Having the ability to call on a national icon and international movie star to open your facility could never do any harm so thanks to a family connection, that’s what UK data centre operator Virtus did.
Sir Michael Caine had not had cause to visit many (any?) data centres. But he has now. He was on hand to the officially celebrate the completion of phase one of Virtus’ site in Enfield in North London.
It was in the week that his contemporaries were glamming it up in the South of France at the Cannes Film Festival the six time nominated and two time Oscar winner was in a small industrial estate in the not in any way glamorous London suburb of Enfield.
Sir Michael Caine is the iconic actor whose career spans seven decades beginning in the 1950s through style setting 1960s films such as Alfie and The Italian Job to modern classics like Little Voice and major Hollywood movies such as the Bat Man franchise.
Developer Virtus announced the practical completion of phase 1 of its maiden Tier III enhanced Data Centre
at the beginning of March and the site now has its first fully migrated and operational tenant. Virtus is part of a joint venture between Frogmore Real Estate Partners and the Obsidan Group.
Phase one of the speculative development is 802m sq of net technical space with self contained data halls available from 200m sq with an average power density of 1,500 W per sq m.
Phase two will deliver a further 18,000 sq ft in Q4 of 2011. The delivery of this raised floor space comes at a time when there has been very little speculative development in the sector, said Virtus.
With 50% of the first phase pre-let. The company has a second site under development in Hayes to the West of London and said is in negotiation on possible investment in Europe.
Warren Barrie, managing director of Virtus Data Centres, is not known to have starred in any major or minor Hollywood movies though he does resemble a cross between Ben Kingsley and Jason Statham.
Barrie said: “To have a fully operational and tenanted site now demonstrates to the market that Virtus can and will continue to deliver on our promises. Building a reputation in this industry relies on resilience and reliability. We intend to live this mantra and deliver on the promise we have made to our client. With another facility in West London due to come on line by the end of 2012, Virtus is very well placed to satisfy the increasing demand that is forecast in this space.”
Michael Caine is connected to the Virtus site through his daughter who is married to one of the company directors.
A check of Mr Caine’s filmography found no evidence of films set in data centers.
Having the ability to call on a national icon and international movie star to open your facility could never do any harm so thanks to a family connection, that’s what UK data centre operator Virtus did.
