Saudi Arabia’s digital company stc has announced it is continuing its data centres project phase three, which will be the biggest project of data centre construction across the region at one time, after the completion of phases one and two.
The new phase of constructing its next-generation cloud-enabled data centres, expanding presence and capacity, accelerating the implementation of the Kingdom’s Digital Transformation objectives, will be providing world-class seamless data distribution with energy optimisation solutions which align with the environmental sustainability Saudi Arabia’s goals.
Designed and built to excel in capacity, functionality, operational integrity and efficiency, the investment signifies stc’s leadership role in Digital Transformation across the MENA region. stc next step is improving the time to value, customer experience and self-service capabilities, innovative partnership models, focusing on faster, smarter and better services as well as all business ambitious requirements.
stc is now implementing phase three of its new ERA Data Centre Construction Programme with phase one completed in 2019 and phase two already is in the final commissioning stage. The Tier III enhanced data centre is a planned IT computing power at maximum capacity of 125 MW, with allocated landscape area of more than 180,000 square metres is part of stc’s broader ambition and its overall strategy to provide best in class digital and telecommunication services across the Kingdom.
The stc data centre programme constitutes 16 data centres that include 17,000 racks which will be incorporating eight8 parallel projects distributed across multiple zones within 6 cities, makes this the biggest programme of data centre construction at one time across the region.
According to the company, the programme will create critical digital availability zones that will provide a full range of services together with world-class security and service management as well as safety measures of assets, across key cities such as Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam.
In addition, stc is building new data centres that incorporate a modular smart design, fully hyper-scaler compliant and deliver highly resilient infrastructure availability.
Haithem Alfaraj, Chief Technology Officer, stc, said: “We have big plans for our data centres to become a gateway for the MENA infrastructure. stc is now established to be the leading data platform in the region and supporting the demand for international connectivity. We aim not only to build new data centres but also expand our existing ones to ensure stc is fully equipped to meet the future growing demands of our customers. stc is geared up to grow-on-demand with its unique data centre solution, by easily replicating a standardised design, that could exceed 300 MW of our current computing power capacity by reacting quickly to the market.”
Mohammed Alabbadi, Chief Wholesale Officer, stc, explained: “These data centres are vital components of our premier digital hub offering that stc announced towards the end of 2020. Aligned with the Saudi Vision 2030 goals, it enables Saudi as a centre of digitalisation, attracting local and foreign direct investments. Digital hub will be available, as a one-stop-shop experience, to all customer segments including local, regional and global, in a carrier-neutral environment. Enabling a locally hosted eco-system of hyper-scalers, cloud, content, and enterprises, providing the best customer experience. We envision future growth driven by evolution to cloud 4.0 and subsequently to Industry 4.0.”
Alabbadi added: “These data centres will be enabled with the vast national, regional and global connectivity networks, offering high resilience and diversity, that stc owns and is investing on as a leading regional interconnection platform developed as an agile model to capitalise on the rapidly growing infrastructure and services market opportunities. The first two phases of the programme have enabled stc to lead edge digital products and services to the MENA region like never before and contribute to positioning the Kingdom as a major international technology hub.”
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