Data Center POST Interview with Andrew Fray, UK Managing Director, Interxion
By Contributing Editor, Kathy Xu
Data Center POST recently had the opportunity to sit down with Andrew Fray, UK Managing Director of Interxion, who discussed the Interxion London Data Center Campus and its importance to the colocation market in Europe and beyond. Interxion is a leading European provider of carrier-neutral colocation data center services whose commitment to innovation and high standards of excellence in infrastructure recently earned it the ‘Data Centres Innovation Award’ at the 2018 Tech Excellence Awards held in Dublin.
Andrew joined Interxion UK as Managing Director in December 2015, having worked in telecoms and ICT for most of his professional career, including management roles in BT, Swiftcall, KDDI and Telehouse. For 30 years, he has consistently worked with technological innovation. With Interxion in London, Andrew leads the company’s focus on connectivity and colocated hybrid cloud, and with special focus on the financial services and digital media sectors.
Data Center POST, Kathy Xu (DCP-KX) Question: We understand Interxion recently opened a new data center in London. How did Interxion choose London as the destination for the new data center?
Interxion, Andrew Fray (I-AF) Answer: London remains the largest data center market in Europe. Home to nearly 60,000 technology businesses, the city’s maturity signifies that a majority of connectivity and cloud providers will have deployed here early on. As such, U.S. companies who want to take advantage of more advanced technologies will have the perfect opportunity to do so in this city.
London also makes colocation easier for all types of global businesses, with key advantages over other European cities. Not only is London the central point for companies around the world, but English remains the international business language. So, communication with U.S. companies is effortless, especially with subsea cables linking the United Kingdom to the U.S.
DCP-KX Q: What are the most important features and benefits of the new data center in London?
I-AF A: The data center’s core applications include trading, trading analytics, as well as both customers’ and information services for financial services companies, with simple cross-connections across the campus. Its client roster includes all the main public cloud platforms and over 200 financial services companies, from high-frequency traders down to global retail banks.
With a lot of data center customers using the public cloud to get to the likes of Microsoft ExpressRoute and AWS Direct Connect via Interxion, our East London location is a popular choice for enterprises increasingly looking to go beyond single cloud to multi-cloud.
DCP-KX Q: What differentiates Interxion’s data centers from others?
I-AF A: Interxion has the largest central London data center, making it a hub for the London financial services and other communities of interest. Our London campus is connected to 100 carriers and content delivery networks, making it the most-connected central London location for enterprise and financial services.
Additionally, our London campus is uniquely located between the Square Mile —the center of global finance — and Tech City, the third-largest technology start-up cluster in the world. Through its proximity to London’s key stock exchanges, our central location provides our clients with low latency access.
DCP-KX: Thank you for your time today, Andrew. To learn more about Interxion, visit www.interxion.com.
