Custodian’s Dartford data centre, which opened in early 2022, is an impressive and still relatively new facility. I was pleased to use a recent trip to London as an excuse to take the train out to Dartford and pay it a visit.
Custodian: a rare but long-established operator
Custodian are a rare breed in the UK market as they are an independent and still privately owned data centre and colocation provider. The Dartford site is the second data centre they’ve opened. Their original Maidstone site having opened in 2008, so they now have a long established record.
Custodian now look after around 300 customers, ranging from quarter racks to private suites of nearly 0.5MW. Their customers are from a broad range of sectors including financial services, healthcare and the public sector.
Custodian Maidstone data centre: part of a mixed-use media campus
The original and smaller Maidstone data centre offers around 1.4MW of power. It is about 70% occupied and has seen several phases of expansion to meet demand.
The Maidstone data centre is a retrofit in a former TV studio, and the campus still remains active as an independent studio and production facility. Using a free-air cooling system has allowed Custodian to achieve an especially impressive 1.2 PUE. And this is despite the building not being purpose-built for data centre use, which highlights the innovative approach Custodian have developed.
While Maidstone still has some spare capacity, the focus is now switching to the newer Dartford site.
Custodian Dartford data centre: a larger and dedicated data centre offering
The Custodian Dartford data centre opened just after the pandemic in early 2022. It is a dedicated data centre building designed to offer 6 data halls over the ground floor of a large, light industrial building of some 2,500 sq m gross. While the halls will vary in size from 50 to 150 cabinets, the entire site design is up to 800 cabinets and as much as 10MW, with high density solutions possible depending on client needs.
Two data halls were live at the time of my visit. The first hall of 400kW over 50 racks is fully occupied on a long-term contract to a large media-sector client: the ‘anchor’ client, so to speak. The second data hall is now live for multiple customer and colocation use. This has options that include quarter and half cabinets, and full racks, in ‘hot-aisle’ contained pods of 50 cabinets on a solid concrete floor. Two pods or 100 racks is possible in this suite.
A third data hall is built out and can be provisioned for a single client or further expansion of shared space as required. A further three halls have yet to be constructed, but will complete the balance of space on the ground floor.
The data centre is supported by two 11kV sub-stations and has diverse network entry points. A pair of 600kV generators outside the main building will be added to as occupancy grows.
Dark-fibre ring connects both sites and Docklands
A further important differentiator for Custodian is that they light and manage their own dark-fibre ring. This is diversely routed, and includes a northern leg running through the nearby Dartford Tunnel and then into Docklands: a connection that gives significant credibility to this asset.
The ring connects both of their Kent data centres with six London sites including Telehouse, Digital Realty’s Sovereign House, and Colt’s Goswell Road data centre. This supports Custodian’s own ability to include IP network with their colocation solutions (where clients want it). It also supports layer2 connections to any of the sites on the network, giving Custodian clients a wide range of connectivity options.
Onsite support
As you’d expect from a smaller, owner-operated provider, onsite support remains a key service. Custodian claim that some clients never come to site, instead choosing to use the Custodian team which is available 24/7 at both locations. The new Custodian network operation centre is housed upstairs in the Dartford site and is the main base for Custodian’s 35 staff.
Kent and M25 data centre options
Custodian are the leading colocation provider in Kent. Cyberfort, with their specialist offering out of their Ash bunker, is the only other option in the county. As such, Custodian are well placed for the south-east section of the M25 market outside of London.
Other Colo-X partners such as Datum to the south west in Farnborough, or ServerChoice to the north of London, help provide a range of options for Colo-X users around the capital.
Summary
Custodian have taken a big step forwards with their new Dartford data centre. It enables them to offer up to four times the capacity of their long established Maidstone site, with their dark fibre ring offering significant network options in and between both locations.
The company offers exactly the sort of balance that the smaller data centre users Colo-X typically work with are looking for. Custodian:
- Are big enough for high-quality and great standards (e.g. low PUE), but not so big that they attract the interest of hyperscale buyers!
- Are able to offer combined solutions from quarter rack upwards of colocation, network and support
- Have the in-house skillset to light and manage their own Tier 2 and 3 network
- Have the pride and focus of a long-established, privately owned data centre operator, with superb onsite support
- Remain interested in smaller clients!
View more details about Custodian’s Dartford or Maidstone data centres in the Colo-X Data Centre Database. Or contact Colo-X to discuss all of the colocation options in and around the M25 market.
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