Equinix Unveils Backup Hub for London Traders

What happens if a power outage or other disaster takes an entire financial district offline? Equinix rolled out its answer to that question today in Slough, England, where it opened new data center space designed specifically for displaced financial traders.

Equinix (EQIX) has launched the third phase of its London LD5 International Business Exchange (IBX) data center, which adds 4,000 square meters (about 43,000 square feet) of data center space with capacity for 1,400 cabinets. The expansion also features 130 dedicated Business Continuity Trading desks, providing emergency trading capabilities for financial services firms. Many disaster recovery providers supply desk space for workers, but LD5 offers specialized trading desks and workstations equipped with multiple monitors, specialized trading phones with voice recording, and numerous market data feeds.

The Equinix facilities in Slough are close enough for London-based trading staff to access quickly, but located outside the metropolitan area to comply with regulatory guidelines for disaster recovery and continuity of operations. The proximity of the LD4 and LD5 data centers to a transatlantic network cable landing station also provides a very fast connection between London and North American financial markets like New York and Chicago, which reduces trading latency. Equinix has opened similar facilities in Hong Kong, Frankfurt, Munich, Dusseldorf, Milan, New York and Sao Paulo.

"Financial market participants and service providers are key growth drivers currently, and they are experiencing growing regulatory pressure to put business continuity capacity in place," said Russell Poole, managing director, Equinix UK. "This is why our latest build-out features are what we believe is the most comprehensive and best-connected business continuity offering in the London market today.”

Once the fourth and final phase of the build-out is completed, LD5 will provide 16,000 square meters (172,000 square feet) of customer space, with capacity for 5,600 cabinets in total. The LD4/LD5 facilities are located on the same campus and connected by more than 1,000 diverse dark fiber links into Central London with global access to more than 900 network providers.