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Technology partnership increases Manchester's internet capacity

Article date: Thu, 07 Aug 2008 17:55:35 GMT

In a deal worth £9.6m, UK Grid Data Centres has brokered a new partnership with managed hosting specialist UKFast. The deal fast tracks the availability of hosting facilities to business and allows Manchester to continue as a big player in the UK's digital growth, which remains on an upward curve in this time of uncertainty.

The collaboration sees the facility rebranded as MaNOC - Manchester Network Operations Centre. UK Grid's Rob Garbutt views the partnership as a natural progression for the company.

"UKFast brings a new dimension to our offering with its pedigree as the UK's Best Dedicated Host," said Garbutt. "With their financial muscle, we're now in a position to get all the suites within our facility online as soon as possible. Teaming up also means we can attract large blue chips right through to SMEs with an even stronger offering."

The project increases UKFast's data centre capacity by 350% allowing co-location to return to its portfolio of services alongside managed hosting. Having announced a record pre-tax profit in 2007 of £1.45m, this year shows no let up in managed hosting growth.

MD Lawrence Jones estimates new sales for the first six months at a 157% increase on the same time last year with July 2008 set to show a 176% increase on 2007. "This venture with UK Grid comes at a great time for us. We are filling rack space at a terrific rate and the new facility guarantees we can meet demand over the coming year."

The two firms are also working towards another joint venture to facilitate long term growth. The proposed development involves building a further data centre in the Greater Manchester region to compliment the current initiative.

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