Service Express Bedford

Colo-X analysis

The Service Express Bedford data centre was originally opened in 2010 by locally based Blue Chip, a managed services provider with a focus on IBM mid-range systems.

The first phase of this high-quality data centre has six data halls of 64 racks each, with a second phase of a further 280 racks possible. Total capacity, once fully developed, is 600 racks and 3MVA. The design is to an impressive Tier 4 (unaudited) standard.

Blue Chip was acquired by US-based Service Express in 2021. Service Express provides third-party, post-warranty hardware maintenance services to over 6,000 global clients, while Blue Chip provides mission-critical IT services, with a focus on IBM mid-range systems. This was Service Express’s first international expansion.

Service Express Bedford data centre description

The Service Express data centre is on Ampthill Road, just over a mile to the south of Bedford city centre. It is also easily reached from the A421 dual carriage way that connects Bedford to the M1 motorway at Junction 13, which is 6 miles or 10 minutes away.

The data centre was built to complement the managed services activities of Blue Chip, including off-site media storage, remote backup, disaster recovery, and high availability of cloud-based Intel solutions. Blue Chip’s design philosophy was to meet a Tier 4 standard, offering 99.999% availability, and all services are delivered as 2x(n+1).

Cold-aisle containment and use of adiabatic free-air cooling keep the environmental impact as low as possible. Design PUE is 1.1.
The data centre and 5-acre campus freehold is owned by Blue Chip. Site security is paramount, with measures including dual site gates to avoid tail-gating, 2.4m perimeter fencing, and CCTV.

Strong accreditationsinclude ISO9001, 27001 and PCI DSS.

Technical stats