US-based Security specialist Alert Logic has placed a localized cloud node in the Next Generation Data Centre facility in Newport, as it seeks European residency for clients concerned with data sovereignty issues.

The Newport facility, originally owned by LG, and intended for a chip fabrication plant, was chosen for its high standards of security, availability of power and the capacity to cater for massive growth, according to Alert Logic’s VP for EMEA David Howorth.

“We’re growing at 40% year on year and as a US operator we have had expansion problems before. This is the fourth largest datacenter in the world and only a fraction of its capacity has been taken up. So we’re confident we can stay here for a long time,” said Howorth.

“We were particularly impressed with the security of the building. It took one man two weeks to drill through the walls with a diamond cutter. That shows you how deep and wide the foundations are for this facility,” said Howorth.

Alert Logic, which detects, blocks and analyses threats, uses analytics engines that sift through 4 petabytes of data and its application firewalls need to respond in real time, said Howorth. This in turn means security service providers like Alert Logic will need hosts that can support powerful processing systems. “We looked at all the usual suspects, but the fact that NGDC can get access to 90 megawatts of power persuaded us that they have the best infrastructure to support us in the long term.”

The 50-acre, Tier 3+ site, with 750,000 square feet of space is the best place to collect, analyse and store data within the European Union, while meeting the criteria for EU Data Protection Policy, said Howorth.

According to NGDC its facility runs on 100% renewable energy and uses less than 1% of the water volume used by standard data centers. The facility was built using a government grant of £250 million to LG. Alert Logic’s take up of the site was funded by a Welsh Government grant. In October Alert Me is to unveil its new Cardiff operations center, creating 122 news jobs, with UK government sourced funding of around £500,000. The firm has also announced plans for offices in Belfast.