NTT Communications (NTT) is now Europes third largest data centre services provider following its acquisition of a majority stake in Germanys e-shelter in early 2015. The Japanese telecommunications and IT firm is expanding across Europe where demand currently outstrips supply. E-shelter, Germanys biggest data centre provider, is the perfect gateway to eight central European locations in addition to its existing world-wide network.
NTT offers resilient and secure networking, colocation and hosting services to some of the worlds most recognisable brands. These high-tech data centres are branded Nexcentres to differentiate them from the vast array of IT and telecoms services provided by NTT.
Location
Globally, NTT operates 130 data centres, with six of those in Japan and four in neighbouring China. In Europe, there are six major NTT data centres. Paris, Frankfurt and Madrid all host one each, whilst the UK has three in total.
Following NTTs e-shelter acquisition, European data centre floor space has expanded to 92,000 square metres from 19,500 square meters and now includes five more cities Zurich, Vienna, Hamburg, Munich and Berlin.
Hemel Hempstead 2 + 3 is the flagship centre inside the UK and is owned under the Gyron brand, which was acquired in 2012. The other two UK data centres are newer and are located in Slough and Woking. All of these data centres are based just outside of London and the M25 and are close to major airports and train stations.
All NTT data centres in the UK operate via a dual supply power path to offer protection against failure. Up-time is close to 100% at 99.9999+ and both Hemel Hempstead and Woking boast 2N redundancy for UPS, with 2N at generator level for Hemel Hempstead. NTT operates its own dark fibre ring around London, which can offer over 300GBPS connectivity and reduces dependency on third party infrastructure.
Energy
NTT is focused on reducing the carbon footprint of its data centres by self-generating power and incorporating energy-saving and energy recycling technologies. Hemel Hempstead offers a Green Grid PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) of less than 1.2 by using green technologies like the end wall injection air conditioning, chiller-less cooling system and a water side economizer. Other CO2 reducing measures include using generated heat to warm the building in the winter, using rainwater in the air conditioning system and generating electricity through solar panels.
Funding/Business Model
NTT is a subsidiary of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation the biggest telecommunications company in the world. Its sister companies NTT Data and Dimension Data offer complementary software and managed ICT services respectively. The data centre business employs around 22,000 people worldwide.
Partners/Customers
NTT partners with a wide range of IT and ISP companies globally in order to bring customers one of the most advanced, secure and reliable IT networks in the world. This backbone structure is what lies behind the security and capabilities of its network of data centres. NTT is the data centre provider of choice for a range of well-known global brands, including Adobe, Symantec and Spotify.
Local focus, global infrastructure, Japanese standards
Underpinning NTTs dedication to reliability and security is an adherence to the service levels that it maintains in Japanese data centres, regardless of local infrastructure, politics or economics. Whilst expanding globally, NTTs local presence in key locations is expanding through the purchase of local companies.