GB-T21/0077: Colocation datacentre

Northumbria University has commenced a cloud and digital modernisation transformation programme of all its IT operations estate (the Programme). We have identified several projects that will run under this programme, one of which is the review of our physical infrastructure and where this could or should be located.

We currently have 2 datacentres (or machine rooms) one of which is located at our Newcastle city campus (Northumberland building) and the other at our Coach Lane campus.

As part of the Programme, we have a vision to migrate some (or eventually all) of our current physical infrastructure to a CoLo datacentre and cloud based suite of services removing the use of both our datacentres. Whilst the primary drivers for this are increased reliability, security and less overhead, this change should also increase our operating efficiency and drive overall better value for money.

As we are a Newcastle based university, we require a CoLo datacentre within 25 miles of Newcastle city centre to ensure staff can visit as and when necessary.
To ensure that we remain compliant with our various obligations, security needs to be considered which may be physical in the form of a cage, but in any event needs to be logical. Any interested supplier is encouraged to consider this in their eventual proposal.

We are interested in receiving proposals from interested suppliers that can meet the above scope covering the following at a minimum in detail:
-Based no further than 25 miles from Newcastle city centre
-Initial requirement is for 13 racks each with a 32amp/7kW redundant power supply
-Contract commit based on 60% of the total power consumption initially
-Connectivity to Azure and AWS
-Connectivity to our Janet network and Newcastle city campus
-Optional cage
-Other required and recommended one-off items (e.g. installation, powerbars, etc.)
-Recommended logical security
-Details of building security measures and controls
-Details of business continuity measures and/or guarantees
-Access arrangements (e.g. 24×7/9×5, signing in, notifications, supervision, etc.)
-Availability, network and other SLAs you offer as well as RPO and RTO times
-Your datacentre accreditations