Digital Realty Trust, West Drayton

Colo-X analysis

The Digital Realty Trust West Drayton data centre was acquired by DRT in 2016, one of a package of 8 European data centres acquired by DRT from Equinix/Telecity as part of the agreement with the EU Commission to allow the Equinix purchase of Telecity meet market share concerns. It was originally opened by IXEurope in 2002, then became part of Equinix in 2007 when Equinix acquired IXEurope.

Because of its age, power per cabinet or square foot will be light by today’s standards. However, DRT will no doubt be looking at upgrade options for this site – provided that plans for a third runway at Heathrow Airport do not affect it which as of 2020 seem very unlikely. The data centre has a reasonable carrier list, primarily due to the age of the site. This site will really suit customers looking for a data centre close to Heathrow Airport, both colocation racks and larger caged areas will be available.

With most West London data centres being either very expensive for retail colocation due to ecosystem access, or not suitable for retail as the focus is on large hyperscale deployments, DRT West Drayon is a high quality, retail focussed data centre, from a global operator which offers surprising value and flexibility.

Digital Realty Trust West Drayton facility description

Now known as DRT West Drayton, but more recently as Equinix LD2, this site was originally built by IXEurope and known as Heathrow Hub. It opened in 2000 at the peak of the dotcom boom, and at a time when the whole London colocation industry appeared to be moving en masse over to West London. For example, both Digiplex and City Reach had also just built facilities across the M4 in Hayes, while Telecity had signed the lease for what was to become Powergate in Park Royal. As the dotcom crash followed, so this site appeared to have been left by the receding tide.

Therefore, network choice was quite limited for some time, and client numbers relatively low. However, IXEurope survived and went public in 2006. The facility subsequently began to make real progress, especially with Rackspace occupying the entire first floor. In fact, the growing need for disaster recovery project facilities outside Docklands and central London suited it perfectly.

In terms of fit-out, the site was originally opened in 2000 so power densities are light by current standards. The fit-out is a two-floor structure within the shell of a light industrial shed. The facility is located yards from the entrance to Heathrow Airport on Bath Road. Vacancy was fairly high in 2016, due to Rackspace moving out and consolidating in their own purpose-built facility supplied by DRT in Crawley.

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