Kao Data unveils Tier II datacentre strategy by pledging to open Manchester facility in late 2025

High-performance computing (HPC)-focused colocation provider Kao Data is expanding its datacentre footprint beyond the confines of Essex and West London to the north of England with plans to open a 40MW facility in Manchester by late 2025.

The project will see Kao Data redevelop a former industrial site at Kenwood Point in Manchester, which will be transformed into a datacentre comprising nine data halls, as part of a wider push by the company to build out its presence in the UK and Europe by targeting cities it claims are currently underserved by the colocation community.

Speaking to Computer Weekly, Kao Data chief commercial officer Spencer Lamb said the company’s growth plan had been dubbed its “Tier II strategy”, with the Manchester facility the first site it has developed outside of the south of England.

“Manchester [in the first instance] is closer to home, so it’s simpler for us to do than going further afield, but when you look at the profile of Manchester, in terms of what datacentre infrastructure is there currently, it is somewhat lacking in choice for the organisations that wish to contract directly and those that may well be going there in the future, which are relying heavily on London today,” said Lamb.

“When we look at the landscape in Manchester from a colocation viewpoint today, it’s really only Equinix that has invested anything within that area recently. If you’re an end-user seeking a colocation facility, you don’t have the options and you don’t have the choice, and therefore we feel it’s key that we are able to provide that capability.”

Lamb joined Kao Data as vice-president of sales and marketing in January 2020, before taking on the role of chief commercial officer in April 2022. He has previously held positions at other colocation companies, including Iceland-based Verne Global and Infinity SDC, which – incidentally – was bought out by Norway-based Green Mountain in June 2022.

The Tier II strategy will specifically and purposefully see the firm favour locations across Europe that are outside of the traditional, major colocation datacentre hubs of Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris and Dublin (FLAPD).

There are several reasons for this, including the well-documented issues operators seeking to develop new sites within these regions are encountering in terms of high land acquisition charges, power supply issues and the growing scarcity of suitable sites.

“London [for example] has been the basis in the UK for datacentre colocation services, and it’s really heavily and significantly tilted in that fashion. And it seems somewhat ridiculous, as it becomes harder and harder to facilitate the demand in London, from a cost of land perspective, the availability of power, and the ability to do things in a sustainable fashion… so a more distributed approach makes logical sense,” said Lamb.

Also, from a risk profile perspective, he continued: “If you’re looking at the IT footprint for the whole of the UK, having everything in one small geography, which in effect we do today – between Slough, Stockley Park and Park Royal – it seems somewhat risky. Therefore, as most countries seem to have more than one region, from a cloud provider perspective, it’s only a matter of time, we believe, until Manchester will be the place where that second cloud region will be created.”

The company’s first datacentre campus, in Harlow, Essex, was established in 2014, and its portfolio has since expanded to include additional sites in Slough, Berkshire and Northolt, west London.

These facilities will remain “business as usual” sites for Kao Data, although there are still plans to expand some of those as well, in line with customer demand.

“The Northolt and Slough sites are pretty much full now, and we have an incremental development plan in place for Harlow, which is attuned with the demand that we’re creating through the sales channel,” he said. “We are also in the process of building the second building at Harlow, which will facilitate additional customers, and then we’ll do the third and fourth – as demand arises.”