The Moscow colocation market is still very much a “frontier” market for Western based data centre users, but the new IXCellerate colocation facility opened in 2013 is founded by an experienced team with an excellent track record in the European colocation industry.
We caught up with IXCellerate Sales Director Mike Segal on a recent customer project and asked his help in providing some more background on both the IXCellerate data centre and the Moscow colocation market in general. If you are interested in a Moscow data centre solution, from 1U upwards, please contact us for pricing and further background.
The Colo-X listing for IXCellerate’s Moscow data centre can be found HERE.
Colo-X: Mike, thanks for agreeing to help us with this interview. We’re aware the new IXCellerate facility has opened not long ago; can you please give us a bit of background – how much overall capacity can the site offer and how much is built out today? When did the first phase open?
Mike: IXcellerate has been an ongoing project for the past several years. Over the course of 2011 we worked on locating and securing a site for our Moscow One Datacentre in Moscow and raising the financing to construct Phase One of the project. Construction began on July 17, 2012 and was completed on December 27, 2012. We officially opened the datacentre in June, 2013. Our Phase One has 580sqm of technical space with up to 1.8MW of power available. After Phase 2 and Phase 3 we will provide up to 6,200sqm of space with 11.8MW of power to our customers.
Colo-X: Can you please describe your location in Moscow and what was it about this site that you liked?
Mike: Our datacentre is located in North Moscow, within the MKAD highway. Our Moscow One Datacentre is within a 15,000sqm secured campus which IXcellerate controls. The datacentre is located in a 4000sqm modern warehouse building that was constructed 8-years ago. It has 14m ceiling height and 8000kg/sqm floor load which enables us to construct a 2nd floor in Phase 3, thus expanding the overall available floor space. The uniqueness of our site is the fact that it is so large with a modern warehouse building since many datacentres are on shared campuses with older brick buildings. We also have the ability to increase power availability on site by 10MW on redundant feeds. Furthermore, the power transformers are located in a separate building on our campus so we have complete control over access and the maintenance schedules.
Colo-X: What is the current state of play with the site – how many clients are now installed, what sort of sizes do they range from?
Mike: We have sold to over 15 clients, ranging from 1 rack to a cage with several racks. We have clients who are using low-density and high-density racks, including up to 10kW.
Colo-X: What about connectivity? What carriers are on site? Can you tell give us some ideas as to typical Internet transit pricing in your facility – what would 100Mbs on 1Gbs cost, on average?
Mike: We currently have nine carriers and are adding an average of one new carrier per month. We currently have Mastertel, Circuit Exchange, Macomnet, TeliaSonera, NTT, Beeline, RETN, Orange Business Services, and the Moscow Internet Exchange.
Colo-X: What is the typical rack deployment you can offer? How much power per rack? What is a typical rack package? Eg cost of a 16Amps, 3.5kW rack? Is power included?
Mike: Our standard rack received dual power feeds, each with single-phase, 220V, 32Amp circuits. We can upgrade power feeds to three-phase, 400V, 64amp circuits. Average customer requests 3.5-5kW of power but we can provide up to 30kW of power to a rack.
Colo-X: Do you offer on site 24×7 support
Mike: Yes – through a bilingual Customer Portal system and an emergency hotline
Colo-X: Are there any key differences a buyer from Western Europe should be aware of when wanting to establish a point of presence in Moscow? Eg Licensing, approvals required etc?
Mike: Carriers need to be aware of the licensing requirements if they are to sell connectivity in Russia.
Colo-X: Can you give us a bit of background about the local Moscow colocation market – are there any other carrier neutral facilities available or just carrier owned? Is there much capacity available? Is there much demand? Is demand local or from overseas? When will one of the big pan-Euoprean colocation operators be buying something in the market?!
Mike: Telecomblogr.ru lists 104 datacentres in Moscow. In reality, there are only a handful of Tier 3 datacentres in Moscow which can provide facilities which multinational customers would expect. Within the handful of providers, there is a lack of available space in the market due to the fact that demand is so high. I would expect to see some of the European and US based colocation providers begin to look more at partnerships or acquisitions in Russia in 2014.
Colo-X: What about the local Internet Exchange, the MSK-IX? Do you host a switch?
Mike: We host access to MSK-IX in our datacentre.
Colo-X: Any other points you’d like to make?
Mike: The Moscow colocation market is one of the few remaining places where demand outweighs supply and investors have the opportunity to make huge returns on their investments. That being said, supply is low due to all the difficulties in constructing and operating a world class datacentre.
Colo-X: Thanks for your help Mike, very much appreciated.
This interview was conducted in December 2013.