Kao Data to support life sciences with EMBL-EBI deal

EMBL-EBI’s biological data is used by millions of researchers worldwide

Kao Data has announced it is to provide compute capacity to EMBL-EBI, a world leader in the storage, analysis and dissemination of large biological data sets.

The wholesale colocation provider said its London One facility will initially supply 1.5MW of capacity to the institute with an option to expand if necessary.

Situated in the London-Stansted-Cambridge technology corridor, Kao Data’s £200m+ campus is home to around 150,000 square feet of technical space and 35MW power for IT equipment, which the company chiefly markets to hyperscale customers and the life sciences community. In June, the company announced that the campus will run entirely on renewable energy at no extra cost to customers.

Founded in 1994, EMBL-EBI provides open access biological data used by millions of researchers to investigate life-threatening illnesses. Its facilities currently store over 270 Petabyes of biological datasets.

Kao Data’s London One facility, situated close to the institute’s HQ, will meet EMBL-EBI’s growing demand for local data centre resources, helping them to maintain uptime and reduce operating costs.

The OCP-ready facility boasts an ultra-low PUE, reduced carbon footprint and a commitment to 100 percent renewable energy sources. EMBL-EBI said London One’s green credentials factored heavily in its decision to lease space off Kao Data.

“The biological data we store and share through our data resources are used by life science researchers all over the world to power new discoveries,” said Steven Newhouse, Head of Technical Services, EMBL-EBI.

“As such, data centre space, physical security and infrastructure availability were critical in our decision-making. Kao Data provided a thorough, detailed and consultative approach, which satisfied our technical and operational requirements. Its team also demonstrated an in-depth understanding of the needs of the life sciences. Their offer gave us the ability to quickly scale within a single campus, which is another key benefit in this data-driven environment.”