The search for 'best in class'

What was the problem?

Having encountered numerous power related issues, Nimbus Hosting needed to find an alternative energy efficient tier III London based datacentre provider which could offer the team best in class connectivity, scalable hosting space alongside access to a highly skilled 24x7x365 remote hands team. As an expanding company, Nimbus also needed to ensure that it could have the flexibility to scale its operations accordingly.

Unsatisfactory remote hands assistance Prior to migrating its systems, servers and infrastructure to Coreix, the team had experienced an unsatisfactory level of remote hands assistance. This was a major concern for the business as it needed to be able to rely on a provider which had experienced datacentre and network engineers in place to work on its racks in the unlikely event of downtime.

Inaccessible location
A major concern for Nimbus was that in the event of an emergency, they would not be able to access the datacentre as it was not in proximity to the engineers’ homes.

How did we help?

As an established managed hosting, colocation and network services provider, the management, network and datacentre teams were able to tailor a solution for Nimbus. The company was very impressed with the array of bespoke colocation solutions which were in place ranging from quarter racks to private suites and data halls. The team listened to the major concerns which the company had with regards to hosting its IT operations onsite and put a plan in place which looked to scale their requirements. Coreix was able to deploy a colocation solution for Nimbus very quickly which helped to alleviate the headache of the migration process.

Well positioned geographic location
With a capacity of 8MVA, the newly built primary datacentre was the ideal choice for Nimbus as it was situated within an energy efficient enterprise grade 32,000 sq. ft. tier III facility just outside of central London in Enfield. As well as this, it was an optimal choice for the company’s engineering team as they lived nearby and could access the facility if needed at any time of the day or night. The datacentre was also away from any flood plains or flight paths minimising risk to the company’s IT operations.

Multi-tiered approach to physical and network security
The team was particularly impressed with the site’s three metre perimeter fence, security bollards and array of security measures in place to deter any unauthorised personnel entering the facilities. These included on-site NSI Gold accredited 24x7x365 security personnel, a biometric entry system and secure on-site parking bays.

As well as this, each data hall and technical area had a unique access protocol with CCTV systems which were in operation throughout the site to provide an additional layer of security. The team was also able to offer an array of managed protection services ranging from anti-DDoS services to managed firewalls, monitoring, storage and backup solutions which could mitigate against any network attacks.

Coreix has an extremely stringent approach to physical and network security with an array of accreditations to its name for environmental management, information governance, PCI DSS, energy efficiency and employee screening. This gave the team additional confidence that its servers would be well protected from any physical or network attacks.

Best in class network connectivity and redundancy
As a major concern, the chosen site had to be a well-connected datacentre. The fully redundant site had two diverse meet me rooms, 24x7 remote hands support, clients areas, an onsite network operations team, a choice of carriers, internet exchange points and diverse fibre connectivity in place with access to its fibre metro Ethernet fibre ring to route traffic. As well as this, the site had N+N UPS redundancy and N+1 diesel generators in place minimising the risk of any downtime.

Experienced and qualified datacentre and network operations team
Each member of the datacentre and network operations team was qualified to CCIE level which gave complete confidence that in the event that one of their engineers could not make it to the datacentre, the Coreix team would take care of any issues which arose answering all requests within a five minute period.

The Coreix team was also able to advise and assist on clustering, emergency diagnostics, firewalls, load balancing, routing and switching and topology design and implementation.
Nimbus was particularly impressed by the complimentary services offered by Coreix which included one hour’s free remote hands service every month, hot desks, free secure onsite parking bays, free Wi-Fi, 14 days free secure storage/ build areas, an on demand migration service and access to the datacentre and network connectivity teams on a 24x7 basis.

What was the result?

Provided colocation space in a location which was convenient and accessible
Coreix was able to provide Nimbus with best in class enterprise grade colocation facilities which were in proximity to the M25 and central London. Situated 11 miles from the capital, the Coreix site provided the optimal location to host the company’s servers, systems and infrastructure as it was in proximity to its head office.

Robust and resilient network connectivity
With a robust metro Ethernet fibre ring in place, the company has complete diversity with regards to its network connectivity. With a 100% infrastructure and network SLA in place, the company is able to be confident that it will not experience a moment of downtime and can concentrate on what it does best – providing best in class managed hosting solutions to an array of businesses in the enterprise sector.

Exceptional network monitoring (Five minute SLAs)
Nimbus is confident that its network is being monitored at all times as Coreix has an extremely responsive network engineering team who manage the network on a 24x7 basis. The company has provided the company with a host of anti-DDoS solutions enabling them to counter any attacks on the network.

Recommendation
“As an established managed hosting, colocation and network services provider, I would be delighted to recommend Coreix to other service providers who are looking for best in class connectivity, robust and resilient colocation facilities and an extremely responsive remote hands team.” Tim Dunton, CEO of Nimbus

“The team has enabled us to be able to concentrate on what we do best - providing best in class managed hosting solutions.” Tim Dunton, CEO of Nimbus