CenturyLink, Goswell Road, London (formerly Level 3)

Colo-X analysis

Originally opened by Level 3 in 2000 as a key colocation and network node, Level3 were acquired by CenturyLink in November 2017.

Since the change in ownership CenturyLink have recently begun converting the fourth and fifth floors into office accomodation, consolidating the various data centre users into a more compact footprint and thus able to offer power densities per rack that are much improved on what has now become a 20-year-old site.

Retail rack space, quarter and half rack options now available and despite being carrier owned, Goswell Road has a reasonable carrier list. Remains a popular site on Colo-X and we’ve closed numerous transactions here over the years.

CenturyLink Gosewell Road facility description

Originally opened at the height of the dot-com boom in 2000 by American carrier Level 3, Goswell Road was designed as a large customer data centre and key part of the network infrastructure for the Level 3, one of string of data centres built right across Europe. Level 3 also opened a much smaller second site in London built on the other side of the city on Braham Street and also numerous data centres across northern Europe in locations including Amsterdam, Paris and Frankfurt.

Level 3 was acquired by CenturyLink, another American carrier in November 2017. Just prior to this transaction CenturyLink sold their existing data centre assets in May 2017 to a new business now known as Cyxtera and there was some speculation as to the long term ownership of both Goswell Road and Braham Street by Centurylink, but these are key nodes for the underlying network and it seems unlikely that CenturyLink will risk these passing to other owners. Indeed in 2019 Centurylink cleared the fourth and fifth floors of the building of data centre tenants and have begun turning this space into office accomodation, with an improved entrance, more passenger lifts and pavillion on the roof level, so it would seem surprising if after this significant investment the data centre was sold.

The site was at one time a Gordon’s Gin distillery (from 1898) but the current building is a post war design erected in the ’50s following war damage to the site.

The Goswell Road data centre has seen many waves of occupation since opening, with a few large customers at one time and latterly Level 3/CenturyLink resellers. In general colocation rack space with reasonable power densities is available these days, with quarter and half rack options for smaller users. Typical power is 750W/sqm (which reflects the overall age of the site). However, up to 1.5kW/sqm (6kW per rack) can be now be made available. Some resellers offer the benefit of onsite technical support in secure private suites, as pictured.

The location is fairly diverse of the other main central London data centre  locations like Docklands or the City, and it offers convenience for clients located to the north of London or in the City itself. Angel underground station is 600 metres away and Old Street station is a bit further to the south east.

In addition to Level 3, carriers at the facility include Colt, BT, C&W, Interoute, Neos, Cogent, euNetworks, Thus, Fibernet, Kingston, Verizon and AT&T. PeeringDB lists about 30 networks here in 2020.

Technical stats