Equinix LD5 – Slough

Colo-X analysis

Equinix LD5 is a hugely impressive and vast data centre facility on the Slough Trading Estate, to the west of London. The sheer scale of this site – together with Equinix LD4 and LD6 both located a few hundred metres away also on Buckingham Avenue – has helped the Slough Trading Estate become an established data centre hub. (LD4 in particular has become one of three significant financial trading ecosystems in London.) Phase 1 of 50,000 sq ft net technical capacity opened in March 2010. As of the fourth quarter of 2014, the fourth and final phase of LD5 was being sold. LD6 opened opposite LD4 in 2015.

Ultra-latency-sensitive financial markets participants prefer to be directly in LD4 to directly connect onto the various trading platforms, but with cross-connects are available between all the Equinix Slough data centres for most users, any of the three facilities will typically work.

Colocation options include full racks start at 4kVA each but can offer higher power densities. Dedicated part racks of half or quarter racks available, as is per U colocation, through service providers.

Equinix LD5 facility description

The facility is a huge new build, the first in Europe built wholly to Equinix design standards. It comprises 300,000 sq ft of gross space built across three floors. The lower two floors offer four phases of 50, 000 sq ft net technical capacity each, while all the plant sits on the upper floor. This is all powered by 40MVA mains power supply.

Equinix LD4, their first Slough facility and Equinix LD6 are located only a few hundred metres away. Equinix offer a dark fibre ring between the three buildings, giving access to clients and carriers in each site, including LINX located in LD4.

Technical stats