JT Global used to be Jersey Telecom, and is now one of the leading data centre providers in the Channel Islands, and the only one to have achieved Service Organisation Certification (SOC), which is recognition of the high quality of its controls and procedures fit for the financial services hub.
As well as its SOC credentials, JT Global is not only the largest local data centre provider, but also the only one that has Tier 3 facilities. Its investment to date in its data centre facilities is over £20 million. The Tier 3 facilities provide highly secure storage for data, and also focus on minimising energy consumption.
Location
JT Global opened its first data centre in 2005, which even then was considered world class. It now has seven data centres, all Channel Islands-based, five on Jersey and two on Guernsey. This location makes it a prime contender to provide data hosting services for the financial services industry in the Channel Islands. It has also focused heavily on provision of services for the e-gaming industry.
All its data centres offer data hosting, with services and facilities including:
- 24/7 building surveillance and access monitoring;
- Intruder and access control system, with CCTV;
- 24/7 network and equipment monitoring, with UPS and generator backup;
- Resilient air conditioning and cooling systems; and
- Fire, heat and moisture sensors, early warning and management systems.
The data hosting options also include business continuity for local customers.
Energy
JT Global first focused on environmental issues in 1997, with the preparation of an environmental policy and objectives. It considers its environmental impact under seven main headings, waste management, transport, energy, water, network development and purchasing. For the purposes of the data centres, the main focus is obviously energy, and JT Globals data centres are among the most advanced in the world for minimising electricity consumption, according to its website.
Funding/business model
JT Global has been operating in one form or another for more than 100 years. Founded as Jerseys National Telephone Company back in 1895, it has provided telecoms to the Channel Islands for most of that time, diversifying into data hosting in recent years. It remains wholly owned by the State of Jersey, and operates under a regulatory regime defined in the Telecommunications (Jersey) Law 2002, overseen by the Jersey Competition Regulatory Authority. It rebranded to become JT Global in 2011.
Its state ownership has the positive benefits of giving the company a community focus. It does plenty of local charitable work, including hedge-planting, as well as more conventional charitable work. Its rebranding to JT has enabled it to develop the slogan Join Together to express this community and customer focus.
Customers/partners
Across all its telecoms businesses, JT Global has 10 global offices, and 2,177 local and global business partners, with 500 global employees, and 530 roaming partners. Its key partners are Cisco, Mitel, dimension data, Avaya Connect and radware. Its data centre operations are overseen by a team of Cisco-qualified data network experts.
Its data centre customers vary widely, from locally-based financial services companies, looking for support for their offshore business, to e-gaming companies worldwide. The data hosting business focuses on high security and compliance with regulation, vital to a regulated industry like financial services. JT Globals work to achieve SOC accredition has been a crucial tool in attracting financial services companies, with many requiring that as a minimum level from its suppliers.
The e-Gaming business offers secure and reliable networking and data management for a global industry, managed within international regulatory frameworks. JT e-Gaming is approved by the Jersey Gambling Commission as a provider of facilities for internet gambling. Its offshore data centre is designed to meet the needs of e-gaming companies around the world.
Local/global focus within a clear structure of regulations
JT Global has chosen to focus its data centre provision on some highly regulated industries, notably financial services and e-gaming. Both these function within a tight network of regulations and requirements, and value a data centre provider that understands their restrictions. Achieving SOC accreditation has demonstrated JT Globals credentials in being able to work within that kind of structure.
It is also very much a local company, conscious of its roots and history in the Channel Islands. The combination of willingness to demonstrate its ability to meet customer needs, and a focus on the needs of local customers, make it a key provider of data centre facilities in the area.