NGD and BT announced this week that BT has agreed to take 380 racks at NGD Europe, Next Generation Data Limited’s newly-launched 75,000 square metres facility near Newport in Gwent. Rollout began in August and will be ready for customer use by February 2010.

This is one of the first large Data Center deals in the UK since Lehman Brothers failed and triggered the global recession. I believe it shows a growing confidence in the importance of having high quality data center capacity available to support growth opportunities in the UK. It also shows that the “Server Huggers” are loosing out mind-share to the more practical approach of locating IT systems where the electricity is cheaper and more available than within the M25 London conurbation.

Here is the Press Release:

As part of a seven year agreement, BT Business, BT Engage IT and BT Global Services customers’ IT capacity and power can be boosted on demand at the secure, out-of-London centre. This investment extends BT Global Services’ data centre facilities; it has 38 customer facing data centres around the globe.

Customers can now typically save over £70,000 over previous hosting options and be able to better capitalise on sales or customer service requests at busy data processing times such as Xmas and school holidays.

NGD Europe opened as a brand new facility earlier this year with the pledge to invest £200 million over five years to create one of Europe’s largest data centres. The site has a direct connection to a power sub-station only 1 km away to deliver a huge 180 MVA of supply, ensuring no surges or drop offs. The service can be provided using 100 per cent renewable energy and is the only tier 3 data centre outside of London with no planned downtime.

BT Business currently provides IT and communications to more than a million UK businesses. BT Global Services currently provides data centre services including co-location, web hosting, managed applications and IT professional services to more than 2,000 customers around the globe.

As part of the agreement, BT Business will also supply cabling, APC racks and connectivity technology to support the service facility’s customers.

“In our experience, UK firms are crying out for a secure data facility that allows them to increase the size and capability of their IT systems and keep running as normal, come what may. Using NGD Europe they’ll be able to save thousands in running costs in the next year alone,” said John Dovey, director, ICT BT Business.

“We are delighted to welcome BT as one of the first major anchor tenants at NGD Europe,” said Simon Taylor, chairman and co-founder of Next Generation Data Limited. “Having such a prestigious organisation as BT on board is a wonderful endorsement for us and re-affirms the facilities and flexible approach we offer fully satisfies the next generation data centre requirements of large organisations searching for the ultimate in space, power, cooling, connections and security, at far more affordable prices.”