4D Data Centres - the independently owned UK data centre operator and cloud provider - has just completed a £500k expansion of its Gatwick Data Centre.

This is in response to higher than expected demand from businesses across the South East.

MD Jack Bedell-Pearce said: “When we opened 4D Gatwick earlier this year, we wanted to replicate our reputation for being one of the best data centres in Surrey to the Sussex, Kent and South-East London area.

“Due to a hugely positive response from the local business community, we’ve been forced to bring forward our expansion plans for the site and invest £500,000 in building out additional rackspace to keep up with demand.

“We’re having a significant impact on boosting the digital economy of West Sussex by being able to provide faster internet connections and secure data centre space to growing businesses in Crawley, Croydon and Brighton in particular.

“Over the next year, we are planning to invest a further £1 million into infrastructure upgrades at the Gatwick site and continue to hire and train technical staff from the local area.”

The expansion follows strong growth for 4D Data Centres which has increased its workforce by 20 per cent in the last six months.

Since opening in March 2017, the 4D Gatwick facility sold all of its ‘Phase 1’ rackspace capacity.

With current pipeline business looking strong, the ‘Phase 2’ expansion, which will see a third of the overall capacity being used, will take place within the next 12 months.

Sarah Loosemore, Operations Director at Interparcel, an online parcel delivery firm that delivers worldwide, said: “We are a .com business so if our website had issues it would greatly impact us, or, worst case scenario, if it went down, it would mean the business couldn’t operate.

“We deliver parcels across the globe, so we must be responsive 24/7 - business continuity really is vital.

“4D has been really flexible in terms of the way they have worked.”