A YORK web hosting business has invested £1.2 million in its own data centre.

Bytemark Hosting has bought the freehold on the building at 8 Opus Avenue, York Business Park and hopes to open the data centre by May.

Once complete, the data centre will house several thousand high-powered servers as well as the company's offices.

Matthew Bloch, managing director, said: “We're buying the fastest direct fibre-optic connectivity we can, linking our site diversely to Manchester and London at a total of 20 gigabits per second,enough to allow thousands of home broadband and corporate users to simultaneously access our customers' web sites at a pace that UK internet users have come to expect."

The £2.5 million turnover business, currently based in the Raylor Centre, employs 16 people and has been headquartered in York since it was started in 2002.

"This will be a boost for York, for technical staff looking for work here, and the businesses in the region who want to deal with a growing local firm.

"Bytemark has been in business for over ten years and in that time we've had to rent space in premium facilities in Manchester and London. Now that we can put our money where our heart is, and invest in our home town, Bytemark will be taking charge of every part of its service.

"This will help our existing worldwide customers, but especially those in Yorkshire who can come and see what they're getting.

"We're proud of Bytemark's rising national profile, and I want this data centre to help attract technical staff and businesses to the area. Both of these will help us drive demand for our high-powered hosting services.”

The company has awarded Sudlows the £650,000 contract for the design and build of the new data centre.

Andy Hirst, global director at Sudlows, said: “Once operational, the new data centre will enable Bytemark to significantly increase their capacity and enhanced service delivery.”