Ooredoo Oman has begun construction on three new state-of-the-art data centers in Barka, Salalah and Sohar to support local businesses and the community in each area by offering world-leading cloud storage, data recovery and cyber security options.
Launching the foundation-laying of the site in Salalah, the CEO, Noor Al Sulaiti and CTIO, Dr Ahmed Abdullah Al Abri were in attendance with members of Ooredoo’s senior management team.
Dr. Ahmed said, “Our state of the art data centers mark our progress towards achieving the objectives of Oman’s Vision 2040. Each site forms the cornerstone of the modern infrastructure required to meet the requirements of a rapidly-growing digitally-enabled society and the demand for hosting and digital data processing.”
In March 2021 the company launched its new flagship data center in Muscat, completing construction well ahead of schedule – setting a new record for Ooredoo. The center was fully operational immediately and is a Tier 3 data center with a power capacity of 2.5 Megawatts, guaranteeing availability of 99.982%+ according to an internationally-recognised framework. The data center provides a local solution for hosting and data processing for both Ooredoo and data2cloud, allowing both organizations to deliver an outstanding experience to customers.
Each of the new data centers will be rated as Tier 3 and will have a capacity of more than 500 racks, complimenting the growing range of technical facilities operated by Ooredoo across the country. The sites in Salalah and Barka will also provide cable landing facilities to 2Africa (2AF), the longest subsea cable system ever deployed, and tasked with joining a global consortium of communications operators in connecting 33 countries in Africa, Asia and Europe with a submarine cable spanning 45,000km.
Construction is expected to be ready to accept 2Africa equipment by the end of March 2023 and to be fully operational by the end of August 2023. As part of Ooredoo’s in-country value initiative, local products and suppliers will be used where possible to support the project, under their “Oman Products First” determination. Once completed, the data centers will form a key component in Oman’s digital transformation journey.
