100 jobs head for £200m hi-tech data centre

Apr 10 2008 By Sion Barry, Western Mail

A £200m data centre project for South Wales, creating 100 hi-tech jobs, has been confirmed.

Next Generation Data will establish Europe’s largest and most technically advanced ‘green’ data-centres at the site of the former LG Semicon site at Newport.

It will be only the second data centre in Wales, where currently the only facility is owned by BT in Cardiff.

The announcement was made by Ieuan Wyn Jones, Minister for the Economy and Transport, who described it as a "strategically important investment" that would bring long term benefits to the economy.

The NGD Europe 1 data centre will be based in the former Hynix semiconductor plant – formerly LG Semicon. The 70,000 square metre facility is owned by the Welsh Assembly, Government.

Despite being earmarked for a 1,400 semiconductor facility by Korean giant LG, it never become operational. It passed back into ownership of the Welsh Assembly Government two years ago and the site has been marketed internationally at companies operating in a number of sectors.

It will be located near an electricity sub-station which will ensure that the facility has adequate power for the foreseeable future.

Data centres house the hardware, software and high speed communication connections required to run customers' websites, intranets, extranets and other e-commerce facilities in a highly secure and managed environment.

Commercial data centres offer a range of services to customers from co-location to fully managed hosting.

Next Generation Data plans to subdivide the building into a large number of data halls with dedicated infrastructure.

An area will also be designated specifically for small and medium sized businesses in Wales.

Next Generation Data said it is in negotiations with several large blue chip companies and anchor tenants are being signed up on a co-location basis and allocated long term sub leases for secure areas within the facility, where they will install their own servers and run their business independently. The company will also provide managed services which will be particularly attractive for small and medium sized enterprises.

Mr Jones said: "A data centre of this size and capacity will not only support Welsh businesses to remain competitive in a global economy but also has the capacity to act as a catalyst in attracting new business.

"The new centre will be of particular interest to our growing financial services sector, offering business continuity while also providing our SMEs with cost effective access to high quality, robust and secure data-centre services."

First Minister Rhodri Morgan said the Assembly Government had been actively targeting the data-centre development market and promoting the Newport facility as part of its strategy to attract investment from this sector.

Mr Morgan added: "Data centres are the motorways of the 21st century. They encourage economic development in the same way that motorways did in the 20th Century and the railways in the 19th Century. They are an absolutely critical tool for economic growth, and that's why I am so pleased that we have secured this development.

"This major investment will create up to 100 high skilled jobs, and is a big vote of confidence in Wales.

"Global demand for data-centre space is accelerating due to the rapid and continuing growth of e-business. In addition to the direct benefit of this £200m investment to the Welsh economy, this prestigious new facility will provide a strong focus for inward investment, and secondary investment as more and more companies decide to locate to Wales to benefit from the services offered by the centre. Nick Razey, Chief Executive, Next Generation Data said, "With power consumption expected to double over the next four years the provision of electricity to data centres in many parts of the UK is set to become more and more difficult. By locating our new data centre close to a sub-station, together with energy-efficient technologies and state of the art collocation, we can offer clients anywhere in the country enough power for the foreseeable future."

Next Generation Data will initially be leasing the building and approximately 20 acres of land, freeing up the remaining 50 acres of development land adjacent to the site.

Its chairman Simon Taylor said the intention was to start the fit out of the first phase in time to enable the first tenants to move in later this year.

He said Next Generation Data will be using the most technologically advanced internal and external security systems available including biometrics.