Daniel Lyus is Director of Partnerships at LCR Connect partner Proximity Data Centres, owner of 10 high quality datacentres across the UK with plans to expand to 20 over the next 18 months. Here Daniel talks about the value LCR Connect brings to both Proximity and to the city region.
Since Proximity acquired our two datacentres on the Wirral and at Chester Gates, I’ve spent more time in the City Region than ever before. What’s very evident is the scale of investment in development and regeneration in recent times.
Thanks to our relationship with LCR Connect, I’ve been fortunate to hear first-hand from Liverpool City Region leadership, such as Mayor Steve Rotherham and senior government figures, about how vital the network is to the growth of the ‘Digital Economy’, changing the way we do business and communicate with each other, as well as transformative developments in healthcare and social services. Proximity is just a part of this, but it’s very gratifying to know we’re contributing to something so meaningful and beneficial.
So, what does this really mean in practice?
To give you some context, our datacentres adhere to ‘Tier 3’ standards, which means they’re quite large, usually 20-60,000 square feet of space and have highly resilient power supply, environmental systems, and security, as well as multiple telecoms connections, so they’re ideal sites for network connectivity and colocation of important IT assets.
It’s worth pointing out here that the previous owner of the Wirral and Chester datacentres was considering closing them entirely, so we’re very pleased to have not only kept them open and kept local expertise in employment, but are also able to offer this valuable resource to the LCR Connect community.
These two local datacentres act as a pair of vital LCR Connect network nodes, ensuring network reliability as well as giving businesses in the Liverpool City Region direct, high-speed access to both datacentres and beyond.
Interestingly, Proximity sees this as a common trend across the country, thanks to the alternative full fibre broadband networks being built across the UK, many of which are being anchored at our datacentres, providing the key ingredients for vastly improved connectivity and regional digital economic development. LCR Connect is among the largest regional networks being built and given it is supported by the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority is being put to use in more significant ways than we’ve seen elsewhere.
The City Region’s ambition is to support, grow and attract the very best in class in industry and business, education and health, to be a great place to live, work and visit. LCR Connect combined with the Proximity datacentres is a significant enabler and we’re already seeing this happen in practice, with innovative new media experiences, global businesses investing in state-of-the-art manufacturing, advanced research and science, and inspired new health services arriving into the North West and Liverpool City Region.
This can only be a good thing and we’re very pleased to be a part of it.
For more information on what services LCR Connect can offer, please visit lcrconnect.com
