Linx Datacenter SPb Data Center

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2023

Uptime Institute Certification for the fourth time

Linx Data Center in St. Petersburg passed certification for the fourth time to confirm the Management & Operations Stamp of Approval from the Uptime Institute. Thus, the company confirmed compliance with global standards in the field of operational management of computing infrastructure, representatives of Linx said on October 30, 2023.

During the Management & Operations Stamp of Approval compliance audit, the Uptime Institute evaluates data center management and operations processes in terms of infrastructure resiliency. At the same time, the operation service must demonstrate the implementation of three principles of operational stability: proactivity, practicality and awareness.

"There are not many M&O certified data centres in the world on multiple occasions in a row. In Russia and the CIS, Linx is the only data center that has confirmed compliance with M&O requirements four times, and there are no more than 15 such facilities in the world. This is because the certification process itself is laborious and requires constant improvement of the operational management processes of data centers, "commented Taras Chirkov, director of data center operation at Linx.

The first audit of the Linx data center in St. Petersburg was conducted by the Uptime Institute in 2018. According to the company's review, with each new certificate, the team showed an improvement in performance, this indicates a continuous optimization of the operational management of the data center.

"Our analysis of over 10 thousand episodes of data center failures over 27 years of industry observations showed that more than 75% of all failures are due to the human factor, from direct errors of operators to making incorrect management decisions. Proper operation processes, equipment maintenance and personnel training can reduce the number of failures in the data center by 3 times. Successful certification of Management & Operations confirms that the data center operation service can cope with an incident of any level and ensure the availability and reliable protection of business-critical data, "said Alexey Solodovnikov, Managing Director, Russia and the CIS, Uptime Institute.

Equipping the data center with cold corridors

• solutions Provider IT for business Linxdatacenter implemented the next stage of infrastructure modernization DPCs and installed equipment within the framework of the program. import substitution The company announced this on January 31, 2023.

Linxdatacenter is carrying out systematic work to modernize the infrastructure of its own data centers. In 2022, this work acquired a different vector, as Western server solutions became limited to Russian companies.

As part of the project to equip the data center in St. Petersburg with cold corridors, the company has installed a large range of equipment specially developed for Linxdatacenter line of products from the Russian manufacturer EMILINK. The NTSS-branded line included: 34 DS series cabinets, two insulation systems, a set of accessories, including PDUs and unit plugs for air flow distribution. The project was carried out taking into account the technological requirements of Linxdatacenter and the peculiarities of the layout of the premises.

We manufactured equipment for Linxdatacenter at our production facility in Kostroma. Including at the production site, which was opened in 2023 on an area of ​ ​ seven thousand square meters. Here is our metalworking, PDU manufacturing and assembly of copper pacht cords. We also produce optical cable at the plant in Kostroma, and optical patch cords in Kostroma and Kotelniki, - said Maria Mishanina, manager of EMILINK.

Linxdatacenter actively conducts the process of finding and implementing Russian solutions that meet all the company's price/quality requirements and ensure uninterrupted operation of services.

{{quote 'The task of finding alternatives to Western hardware in one way or another concerns every Russian company. For Linxdatacenter's business, the infrastructure issue is of fundamental importance, so our specialists are constantly working to find reliable and energy efficient import-substituting solutions, choosing the best for our customers, "said Mikhail Vetrov, CEO of Linxdatacenter. }}

The company plans to further study solutions in the market and develop cooperation with suppliers of domestic products.

2022: Passing certification for compliance with the requirements for the protection of personal data

in Cloud Linxdatacenter St. Petersburg passed certification for compliance with the requirements of. personal data protection IT infrastructure service -provider meets the requirements for the third level of security. personal data Linxdatacenter announced this on July 20, 2022.

According to PP of the Russian Federation No. 1119 of 01.11.2012, four levels of personal data security in IT systems are distinguished. The choice of the level of protection is determined by the categories of data (special, biometric, other, publicly available), the number of data subjects (up to 100 thousand or more), as well as the type of current threats. Order of the FSTEC of Russia No. 21 dated 18.02.2013 defines the technical and organizational requirements for the implementation of the level of security.

Storing personal data in the cloud allows organizations to save on equipment and software and eliminates the need for labor-intensive certification and certification procedures, since the service provider takes over this work.

Protecting personal data from year to year requires more and more serious measures and measures against the backdrop of a growing number of threats. According to Rostelecom-Solar, the financial damage to Russian business from incidents related to data storage security grew by 20% to 100 million rubles per company in the first quarter of 2022 alone. You can reduce financial and reputational risks by choosing a reliable storage and processing infrastructure.

The interaction between the cloud provider and the client is organized in such a way that the provider is responsible for everything from the level of physical security to the level of hypervisor. Our task is to provide customers with a secure cloud platform and a set of proven information security tools that will ensure maximum security and stability of their IT infrastructure without large initial costs, "explained Georgy Belyakov, Head of Information Security at Linxdatacenter.

A previous certificate was issued by Linxdatacenter three years ago.

2021

Veeam B&R Integration

On June 16, 2021, Linxdatacenter announced that it had integrated the Veeam B&R data and IT protection tool into the vCloud Director cloud client portal. This tool has been launched and activated at all Linxdatacenter sites - in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Warsaw. Read more here.

Obtaining ISO 22301:2019 certification

The Linxdatacenter data center in St. Petersburg has passed BSI certification for compliance with the requirements of the international standard ISO 22301:2019 remotely. BSI announced this on March 25, 2021. Read more here.

2020

Equipment upgrade

The company, Linxdatacenter an international expert in the field of high-tech solutions for, and data storage, cloud services telecommunications on December 24, 2020, announced the completion of the upgrade of equipment for cloudy the platform at the site in. DPC St. Petersburg

Features of high-load enterprise applications from data center customers required DSS upgrades. The hardware upgrade enabled faster backups without affecting the continuity of critical IT services.

Another reason for the hardware update was the increase in the number of client requests for cloud services with increased requirements for computing speed and CPU resource availability.

For the project, a validated solution design from Cisco - VersaStack was selected. It combines Cisco UCS Integrated Infrastructure innovations with IBM Storwize storage. VersaStack is used in vendor products such as Cisco Fabric Interconnect, UCS servers, and IBM FlashSystem family DSS.

The solution is compatible with the Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) platform and allows you to create, run and support applications on the most flexible integrated IT infrastructure aimed at cloud services, large data volumes, mobile and virtualized solutions.

Bringing the CPU performance of the Linxdatacenter cloud platform to a higher level has enabled the use of high-frequency blade servers on the Cisco B200 M5 series UCS chassis. The data center now presents the most current line of this equipment with the latest generation Intel processors 6246R a clock speed of 3.4 GHz, which appeared on the market in the 1st quarter of 2020. Unlike previous generation processors, Intel 6246R can deliver 16 cores while maintaining high clock speed.

The second main vector of the upgrade affected the Linxdatacenter BaaS service, which can now work using Direct Storage Access technology. It allows you to carry out storage snapshots and collect backups without requesting virtualization servers.

This functionality is implemented on the basis of Cisco S3260 - a large 4-unit "combine" with support for 54 disks and, ON Veeam which in total allow Direct Access to be provided through integration data IBM the FlashSystem storage system.

The updated hardware for our cloud significantly increases its computing power and speeds up IT performance-demanding systems and solutions. First of all, these are cloud platforms 1C and SAP- ERP solutions, as well as applications that require processing of serious data arrays, various tools for software development and testing. In terms of value to customers, this means that companies will be able to significantly reduce the time spent on important things. business processes Regularly increasing the capacity of our cloud platform is our strategy, which we implement in full compliance with the requirements of the growing business of customers and the complication of the modern IT landscape as a whole, - comments, Olga Sokolova CEO. Linxdatacenter in Russia

M&O Stamp of Approval

Linxdatacenter, an international expert in high-tech data storage and processing solutions, cloud services and telecommunications, announced on August 18, 2020 that it had been recertified to confirm the Management & Operations Stamp of Approval.

For the first time, experts from the main certification industry organization Uptime Institute conducted an audit of the qualifications and level of training of personnel, the operation of equipment and policies governing the operation of the facility at the Linxdatacenter data center in St. Petersburg in 2018. As a result, the data center passed M&O certification confirming the compliance of its management quality with the operational stability requirements of the Uptime Institute.

To confirm the status in July 2020, a re-audit of the data center was carried out. The audit included several areas of study:

• organizational structure,
• operation processes,
• planning and resource management,
• personnel training systems.

If, according to the results of the first certification, Linxdatacenter scored 84 points out of 100 possible, this time it received an even higher rating: 95.1. The result indicates that the operation of the data center is still carried out with due efficiency, and the implemented methods allow minimizing the risk of failures due to the human factor, the company noted.

Some of Linxdatacenter's practices - in particular, the fuel quality control technique, the regular knowledge testing system for on-duty engineers - were especially noted by the expert commission and included in the Uptime Institute training courses on data center operation.

Presentation of a set of IT tools for working in a pandemic

On April 8, 2020, Linxdatacenter presented a set of IT tools for working in the context of the coronavirus pandemic. Read more here.

2018

M&O Stamp of Approval Certification

On July 23, 2018, Linxdatacenter announced that it had confirmed that the quality of data center management in St. Petersburg met the operational stability requirements of the main certification industry organization Uptime Institute Management & Operations.

According to the Uptime Institute, errors by data center employees on the ground remain the main factor in failures and downtime, causing incidents 2 times more often than purely technical and infrastructure accidents. Therefore, the M&O Stamp of Approval certification is based on a holistic approach that takes into account all many criteria in five main categories: human resources and staff organization, maintenance, training, planning, coordination and management, working conditions. At the same time, in order to maintain the relevance of standards, taking into account the technological evolution of the industry, the list of M&O Stamp of Approval compliance criteria is updated every two to three years. Thus, successful certification according to this standard means a high degree of compliance of the data center with all modern requirements in the field of operation process management.

Procedurally, M&O includes auditing work instructions, documentation on behavior in various situations, including freelance, employee interviews, and mandatory site inspections by Uptime Institute experts.

As of July 23, 2018, Linxdatacenter is the only data center in Russia with the current M&O Stamp of Approval, although we see an increase in the demand for this type of certification in our market. Several data centers are in the process of passing M&O for the first time or will update the action of previously received certification in the near future, - said Alexey Solodovnikov, Managing Director of Uptime Institute Russia.

Passing M&O certification was a strategic priority for Linxdatacenter. The company paid the most serious attention to the preparation of the site, refinement of documentation and training of employees. In time, the entire project took about 3 years, and the preparation process required fundamental changes in workflows within the data center. The requirements of the standard are truly comprehensive, not a single trifle escapes them, including detailed instructions for cleaning the premises or monitoring the maximum permissible level of dust particles in the air in machine rooms. Also, all work performed by the data center contractors, all possible situations arising from the actions of customer employees in the data center premises are described in detail. This approach can significantly reduce the likelihood and severity of incidents, - said Taras Chirkov, head of the data center in St. Petersburg at Linxdatacenter.

Implementation of Electronic Visitor Registration

On July 18, 2018, Linxdatacenter announced the development and implementation of a system for registering access to data centers, built on the basis of electronic registration of visitors at its sites in Moscow and St. Petersburg. The company decided to abandon the traditional format of registering access to the data center with recording personal data in the visit log, maintaining a paper archive and presenting documents at each visit. Read more here.

2017: Accreditation of Linxdatacenter Data Center Executives at Uptime Institute

In early July 2017, Andrei Perekrest and Taras Chirkov, heads of the Moscow and St. Petersburg data centers of Linxdatacenter, respectively, successfully completed the course for accredited specialists in operations Accredited Operations Specialist (AOS) Uptime Institute. This training program is specially designed for managers of business-critical structures: according to the creators of the course, translated knowledge allows us to further effectively apply the world Tier Standards in operational management of the infrastructure complex and personnel.

According to the Uptime Institute, only 5 certified data center managers successfully completed the course for accredited operations specialists (AOS) in Russia as of 2017, two of whom work at Linxdatacenter. You can read more about the event here.

2015: Increased security of Linxdatacenter data center

On December 10, 2015, Linxdatacenter announced that it had taken measures to strengthen its security and control system.

In accordance with the market expectations, the company Linxdatacenter in 2015 strengthened the security and control system in - DPC St. Petersburg a multi-level protection system with several security perimeters was created:

• entrance to the building,
• entrance to the data center,
• entrance to the machine room,
• access to customer equipment racks.

Together with the access delimitation policy, this system, according to the company, reliably protects data in the data center.

In some rooms, work was carried out to automate the cleaning process using robotic means. The restriction of access to support staff has significantly increased the degree of protection of these premises.

In 2015, in addition to the main access control and control system (MCDS), an access control system based on biometric data was installed in the data center. This initiative helped Linxdatacenter minimize the risk of unauthorized entry into the data center and strengthen control over the physical security of data.

The company conducted an audit of the security system for compliance with the latest amendments to Law No. 152-FZ "On Personal Data." Both the biometric ACS data storage system have been certified for compliance with the requirements FSTEC Russia for the storage of personal data. According to the results of certification, the access control system DPC Linxdatacenter is assigned the 3rd level of security.

The 2015 ISO re-certification confirmed full compliance with DPC Linxdatacenter ISO/IEC 27001:2013 Management Systems and information security ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management Systems.

In December 2015 DPC Linxdatacenter , St. Petersburg completed a certification audit for compliance with the requirements of the data security standard of the payment card industry. PCI DSS

author = Ekaterina Kukanova, Regional Director of Linxdatacenter in St. Petersburg PCI DSS is not mandatory for commercial data centers. Nevertheless, we decided to pass this certification, as Linxdatacenter strives not only to respond to customer requests, but also to anticipate them.

2011: Data Center Opens

Linxdatacenter has opened its second Tier3-level data center in Russia: in addition to a data center in Moscow, an even more powerful one has opened in St. Petersburg. The company plans to build a second data center in the Russian capital.

In 2011, the Dutch company Linxdatacenter officially opened a Tier3 standard data center in St. Petersburg. The data center is located in the Sky Trade business center and covers a total area of ​ ​ 7.5 thousand square meters. m. The premises under the data center were rented by Linxdatacenter for 15 years. Investments in the creation of a data center exceeded 20 million euros.

The data center in St. Petersburg has become the largest among all centers owned by Linxdatacenter. The company also has a data center in Moscow with an area of ​ ​ 2.5 thousand square meters, in Tallinn (600 square meters) and Warsaw (1 thousand square meters). Moreover, so far only the first stage has been launched in St. Petersburg, in 2012 the second will be completed, and then the total area of ​ ​ the data center will increase to 9 thousand square meters, and the capacity - from 3 MW to 12 MW.

Linxdatacenter data center in St. Petersburg is located in the SkyTrade business center, at the end of the construction of the second stage it will occupy 9 thousand square meters

Linxdatacenter also acts as a communication operator and has its own optical fiber channel connecting the data center to the SPB-IX communication node. The company's own communications network covers all major European capitals, including Helsinki, Tallinn, Stockholm, Amsterdam, London, Frankfurt, Budapest, Bucharest and others.

LInxdatacenter CEO Julius Delahaye and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte lead the opening ceremony of the data center in St. Petersburg 

However, as Evgeny Rozhnov,' project manager for the construction of a data center in St. Petersburg, told TAdviser, other operators are also present in the center. These are, for example, Peterstar, West Call, Obit, TransTeleCom and Orange Business Services, and their number can be increased. "Our data center is not a closed object for operators. And if the client wants to work with another company, we will give him such an opportunity, "he explained.

From left to right, Linxdatacenter top managers: vice president of technical affairs Mark Gibs, senior vice president of sales Arnaud Coster, CEO of the company in Russia Richard van Wageningen and Julius Delahaye - talk about data center security measures. Even this hall is usually not accessible to everyone, after pre-registration and the identification procedure. The rules also apply to the company's customers. 

Since the data center complies with the Tier3 standard, it implements serious security and redundancy methods. Thus, the main source of electricity is a gas piston power plant, in relation to it, backup power sources are a diesel power plant and a city electric network.

The backup power supply is based on UPS - 400 batteries that provide 15 minutes of battery life when the data center is fully loaded. Most of the equipment used is from APC Schneider Group.

Behind this turnstile, which on ordinary days works only on smart cards, is most of the Linxdatacenter equipment, power control centers, a gas fire extinguishing system, machine rooms and, in particular, Yota racks. Photography outside of it is strictly prohibited. 

The data center in St. Petersburg is also equipped with a climate control system based on water cooling, when planning the racks, the principle of closed cold and hot air corridors is used. Fire safety is monitored by the VESDA smoke detection system and automatic gas fire extinguishing system. The data center uses a four-level security system, including 24-by-7 access control and an electronic pass system.

The main services that will be provided within the framework of the data center in St. Petersburg are the placement and rental of equipment, reservation of IT infrastructure, IaaS, hosting, and so on. However, Evgeny Rozhnov does not exclude that in the future the number of "cloud" services will grow, including PaaS and SaaS. Moreover, such services can be organized on a partnership basis.

In the first 1.5 months of the data center in St. Petersburg, it was already loaded by 25% - just over a hundred racks out of 250 free in the first stage. Customers of the data center were Skartel (Yota), an international company whose name was not disclosed, as well as one of the Russian retailers.

the investment attractiveness of the Russian market and Linxdatacenter's plans in Russia in an exclusive TAdviser blitz interview told Arno Koster, Senior Vice President of Linxdatacenter:

TAdviser: Arno, the Russian market does not provide greenhouse conditions for foreign companies. Are you not afraid to do business in Russia? What risks do you see for yourself?

Arnaud Coster: Initially, we are a Western company, and in Russia we have two offices, in Moscow and St. Petersburg. They employ Russian employees who have a good understanding of the local market. It turns out that we have a Western European business culture and at the same time knowledge of the local market. For us, there is no difference between the Western European market and the Russian market. The only difference is in legislative norms, so we try to carefully treat local laws.

TAdviser: What is the volume of investments in the construction of a data center in St. Petersburg and in the development of business in Russia?

Arnaud Coster: Investments in the construction of a data center in St. Petersburg amounted to more than 20 million euros. The company's investments in the opening of data centers in Europe were about the same level, in Moscow - slightly higher.

TAdviser: Is it realistic to build large data centers outside of Moscow and St. Petersburg, do Russian regions need data centers of this level?

Arnaud Coster: In St. Petersburg for the current year, the available proposals are absolutely enough. In Moscow, the situation is a little different, and we are planning to expand our data center in the capital. Moreover, in Moscow we are considering the possibility of building another data center. But, of course, not in St. Petersburg, here this question will arise no earlier than in five years.

TAdviser: Do you think you have competitors in the local market and who they are?

Arnaud Coster: In St. Petersburg, our main competitors are Peter-Service, Megafon (Synterra), there are also many other companies. Our main difference from Russian players is that we are more focused on providing services to international companies. In Moscow, the clients of our data center are most of the largest financial organizations and international brands, moreover, the data center is completely full, so this directly indicates our competitiveness.

TAdviser: Headwork Analytics recently investigated the Russian market for commercial data centers. Its main conclusion was that at the moment there is a supply surplus in the market, but by 2012 the supply deficit will be 22%. Do you agree with that? How are you going to act in this regard?

Arnaud Coster: Yeah, I agree. As I said, we will expand the capacity of the data center in Moscow. In addition, we will work on the connectivity of all our data centers, so that our clients will also be able to use the capabilities of data centers in Warsaw and Tallinn. In Eastern Europe, we plan to build new data centers. If the connectivity is organized properly, then the client will not care if his data is in Kyiv or Amsterdam, where we will also build data centers soon.

See also

• Linxdatacenter Data Center S-8
• Linxdatacenter Data Center Moscow