Gavin has been appointed to deliver iCITY’s vision to transform the Press and Broadcast Centres on the Park into a world-class hub of innovation and enterprise. Commenting, Gavin Poole, newly-appointed CEO of iCITY London, said:

“I am delighted to have the opportunity to lead iCITY London. Having spent the last three years working closely with communities across the country learning about the importance of education, employment and enterprise, the chance to work on a once in a lifetime project with the possibility to deliver real and sustainable change is very exciting.”

“iCITY hopes to build a sustainable legacy from the Olympic and Paralympic Games and to provide a springboard for regeneration and growth across London and the UK, and I am hugely excited to be a part of this.”

Commenting, Martin Lynch, Chief Executive of Infinity SDC, anchor tenant of iCITY, added:

“We are delighted that Gavin is joining iCITY. Gavin brings a wealth of experience working with entrepreneurs and business start-ups, that should iCITY become the successful bidder in the competitive process will be invaluable in making iCITY an exciting place for both business and the community and a great place to work.”

For further information, please contact Nick Colwill (Champollion Public Relations and Public Affairs Consultancy) on 07717 897 701

About the Press and Broadcast Centres

 The London Legacy Development Corporation (previously the Olympic Park Legacy Company) invited interested parties to submit proposals to become the long term tenant of the Press Centre and Broadcast Centre. The proposal for iCITY was submitted in early December. For further information visit http://www.londonlegacy.co.uk

About iCITY

iCITY is a once in a lifetime project that will transform the Press and Broadcast Centres on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park into a world-class centre of innovation and enterprise, driving the regeneration of East London and economic growth across the UK for the next decade and beyond. iCITY will create thousands of employment, education and training opportunities for young people, helping to develop East London’s thriving and dynamic Tech City into a world-leading centre for technological expertise. iCITY will support innovation and enterprise through a world class technological infrastructure, powered by a state of the art data centre from the UK’s leading data centre operator. iCITY is a subsidiary of Infinity SDC established to create a long term legacy use for the Press and Broadcast centre.

About Gavin Poole

Gavin worked at the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) for over three and a half years, and was the Executive Director for more than two of those years.

During this time he led the CSJ through a period of unprecedented change and ensured the organisation was seen as cross-party, independent and with leading political figures from all parties involved. His success ensured that the CSJ maintained its position as a leading Westminster think tank following the move of its former Chairman (Rt Hon Iain Duncan Smith MP) into the coalition government.

Gavin has an impressive leadership background having served for over 20 years in the Royal Air Force where he commanded men and women in the UK and overseas on operations. He is used to complex multi-team scenarios often scattered across the globe. As a Wing Commander, Gavin worked at the highest of levels politically as a military advisor to the last government’s defence team in the MoD prior to leaving and joining the CSJ.

A mechanical engineer by background, Gavin holds an MBA from Cranfield, and an MA from Kings College London.

Vote for specialist data centre operator Infinity – shortlisted in the Datacentre Service Provider of the Year category

Infinity, today announced it has been shortlisted for a Datacentre Solutions Award in the Datacentre Service Provider of the Year category. The entry, “Infinity Provides Increased Data Centre Capacity with Exceptional Resilience, Power, Cooling, Security” showcases how Infinity’s data centres offer multi-tenanted facilities that support individual IT requirements within resilient and robust infrastructures tailored to each customer’s needs. Voting for Infinity can be done by visiting the nomination page. Votes must be submitted before 17:00 on 7th May 2012.

This award category is designed to recognise an outsourcing organisation’s delivery of innovative and effective services to a wide variety of users that have a tangible benefit either in terms of cost savings or efficiency gains.

Infinity is the Datacentre Provider of the Year because it provides not only the space, but meets the long term business requirements of high resiliency and high efficiency. Infinity’s ‘design, build and operate’ business model has a totally customer-centric focus, built around performance-based service level agreements that are underpinned by a rigorous and externally audited quality system. This provides strict process control with support from an experienced operational team that blends data centre experience with hand-picked service champions from the telco and IT worlds. Infinity is leading the way in transforming the wholesale colocation market from a property led industry to a mature service oriented industry with a holistic long term approach.

Datacentre Solutions Awards received 17 nominations for the Datacentre Provider of the Year category and Infinity was shortlisted amongst eight others. Winners will be announced at the Datacentre Solutions Awards ceremony on Wednesday 23rd May 2012 at the Millennium Gloucester Hotel & Conference Centre, London.

Situated beside one of Europe’s most successful business parks it is just a short distance from a wide range of corporate and financial services firms requiring West London data centre facilities. The facility sits within one of the few truly ‘no-fly’ zones in the greater London area due to the highly controlled airspace surrounding London’s Heathrow airport and offers organisations looking for capacity in West London high availability, highly efficient data centre services.

Martin Lynch Chief Executive of Infinity said, “Our new Stockley Park location allows Infinity to offer services both in and outside the M25 as well as to the East and West of London. This important addition to our network of facilities will address the demands of those organisations both outgrowing current West London facilities and those looking to halve their energy usage by moving to modern efficient facilities.”

“For our customers, geographic location is one of the critical decision factors in selecting a supplier. This additional investment in Stockley Park provides a perfect pairing option to our Slough facility, further demonstrating our commitment to listen to customers and their needs,” concluded Lynch.

The new high frequency, high capacity Crossrail service to 37 stations in London and the South East is expected to open in 2018. Infinity’s strategy to develop facilities along its route will enable its customers to travel from one end of their infrastructure to the other in under 40 minutes.

With IT continuity vital to the everyday operation and success of businesses worldwide, resilience remains a primary objective and compromise is untenable. Infinity’s data centres provide a non-stop 24×365 operation to support critical applications for investment bankers, financial brokers, systems integrators and telecom companies.

Furthermore, visitors to the stand will learn about Infinity’s exciting new sites in prime locations, adding much needed capacity to the west of London. Find out how Infinity’s highly efficient data centres also generate positive environmental and social benefits, while lowering operating costs and without impacting uptime.

WHAT: Infinity Exhibiting at Data Centre World; Stand A60

WHEN: 29 February – 1 March 2012

WHERE: Olympia, London

Infinity aims to be the largest UK data centre provider by mid-2012 by delivering standalone, high efficiency facilities and specialising in aviation grade operations coupled with government grade security to ensure no-break operation, regardless of external factors.

Attendees can learn more about Infinity’s facilities around London, including: Romford, with easy access to both the Docklands and the City of London, Slough, in the heart of the UK’s technology corridor, and Martlesham (the UK’s only carbon-free computing environment) located close to the UK’s largest information technology research centre.

Infinity’s data centres house some of the world’s most successful investment banks, global insurers, international brokerages, telecommunication companies and outsourcers. These organisations rely on Infinity to ensure the non-stop operation of some of their most critical and visible applications. By employing international standards, systems and certifications, coupled with regular service reviews, Infinity has developed a reputation for offering an excellent service that often exceeds the expectations of its customers.

The Guardian drew attention to the potential for the Press and Broadcast Centres to become part of London’s growing technology cluster, writing that “Prime Minister David Cameron has said he wants the tenants to be part of his vision of a “tech city” stretching from Shoreditch and Old Street to the Stratford Park.”

Property expert Paul Norman also picked up on this in his blog, saying that iCITY “certainly has the lead in terms of how it fits in with the government’s touted hopes for the area to help with the creation of a hi-tech bleeding edge work hub stretching all the way down to the Old Street roundabout.

The London Evening Standard noted that iCITY would partner with higher education to build an innovation and research centre which could “showcase British technology”.

Insidethegames.biz quoted OPLC Director of Real Estate, Duncan Innes, saying iCITY was one of “three very strong bidders”, focused on “the creation of thousands of jobs and training opportunities”.

TechWeek Europe focused on iCITY and described how the huge space would be filled with “a cloud computing centre, research labs, post production, graphic designers and digital education”.

Infinity established iCITY to create a world-class hub of innovation and enterprise in order to help deliver the Prime Minister’s vision of East London as one of the world’s great technology centres. The announcement and full details of the project can be found here: http://icitylondon.com

Based at a secure site in the South East of England, the new Tier III certified facility will ensure that CWW can support the increasing demands from clients for secure, robust and reliable hosting and shared services solutions.

Commenting on the development, Gavin Darby, chief executive, Cable&Wireless Worldwide said, “Data hosting is one of our critical areas of focus for the near future and will be a vital part of our return to growth. This announcement highlights the details of the plans we outlined in November last year. I believe that we are shaping our business to better serve our customers and secure our position in this growing market.”

Martin Lynch, CEO at Infinity, added, “This important contract further consolidates Infinity’s strong position in the UK data centre market. Our commitment to quality and attention to operational detail was essential to CWW in selecting a partner for this most crucial part of their business. We look forward to developing a strong long term partnership with CWW in delivering against the demanding needs of their customers.”

Infinity established iCITY to create a world-class hub of innovation and enterprise in order to help deliver the Prime Minister’s vision of East London as one of the world’s great technology centres.

Within iCITY and underpinning the transformation of the facilities, Infinity will operate a 350,000 sq. ft. cloud computing centre supporting London’s largest television studios, innovation and research centres including a business incubator, a hub for creative industries including software development and an education centre supporting the UK’s first digital apprentice scheme.

Infinity has already invested heavily in east London facilities and through our work on iCITY we have proven that there is extensive demand, at all levels for a centre such as this. Over the last year Infinity has been working with partners, local communities, entrepreneurs and significant potential occupiers of space to ensure the viability of iCITY.

The total investment in iCITY will almost double the Government’s existing investment in the media and broadcast centres and deliver some of the most advanced digital infrastructure in the UK and Europe.

As part of the project Infinity has engaged a number of key digital, academic and commercial partners including:

• Hackney Community College

• Ravensbourne

• Bridges Ventures

• Hackney Business Ventures

• Centre for Social Justice

iCITY will create thousands of employment, education and training opportunities for young people, helping to develop East London’s thriving and dynamic Tech City into a world-leading centre for technological expertise helping deliver both the original legacy ambitions for the park and the Prime Minister’s vision for a ‘Silicon Valley’ location to anchor technology companies in the East of London.

iCITY is a once in a lifetime project that will transform the press and broadcast centres into a 1.4 million square foot world-class centre of innovation and enterprise, driving the regeneration of East London and economic growth across the UK for the next decade and beyond.

For more information or to register your interest in the project please visit: http://icitylondon.com

Davis brings a wealth of global operations experience to Infinity gained through executive assignments at JPMorgan Chase, CS Technology, Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley where he was working with CIO and CEO communities. In addition to this, he serves on advisory boards and industry working groups* for organisations such as the IET, Intellect’s Data Centre Council, ODCA and Power Assure and has achieved awards** for data centre operators such as the 2009 Uptime Institute Top 100 Green Companies.

Martin Lynch, CEO at Infinity commented, “Ashley is passionate about the data centre industry and he’s one of those exceptional individuals whose deep knowledge and extensive hands-on experience is matched by a rare blend of strategic, commercial and communication skills. In his appointment, we have complemented our already formidable senior management team and brought client-side representation to our board.”

He continued, “Ashley brings extremely valuable insights from some of the world’s most demanding global financial services organisations. This will be instrumental in our future agility as an organisation as well as the ever growing demands on service, skills and transparency.”

During his career, Davis has been responsible for the technology and infrastructure design of ~4 million square feet of corporate HQ buildings, ~1 million square feet of tier III/IV data centres and the managed global strategy and architecture for a 1.5 million square foot data centre portfolio. He holds an MSc in Intelligent Building Design, awarded in 2005 from Reading University and is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the IET.

* Co-chairperson of the ODCA (Open Data Centre Alliance) regulatory and environmental working group. Chairman of four years for the Broadgroup awards panel, IET Sector ICT development panel, member of the UK Intellect Data Centre Council and advisory board member to Power Assure.

** Intelligent building lecturer at Reading University at MSc level and 2009 winner for data centre operators of the Uptime Institute’s Top 100 Green companies.

London, UK – 16th December 2011 – Specialist data centre operator, Infinity, today announced it has won the Data Center Leaders’ Award in the Data Center Blueprints category. The entry showcased Infinity’s highly resilient data centre blueprint which optimises efficiency within the urban environment.

Designed for a specific financial services client, Infinity’s entry overcame the challenges of providing efficiency in an urban location. It is common place for financial services systems to require short fibre distances to allow synchronous data base replication. The blueprint used tried and tested technologies in new configurations to challenge existing practices in order to meet the exacting requirements for resiliency and efficiency. Paramount to its client was resilience to protect corporate interests.

The presentation was made to Andy Catton, Infinity Engineering Director by publisher and broadcaster Andrew Neil, at the Data Center Leaders’ Awards ceremony hosted at the Lancaster London Hotel last night. Over 700 industry luminaries gathered to celebrate another year of challenge and achievement in data centres across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

This Data Center Blueprints category was designed to reward those conceptual, design and management skills required to translate corporate IT service and capacity requirements into a new data centre. Behind every cutting edge data centre are a number of great ‘blueprint’ design and management ideas and this award is about recognising the thinking that is currently ushering in the next generation of data centres. With the challenges confronting the industry now moving quicker and hitting harder than ever before so the skills required in design, project management and construction need to raise the bar continually in terms of innovation, efficient resource use, future-proofing and delivery.

The record number of entries from more countries than ever before were judged by an impressive panel of independent industry luminaries, that included Zahl Limbuwala from the BCS Chartered Institute for IT Chairman, Data Centre Specialist Group, Mike Morrill, Tesco Data Centres Facilities Manager, Andrew Bradley, The Co-operative Banking Group Data Centre Technical Analyst, Andrew Jay, CBRE Global Corporate Services Technology Practice Group Senior Director and Karl Hennessy of Citadel100.

The newly created role comes at a time when Infinity aims to reinforce its brand presence, positioning and product strategies in order to accelerate its path towards significant market share in the UK. It also follows hot on the heals of new data centre openings such as London West in Slough and a series of additional appointments in the marketing and sales teams.

As CMO Stevens will be responsible for Sales, Public Relations (PR), corporate identity, brand strategy and analyst relations. His role extends from sales through to strategy and to the direction of lead generation, market insight initiatives and events.

Martin Lynch, CEO at Infinity explained, “The addition of talented individuals like Nigel demonstrates our commitment to strengthening our UK business and adds significant knowledge and leadership experience to our growing sales and marketing teams.”

“The future of our business depends on our ability to deeply understand the challenges of our customers and to show them the real value of our exceptional data centre and service portfolio. We are specifically targeting executives like Nigel for their breadth of experience that will be vital to the development of our sales and marketing strategy,” concluded Lynch.

Stevens brings over 25 years industry experience in senior management positions across telecoms and technology companies in both the UK and USA, including leading global IP solutions provider Global Crossing where he was CMO EMEA.

Prior to joining Global Crossing, he was product director at Cable & Wireless Worldwide, an international fixed and mobile infrastructure telecoms business delivering voice, data, Internet, converged IP networks and outsourced managed solutions to global businesses. Stevens reported to the chief operating officer, and had global responsibility for product management, cost of sale and marketing.

In previous roles, Stevens has held executive positions at British Telecom North America, Concert Communications, TANDBERG and THUS plc, and has significant experience of leading business restructure during growth, acquisition and periods of integration.

“I’m joining Infinity at a very exciting juncture; it is an independent company with unique strengths that is rapidly scaling in pace with its next phase of profitable growth,” said Stevens. “I was attracted by the company’s clear focus on data centre excellence, meticulous commitment to developing processes and services that exceed customers’ needs.”