DigitalOcean Planning UK Location

[ocitysolutions]

One of the co-founder's of DigitalOcean (Moisey Uretsky) has made a statement saying that they are planning to launch a UK location.

Hi folks,

 

Wanted to give you a quick update that we’ve begun investigating opening up a DC in the UK region.

 

This would provide our second distinct geography in Europe after Amsterdam. UK has been one of our fastest growing customer segments and we would love to get a more geographically closer solution there for our customers.

 

Now that we’ve finished our Singapore roll-out we are evaluating the next locations that we can deploy a new DC and the UK is at the top of that list.

 

Thanks,

Moisey

Cofounder Digitalocean

Quoted from their suggestion forum: http://digitalocean.uservoice.com/forums/136585-digitalocean/suggestions/3069422-add-uk-data-center.

 

[nunim]

New locations is always nice, however they really need to deploy IPv6 first, as that's the only thing that stops me from using DO long term, i.e. more than just dev work.  

 

[DomainBop]

This would provide our second distinct geography in Europe after Amsterdam. UK has been one of our fastest growing customer segments and we would love to get a more geographically closer solution there for our customers.

Amsterdam to London: 8ms-9ms

NYC to Buffalo: 14ms-16ms

tl;dr Amsterdam isn't that far latency-wise from the UK, there are locations in other parts of the world I'd rather see first.

 

[peterw]

tl;dr Amsterdam isn't that far latency-wise from the UK, there are locations in other parts of the world I'd rather see first.

I don't need another UK host. They have to invest into their ddos protection.

 

[MannDude]

I don't need another UK host. They have to invest into their ddos protection.

Thats what I was thinking... UK market can be rough. Got some real shitty competition there. As in, DDoS you non-stop type of competition.

 

[rds100]

I was thinking the same. Hopefully DO has some more levers it can pull and the DDoSer will be caught and then...

 

[Nett]

I want a location in the southern hemisphere.

 

[WebSearchingPro]

Hm, If you notice the wording "investigating opening up a DC in the UK region.". That seems like they intend to open their own datacenter with their own infrastructure and space. Unless that's just misleading marketing speak.

 

[josephb]

Hm, If you notice the wording "investigating opening up a DC in the UK region.". That seems like they intend to open their own datacenter with their own infrastructure and space. Unless that's just misleading marketing speak.

They rent/lease space in data centres, like Equinix.

DO don't build their own facilities.

 

[D. Strout]

Got some real shitty competition there. As in, DDoS you non-stop type of competition.

Seriously? Competing providers will DDoS new ones? That's low.

 

[drmike]

Dumbest location launch in eons.

I see little to no action on a UK launch.  Way to close to existing Amsterdam DC.

 

[ocitysolutions]

Personally I think they should focus on a few things before adding new locations:

1. Stabilize network in existing locations. This included DDoS mitigation.
2. Implement IPv6 across their locations.
3. Add a location in the central US (ie Texas) or in the Southern Hemisphere.

I think there are better location choices considering they already have Amsterdam.

 

[Exelion]

Why do so many companies want UK locations? Is interconnectivity to other parts of Europe that bad that a German or NL or French POP wouldn't serve them better?

 

[rds100]

Maybe they are fans of Her Majesty?

Maybe because they don't speak German, Dutch or French, but speak English?

 

[tchen]

I would have pegged it as the converse reason why NY is chosen as a good half-way point to serve both EU/US markets.  

 

[thedediguy]

Good stuff! I have heard a lot of good things about Digital ocean lately

 

[Abydon]

Ya, they need to focus on features....not new datacenters.

 

[tchen]

I actually welcome the new series of regional DCs. If you don't know, AMS1/2 are almost literally across the street from each other. MultiDC replication in that case covers a few things, but the risks of simultaneous outage is still rather high. The UK DC at least offers a medium latency repl setup.

 

[Abydon]

I actually welcome the new series of regional DCs. If you don't know, AMS1/2 are almost literally across the street from each other. MultiDC replication in that case covers a few things, but the risks of simultaneous outage is still rather high. The UK DC at least offers a medium latency repl setup.

The replication lag I saw was about 60ms to NY2 when I was messing around with them. Then again I have a weird 'if I want to back things up, it goes to the other end of the continent at a minimum' fetish.

 

[peterw]

Ya, they need to focus on features....not new datacenters.

True. They open new tasks instead of finishing the old ones.