Bandwidth shortage threatens London

Resellers have been warned to plan ahead for the bandwidth requirements of their clients or face the possibility of losing out on business, as a data centre space crisis looms over London.

Data centre space in the capital is at a premium, with just over four per cent remaining vacant. ISP Viatel has urged resellers across the UK to take action, especially as doubts grow that more space will be made available in the future.

Neil Watson, channel director at Viatel, said: “Resellers involved in the application space will have difficulty finding competitive solutions to meet their customer requirements if they do not have a plan in place to secure space on an continual basis.

“There are doubts about whether or not the power supply in London can continue to meet the requirements of additional data centres, so resellers will have to partner early to overcome this.”

Despite these concerns, analysts have claimed it is a minor issue that can be easily rectified.

“Take them out of the City,” said Keith Humphreys, managing consultant at analyst firm euroLAN.

“It might be less convenient, but it is as simple as that. It does not matter where data centres are.”