27001, PCI-DSS, SOC, to say nothing of the centre’s quality management (ISO 9001) and environmental sustainability (14001) certifications.

Also on security front they have biometrics, man traps etc and is a building of “national importance” in the event of civil unrest etc.

For more than 30 years Telehouse, one of the top 10 telecommunications companies in the world, has provided industry-leading data centre colocation services, with global connectivity and reach.

But it’s not just about online security. Physical security is important too, when you consider the value of information flowing through and stored within the thick walls of Telehouse West, which offers the highest levels of building security.

Whilst the security of your data is constantly monitored by digital tools, building security is supplemented by trained security staff operating 24/7, with electronic access management, proximity access control systems and CCTV ensuring only the right people can get in.

And should the country descend into chaos, Telehouse West is deemed a building of national importance, so it will always receive the protective attention of the authorities, ensuring your data is accessible, even if London isn’t!

Of course, we can get in. Our experienced team can access our IT equipment at any time 24/7, 365 days a year to manage, upgrade or resolve any issues as part of the cloud-based services we provide, including our BaaS and DRaaS solutions.

The power to compute, connect and cool

The physical security is important, but a data centre needs power to run all the equipment, connectivity to the outside world and a lot of cooling – a problem with any one of these critical elements could be terminal.

The Docklands site includes private dual primary substations offering a total capacity of 50MVA with cooling, connected directly to the National Grid via two 132kV power lines to reduce transmission loss and ensure security of supply.

If that wasn’t enough, the site includes eight 2.5MVA 11kV generators with N+1 redundant standby generators providing a minimum of 24 hours autonomy at full capacity, if there is an interruption to supply from the grid – an unrivalled belt and braces approach.

Taking fire detection and suppression seriously completes the package, with a fully addressable two stage fire detection system that monitors all rooms within the data centre and the under-floor space too, enhanced by very early smoke detection alarms (VESDA) installed throughout the facility.

In the event a fire is detected, your data is kept safe by a dry sprinkler fire suppression system, which minimise disruption and ensure minor problems remain localised.

Replication to a second data centre

You are unlucky of you suffer a catastrophic loss of data to accident, natural disaster or malicious intent, but you’d have to be incredibly unlucky if the data centre storing your backup or recovery solution was also affected by a terminal failure.

But it can happen, so our solutions replicate data from the Telehouse West data Centre to a separate centre operated by a different company in a different part of the world – well Slough, rather than London.

The LD4 data centre operated by Equinix offers the same security and resilience as the Telehouse facility in Docklands, but geographical separation and different service providers ensure we are protecting your data against the unimaginable odds of three points of failure at the same time.

This attention to detail is why organisations that value their data and their ability to access it, whatever happens in the future, are turning to us here at CCE to devise comprehensive backup and recovery solutions that offer real peace of mind in turbulent times.

Let’s build a better Cloud together to deliver the performance, flexibility and security you need to transform your organisation and drive it forward. Get in touch by calling us today on 020 7392 8886, so you can discover the Dataquest difference.