NEXT STOP: THE UK’S GATEWAY TO SPACE Recent Relocations: London to Goonhilly satellite Earth station.
Most of our enquiries for server relocation services tend to be for the big cities. From London, Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh, our data centre and server room relocations often have very similar scenery, so when our latest client's request came in, it was fascinating to see where the next relocation would take place - Goonhilly. Historically known for having been the UK’s main route for international telephone calls over satellite, Goonhilly was once the world’s largest earth station, so our team found it refreshing to venture to this unusual location.
Two main details made this request stand out:
- The timescale: Just over a week - This meant that the completion of a site survey needed to be arranged almost immediately.
- The destination: Goonhilly - The customer required the relocation of several racks of IT equipment, comprising large-scale servers, SAN and switches from central London, to the “Home of Satellite Communications” in Cornwall.
They also required the servers and switches to be delivered the same day, so it was safe to say the timescale would be a challenge. Within moments of receiving their enquiry, a quick Teams meeting was arranged and discussions were underway.
Their SAN rack needed all cable inter-connection ends labelled for a time-efficient and accurate re-cabling at the destination, and as the relocation was urgent, we agreed to our essential (and complimentary) site survey which was arranged and completed within 48 hours. As part of the site survey process, all their essential cabling connections were labelled ready for quick and accurate re-cabling at the destination.
Move Day
On the day, our client powered down all the equipment at the agreed time, allowing our engineer to safely and effectively recover all the cabling, isolating the required labelled cables for the SAN rack. By the time this was completed, our relocation team had already arrived on site with our specialised rolling flight cases for the rack mounted IT equipment.
The IT, destined for WEEE (recycling), was removed and put to one side (as requested), while the rest was inserted into the flight cases and taken down to the waiting vans. As a result, the team were ahead of schedule and arrived at Goonhilly by 9.30 pm - a prime example of why pre-planning and preparation are key!
At night Goonhilly has a historical eeriness about it. A landscape of large satellite dishes caught in the moonlight, like a scene from Quatermass (if you grew up in the 1970s, you might remember the TV series).
As the move progressed, the server cases were securely stored and ready for installation the following morning, as requested by the client.
The CRL team arrived back on-site, and the SAN kit was re-racked and cabled up in their excellent data centre - all within 90 minutes. Another very satisfied customer.
