As banks reconsider the pros and cons of maintaining their own data centres, factors in their decision-making include connectivity and latency, which govern their ability to execute trades quickly. Paul Sinclair, director of data centre interconnect at NTT Global Data Centers, explains how this does not have to come at the cost of security, reliability or scalability.
financial services industry to accelerate that journey – the colocation of data centres looks increasingly attractive for banks. After all, it offers access to dedicated resources focused on security, scalability and reliability. More important, however, is the ability to achieve the best possible levels of connectivity. “Banks’ customers want high-end customer experience; they want it to be always on and they need service to move with the sun around the globe,” says Paul Sinclair, director of data centre interconnect at NTT GDC. “They want the same performance everywhere. But the industry is also hit 300 times more than any other by cyberattacks. “Protection and security are paramount but in terms of connectivity it is the latency that is important,” Sinclair adds. “They need to know transactions will work with low latency, but at the same time they want cost reduction, enhanced collaboration and more agility, as well as artificial intelligence and advanced data analytics. But latency, cybersecurity and connectivity are the biggest challenges.” NTT is the third-largest data centre business in the world and also one of the largest ICT companies. As such, it has one of the highest levels of security and best- of-breed connectivity, which it delivers to some of the world’s largest banks. From that perspective, it understands the impact of data centre performance on their operational effectiveness. “In a hugely competitive industry, proximity to major financial centres is
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important,” notes Sinclair. “Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam and Paris are major hubs in Europe, and whoever has the fastest links to those platforms will control the price. One microsecond can be worth millions of dollars to financial trading because it is about trading faster and making money faster.”
“So, banks will pay for lower latency, but it is also about prioritising the right traffic,” he adds. “For example, proximity trading is more important than someone browsing the web.”
Location, location, location NTT’s London 1 Data Center is now up and running in Dagenham, East London. With up to 12,800m² of IT space, and a maximum IT load of 32MW, the first phase provides a secure, high-availability environment with best-of-breed physical and technical infrastructure. It is connected to major carrier hubs and cloud networks, as well as to the LINX internet exchange point hub.
“Zero latency is not possible – you can’t defy the laws of physics,” says Sinclair. “You can’t go faster than the speed of light. But whoever is the fastest in the financial services industry gets the gold. So, the only way to reduce latency is to shorten the distance.”
Dagenham is not only closer to the City of London than Slough, where NTT and other providers have substantial data centre real estate. But customers can also benefit from line of sight connectivity and shorter fibre routes. Furthermore, it is closer to other major trading hubs, located as it is east of London and nearer to continental Europe.
“It is about as close as you can get to Docklands and it is a shorter hop to Paris, Amsterdam and Frankfurt,” Sinclair explains. “The high-speed rail link to mainland Europe shortens our link as the fibres going through the Channel Tunnel. European fibre routes run straight past our Dagenham site. Slough, where we have two data centres, is the epicentre of financial services data centres infrastructure in the UK – but it has limited additional power resources and land costs have gone up.”
“Dagenham, with its rich blend of network partners, also has direct fibre connection to 127 other data centres and leverages passive infrastructure access, which reduces fibre costs,” he adds. “We provide the lowest cost of access and better proximity. You can see Docklands from the roof of our building in Dagenham. You can’t beat the laws of physics, but you have to try as hard as you can.”
For banks, collaborating with a partner like NTT offers the security of a long- established and profitable business – that services the world’s largest companies. More to the point, emphasises Sinclair,
it’s the gateway to better performance, lower cost and better connectivity, without needing to compromise on other key factors like sustainability and security. “We are investing to evolve our assets to be the most secure data centres in the world with the best connectivity,” he says. “Coming to NTT removes the need for clients to host their own IT in a cloud environment and we provide full turnkey solutions. We are a large organisation that can move fast.”
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