Schneider powers STC data centre

(L to R) Jihad Marmalat, Abdulmalik Al Murshid and Jeff De Souza

Schneider Electric announced the successful installation of first Tier IV data centre with Saudi Telecom Company (STC) in Saudi Arabia.

STC has always been a front runner in keeping pace with the emerging technologies in the telecommunications sector to satisfy the ever growing needs of their customers. Its goal has always been to provide the highest quality service at affordable prices. This strong commitment for customer satisfaction ensures that they are up-to-date with advances in technology. This prompted their decision to go for a Tier IV technology-led data centre.

The planning for this data center for STC started in late 2008. The objective was to build a state of the art data center with redundancy 2N (N+1**) and high availability to meet the growing requirements of its customer base in real time. Furthermore, the planned installation needed to support all mission critical applications and the IT infrastructure of the entire operation. STC also specified that scalability and a modular data center approach had to be incorporated to accommodate extra loads in the future. Additionally, the remote monitoring and managing of the data center was a must as well as a solution that provided energy efficiency.

Abdulmalik Ibrahim Al Murshed, Network Implementation – General Manager, Saudi Telecom Company, said: “Customers expect 100% uptime and reliability. Hence, we were looking for a worry-free solution which integrated cooling, standardized racks and power. We chose APC by Schneider Electric as they offered a state-of-the-art InRow Cooling architecture that included energy saving solutions to help cut energy costs by up to 30 per cent by using the Hot Aisle Containment System and also support dynamic cooling for very high density (Blade technology) in virtualized environment (up to 30Kw/rack). In addition, their systems are easy to operate and allow planning for expansion in the future, using APC’s data center management system and asset tracking tools.”

“We wanted to showcase the latest in technology, high density deployments and applications to serve our customers better. STC data centers are built with long-term vision and focuses on quality, reliability, efficiency and customer satisfaction,” added Al Murshed

Jeff De Sousa, Vice-President, APC by Schneider Electric – Saudi Arabia, said: “Schneider Electric has the vision and the technology to help deliver these solutions and to provide strict ROI controls to our customers. We are proud to be part of STC and the next step of the evolution of datacenter technology & cloud computing in the kingdom.”

Situated in Jeddah, the installation of the data center started in June 2010 with the active support from Seder Telecom – one of the top general contractors for data centers and telephone exchanges for STC. Complete with APC’s InfraStruXure architecture, the industry’s most comprehensive integrated power, cooling and management solution for datacenters, the datacenter consists of 10 units of 400 KVA APC Galaxy UPS, Netshelter 42 u Racks access control and environmental monitoring etc. Further, installation of APC’s InfraStruXure Central meant that a monitoring system being installed which collects, organizes and distributes critical alerts, surveillance video and key information from anywhere on the network.

Standardized secured rack enclosures for servers, In-Row cooling system, No need for raised floors, UPS with batteries within the same structure, Managed PDUs in the racks to measure power consumption are the key features of this solution.

Data Center Physical Infrastructure Management (DCPIM) to monitor Power Usage Efficiency (PUE) and manage everything from a ‘single pane of glass’ using Energy Management Power Logic Control.

Jihad Mahmalat, General Manager, Seder Telecom, said: “We found InfraStruXure very intriguing because the modularity of the system enables you to add and grow with the system at any rate you choose.  Additionally, it allows you to build a data center within any budget. We have attained a lot of expertise in installing data centers in Saudi Arabia and take pride in being part of the first Tier IV data center in the country. APC’s solutions stand out in providing all data center solutions under one roof.”

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