Global Switch

Global Switch owns and operates technical real estate. The resilient space we create supports diverse uses, ranging from data centre, data storage and resilient disaster recovery rooms for corporate enterprises, though to telecommunications environments ideal for voice and data transmission and colocation environments. Located in key cities across Europe and Asia Pacific, our secure facilities offer high capacity resilient M&E services and unrestricted access to multiple telecommunication service providers.

The group opened its first 23,000 m² / 252,000 ft² facility in London's Docklands in September 1999. Today the portfolio equates to approximately 265,000 m² / 2.8 million ft² of gross space in eight properties, located in prime, connectivity-rich locations. Of these, six are operational and the final two, in London and Sydney, are scheduled to be operational in June 2002.

To date, a total of £628 million has been deployed in the business of which approximately two-thirds is equity and one-third is externally funded. The company owns the majority of its facilities and has a fully-funded business plan. This strong financial position provides security of tenure to existing and potential clients.

In addition to its own stability, Global Switch is reinforced by the financial strength of its parent company. Since April 2002, Global Switch has been a wholly-owned subsidiary of Chelsfield plc, (LSE [CLF]) (www.chelsfield.com), a UK listed company with extensive expertise in commercial property. Chelsfield has a market capitalisation of £998 million (as at 19th April 2002) and net assets of £966 million.

The company's focus is on providing scalable and flexible space for its clients. Global Switch facilities average around 33,000 m² / 357,000 ft² (gross) and this approach allows us offer tailor-made solutions to clients, designed around their specific needs. Clients can take wholesale space for their own occupation within a secure suite, or choose caged space/data cabinet footprints within a shared area.

The majority of Global Switch clients, who include investment banks, professional services groups and major telecommunications companies, select private suites and work with us to define the level of fit-out and service support they want. Our technical space solutions are backed up by stringent security, N+1 minimum provisioning as standard for power and cooling, fire detection and suppression and 24x7x365 monitoring to deliver a robust and resilient operating environment.

Global Switch is 'telecommunications-neutral'. We seek to give our clients access to a rich choice of providers who are 'co-located' within our 'Meet Me Rooms' - in Global Switch London 1, for example, around 20 providers are present in the building. This approach gives clients the flexibility to negotiate the fibre deal that suits them best and equally, it gives the telecommunications providers access to potential new customers.

Microsoft

Harbour MSP can provide Microsoft products to you at a monthly fee under the Service Provider Licensing Agreement (SPLA). This means that we can put together a system solution for you without the huge software licensing cost up front, just one monthly payment for the entire solution. Contact sales@harbourmsp.com for more details.