Insight Type: Blog

What to look for when evaluating a data centre partner

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Choosing the right environment

Whether you are reviewing your current setup, planning a migration, or supporting wider digital transformation, the right data centre environment can strengthen service delivery and reduce operational risk. The wrong choice can create constraints that are difficult and costly to fix later.

Key areas to assess

1. Resilience (should be proven, not assumed)

A data centre should support continuous availability for critical systems and applications. But how is resilience is actually delivered? A resilient environment is not defined by one feature alone. It depends on how power, cooling, connectivity and operational processes work together to reduce the risk of disruption.

IT teams should assess:

  • power architecture and redundancy;
  • cooling design and operational continuity;
  • network resilience and path diversity;
  • monitoring and incident response arrangements;
  • maintenance processes and change control disciplines.

    2. Security (must cover both physical and operational risk)

    Security is often discussed in broad terms, but IT teams need to examine the detail. A strong data centre environment should protect infrastructure not only from unauthorised access, but also from operational failures and weak governance. For many organisations, a professionally managed data centre can provide stronger controls than an internal server room, particularly when infrastructure supports regulated or business-critical workloads.

    Areas to review include:

    • layered physical security controls;
    • 24/7 site monitoring;
    • access management policies;
    • security operations capability;
    • audit trails and reporting;
    • support for compliance requirements.

    3. Connectivity options (central to performance)

    For modern IT estates, connectivity is just as important as rack space and power – infrastructure needs reliable access to users, partner systems, public cloud platforms and disaster recovery environments. Good connectivity gives IT teams flexibility, and supports application performance, simplifies hybrid IT models and reduces the risk of being locked into a narrow network design.

    When evaluating a provider, IT teams should ask:

    • which carriers are available on site;
    • whether the facility is carrier-neutral;
    • what options exist for diverse network paths;
    • how easily cloud connectivity can be added;
    • what latency expectations apply for key destinations.

    4. Scalability (should match real operational needs)

    IT teams need an environment that can support change over time. Growth is rarely a linear process, and infrastructure requirements can shift due to acquisitions, new platforms, security demands or changes in application architecture. The goal is not only to meet current demand, but to avoid creating new constraints further down the line.

    A suitable data centre partner should be able to support:

    • short-term expansion needs;
    • phased migrations;
    • mixed infrastructure environments;
    • changing power density requirements;
    • future connectivity and cloud integration needs.

    5. Service quality (matters as much as the facility itself)

    Even a technically strong facility can become difficult to work with if operational support is weak. IT teams should consider what the service model looks like in practice. A data centre partner should feel like an extension of the internal IT function, not a passive landlord. Clear service management, transparency and operational responsiveness all have a direct impact on the experience of running infrastructure effectively.

    Questions worth asking include:

    • is there a dedicated engineering team on site;
    • what remote hands support is available;
    • how quickly can requests be handled;
    • what reporting is provided for power, temperature and performance;
    • how are incidents communicated and managed.

    6. Sustainability (should be examined in practical terms)

    Sustainability is now part of many infrastructure decisions, but IT teams need measurable indicators rather than broad claims. For organisations balancing environmental goals with technical performance, these factors can help support both governance requirements and long-term cost control.

    Useful areas to explore include:

    • energy efficiency performance;
    • renewable electricity usage;
    • cooling efficiency;
    • reporting on power usage effectiveness;
    • operational initiatives such as heat recovery.

    7. Business continuity (should be built into the environment)

    A data centre decision should support business continuity planning so IT teams should evaluate how the environment contributes to continuity, recovery and operational confidence. A dependable environment helps reduce the operational burden on internal teams and strengthens continuity planning across the wider organisation.

    That means reviewing:

    • resilience of core infrastructure;
    • site procedures for incidents;
    • monitoring and escalation arrangements;
    • options for geographic diversity;
    • support for disaster recovery design.

    Final thoughts

    For IT teams, evaluating a data centre partner means considering whether the environment will help support secure, resilient and adaptable infrastructure over time.

    The best decisions are usually made when technical, operational and strategic factors are assessed together. A strong partner should offer resilience, security, connectivity, flexibility and service quality in a way that supports both current priorities and future change.

    Ready to see these capabilities first-hand? Book a tour of our Farnborough and Manchester data centres today to see our secure, resilient, and highly connected environments in action.

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    Quantum computing – what it is and what it might mean for data centres

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    The potential of quantum computing

    You might be forgiven for thinking that artificial intelligence is the only major tech innovation happening right now, but quantum computing has the potential to completely revolutionise the technology landscape, too. While still a developing field, it promises to break through the physical limitations of traditional computing.

    New horizons in processing power

    Currently, standard CPU power is limited by the number of calculations a computer can make per nanosecond. CPU chips have a finite capacity and while they are significantly faster than the processors of the 1980s and 90s, a strict limitation remains on their maximum calculation speed. Quantum computing removes this limitation almost entirely.

    Today’s leading ‘supercomputers’ consist of millions of CPU and GPU cores, yet they still struggle to efficiently make certain complex calculations. Take a simple seating arrangement as an example. There are over 3.6 million ways to seat just 10 people at a dinner table. A traditional supercomputer must take time after each calculation to verify and analyse that its work is correct before moving to the next sequence.

    Quantum mechanics handles this much faster. It creates vast multidimensional spaces to represent problems and relies on quantum wave interference. This allows the computer to perform all calculations simultaneously, whilst translating the data back into information we can understand.

    Imagine a traditional navigation interface working out how to get from point A to B, then to C, and eventually D. A quantum computer does not just calculate each route sequentially. It looks at every single possible permutation – including how to get from D to B, C to A, and B to C – all at exactly the same time.

    How could it change our lives?

    Traditional CPUs have advanced almost as far as physics will allow. Even with the shift from 7nm to cutting-edge 3nm and 2nm chips, traditional processors still face physical boundaries. To make large-scale, complex calculations, you need to network more processors together, which takes up massive amounts of physical space.

    Quantum chips are capable of significantly more output at the same size. By working together, they can perform exponentially more calculations per second, meaning complex equations are solved instantly. For example, a quantum computer could rapidly analyse millions of variables to determine the exact optimal fuel needed to sustain a flight to Mars. It destroys the physical limitations of traditional science.

    The main hurdle we face right now is something called quantum decoherence. This makes the information received from quantum computers difficult to decode. The issue is not the information itself, but rather the blistering speed at which it returns. The quantum complexity of the output means the human mind and traditional interfaces can only translate so much at once.

    When can we expect it?

    In many forms, quantum computing already exists and has done for several years. We have seen major breakthroughs with quantum chips and the dimensional algorithms required for the data to exist. However, it remains a highly complex science. While we can ask a quantum computer for answers, we cannot always translate the returned data correctly. These ongoing translation efforts are currently slowing down practical progress.

    That said, researchers hope that massive breakthroughs in AI and machine learning over the next five to ten years will allow for rapid data translation. As hybrid systems evolve, we will likely see setups where quantum computers do the heavy lifting, while traditional supercomputers exist purely to translate that raw data into a format we can easily understand.

    Quantum’s impact on data centres

    Rapid advancements have sparked heavy investment across the sector, and this has led to serious discussions about how these powerful computers will integrate with industries like the data centre sector.

    Ultimately, data infrastructure will need to evolve to support quantum technology. While it is still developing and unlikely to replace the classical computing infrastructure that data centres currently host anytime soon, it shows promise for sustainability. If quantum computing can achieve tasks in seconds or minutes that would otherwise take hours or days, we are clearly going to need less energy to run our most intensive workloads.

    Discover our colocation data centres

    We’re building brand new state-of-the-art colocation facilities, positioning us well to cope with new technology as it develops. Come and see our data centres in action – London edge and Manchester – two of the most economically active regions of the UK and tech hubs.

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    The problem of data centre ‘phantom investments’

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    Announced but not seen through

    It’s not uncommon for governments and developers to announce massive deals to build new data centres, promising thousands of jobs and vast economic growth. However, recent media investigations (Guardian, 2026; Financial Times, 2025) have painted a very different picture, claiming that many of these promised projects simply do not exist. Economic experts have labelled these projects that don’t come to fruition ‘phantom investments’. They serve primarily to artificially inflate economic impact figures, creating an illusion of growth without delivering any physical infrastructure. Furthermore, they cause grid connections to stall.

    The strain on utilities

    Data centres are critical infrastructure – technological and digital development cannot continue without them. When developers make bogus claims about upcoming projects, they muddy the waters for the entire industry. Often, developers rush to stake claims on power capacity long before they secure the necessary capital or develop a concrete strategy for construction. Estimates suggest that a staggering 90% of these power connection requests are actually false.

    This flood of speculative requests places an enormous burden on utility companies. Tasked with managing finite power resources, grid operators must somehow determine which projects are real and which are merely speculative.

    Faced with this uncertainty, utilities understandably hesitate to allocate power. They cannot risk committing grid capacity to a project that will never materialise. This hesitation slows down the entire development cycle, creating bottlenecks that hinder the companies ready to build actual infrastructure.

    According to Oxford Economics, two main factors explain the massive discrepancy between initial connection requests and the actual power draw expected from mature data centres:

    1. Speculative requests: the removal of connection requests that are unlikely to ever proceed accounts for almost 90% of the difference between total requests and actual power draw.
    2. Capacity overestimation: the remaining gap is explained by the difference between the massive capacity developers initially request and the actual, much lower power draw a facility will need at maturity.

    Genuine construction projects

    It takes immense effort, rigorous planning, and substantial time to bring a data centre online. Constructing a data centre is much like an iceberg. The final physical build – the part everyone sees – is just the tip. All the critical work that happens before a shovel ever enters the ground remains invisible to the public.

    Long before developers can make responsible public announcements, they must complete an exhaustive list of preliminary tasks. This includes detailed feasibility studies, ensuring stringent regulatory compliance, and drafting both conceptual and detailed designs. Teams must conduct thorough risk assessments, secure numerous planning approvals, and carefully select vendors. Only after finalising complex utility contracts and sourcing materials can the actual physical work begin.

    Understanding this complexity highlights why responsible planning matters. Navigating the extensive groundwork is a challenging but necessary part of the process. For instance, the completion of our MCR2 facility in Manchester in June 2025, alongside the start of construction of FRN2 at our site in Farnborough towards the end of last year, represents the culmination of this invisible iceberg. These milestones were achieved only after an extensive period of rigorous preparation.

    Responsible planning

    To ensure the continuous growth of our digital economy, the industry must prioritise genuine development over speculative projects.

    As for us, we’re focusing on what we do best: growing our data centre infrastructure so we can continue delivering high quality service, resilient colocation, and bespoke solutions with a personal touch – choosing to let our services speak for themselves rather than joining the race to make ever-bigger promises. To find out more about our colocation offering, get in touch or come and visit one of our sites in Manchester or Farnborough.

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    How data centre efficiency solves the 2026 ESG reporting challenge

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    ESG reporting is moving from the back office to the boardroom. Under the latest UK mandates, sustainability disclosures must be integrated into the annual financial report. This transition ensures they carry the same weight of director accountability and governance as traditional financial statements. These disclosures will be signed off by directors, with a new requirement to explicitly state the level of third-party assurance and audit treatment applied to the data.

    For many businesses, this presents a fresh set of issues, and data centres have become pressure points. Ineffective or secretive practices can bring about legal, reputational, and financial risk. Beyond environmental concerns, this is a fundamental governance issue. Your data infrastructure management directly impacts ESG credibility, investor confidence, and potential personal liability.

    The 2026 ESG reporting landscape

    Fully in line with ISSB guidance, the final UK SRS S1 and S2 standards were issued in February 2026 for immediate voluntary use. The ISSB provides the global baseline for these disclosures to certify that sustainability data is as consistent and reliable as financial accounting. These new standards are designed to modernise and eventually succeed the SECR framework. While SECR focused primarily on reporting energy totals, the new UK SRS requires companies to demonstrate how climate risks impact their long-term financial value. This shift introduces mandatory, director-signed and assurance-graded ESG reporting from January 2027. Corporations can no longer rely on high-level narratives. Every disclosure now requires traceable, defensible evidence.

    There is a transition window. Companies get a two-year reprieve from climate-related reporting obligations, allowing them to focus on energy and emissions data. This makes infrastructure energy reporting the most quantifiable and auditable starting point, and the most efficient path to becoming fully ESG-compliant.

    Datum is a year-1 pragmatic solution. We are a verified partner for ESG directors, offering GRESB-rated data infrastructure and a low design PUE. Our systems provide meter-verified energy data at source, enabling truly credible emissions reporting from the start. In practice, Datum’s facilities ensure energy use is measurable, traceable, and defensible under scrutiny. This removes one of the most significant layers of ESG risk.

    Why data centres are ESG pressure points

    Data centres are long-duration emitting assets. Cooling systems and power supplies run continuously, while backup generators are regularly tested and occasionally activated, contributing to overall scope 1 and 2 emissions. The new SRS S1 and S2 UK ruleset brings purchased infrastructure into Scope 3. This is compounded by the fact that your third-party data centres are also directly affecting your ESG audit risk.

    Auditors need an emissions lineage. They want to see where the numbers come from, how they are measured, and whether the methodology is independently verifiable. Without that, infrastructure is a blind spot in your reporting.

    Datum eliminates that blind spot. Our real-time, meter-level reporting gives you a complete audit trail from energy consumption to emissions estimates. Estimation risk disappears, and ESG teams end up with data that is not just accurate but also audit-ready. Transparent and efficient data centres reduce reporting overheads while mitigating potential liability.

    Efficiency is a balance sheet solution

    ESG compliance carries direct financial consequences rather than being a purely regulatory exercise. Soaring numbers of British firms are adopting internal carbon pricing (CFP Energy, 2025), meaning that inefficient third-party infrastructure now carries a direct, measurable cost on a client’s internal balance sheet. Every tonne of CO₂ can be priced, which, in turn, translates into financial exposure to emissions. Inefficient infrastructure increases the cost, whereas efficient systems reduce it.

    Datum’s performance illustrates this clearly. As an active participant in the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB), we were ranked number 1 in our European peer group in 2025 with a score of 93/100. Governance came in at 23/24 and management at 37/40, which are significantly above sector benchmarks. This shows that Datum offers IFRS S1-aligned governance strength alongside engineering excellence.

    For CFOs, this matters. Efficient, well-governed infrastructure reduces reporting overhead, minimises estimation risk, and boosts credibility with both auditors and investors. GRESB validation also provides the third-party assurance most ESG auditors prefer. In practice, this allows you to reduce time spent defending numbers and increase focus on strategic carbon reduction.

    Tackling greenwashing and data integrity

    Legal compliance is a critical factor when reporting on ESG. According to CMA guidance and the DMCC Act 2024, businesses may be liable for repeating false information about a supplier’s environmental sustainability claims. Penalties can be as high as 10% of worldwide turnover. Even nonprofits and “100% renewable” declarations based solely on REGOs are coming under increasing challenge.

    Estimation risk is a legal liability as much as a logistical inconvenience. Datum solves this by enabling the use of real-time, verified, metered energy usage instead of soft estimates. With our systems, companies can provide proof for any claim they make and eliminate the risks of greenwashing or audit non-compliance. Audit-ready infrastructure safeguards the company and its directors, transforming legal liability into a manageable part of your ESG strategy.

    Sovereign sustainability: solving the dual mandate

    The UK’s Cyber Security and Resilience Bill has added an extra layer of obligation. Data centres with a capacity greater than 1MW are now classified as Critical National Infrastructure, so firms must adhere to sustainability and security standards. Older sites have struggled to meet the dual demands of energy efficiency and regulations.

    Datum’s London–Manchester presence serves this two-pronged requirement. We provide data residency, infrastructure sovereignty, and strong carbon reporting in secure, resilient facilities. When constructing MCR2, we integrated closed-loop heat reuse technology to allow the capture of waste heat, which can be used to warm a development of new homes planned adjacent to our data centre. This approach demonstrates sovereign sustainability, showing that energy efficiency and compliance are compatible with addressing a country’s digital infrastructure requirements.

    Strategic selection of the location also serves as a solution. By placing facilities on key transit lines, Datum minimises carbon footprint and regulatory overhead, ensuring that firms’ ESG and security requirements are met.

    Future-proofing your data strategy

    Data centre strategy now influences ESG audit results, director liability, and the credibility of carbon reporting. These factors far exceed simple questions of uptime or cost. Efficient and transparent infrastructure is an essential control lever for ESG and a competitive advantage.

    You do not want your data centre to be an auditing bottleneck. Ensure your 2026 infrastructure data is audit-ready and compliant with the latest UK standards. Book an appointment with a Datum expert today to learn how our GRESB-rated facilities can help you de-risk your upcoming sustainability disclosures.

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    Our sponsorship of the local pan-disability football club

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    Supporting community and inclusive sport

    Community sports teams offer a vital support network and a sense of belonging, so we’re proud to sponsor the Wythenshawe & Norbrook Pan-Disability Football Club.

    About the team

    The Wythenshawe & Norbrook Pan-Disability Football Club was formed seven years ago following the closure of Wythenshawe United, a team previously run by a local community centre. Determined to keep the players together, Tommy, a former assistant manager at the Royal Oak community centre, took the reins.

    Today, the club supports 22 players, operating as two distinct but united squads: Norbrook FC and Wythenshawe Adult Disability Football Club. The structure is entirely inclusive. All players are over the age of 18 and live with various disabilities, including ADHD and specific learning difficulties. It is a mixed squad featuring both men and women, with ages ranging from 18 right up to their 61-year-old goalkeeper who continues to be unphased by throwing himself onto the ground in a bid to save goals. In some cases, the players’ carers also attend the sessions.

    Overcoming funding challenges

    The team is entirely self-funded. The players pay weekly subscriptions to cover basic operating costs. When the team travels for away fixtures or tournaments – such as matches in Northwich or Stockport – the players often have to contribute additional funds to cover minibus hire.

    These financial hurdles can place a strain on the players and the volunteers who dedicate their time to running the club. Despite these obstacles, the management team has consistently worked hard to ensure that financial limitations do not prevent the players from doing what they love.

    Our sponsorship

    Our contribution has directly funded brand-new kits for the entire squad. The club now proudly wears two distinct strips: a red kit for the A-team and a blue kit for the B-team. We’re pleased that the kits have had a substantial effect on team morale and have generated some healthy competition within the ranks, with players highly motivated to score goals and earn a promotion to the red A-team.

    Training, competing and celebrating together

    The team trains every week at the Woodhouse Park Lifestyle Centre in Wythenshawe and competes in the local Power League, which means regularly facing off against other disabled teams across Greater Manchester, including Stockport School, Oldham FC, Altrincham FC, and Stockport Summer FC. A highlight is the annual end of season tournament – the Cheshire FA tournament held in Northwich. The team received a winner’s trophy last year and was a runner up in the previous year.

    Beyond the medals and competitive fixtures, the club’s true success lies in its community spirit. Because many of the players cannot easily visit traditional social venues to celebrate their victories, Tommy opens up his own home. After a successful match, he invites the team back to his custom garden bar. The players bring their own drinks and celebrate their achievements in a safe, welcoming, and familiar environment.

    Speaking to Tommy and seeing the team in action really brings home how this team exemplifies the very best of grassroots sport, and we’re honoured to stand beside them and support their ongoing journey. We wish the team all the best in their upcoming matches and are looking forward to hearing about their progress.

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    The UK’s AI corridor: why a London–Manchester infrastructure strategy is now essential

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    The UK’s AI growth map: why demand clusters around Manchester and London

    The SAS AI Cities Index 2025 highlights a clear concentration of AI activity across two primary UK hubs. London remains at the forefront, sustained by enterprise adoption, financial services, and a high density of R&D labs. However, Manchester has emerged as the fastest-growing AI city outside the capital. This is backed by a 184% increase in AI company registrations over a five year period leading into 2026, signalling a shift toward production-scale deployments, analytics platforms, and industrial AI applications.

    This clustering of demand is intentional, driven by connectivity, talent, and network effects. Enterprises place their R&D and high-compliance workloads in London & the South East to be near clients, regulators, and research facilities. Manchester, however, offers a production-focused ecosystem connected to northern talent pools with lower congestion.

    Infrastructure demand follows these patterns. AI workloads are data-intensive, have tight latency requirements, and are power-hungry. Facilities capable of handling such workloads must be close to where the AI is developed and used. This is especially crucial for decision-makers considering their cloud versus colocation options. While the cloud is a flexible option, high-density AI-ready colocation near innovation hubs often offers lower latency, greater control, and stronger reliability.

    As a result, Manchester and London are creating the UK’s AI corridor, playing complementary roles within the national infrastructure.

    Manchester: the connectivity powerhouse for production AI

    Manchester serves as a critical AI network and performance powerbase. In fintech, automation systems, and analytics platforms, production workloads are dominated by applications requiring real-time capabilities. For end-users, this latency is offset by consistent experiences, faster decisions, and clear business value.

    Datum’s MCR2 facility positions Manchester at the heart of this network. With LINX Manchester direct peering, AI inference traffic can stay local without traversing London. This provides a tangible performance and user-experience benefit. MCR2 is one of a handful of recently constructed northern facilities designed for high-density requirements, offering up to 30kW of rack density, carrier-neutral connectivity, and a resilient design.

    The facility acts as a benchmark for teams scaling production AI, providing high-density infrastructure, operational flexibility, and proximity to the businesses rolling it out.

    London & the south east: enterprise scale and sovereign AI

    Where Manchester powers production, London & the South East fuel enterprise AI, R&D, and regulated work. High-compliance industries, such as finance and defence supply chains, require infrastructure that supports sovereignty, control, and stringent operational stewardship. This is where Farnborough, acting as a London-edge location, becomes a significant strategic asset.

    Farnborough offers sub-millisecond latency to London without the grid restrictions and space constraints of inner-city sites. With its second Farnborough data centre under construction (FRN2), Datum’s scaling allows its client organisations to grow without capacity restraints. For businesses, this provides the physical control and jurisdictional influence required for sensitive tasks.

    At the Farnborough campus, businesses can utilise high-performance AI infrastructure near London’s commercial ecosystem without the limitations of urban sites. This high-security environment is built for real-world AI workloads, enabling resources to be deployed without excessive capital expenditure. As regulatory compliance and business operations grow more complex, combining proximity, speed, and sovereign control at a single site provides a decisive competitive advantage.

    Establishing Farnborough as the London-Edge gives enterprise AI teams the freedom and resilience to meet current demands while accommodating future scale.

    AI-ready infrastructure: the shift from legacy to high-density colocation

    AI growth is currently shifting away from legacy infrastructure and toward specialised colocation. Legacy 5kW-era data centres cannot achieve the sustained density required by contemporary GPUs. Datum’s operational MCR2 and the currently under construction FRN2 data centres offer the AI-ready infrastructure these workloads require. High-density construction, carrier-neutral access, and free-cooling design work together to ensure maximum performance with minimal power consumption.

    Many legacy data centres struggle with constraints on power and cooling. Datum’s solution enables high-density AI workloads to be scaled efficiently, providing an environment where resilience, efficiency, and future-proof scalability are realised. This transition from low-density legacy sites to AI-ready infrastructure is fundamental for organisations moving from pilot projects to enterprise-scale AI.

    Why dual-site strategy is becoming the default for AI resilience

    Depending on a single site for mission-critical AI introduces significant operational risk. Localised outages, regional grid pressure, and latency fluctuations are direct threats to high-density loads. A dual-site approach between Manchester and Farnborough provides the resilience and flexibility required for modern workloads. This architecture allows teams to balance tasks between production and development, or between inference and support modes, across two distinct geographic regions.

    Regulatory mandates are now the primary driver for these infrastructure decisions. Under the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill, data centres with a capacity of 1MW or more are classified as Critical National Infrastructure (CNI). This 2026 status requires organisations to demonstrate high levels of operational redundancy and geographic failover. Furthermore, frameworks like DORA (Digital Operational Resilience Act) have made high availability and operational stability the baseline for enterprise AI.

    The pairing of Manchester and Farnborough offers a strategic solution with both sites delivering resilience, low latency, and enterprise-scale sovereign infrastructure for sensitive or regulated workloads. Together, they form a robust, high-speed UK AI corridor. As AI use cases expand, organisations are increasingly adopting this dual-site strategy to ensure they meet 2026 compliance standards without compromising on speed or control.

    Connecting the UK’s high-performance AI corridor

    Demand for UK AI is accelerating across the Manchester and London corridors, increasing the need for high-density, AI-ready data centre capacity. The performance, scale, and resiliency needs of production AI can no longer be met by legacy facilities. Datum supports both regions with purpose-built infrastructure that enables organisations to deploy, scale, and secure their AI workloads.

    Is your infrastructure AI-ready? Contact us to explore how our Manchester and Farnborough facilities can support your AI and HPC workloads.

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    Data centres in a circular economy

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    Balancing data centre demand and sustainability

    Despite their status as critical national infrastructure (or, perhaps, because of it), data centres face heavy and constant scrutiny regarding their power consumption and environmental impact. As such, the data centre industry must increasingly demonstrate how it can reliably support digital demand whilst doing everything possible to operate sustainably. Might the solution lie in adopting the principles of the circular economy?

    What is the circular economy?

    A circular economy is an economic model designed to minimise waste and make the most of available resources – it offers a sustainable approach to managing resources, reducing waste, and improving operational efficiency. Instead of the traditional linear model of ‘take, make, and dispose’, the circular approach focuses on keeping materials, products, and resources in use for as long as possible.

    Because data centres are energy-intensive facilities that rely heavily on complex hardware, infrastructure, and energy resources, they are perfect candidates for adopting these circular principles.

    Maximising resource efficiency

    Power and cooling are two of the most resource-hungry elements of data centre operations. Transitioning to renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar, and hydroelectric power, allows facilities to grow without reliance on carbon-intensive fossil fuels, whilst deploying energy-efficient cooling systems can dramatically reduce the power required to maintain optimal server temperatures, directly lowering facilities’ overall energy demands.

    Lowering operational costs

    By implementing energy-efficient systems, data centre operators can significantly reduce their long-term operational costs. Heat recovery systems like the heat reuse capability we built into our recent Manchester data centre construction project (MCR2), serve as an excellent example of circularity in action. Servers naturally generate heat, which facilities traditionally vent outside. A circular approach captures this waste heat and repurposes it to warm nearby commercial buildings, homes, or agricultural facilities. This turns a costly waste byproduct into a valuable resource and creates new efficiencies.

    Designing for lifecycle management

    Effective lifecycle management is crucial for maintaining a sustainable data centre, and involves carefully managing how physical assets, from server racks to cooling infrastructure, are renewed and written off. The best-case scenario involves designing data centres from the outset with appropriate, forward-looking technology that prioritises sustainability. Doing so ensures the facility can handle increasing computational loads without requiring expensive, highly disruptive capital upgrades later.

    Meeting rigorous sustainability standards

    Building a new greenfield data centre enables operators to incorporate cutting-edge sustainable technologies and circular designs from the outset. However, it demands significant raw materials and land. Upgrading a legacy brownfield site, meanwhile, comes with its own challenges but fits well into a circular economic system. Retrofitting older facilities with modern, energy-efficient technology requires meticulous planning but repurposes existing buildings and infrastructure. For example, at MCR1 in Manchester, we upgraded an existing office building, while MCR2 involved demolishing a derelict job centre on our secure campus. Similarly, our ongoing FRN2 project in Farnborough is redeveloping a car park within our existing boundary, which helps reduced embodied carbon through fewer enabling works and shared infrastructure. We conduct full embodied carbon assessments for all data centre constructions to measure and minimise emissions associated with the build in order to move towards a more circular and resource-efficient system, and we are part of the GRESB scheme, which allows us to measure, benchmark, and improve our ESG performance.

    Even backup systems can align with these sustainability goals. While data centres must maintain backup power to guarantee uptime, they no longer need to rely on diesel fuel. We’ve been using hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) in our backup generators since 2022 to cut greenhouse gas emissions and support our broader sustainability targets.

    The path forward

    The demand for digital infrastructure will only continue to accelerate. By embracing the circular economy, data centre operators can continue to provide the critical digital infrastructure global economies require whilst minimising their impact on the environment.

    If you would like to find out more or arrange a tour of our Manchester and Farnborough data centres, please get in touch with our team today.

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    Colocation to bolster your business continuity

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    Disaster recovery > business continuity

    Disaster recovery planning is a crucial subset of business continuity planning, primarily focused on processes and procedures required to restore servers, applications, data, and security systems after a disruptive event. Without it, most other business continuity efforts will prove ineffective.

    While large organisations have widely adopted business continuity measures, smaller businesses often lag. A 2025 survey from Databarrack revealed that while 97% of large organisations have business continuity plans, only 58% of smaller companies can say the same. This gap exposes a significant portion of the economy to risk.

    Role of colocation in business continuity and disaster recovery

    The complexity of your disaster recovery plan depends heavily on your existing infrastructure. For businesses that have adopted a cloud-first strategy, continuity can be remarkably simple. If the business premises are inaccessible for whatever reason, employees can simply work from home or another location with an internet connection, accessing everything they need from the cloud.

    For businesses with on-/off-premise or hybrid solutions, the plan becomes more intricate. If your business critical IT and workloads are on premise and under your control, then you must analyse backup procedures, test them rigorously, and outline emergency processes. This often involves identifying a secondary disaster recovery site where you can restore operations. You will need detailed restoration procedures and a method for collecting data from the incident to learn and improve future responses. If you have equipment and workloads off premise, the data centre will already form a key part of your disaster recovery plan.

    10 steps to developing a disaster recovery plan

    Assemble a disaster recovery team

    Identify the key personnel responsible for creating, implementing, and maintaining the plan. Assign clear roles, from team leaders to IT specialists and communication coordinators, to ensure a coordinated response.

    Conduct a risk assessment

    Identify all potential risks to your business, including natural disasters, cyberattacks, hardware failures, and human error. Assess the likelihood of each event and its potential impact on your operations.

    Perform a business impact analysis (BIA)

    Determine which business functions are most critical. Use this analysis for each essential process to define:

    • the recovery time objective/RTO (the maximum acceptable amount of time your business can afford for a system to be offline before normal operations must resume);
    • the recovery point objective/RPO (the maximum amount of data that can be lost without causing significant harm to the business – e.g. an RPO of one hour means you must have backups that are no more than an hour old).

    A full systems audit and inventory

    Document every component of your IT environment. This inventory should include all hardware, software, data repositories, and network infrastructure, providing a clear picture of what needs protection.

    Define recovery strategies

    Develop strategies to restore your critical systems and data. This may involve backup and restore solutions, redundant systems with automatic failover, or arrangements for alternative work locations.

    Create a communication plan

    Establish clear protocols for communicating with internal teams, stakeholders, and customers during a crisis.

    Document the disaster recovery plan

    Write a detailed, step-by-step guide for your recovery procedures. This document should include team responsibilities, contact lists, backup schedules, and escalation paths.

    Test the plan

    Conduct regular disaster recovery drills and simulations to ensure it works as intended and to identify any weaknesses before a real incident occurs.

    Train employees

    Educate all employees on their roles and responsibilities during a disaster.

    Review and update the plan

    Review and update your disaster recovery plan at least annually so it remains relevant based on changes in technology, business processes, or risks.

    Colocation for resilience

    By housing their critical IT infrastructure in a purpose-built colocation facility, businesses offload the immense responsibility of managing and securing many key elements of physical infrastructure and gain access to a level of security and resilience that is difficult and costly to achieve on their own. In fact, many of our clients cite disaster recovery as a key reason for leveraging our facilities.

    Our colocation provides the secure, reliable, and scalable foundation needed to safeguard their systems and data offering: robust multi-layered physical security and on-site security personnel; redundant power supplies, advanced cooling systems, and fire suppression technology; geographic diversity; reliable backup and recovery; carrier-neutral connectivity; and guaranteed uptime SLAs.

    Talk to us or come and tour our state-of-the-art colocation facilities in Farnborough and Manchester to learn how we can help you ensure business resilience just in case the worst really does happen.

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    The ‘Datum difference’ – choosing the right colocation partner

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    Choosing colocation

    The reasons for moving to colocation are many and varied (from taking advantage of purpose-built, enterprise-class facilities, through to financial considerations, disaster recovery planning and refocusing resources on core competencies – to name a few) but whatever you are hoping to achieve, one thing is clear – it is a significant decision, and one that requires careful consideration throughout each stage of the process.

    The ‘Datum difference’: going above and beyond

    Once our clients have entrusted us with their valuable data, equipment and workloads, the least we can do is ensure that it’s safe and well looked-after. But our business philosophy is not about doing the ‘least’ of anything. Our service-enhanced approach, and experience of partnering with companies of all sizes, across all sectors, each with different requirements, means that we have an entrenched understanding of the challenges our clients are facing and the support that they need from us to achieve their business goals.

    This is what we call the ‘Datum difference’.

    The power of partnership

    Our close relationships with a network of partners who provide a wide range of managed services (everything from carrier and cloud connectivity, to hardware and data disposal) mean that our clients can easily access all the additional services they may need to augment our colocation offering.

    A commitment to transparency

    You can be sure that we will take excellent care of your IT estate but we are under no illusion that our promise alone will be enough. That’s why our operations are completely transparent, and our ongoing service management provides you with regular service reviews and reports so that you know what’s happening with your vital equipment and workloads.

    Prevention is better than cure 

    Once we take responsibility for your IT estate, our engineering team works tirelessly to ensure the facility is operating optimally through regular and thorough planned maintenance programmes, and is on hand to assist you with scheduled and 24/7 emergency engineering services to minimise disruption for your kit in case you require any changes or encounter any issues.

    The four stages of the colocation journey

    The transition to colocation is a strategic process that can be broken into four distinct phases:

    Pre-planning and strategy

    What are your business requirements and your data centre objectives? The decision to move to colocation must be one that’s endorsed and supported by stakeholders across your organisation, all of whom will have different perspectives based on their roles.

    Choosing a colocation provider and defining your needs

    Colocation is not about simply off-loading your IT estate and workloads and storing them elsewhere. While a secure and well-managed facility is fundamental, a good colocation partner will offer much more – a partnership to achieve your business goals.

    Look for access to complementary services including managed services, cloud and carrier options, and connectivity to facilitate a hybrid solution combining company-owned IT estate and cloud services.  

    Making the transition 

    The migration process can be a crunch-point. How can downtime and disruption be minimised during the move? Should the migration take place in stages or in one fell swoop? Testing and troubleshooting needs to take place throughout the process. How sure are you that the process will be well-managed?

    Reaching steady state and re-evaluating 

    What seems to be the ideal solution at the point of migration might not be the best solution further down the line. Technology is constantly changing, as are your business’s requirements, so your relationship with your colocation partner must allow for flex and fluidity to suit your evolving needs.

    Finding your ideal colocation partner

    As with any important relationship, the ideal colocation partnership is built on a foundation of trust and shared goals. But what factors differentiate an excellent colocation provider from the rest? Knowing the right questions to ask will help you to identify their strengths and weaknesses to ensure that they are the right fit:

    • What scope is there for expansion of your footprint as you grow?
    • Can you get access to your colocated IT estate and workloads at any time?
    • How secure is the facility?
    • Who are the available connectivity providers?
    • How is bandwidth allocated (is it burstable so you don’t exceed your limit if there are spikes in usage)?
    • Are environmental and sustainability concerns taken seriously?
    • What about the uptime SLA?
    • What certifications and accreditations does the facility have?
    • What’s the approach to client service?

    Support at every stage

    Colocation is not a stand-alone solution that’s separate from your business activities – it needs to integrate with your existing and developing business requirements at all stages of your colocation journey. Our lifecycle services offer you the complementary support you might need, whichever stage of the colocation process you are at. 

    Our service-enhanced approach is our key differentiator and we are completely focused on making the entire colocation process a positive one for our clients. If you’d like to find out more, why not get in touch or come and see our facilities for yourself?

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    Carrier neutral data centres – why they matter

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    The importance of carrier neutrality

    Much like not wanting to be tied into a single network for a mobile phone contract just in case the is signal is poor or your roaming charges are sky high, the same scenario applies to your entire IT infrastructure in your data centre. Being tied to a single internet service provider (ISP) or telecommunications carrier can be very restrictive.

    What carrier neutrality actually means

    A carrier neutral data centre is a facility that operates entirely independently of any specific network provider, and allows multiple ISPs and network carriers to connect directly to the facility. Much like major rail stations that provide the required infrastructure for multiple train operators to pass through so you can choose the service that gets you to your destination fastest and cheapest, carrier neutral data centres provide the physical space, power, cooling and security but you choose who provides your connectivity.

    Why this matters…

    For many UK businesses, connectivity is vital, as everything grinds to a halt if the connection drops. And carrier neutrality offers a host of benefits:

    Resilience and redundancy

    If you rely on a single carrier and their networks suffer an outage, then your business goes offline. In a carrier neutral environment, you can build a redundant network strategy to include a failover option in case the primary connection goes down. In fact, this level of redundancy ensuring ‘always on’ availability is a requirement for compliance in some sectors.

    Cost efficiency through competition

    A carrier neutral facility is a competitive ecosystem with multiple providers vying for your business. This gives you negotiating power and allows you to shop around for the best rates, latency or SLAs.

    Improved latency and performance

    Carrier neutrality gives you the flexibility to choose the provider that offers the best performance for your specific needs. Being able to blend bandwidth from different providers allows you to optimise route performance, ensuring your end users get the best experience possible.

    Supporting broader business goals

    Scalability and agility

    Your bandwidth requirements are likely to change over time, and you may need to scale up or down capacity at certain times of the year. Carrier neutral facilities often host cloud on-ramps (direct connections to major public cloud providers), allowing you to easily create a hybrid IT environment – keeping sensitive data in private servers on your colocation rack whilst bursting less sensitive workloads to the public cloud, all connected via high speed, low latency links that bypass the public internet.

    Compliance and data sovereignty

    As UK businesses attempt to adhere to GDPR and UK-specific data protection laws, carrier neutral facilities help them to have greater control over their data. They can select carriers that guarantee that data takes specific routes or stays within certain borders giving granular control and simplifying compliance audits.

    Choosing the right partner

    When assessing potential data centres partners, there are some key questions to ask:

    • “Who is in the meet-me-room (MMR)?” Ask for a full list of ISPs and carriers on-site.
    • “Do you offer cloud on ramps?” The all important direct connections to major public cloud platforms, which are needed for modern hybrid IT strategies.
    • “What are the cross connect fees?” Always check the cost of the physical cable connection between your rack of the carriers.

    Get in touch

    If you’d like to learn more about how our network of UK data centres can support your business, or if you have specific requirements you’d like to discuss, please get in touch with a member of our team today.

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