Kao said it will provide "the industrial-scale capabilities" it is known for alongside immediate growth for hyperscale, cloud and enterprise organisations within west London and the M4 corridor. The new facility also offers diversity and resilience for clients in financial services, life sciences, defence, AI and cloud.
CEO Lee Myall (pictured) said: "The launch of our new Slough data centre offers data-intensive enterprises within the highly sought-after West London Availability Zone, the opportunity to benefit from significant new capacity, as well as the advantage of working with Kao Data's award-winning, sustainable infrastructure and expert technical and operations teams."
Kao Data operates three campuses across London: Harlow, which hosts the Cambridge-1 supercomputer, Northolt and Slough.
Currently under construction the new carrier-neutral facility in Slough will adhere to the sustainable standards implements at the Harlow campus by providing an SLA-backed PUE of <1.2, even at partial loads.
The cooling system will be powered 100% by renewable energy and backup power generators will use hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) – which is manufactured from renewable waste, residues, and vegetable oils.
While the use of HVO as a backup will remove fossil fuels "in their entirety", according to Kao, supplies from some vendors have been criticised for including palm oil. That said, HVOs are a drop-in alternative for both red and white diesel, removing the need to retrofit existing diesel infrastructure.
Kao Data, which committed to ditch diesel back in July, said the new facility "will set new standards within Slough for sustainability".
Myall added: "With this move we are excited to be strengthening our data centre footprint across the UK and establish ourselves within the world's second largest data centre hub. Kao Data has seen tremendous growth over the last twelve months, and the launch of our Slough facility is the next step in our continuing development."
In October NZ-based Infratil, which owns CDC Data Centres in Australia, took a stake in Kao Data, pledging “up to £120-130 million” to expand capacity at the existing Harlow site, north of London, and to buy and expand two new sites.
