Our visit to Telehouse
Security is a major concern for clients operating web sites that sell online and this is one of the main reasons that we chose to co-locate at Telehouse. Co-location basically means purchasing space for our server and the connections to the Internet, power and so on from a provider company. Telehouse themselves provide the building and physical security.
Although we have used Telehouse for over 4 years, we had never actually seen the installation. We recently decide to correct that!
A visit was arranged with the provider company for a tour of the building and to visit our actual hardware.
Thankfully, we had satellite navigation to get us there, otherwise we would probably still be driving around the Docklands area now! Despite missing one turning we managed to arrive at the main gate early. This is where the high level of security started.
The collection of buildings that make up Telehouse in Docklands are surrounded by high fences and cameras. Pulling up at the main gate, we were greeted by a security officer. First of all we had to give our names, our company name and the name of who we were meeting. This was all checked on his portable computer.
To prove we were who we said we were, photo ID was required. Luckily we remembered to bring our passports! After a check around the car and the registration number was recorded, we were allowed to enter.
We parked the car and walked to the reception area, where we were met by a representative of the provider company. In order to gain access to the main buildings we had to be signed in. The person signing us in was required to have a high security level himself. We were then provided with temporary passes.
OK, we were in and we had passes. Next we headed off to the server room. Actually, it’s not that simple! The first job was to pass through the security pods. You swipe your card and the first door opens, you step in. The first door closes and a few seconds later the second door opens and you walk out.
There are two main buildings (North and East) and the only access is on the first floor, so we climbed the steps. There are no helpful signs anywhere so you have to know where you are going, luckily our guide did. After passing through another swipe card protected door we entered a lift to go up another floor.
A small rabbits warren of corridors brought us to the final swipe card protected door, which led us to the area where our equipment was located. Inside this final area were a number of smaller areas. A final swipe of a card got us into the actual server room.
Anyone who has ever seen a server room will know that they are very far from exciting! Rows and rows of large black units, all containing computers that look nothing like the ones you have at home. The only way we knew we were looking at ours was because it had a sticker on it!
We didn’t expect anything spectacular to happen and we were not disappointed – the equipment was sitting there plugged in and doing its job. All around it was masses of equipment to ensure that it can continue to do its job every minute of the day.
You can see more details of the co-location provided by Telehouse on their web site at www.telehouse.net/en/colocation/colocation-at-telehouse.
