Data Centres and Renewable Energy Project
Map of Scotland showing optic fibre routes in the North
Access to a high speed fibre optic cable is the first essential for locating a data centre. The map below shows cables and access points in the North of Scotland, shown against centres of population.
Map reproduced courtesy of: http://www.itraveluk.co.uk/maps/scotland.html
For example the 1000km SHEFA-2 submarine fibre optic cable operated by Faroese Telecomms runs from the Faroe Islands to Shetland and Orkney terminating on mainland Scotland at Banff with a capacity of 57x10 Gbit/s. The cable is “passive” and therefore not requiring an upgrade should capacity increase; however the connection points on land would need upgrading
- The current fibre optic cable locations in Scotland are a mixed submarine and land based network with connectivity along the eastern land boarder and sub-sea for Orkney and Shetland.
- Current submarine cables are owned by operators outside of the UK; the only national cable runs between Orkney and Dunnet Bay, operated by BT
- There is currently no land based national fibre optic cable in the North-West
Conclusion
The only practical areas where a data centre could be connected to high speed cables are along the E coast from Banff to Thurso, and in Orkney and Shetland.
References used in this page:
(1) http://www.shefa.fo/
(2) http://www.farice.is/
(3) http://www.seafishmarineservices.com/Flyers/Northern_Lights_Flyer_Web.pdf
(4) http://mediacentre.thus.net/company-information/
(5) Marvin Smith, Shetland Islands Council, personal communication
(6) Peter Gent, personal communication