After the completion of Phase 1 and 2, Saudi telecommunications provider STC is now working on its data centres project Phase 3, which the company claims is the biggest Data Centre construction project in the region.
The project will enable world-class seamless data distribution with energy optimisation solutions to align with the Kingdom’s environmental sustainability goals with its next-generation cloud-enabled data centers, which will accelerate the implementation of the Kingdom’s digital transformation.
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’s 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, the company said.
Tier III enhanced data centres is a planned IT Computing power at maximum capacity of 125 MW, with an allocated landscape area of more than 180,000 sqm is part of STC’s broader ambition and its overall strategy to provide best in class digital and telecommunication services across the Kingdom.
STC Data Centers programme consists of 16 Data Centers that include 17,000 racks which will be incorporating eight parallel projects distributed across multiple zones within six cities, which makes this the biggest programme of Data Center Construction at one time, across the region. The programme will create critical digital availability zones across key cities such as Riyadh, Jeddah, and Dammam.
In a statement, the company said: “STC is building new Data Centers that incorporate a modular smart design, are fully Hyper-scaler compliant and deliver highly resilient infrastructure availability. On top of the Design & Construction excellence, the latest connectivity technologies are used to assure resilient and smooth traffic flow between different technical facilities and maintain business continuity. The world-class Data Centers are part of STC’s overall strategy to provide enhanced digital and telecommunication services across all major cities in the Kingdom. The construction programme for six sites is now underway, with Phase 3 expected to be completed in 12 months, with a total IT compute power capacity of 125 MW and a broader ambition for future growth in only eight months, with Phase 1 completed in 2019 and Phase 2 in the final stage of commissioning.”
Haithem Alfaraj, Chief Technology Officer of STC, said: “We have big plans for our Data Centers 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 Centers 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 Center 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 of STC, added: “These Data Centers 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. The 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.”
He continued: “These DCs 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 program 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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