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It’s ages since I’ve been to the Docklands, so it was quite exciting travelling in this morning. It’s changed loads since I was last there, and I was surprised to see how much building there is still going on there. I was a bit disappointed that the two new buildings next to Canary Wharf, Citigroup and the HSBC World HQ, were much smaller than they looked from the train.

I got a bit lost in the shopping centre below Canary Wharf switching from the Jubilee Line to the DLR, and got to Telecity about five minutes late. Security was nothing like I’d imagined. Not for what is effectively the hub of the UK’s Internet, and something that handles 50% of the global Internet traffic.

I’d pictured this big hi-tech building covered in mirror glass with a smart, sparse reception and acres of rack-mounted servers. Some of that was true, but the reception was poky and rather ugly, and the security was lax to say the least. I had a bag full of recording equipment for my interview with Andre, the technical head-bod of LINX but nobody asked to look inside. They gave me a swipe card personalised with my details but never really explained what to do with it, and they had run out of holders for the ID badge that “must be worn at all times”, so they folded it up instead so I could put it in my pocket.

PR Mike, and Technical Andre came down in the lift to meet me, and took me up to the first floor. We walked through the racks of routers and switches to a small warm room to one side that Andre unlocked with a key. In here were more server cabinets, most of which were only half full. It was a little disappointing, really. Not much bigger than my lounge.

They showed me the routers that handle moving the BBC’s live media around the world, and then we sat down by the blast-proof windows so I could do the interview, throughout which I kept on getting all of the various companies, companies and carriers mixed up.

I listened back to some of it on the delayed tube in to the office and you can hear a lot of cooling fans humming in the background, but it’s pretty clear. I asked PR Mike if they had any pictures I could use for the magazine when I write it up, and he promised me one of Andre fiddling with his server cabinets.

Packing was in full flow when I got to the office, but we broke for lunch, after which we tackled the cupboard full of unclaimed review kit. Two years’ worth of the stuff, racked up on shelves reaching from the floor almost to the ceiling looked like it was going to take ages to empty, so we formed a crocodile and passed it down the line into crates and got the bulk of it done in an hour.

We still didn’t manage to hit the four o’clock deadline, though, and we were still boxing things up as the systems guys worked their way down the office ripping out plugs and network connections. I’m not at all sad that we’re leaving. Where we’ll be on the first floor we should at least see some passing traffic, so we won’t feel as cut off from the world, and being above the ground level opening our blinds won’t be a security risk, so we should get some light into the place, which will be cheery.

I got away at half four and took advantage of the early evening to take a bus back to Liverpool Street rather than a tube. I was surprised how quick it was, so popped home to pick up my kit and head out to the gym, which was packed. It’s Children in Need, so the male members of staff were having their chests waxed (presumably to raise money) and the place was crawling with kids. They’ve also roped off yet another set of parking spaces - this time to be painted up for parents with children. Pretty soon there will be more special spaces that regular ones.

Tesco’d on the way home for swede to steam.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 16th, 2001 at 6:18 pm and is filed under Journal, Picture story. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.