Insight Type: Blog

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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Top challenges facing network engineers

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Navigating complexities

As the digital world develops at a rate of knots, today’s networks need to support an ever increasing amount of traffic – and this brings a growing number of challenges to network engineers. From managing traffic spikes, to poor device labelling, we’ve quizzed our team of technical engineers to find out the biggest challenges facing a network engineer. 

Issues impacting network performance and management

Ensuring good network performance

Poor network performance is the bane of a network engineer’s life – and we’re not just talking about slow networks. Although speed is important, so is reliability. Engineers need networks that can handle spikes in traffic and provide failovers when systems go down. Active-active network architecture is one solution, but it requires the right infrastructure to support it.

Network growth

As the number of connected devices grows, so do the potential points of failure. Scalability becomes critical, and engineers must ensure networks can handle increased demand without compromising performance. Additionally, as networks expand, security risks multiply, requiring constant vigilance and robust defences.

Security

Network perimeters aren’t as clear as they once were, meaning many risks are now outside the control of the network engineer. Threats can enter a network via something as simple as an employee responding to a phishing email. While encryption helps protect a network, it can also make it harder to monitor network activity, making monitoring and managing a network more complex. 

Device labelling

Mis-labelled servers or switches can cause a real headache for engineers, particularly on larger networks or in data centres. Sometimes the only information an engineer has is the IP address (which isn’t written on the device) or the serial number (which is often covered by other items in the rack). This could result in costly mistakes such as replacing a drive in the wrong server, for example.

Configuration and change management

Without up-to-date backups of device configurations, recovering from failures or rolling back changes can be nearly impossible. Ensuring backups are regularly tested and functional is a time-consuming but critical task for network engineers.

Accurate documentation

Networks evolve rapidly, with frequent updates, new services, and architectural changes. However, these changes are not always reflected in documentation, leading to inefficiencies and wasted time when troubleshooting or onboarding new engineers.

Multi-vendor environments

While multi-vendor networks and multi-cloud architectures offer flexibility and growth opportunities, they also introduce complexity. Engineers must navigate different interfaces, commands, and protocols, often requiring additional training or skillsets to manage these environments effectively.

Hardware compatibility

Delaying hardware upgrades due to budget constraints can lead to compatibility issues between older and newer devices. These delays often result in higher costs down the line, as engineers are forced to implement workarounds or replace outdated equipment entirely.

Managing traffic spikes

With the increasing demand for digital services, traffic spikes are becoming more frequent and unpredictable. Engineers must ensure networks can handle these surges without compromising performance, often requiring advanced load balancing and traffic management solutions.

Balancing innovation with stability

As new technologies like AI, machine learning, and IoT emerge, engineers are under pressure to adopt these innovations while maintaining network stability. Striking the right balance between embracing new tools and ensuring reliable operations is a constant challenge.

How we can help

We understand the immense pressure network engineers face in managing today’s complex and ever-evolving networks. Our secure, scalable, and highly reliable colocation facilities are designed to alleviate these challenges, providing the robust infrastructure needed to ensure optimal network performance, seamless scalability, and enhanced security. With state-of-the-art environments, structured organisation, and vendor-neutral solutions, we help engineers to focus on innovation and growth while we handle the physical infrastructure. Get in touch if you’d like to hear more about our colocation data centres in Manchester and Farnborough.

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Retail versus wholesale colocation – what’s the difference?

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Our facilities

Our secure retail colocation data centres are located at the Cody Technology Park in Farnborough and on our secure campus in Wythenshawe, south of Manchester. Interestingly, at our Farnborough location, our nearest neighbour just outside the park’s perimeter fence is a large wholesale provider. This close proximity often leads to a common question: “What is the difference between retail and wholesale colocation?”

Wholesale and retail colocation – key differences

Wholesale colocation

This is designed for large companies that require a significant footprint within a data centre, often with a power requirement of 1 megawatt (mW) or more. In this model, the tenant typically leases a fully built-out data hall or even an entire facility dedicated to their exclusive use.

The building owner manages the facility itself, but the tenant often has their own on-site data centre management team to look after their IT equipment. This arrangement gives the tenant a dedicated facility without the massive capital investment needed to build and maintain their own data centre. It also provides control over the infrastructure, allowing for custom configurations for power, cooling, and security.

Retail colocation

Retail colocation, like the services offered at our facilities, caters to a wide range of organisations, larger and smaller, that house their critical IT infrastructure by taking secure space within a shared data hall.

By sharing these resources, each client gains access to our supremely secure and resilient data centres without facing prohibitive capital costs associated with delivering purpose-built infrastructure, and operational support, such as expert engineers and security officers. We manage operational aspects, including power, cooling, and maintenance, and provide access to a range of partner-delivered managed services to support our clients throughout their colocation journey.

Our colocation proposition

Despite the differences between wholesale and retail, the distinction between the two is not always a strict binary. While we identify as a retail colocation provider, we do not simply offer rack space. Our solutions are entirely bespoke, designed to meet the specific needs of each client. For example, one of our key clients chose to consolidate their IT in our facility to avoid capital investment while benefiting from our flexibility, resilience, and comprehensive services. To accommodate their needs for both IT equipment and office space, we built out the first floor of our data centre, creating a purpose-built hall and dedicated office space for them.

We operate and maintain our facilities, providing access to a rich ecosystem of partner-delivered wraparound services (e.g. connectivity and cloud). We monitor the environments to ensure safe, continuous operation. We also provide remote hands services, as required. From the beginning, clients have the flexibility to order the number of racks they need, enclosed within a dedicated cage, if necessary, or even built out as a custom suite to match their security requirements. As part of our commitment to client service, we can negotiate a first option on contiguous space to accommodate future growth. Typical agreements cover shared infrastructure services, contracted power use, and cross-connects to telecommunications providers.

A focus on flexibility and service

Within our retail colocation model, our colocation provision is layered with a client-focused approach that defines our commercial agreements and our day-to-day support. Flexible terms and client-driven agreements empower our clients to plan ahead and roadmap expansion with guaranteed scalability and contiguous space.

We recognise the value clients gain from thorough service management. That’s why we provide everyone with transparency and support through:

  • Expert guidance: practical advice and support to inform your deployment design and assist with the transition.
  • Proactive management: proactive service reporting and dedicated account management.
  • Dedicated support: a dedicated client service manager for a single point of contact.
  • Full transparency: detailed reporting, including Building Management System (BMS) data.
  • Secure access: registration and movement tracking of all visitors for enhanced security.
  • Advanced monitoring: advanced DCIM (Data Centre Infrastructure Management) to centralise monitoring.
  • On-site engineering: remote hands engineering services for support when you need it.

How colo can benefit your business

If you are looking for more details on how colocation could work for your business, talk to a member of our team. We would be very happy to discuss your specific requirements with you.

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Data centre relocation: why UK businesses are moving off-premise

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“We just want to get rid of our servers out of the broom cupboard so we can buy more brooms.”

It is a familiar line that reflects how many organisations still view data centre relocation. For some, it feels like a tidy-up exercise rather than a strategic decision. In reality, moving infrastructure off-premise is about regaining control. It is a shift away from ageing, hard-to-maintain systems and towards secure, efficient environments that support how organisations operate today.

Modern off-premises data centres do much more than store information. They are built for compliance, sustainability, flexibility, and resilience. For UK businesses facing rising costs, stricter governance, and increasing digital demands, relocation has become a strategic investment in long-term resilience.

Why businesses are moving off-premise

Across the UK, organisations are rethinking the role of their on-site server rooms and moving critical infrastructure into purpose-built off-premise environments. Several pressures are making this shift both logical and timely.

Rising energy costs. Traditional on-premises systems consume significant power and require constant cooling, often in rooms never designed for IT equipment. With energy prices increasing and sustainability expectations tightening, maintaining older hardware becomes expensive and inefficient. Modern off-premises facilities are engineered for energy efficiency and predictable running costs, helping organisations reduce both spend and carbon impact.

Scalability limitations. As businesses grow or modernise, they quickly reach the physical and technical limits of their on-site environments. Scaling internally usually means more equipment, more cooling, and more maintenance. Colocation and hybrid models provide the flexibility to expand capacity without the disruption or cost of creating new in-house infrastructure.

Security and compliance demands. UK organisations face strict requirements under GDPR, ISO standards, and sector-specific regulations. Off-premise data centres offer robust physical and digital security, 24/7 monitoring, biometric access controls, and built-in redundancy that few in-house setups can match. UK-based operators also help maintain data sovereignty by ensuring information remains within national borders.

Hybrid IT and changing workloads. Modern environments rely on a mix of cloud and physical systems. Off-premise infrastructure makes it easier to shift workloads, integrate cloud services, and maintain flexibility while keeping control of cost, performance, and resilience.

Risks of staying on-premise or poorly planned migration

Staying on-premise may feel familiar, but it is rarely the safer or more cost-effective option. Legacy environments often depend on ageing hardware, single points of failure, and manual processes that increase the likelihood of downtime and slow recovery when issues occur. As energy prices rise and local capacity becomes constrained, on-site infrastructure that once felt manageable can quickly turn into a liability.

Poorly planned migrations can introduce risks of their own. Without clear preparation, testing, and input from all relevant teams, organisations risk data loss, compliance breaches, and extended periods of disruption. In many cases, migration problems stem not from technology but from rushed execution and a lack of coordination.

The positive news is that these risks are avoidable. With structured planning and the right expertise, migration can be a controlled process that improves resilience and strengthens long-term operational stability.

Step-by-step: transitioning from on-premise to off-premise infrastructure

Visibility is the beginning of every successful move. Before moving anything, organisations need a clear understanding of their existing environment and how each component connects.

1. Evaluate current infrastructure

Begin with a detailed inventory of servers, storage, applications, and dependencies. Identify performance gaps, support risks, and compliance concerns, particularly where legacy hardware or outdated operating systems are still in use. This assessment helps determine what should be migrated, upgraded, or retired, and provides the foundation for a safe, efficient transition.

2. Define migration objectives

A relocation should deliver measurable business benefits rather than replicate the status quo. Clarify what matters most, whether that is predictable costs, improved resilience, sustainability gains, or future scalability. Set clear success criteria, such as recovery targets or efficiency improvements, to keep the project aligned with broader organisational goals.

3. Engage stakeholders

Effective migrations rely on input from across the organisation. Involve finance, operations, compliance, and security teams early to ensure alignment and avoid misunderstandings. Clear communication and structured change control reduce disruption and help maintain confidence throughout the process.

4. Choose the right off-premise model

Different off-premise models offer different advantages.

  • Colocation provides secure, professionally managed facilities while retaining hardware control.
  • Private cloud supports flexibility at the software level.
  • Hybrid models combine both approaches and allow workloads to move as requirements evolve.

Select providers that meet recognised UK standards, such as ISO 27001, and offer the required levels of resilience. The right model balances control, cost, compliance, and long-term scalability.

5. Plan for risk and continuity

Risk management is central to any migration. Establish documented processes for backup, replication, and disaster recovery. UK standards such as ISO 22301, along with industry-specific regulations, require strong continuity strategies. Incorporate phased testing, failover procedures, and rollback options to ensure a smooth transition if issues arise.

6. Execute the transition

Execution depends on careful preparation. Use staging environments to validate configurations before going live. Pilot migrations help identify issues early and reduce downtime. Experienced colocation partners can support the process with engineering expertise and temporary staging areas. A phased approach usually minimises disruption and builds trust across the organisation.

7. Post-migration testing and optimisation

Once systems are live, verify performance, security, and compliance. Test connections, load-balancing settings, and failover mechanisms under realistic conditions. Post-migration success relies on continuous monitoring, regular audits, and ongoing optimisation to ensure the environment stays aligned with business needs and regulatory requirements.

What to look for in an off-premise data centre partner

Choosing the right off-premise data centre partner is critical to a successful relocation. Beyond price, organisations should look for transparency, operational maturity, and alignment with their technical and regulatory requirements.

Certifications and compliance

Select a provider that meets recognised standards such as ISO 27001 for information security and ISO 50001 for energy management. These certifications demonstrate strong governance and reliable processes for handling sensitive data.

Security and access control

Look for robust physical and digital security, including 24/7 monitoring, biometric access control, and structured visitor management. Clear access policies and well-defined procedures indicate a mature, low-risk operational environment.

Resilience and redundancy

A reliable data centre should provide built-in resilience, with redundant power, cooling, and connectivity to minimise the risk of downtime. Look for facilities that offer clear redundancy levels of N+1 or greater and failover systems that keep critical workloads available during maintenance or unexpected disruptions.

Connectivity and scalability

A strong partner will offer carrier diversity, cloud on-ramps, and modular expansion options. These capabilities support long-term growth and enable seamless integration with cloud or hybrid IT architectures.

Location and sovereignty

UK-based data centres provide the reassurance of data sovereignty, lower latency, and clear visibility over where data is stored and processed.

Sustainability and efficiency

Modern operators invest in renewable energy, efficient cooling technologies, and transparent environmental reporting. These measures support corporate ESG goals while helping organisations manage energy consumption responsibly.

Taken together, these features provide a strong foundation for a long-term partnership. They also reflect the qualities already embedded within Datum’s service-enhanced colocation model, which is designed to meet both current and future business requirements.

How Datum enables seamless off-premise relocation

Datum provides a secure, dependable environment for organisations moving from on-premise infrastructure into modern off-premise facilities. Its Farnborough and Manchester data centres both deliver Tier III+-equivalent resilience with N+1 redundancy across power, cooling, and connectivity. As fully UK-based locations, they support data sovereignty while offering low-latency access, diverse carrier options, and strong regional connectivity.

Farnborough provides excellent reach into London and the South East, while Manchester strengthens national coverage with direct access to the North West’s growing digital economy and key connectivity routes. Together, the two sites give organisations a geographically resilient footprint and the flexibility to distribute workloads where they perform best.

Support begins well before migration day. Datum’s pre-migration consultancy and infrastructure assessments help organisations map dependencies, identify risks, and validate compatibility. Throughout the transition, technical teams provide staging, testing, and verification to minimise downtime and maintain continuity.

After relocation, clients benefit from ongoing optimisation, monitoring, and compliance checks to ensure systems continue to perform efficiently and meet required standards. With ISO-certified processes and a strong focus on sustainability, Datum’s facilities demonstrate how modern colocation can support long-term operational stability.

For organisations looking to modernise their infrastructure, Datum combines technical expertise, reliability, and flexibility across two secure UK environments that support both regional and national requirements.

Building a resilient foundation for the future

Moving from on-premise infrastructure to an off-premise environment is an investment in resilience, security, efficiency, and long-term scalability over and above a practical tidy-up. As digital demands grow, organisations need infrastructure that can evolve with them.

Many businesses begin the conversation with a simple goal, summed up in that familiar line about “getting the servers out of the broom cupboard”. Yet the move to a modern data centre goes well beyond freeing up physical space. With the right planning and the right partner, migration becomes a strategic shift that strengthens compliance, reduces operational risk, and provides the flexibility needed for future growth.

To explore how secure, UK-based colocation can support your organisation’s long-term goals, contact the Datum team.

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Cutting through the AI hype: finding the right data centre solution

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AI workloads

It’s difficult to imagine our daily lives without AI – whether we’re chatting to Siri, following recommendations from streaming services or online shopping platforms, or using navigation systems to get us from A to B. And these are just the most basic applications. As a result, the demand for data centres capable of supporting AI workloads is rapidly increasing.

The unique demands of AI workloads

AI workloads, such as machine learning and deep learning, require immense computational power and AI tasks generate vast amounts of data, necessitating faster storage and retrieval systems. These workloads are computationally intensive, require high-speed data transfer, and often involve large-scale parallel processing.

To accommodate AI workloads, certain infrastructure changes are required on the part of data centres, including:

  • high-density computing: traditional data centres are upgrading to accommodate high-density racks with advanced cooling systems to handle the heat generated by AI hardware;
  • energy efficiency: AI workloads consume significantly more power, so data centres need to have sufficient incoming power available whilst adopting renewable energy sources and energy-efficient designs to meet stringent sustainability standards;
  • network upgrades: AI requires ultra-low latency and high-bandwidth networks to process data in real-time. Fibre-optic connections and edge computing are becoming more prevalent;
  • scalable solutions: AI applications demand scalable, high-speed storage systems to manage the exponential growth of data.

Hybrid data centres and colocation: the AI middle ground

Some data centres are positioning themselves as ‘AI-ready’, purpose-built to handle the unique demands of AI workloads. These facilities are equipped with state-of-the-art hardware, advanced liquid cooling systems, and optimised layouts tailored for AI processing. They primarily serve industries with heavy AI reliance, such as autonomous vehicles, healthcare, and financial services.

The term ‘AI-ready’ is somewhat ambiguous, however, as it lacks a standardised definition. In truth, very few data centres can genuinely be classified as ‘AI data centres’ (i.e. those equipped to deliver sufficient power per rack, host GPU clusters, and meet other specialised requirements). And, realistically, many organisations don’t actually need a fully AI-optimised data centre. Colocation services like ours are combining traditional and AI-ready infrastructure into a hybrid approach that allows our clients to scale their AI capabilities gradually, without the need for a complete overhaul of their existing infrastructure. Our data centres provide an environment in which we can quickly deploy high-density solutions (although the ‘high-density’ part is optional). We can scale power, cooling and space on demand, and our energy efficiency and environmental responsibility means that our clients can achieve their sustainability goals without the need to compromise on performance.

Finding the right data centre solution for your needs

It’s essential to be clear with a potential data centre provider about your requirements – both now and in the future – asking the right questions is the only way to determine whether a provider is the right fit for your needs. The current AI hype has led some organisations to feel pressured into paying over the odds, but there are often far more suitable and cost-effective solutions available. In reality, many organisations we speak to don’t require the biggest or most advanced solutions; they need what works best for their specific circumstances. By collaborating closely with our clients to develop bespoke solutions, we deliver exactly what they need in terms of power efficiency, cost savings, or avoiding unnecessary expenses for overpromised services.

Whether you’re looking for a single rack or a custom-designed suite, we’ve done it all at our two data centre locations in Manchester and Farnborough. Our latest Manchester data centre (MCR2) was launched in June 2025, and we’ve recently broken ground on an additional facility at our flagship Farnborough campus, ensuring additional capacity is coming online. We pride ourselves on honesty and won’t hesitate to advise potential clients if we believe our solution isn’t the right fit for them. If you’d like to find out whether we’ve got the solution you need, just get in touch.

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All about Cody Technology Park

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FRN1 at Cody Park

When we set out to build our flagship data centre, FRN1, back in 2012, the choice of location was no accident. Cody Technology Park in Farnborough, offered everything we needed: proximity to London without the challenges of inner-city congestion, an ultra-secure environment for our clients’ critical IT workloads, and a setting that fosters innovation and wellbeing. Over a decade later, Cody Technology Park is only getting better.

An innovation hub in the south east

Cody Technology Park is a thriving ecosystem designed to support the defence, aerospace, and high-tech industries. As the leading research and development technology park in the south east, it’s home to 90 progressive businesses and counting. Spread across 396 acres, the park is a hub of innovation, collaboration, and wellbeing, offering a unique campus environment.

The park has exceptional facilities. From 24/7 on-site security with controlled access and perimeter fencing to on-site amenities including a 24-hour gym, sports pitches, a squash court, a 100-seat café, a 200-seat restaurant, and a 100-seat conference theatre, ample parking and green outdoor spaces, including SSSI (site of special scientific interest) nature walks.

Further development at Cody Park

Cody Technology Park is currently undergoing a major £40 million investment programme, ensuring it remains at the forefront of innovation. This transformation includes the complete refurbishment of existing lab, office, and R&D spaces, alongside significant upgrades to collaboration areas and amenities. Sustainability is a key focus, with steps being taken to improve energy efficiency across the park. These include improving EPC ratings, installing EV charging points, and targeting BREEAM Excellent standards for all new buildings.

Ease of accessibility

Cody Technology Park’s strategic location makes it highly accessible by road, rail, and air. It offers direct access to Junction 4A of the M3, providing rapid connections to the M25 and London. By rail, London Waterloo is just 35 minutes away via Farnborough Main, with a subsidised bus service linking the station to the park. For air travel, the park is adjacent to Farnborough Airport, which offers private business jet services, while Heathrow and Gatwick are also within easy reach.

Our Farnborough data centres: FRN1 and FRN2 (in the making)

Built to Tier 3+ enterprise-grade standards, FRN1 offers 22,000ft² of technical space, housing 1,200 racks across four halls. With an average rack density of 3.5kW per rack and the capability to support up to 30kW per rack, FRN1 is designed to meet the most demanding IT requirements. Features include environmentally intelligent 2N IT UPS, a power availability SLA of 100%, and an industry-leading design PUE of 1.25. The facility is carrier-neutral and equipped with advanced DCIM systems, ensuring 24/7 monitoring and response capabilities.

Looking to the future, construction of our second Farnborough data centre, FRN2, began in 2025. Built to the same high specifications as FRN1, FRN2 is scheduled for completion by the end of 2026, further expanding our capacity to support businesses with their critical IT needs.

Beyond Cody: our Manchester campus

Our Manchester campus, including our newly launched MCR2 data centre, is located near Manchester Airport’s City Enterprise Zone. This site is one of the most well-connected and protected data centre locations in the UK. An on-site NSI Gold Approved BS5979 police-linked alarm receiving centre makes it truly unique.

Find out more

Whether you’re looking for state-of-the-art data centre facilities or a collaborative space to drive your business forward, Cody Technology Park has it all.

We invite you to visit our Farnborough and Manchester sites in person to experience our cutting-edge facilities for yourself. Get in touch to find out more or book a tour.

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How data centres support the UK’s digital economy

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Data centres provide the essential physical infrastructure that underpins every aspect of the UK’s digital economy, supporting everything from cloud services and online payments to Internet of Things (IoT) devices such as fitness trackers and smart-home technology.

In the past decade, the UK has quietly shifted from paper-based products and forms to a point where digital is the default. Today, around three‑quarters of UK businesses handle digitised data as part of their operations. From checking a mobile phone bank balance to NHS records, next-day deliveries, and renewing a driving license online, digital services are now at the centre of our daily lives.

What’s easy to overlook are the implications of these day-to-day tasks. Every time you click, make a transaction, or transfer data, you rely on physical facilities that run around the clock to store, process, and transmit information securely.

Modern-day data centres support the UK’s digital economy not only as technical facilities but also as critical national assets. We’ll explore how they are the foundation for jobs, innovation, public services, security, and a more sustainable digital future.

The infrastructure behind the UK’s digital economy

At their most basic, data centres are purpose built, secure locations where information is housed, processed and circulated. They contain servers and networking equipment in controlled environmental conditions, supported by resilient connectivity and power supplies – all designed to keep data online while protecting it from damage.

They underpin the services that thousands of us use every day. Consider a cloud platform hosted in a data centre, where online vendors deploy applications to track orders and logistics in real time using secure colocation services. Public services rely on them to make records searchable and keep systems running smoothly.

For non-technical users, it can be helpful to imagine a basic flow: you access an online service, your request goes to a server in a data centre where it is processed, and the information is returned almost instantly. There is a lot of physical infrastructure behind the scenes that makes this transaction, and modern digital life, feel seamless.

If it were not for data centres, the UK’s digital economy would grind to a halt.

Data centres: pillars of the digital economy

Data centres are a core component of the digital economy.

Public services are a case in point. Secure, resilient facilities underpin NHS systems, storing patient records, supporting diagnostics, and delivering digital care services. Councils depend on data centres to run housing, planning, and social services. They are also relied upon by central government departments to deliver online services at scale.

The private sector is just as dependent. Banks rely on data centres to complete transactions, guard against fraud, and ensure customers can access their accounts whenever they need. Logistics businesses rely on real-time data to track goods and manage their supply chains. Digital platforms have become crucial for retailers to predict demand cost-effectively.

Data centres, like transport networks or power grids, often go unnoticed, but their reliability is essential for the economy to function smoothly.

Research featured in TechUK’s Foundations for the Future report highlights the broader economic contributions of the sector. The UK data centre industry generates approximately £4.7 billion in gross value added annually and supports more than 43,500 jobs nationwide. It’s estimated that further investment in digital infrastructure could deliver up to £44 billion of economic impact by 2035.

Data centres go beyond being commercial operations. They form a national infrastructure that supports growth, productivity, and digital inclusion across the UK.

Economic contributions of the data centre sector

The economic influence of data centres extends well beyond the buildings they occupy.

Fundamentally, the sector employs tens of thousands across a wide range of jobs, from engineers and technicians to construction workers, planners, and support services. A large number of these jobs are highly skilled, long-term positions that contribute to the development of stable regional economies.

Direct investment in data centres also has a high multiplier. For every pound invested in new buildings, there’s a ripple effect across other sectors. This cascading impact effectively spreads economic benefits through supply chains and local communities.

Analysis cited by CMS Law-Now estimated that the UK will see around a 70% increase in data centre capacity over the next ten years. The existing installed capacity of about 1.6GW could expand to 3.3-6.3GW by 2030, provided there are no planning restrictions or energy availability moderation. This rate of growth indicates increasing demand for digital services, cloud computing, and data-intensive technologies.

There is also a strategic economic reason to base construction and operations in the UK. Investment in UK-based data centres helps ensure that capital, skills, and data remain within the country. That builds economic resilience and reduces dependence on foreign infrastructure.

Digital demand will continue to surge, and data centres will serve as a focal point for investment, talent development, and long-term economic growth throughout the country.

Strategic value: national security and data sovereignty

Beyond the economics, data centres play a critical role in national security and data sovereignty.

Keeping data within the UK makes it easier for organisations to exercise control over how data is stored, accessed, and secured. This has taken on added value post-Brexit, as data localisation and regulatory compliance are being monitored more closely.

The UK had approximately 1.6GW of data centre capacity in 2024. Now, policy planning and resilience are the watchwords for ensuring this infrastructure can handle what’s coming.

Compliance with key legislation is also facilitated by UK-based data centres, including the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Network and Information Systems (NIS) Regulations 2018. These standards establish minimum requirements for data protection, availability and risk management in critical services.

Local hosting also provides better continuity during global crises. By keeping data closer to users, services are less vulnerable to international connectivity failures and geopolitical risks.

Protecting critical parts of the internet within the UK helps safeguard data and maintain public trust.

Enabling emerging technologies

Data centres are continually evolving as new generations of digital technology require different ways of working and innovating.

Artificial intelligence is a case in point. Training and operating AI models consume significant computational power, which is often housed in dense server rooms. Several new workloads now require higher rack densities, particularly for AI and data-intensive applications, which significantly increase the power demands on individual servers and racks.

The rise of the Internet of Things and 5G networks has also heightened demand for rapid, localised processing. Edge computing, which processes data closer to its source, requires a distributed, adaptable data centre infrastructure to reduce latency and improve performance.

To meet these needs, the focus has shifted toward providing the scalability that modern businesses require. This involves ensuring that physical capacity is readily available for expansion, alongside flexible contracting that allows clients to take more space as and when they need it. This level of adaptability enables data centres to drive innovation without being tied to legacy infrastructure.

They form the basis on which businesses, researchers, and public services can experiment, grow, and confidently roll out new digital tools.

Sustainability and innovation

As the appetite for digital services swells, so too has scrutiny of the sector’s environmental impact. In the UK, data centre operators are responding by making sustainability a core part of their approach.

The 2025 GOV.UK report on the impact of data centre growth discusses how increased capacity affects national energy demand and how the government is modelling future needs. The work is part of an effort by tech companies to balance digital growth with climate commitments.

We have innovation across the industry that is driving real change. At the same time, other operators have begun using liquid-based cooling to handle higher-density workloads more efficiently. It’s also becoming standard practice to adopt renewable energy, reducing reliance on fossil fuels. Some buildings (including our recently launched MCR2 data centre in Manchester) are investigating the reuse of waste heat, pumping surplus heat into neighbouring buildings or district heating schemes.

Industry measures, such as the Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact, establish clear performance goals (e.g., a binding target to achieve power usage effectiveness of 1.3 or better and water usage effectiveness of 0.4kWh).

Datum is recognised for its commitment to these objectives and plays an active role in driving the industry forward. Data design, responsible power usage and future-proof solutions are at the core of what we do. These efforts demonstrate that digital infrastructure and environmental responsibility need not be at odds.

Shaping the UK’s digital infrastructure

Even when operating in the background, data centres play a vital role in the UK’s digital economy.

They create jobs, facilitate innovation, and ensure that critical services operate securely and reliably. They reinforce data sovereignty, support growing technologies, and are adapting to address sustainability challenges.

In the UK, as in much of the world, increasing investment in its digital future will depend on modern data centres, which will play a vital role in realising that vision, ensuring resilience and growth while protecting trust in the systems we all rely on every day.

To see how modern data centres operate in the real world, you can arrange a visit to Datum and experience our facilities firsthand.

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Committed to excellence – our JOSCAR registration

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Showing our commitment

For organisations operating within the aerospace, defence and security sectors, every partner and supplier must meet the highest standards of security, compliance and reliability. That’s why we are registered with JOSCAR, the Joint Supply Chain Accreditation Register, to demonstrate our commitment to providing robust, secure and compliant solutions that meet these exacting standards.

All about JOSCAR

JOSCAR is a collaborative accreditation system used by major organisations in the aerospace, defence and security sectors. It acts as a central register of pre-qualified suppliers, streamlining the complex process of compliance and procurement by providing a trusted framework for managing the supply chain.

The system is designed to simplify how suppliers and buyers connect. By collecting, validating, and managing supplier information, JOSCAR ensures that all registered suppliers have been rigorously vetted against a common set of high standards. This creates significant advantages for everyone involved.

The benefits for buyers

For buying organisations, JOSCAR provides a trusted database of pre-qualified suppliers. This saves an immense amount of time and resources that would otherwise be spent on individual supplier evaluations and onboarding. It allows buyers to procure services with confidence, knowing that each registered supplier has already demonstrated their compliance and capability. Ultimately, it helps mitigate supply chain risks, from performance issues to non-compliance.

The benefits for suppliers

For suppliers like us, achieving JOSCAR registration simplifies the process of demonstrating our credentials. Instead of undergoing separate, repetitive qualification processes for each potential client, we complete a single, comprehensive accreditation recognised across the network. This not only improves efficiency but also provides greater access and visibility to key buyers within the aerospace, defence, and security markets.

Demonstrating security, reliability, and compliance

We have built our services on a foundation of security and resilience to meet and exceed the rigorous demands of these sectors, ensuring that we can support the most critical operations without compromise.

Unparalleled security

We protect client data and infrastructure with top-tier physical and digital security measures at our London edge and Manchester campuses. These facilities are designed to safeguard sensitive information against all threats, providing peace of mind for clients who handle classified or mission-critical infrastructure and workloads.

Resilient and robust infrastructure

Our data centres offer robust connectivity and power solutions, engineered for maximum uptime and resilience. We understand that even momentary interruptions can have serious consequences, which is why our systems are built with redundancy and reliability at their core.

Critical national infrastructure (CNI)

As an integral part of the UK’s critical national infrastructure, we hold a privileged position that guarantees operational continuity. In emergencies, our facilities are prioritised for government support in order to minimise disruption. This ensures that we can maintain uninterrupted operations for our clients, even in the most challenging circumstances.

Bespoke and flexible solutions

We recognise that one size does not fit all, especially in highly specialised sectors. We provide customised rack and cage layouts tailored to the unique infrastructure requirements of our clients. This flexibility allows us to design and implement bespoke solutions that offer optimal performance and security without forcing clients into a rigid template.

How we align with JOSCAR’s key features

The JOSCAR framework is built on several key features that promote a secure and efficient supply chain. Our services and operational ethos are perfectly aligned with these principles.

      Supplier pre-qualification: by completing the comprehensive JOSCAR vetting process, we have proactively demonstrated our capabilities and compliance, making it easier for buyers to engage with us.
      Compliance assurance: our registration validates our adherence to specific industry standards, including those related to cybersecurity, data protection and ethical practices. Clients can be assured that our processes meet the necessary regulatory requirements.
      Risk management: JOSCAR provides buyers with validated information about our company, mitigating risks associated with non-compliance or performance shortfalls.
      Efficiency and collaboration: JOSCAR reduces duplication of effort. Our single accreditation is recognised by multiple buying organisations, fostering a more efficient and collaborative procurement ecosystem.

Trusted partner for critical operations

Being registered on the JOSCAR accreditation system validates the investments we have made in our infrastructure, security protocols, and operational resilience. For our existing and future clients in these sectors, our registration offers an additional layer of assurance. For potential clients in other specialist sectors, it provides confidence that we meet the rigorous standards of aerospace, defence and security, and are therefore well placed to meet their requirements too. If you’re considering moving your IT infrastructure and workloads off premise, get in touch to discuss your requirements.

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