A report into the ICT infrastructure in the City of London, covering the Square Mile, Canary Wharf and docklands recommends that a ten year plan covering data centers, world-wide network connectivity, fibre in the ground, mobile broadband and electrical power supplies is needed for London to maintain its position as the top global financial center. But the world’s leading financial center is facing concerns over power supply.

The report: “An Assessment of the City’s ICT infrastructure” listed aspects of importance based on the IT needs of the city.
The aspects to be measured are:
• The ability of the City to trade. This means metrics of connectivity, both world-wide, and across the City between traders and trading systems;
• The capability of the City to host new applications – the amount of data centre space available;
• The ability to supply data centres with electrical power;
• The security and resilience of the ICT infrastructure, covering both the technology and the systems;
• The skills of the ICT supply industry.

Stuart Fraser, chairman of the City of London Corporation told datacenterdynamics.com: “There are common issues and a growing issue with power supply, especially to new data centers. There is a pattern that a single regulated provider is the best way forward but it can’t be beyond the wit of man to have a tariff structure to allow them to get a return on capital employed.”

The report had found that a recurring concern was power supply and planning permission demands for on-site power generation which were at odds with current localised power generation technology.


Stuart Fraser, chairman, City of London Corporation

Fraser said the Corporation would now work on its 10 year plan which would follow up on the report’s recommendations that it:
• Spearhead a discussion with the government and regulators on the perception that power availability and cost are a constraint on the competitiveness of the City;
• Develop a package of supporting programmes for SMEs, covering business and ICT planning, Service Level Agreements (SLA), data security and choosing serviced offices;
• Consider sponsoring or commissioning a commercially available secure and resilient mobile network, especially focused on availability during sustained emergencies;
• Open discussions with Ofcom on telecommunications supplier serviceability level agreements standards, wireless spectrum allocation, and the implications of converging network technologies;
• Within the context of a 10- year ICT Infrastructure Plan, consider the future ICT skills needs of the financial services sector, within the wider context of the changing shape of the financial services industry, to anticipate potential future developments.

“We’ve done the research, now we can move forward with the recommendations,” he said.

The report warned of medium term challenges faced by the city.

It said: "In the medium term, there are challenges to the City from newer Global Financial Services Centres who are able to plan “from the fibre up”."

The City also faces challenges from new electronic trading platforms, from electronic attack, power supplies for data centres, and in maintaining skills in the ICT supply industry.

While accepting that challenges and concerns in data center power supply were very real Fraser said despite the fragmented nature of the sector the industry had a responsibility to ensure data centers are built and operated at maximum efficency.

“There was the idea of building a single large data center in which several players could participate but there were concerns over security,” he said.

The City of London is aware that it faces stiff competition to maintain its position as the world’s biggest financial services center from cities such as New York, Frankfurt and Singapore.

In data center terms the city is well positioned with well serviced high quality space still available in London’s docklands.

The report said: “The City has a large number of worldwide network operators, and there is more data centre space in London than in European competitor cities.


Power and planning are big City concerns

The research shows that the City at present is well placed in all respects of ICT infrastructure provision but warned that ICT no longer presents a positive competitive advantage because it is becoming ubiquitous.

A robust ICT infrastructure is no longer a motivator for financial services to set up shop, it is a hygiene factor. However deficiencies in the ICT infrastructure and/or supply chain will undoubtedly have a negative effect,” it said. 

Keywords: City of London, infrastructure, ICT, planning, investment, data center,