4 ms·

Why build a data-center on such expensive real estate? Surely 50km further out would be much cheaper?

by substation13 4y ago

akmarinov 4y ago
For financial stuff, proximity matters and London is one of the largest financial centers
- carnitine 4y ago
  For ‘financial stuff’ where proximity matters (which is a small fraction of it) you would be colocated with the exchange, and there’s no need for that data centre to be in London.
- yobbo 4y ago
  That doesn't answer the question. Why not move all of it out?
  - jleahy 4y ago
    They’re in Slough, it is 50km out. These areas are all close to Slough.
    - jfk13 4y ago
      https://www.oatridge.co.uk/poems/j/john-betjeman-slough.php https://www.oatridge.co.uk/poems/j/john-betjeman-slough.php
  - SideburnsOfDoom 4y ago
    When talking about "London the financial centre", you're talking about offices in tall buildings in central London Compared to that, data centres out in West London, in an "industrial shed" in the vicinity of Heathrow Airport, are already "moved out".
gerikson 4y ago
From the link <https://thelondonpress.uk/2022/07/28/west-london-faces-new-homes-ban-as-electricity-grid-hits-capacity/ https://thelondonpress.uk/2022/07/28/west-london-faces-new-h...> > In its note, the [Greater London Authority] said pressure on the grid in west London has been particularly acute because a number of data centres have been built nearby in recent years, taking advantage of fibre optic cables that run along the M4 corridor, before crossing the Atlantic.
Arnt 4y ago
The article (https://archive.ph/Azysn https://archive.ph/Azysn BTW) says Hillingdon, Ealing and Hounslow. Zooming in on a random patch of land between the labels Ealing and Hillingdon, I found a large clump of what seems to be warehouses. Maybe elsewhere is cheaper, but an area with warehouses is cheap enough, in a sense. I found Heathrow too, so I assume noise depresses the pricing. But servers don't mind aircraft noise.
- logifail 4y ago
  > I found Heathrow too, so I assume noise depresses the pricing. But servers don't mind aircraft noise. You think Heathrow's presence depresses land pricing close to the airport?
  - SideburnsOfDoom 4y ago
    For residential property, yes, the continual impact of a huge airport nearby depresses prices. For light industrial and warehouses, the opposite.
    - logifail 4y ago
      FWIW, a decade ago it was revealed that Heathrow's holding company was happily buying up houses close to the airport.[0] (Full disclosure: also years ago I did some consulting work for the airport. There are some very strange incentives at play at LHR which may not be apparent to outsiders.) [0] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/jun/16/sipson-heathrow-baa-homes-protest https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/jun/16/sipson-h...
  - fmajid 4y ago
    For residential, sure. For commercial, the inverse is true.
    - Arnt 4y ago
      Oops. I had only residential property in mind, perhaps because the title is "home ban", but my phrasing covered both kinds of property. Sloppy of me. Sorry.
dfworks 4y ago
As I understand Slough and West London more broadly are a sweet spot for both connectivity to international fibre cables as they come out of the ground and available electricity at a reasonable rate (although they might have saturated that particular aspect if the article is true). Slough trading estate has a dedicated Biomass Power Station. With less confidence, I vaguely remember a discussion with a datacentre technician at one of these sites who said something about the curvature of the cabling which can impact latency/speed for high frequency trading outfits located in the datacentres. I'm not sure in which direction this would worsen but perhaps another factor.
hnlmorg 4y ago
They're in Slough which isn't technically London but still close enough to affect the west London's electric grid. The problem with moving too far out is that you end up with even greater problems of having your data centre miles from any major fibre backbone. It's a similar reason why a lot of broadcasting studios and other network hubs used to be based close to the BT tower despite that being hugely expensive real estate.
- beachy 4y ago
  Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough! It isn't fit for humans now, There isn't grass to graze a cow. John Betjeman
  - jacknews 4y ago
    It's pronounced 'sluff', don't you know.
    - MattPalmer1086 4y ago
      In the UK it rhymes with now.
      - jacknews 4y ago
        Only by the hoi poloi!

Why build a data-center on such expensive real estate? Surely 50km further out would be much cheaper?

akmarinov 4y ago

For financial stuff, proximity matters and London is one of the largest financial centers

carnitine 4y ago
For ‘financial stuff’ where proximity matters (which is a small fraction of it) you would be colocated with the exchange, and there’s no need for that data centre to be in London.
yobbo 4y ago
That doesn't answer the question. Why not move all of it out?
- jleahy 4y ago
  They’re in Slough, it is 50km out. These areas are all close to Slough.
  - jfk13 4y ago
    https://www.oatridge.co.uk/poems/j/john-betjeman-slough.php https://www.oatridge.co.uk/poems/j/john-betjeman-slough.php
- SideburnsOfDoom 4y ago
  When talking about "London the financial centre", you're talking about offices in tall buildings in central London Compared to that, data centres out in West London, in an "industrial shed" in the vicinity of Heathrow Airport, are already "moved out".

gerikson 4y ago

From the link <https://thelondonpress.uk/2022/07/28/west-london-faces-new-homes-ban-as-electricity-grid-hits-capacity/ https://thelondonpress.uk/2022/07/28/west-london-faces-new-h...> > In its note, the [Greater London Authority] said pressure on the grid in west London has been particularly acute because a number of data centres have been built nearby in recent years, taking advantage of fibre optic cables that run along the M4 corridor, before crossing the Atlantic.

Arnt 4y ago

The article (https://archive.ph/Azysn https://archive.ph/Azysn BTW) says Hillingdon, Ealing and Hounslow. Zooming in on a random patch of land between the labels Ealing and Hillingdon, I found a large clump of what seems to be warehouses. Maybe elsewhere is cheaper, but an area with warehouses is cheap enough, in a sense. I found Heathrow too, so I assume noise depresses the pricing. But servers don't mind aircraft noise.

logifail 4y ago
> I found Heathrow too, so I assume noise depresses the pricing. But servers don't mind aircraft noise. You think Heathrow's presence depresses land pricing close to the airport?
- SideburnsOfDoom 4y ago
  For residential property, yes, the continual impact of a huge airport nearby depresses prices. For light industrial and warehouses, the opposite.
  - logifail 4y ago
    FWIW, a decade ago it was revealed that Heathrow's holding company was happily buying up houses close to the airport.[0] (Full disclosure: also years ago I did some consulting work for the airport. There are some very strange incentives at play at LHR which may not be apparent to outsiders.) [0] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/jun/16/sipson-heathrow-baa-homes-protest https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/jun/16/sipson-h...
- fmajid 4y ago
  For residential, sure. For commercial, the inverse is true.
  - Arnt 4y ago
    Oops. I had only residential property in mind, perhaps because the title is "home ban", but my phrasing covered both kinds of property. Sloppy of me. Sorry.

dfworks 4y ago

As I understand Slough and West London more broadly are a sweet spot for both connectivity to international fibre cables as they come out of the ground and available electricity at a reasonable rate (although they might have saturated that particular aspect if the article is true). Slough trading estate has a dedicated Biomass Power Station. With less confidence, I vaguely remember a discussion with a datacentre technician at one of these sites who said something about the curvature of the cabling which can impact latency/speed for high frequency trading outfits located in the datacentres. I'm not sure in which direction this would worsen but perhaps another factor.

hnlmorg 4y ago

They're in Slough which isn't technically London but still close enough to affect the west London's electric grid. The problem with moving too far out is that you end up with even greater problems of having your data centre miles from any major fibre backbone. It's a similar reason why a lot of broadcasting studios and other network hubs used to be based close to the BT tower despite that being hugely expensive real estate.

beachy 4y ago
Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough! It isn't fit for humans now, There isn't grass to graze a cow. John Betjeman
- jacknews 4y ago
  It's pronounced 'sluff', don't you know.
  - MattPalmer1086 4y ago
    In the UK it rhymes with now.
    - jacknews 4y ago
      Only by the hoi poloi!