Virgin Media Business unveils co-location service to aid data security

Virgin Media Business has launched a co-location service providing access to 11 secure and resilient datacentres across the UK linked by the firm's superfast fibre network.

The company has partnered with datacentre provider ICM to offer access in cities including Glasgow, Leeds, London, Bristol and Manchester, and is offering guaranteed 99.95 per cent availability.

Andrew Gibson, senior product manager for applications and services at Virgin Media Business, told V3.co.uk that partnering with ICM allows the company to provide resilient and secure systems for corporate data.

"More and more customers are hosting data in multiple locations as they put disaster recovery plans in place and want data to be stored across multiple sites or on-premise and in the datacentre," he said.

"So with our network passing 85 per cent of UK businesses and NGN 2-2-4 security accredited, we think we are well placed to offer this dedicated and secure connection to these datacentres across the UK."

Gibson added that a co-location service allows companies looking to take advantage of new forms of data hosting to migrate with more control.

"Many firms we talk to don't want to give up complete control of their data, so by using co-location across 11 different sites we can ensure customers are always able to access their equipment," he said.

"This gives firms the confidence to start using cloud services and virtualisation without offloading all their data from their premises in one go."

Virgin Media Business also touted security features including CCTV, locked racks, ID card entry as standard and temperature controls to guard against system failures.

The offering is available now, and Gibson said that a few customers are already signed up. Pricing is based on a customer by customer basis.

The full list of locations is Glasgow, Leeds, Birmingham, Farnborough, London (Wapping and Old Street), Manchester, Romford, Bristol, Sevenoaks and Uxbridge.