[May 23, 2010] Disaster-recovery center to come up in Madinah Tweet JEDDAH, May 23, 2010 (Arab News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- The largest disaster-recovery center of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) will be established in Madinah Knowledge Economic City (KEC) under an agreement signed on Sunday with DeepCloud SA for the purpose. Under the SR400-million deal, DeepCloud will establish a regional data center on an area of 30,000 square meters in the city. The center will serve as a disaster-recovery facility for the private and public sectors. The American company will develop, own and operate the DeepCloud Madinah Technology Center in KEC, a next-generation cyber-technology facility anchored by the region's first carrier and vendor neutral Tier IV Internet Data Center (IDC). "It will also be the first of several independently accredited IDCs that DeepCloud will develop in the Kingdom," an official statement said. DeepCloud has partnered with Oracle Corporation, which will serve as the design and technology partner for the project. Prince Faisal bin Turki Al-Faisal, CEO of DeepCloud SA, Kenneth Close and Christopher Franco, directors of DeepCloud, and Tahir Bawazir, CEO of KEC, sealed the agreement between KEC and DeepCloud. The Tier IV IDC at the DeepCloud Madinah Technology Center will serve industries and businesses throughout the Kingdom, the MENA region and beyond that require professionally managed, highly reliable, bandwidth-intensive physical environments within which to operate their mission-critical hardware and applications. The DeepCloud IDC facility will be used to house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommunications and storage systems, and will include redundant systems including backup power supplies, data communications connections, environmental controls, such as air conditioning and fire suppression, and security devices. DeepCloud's IDCs will be critical infrastructure for Saudi Arabia's Knowledge Economy, and will assist industry and businesses by running the applications that handle their core business and operational data. Data centers are also critical to industry for disaster recovery and business continuity purposes. Prince Faisal described the DeepCloud Madinah Technology Center as first of its kind in Saudi Arabia and the MENA region. "Our IDC will position Saudi Arabia as the principal nexus for high technology industries in the entire MENA region, and will make Madinah and Saudi Arabia the preferred Disaster Recovery and Cloud Computing centers for the MENA region," he said. Bawazir added: "As part of KEC's mission to be the regional hub for a new generation of Knowledge Based Industries we are delighted to have this agreement with DeepCloud to develop the technology center bringing high-tech capabilities and services to the benefit of the region and creating future jobs for our young talented Saudis." The new KEC center offer comprehensive "smart" office space and assistance with Internet business incubation. "As part of DeepCloud's commitment to support the National Industrial Strategy and KEC's Knowledge based industries focus, it will provide dedicated space and support for a special DeepCloud Innovation Center," the statement said. DeepCloud will be coordinating its programs closely with the National Industrial Strategy, KEC and other key stakeholders in Saudi Arabia to provide the maximum value possible to new entrepreneurs in the Kingdom. Said Close: "Our IDC, which will be the first carrier and vendor neutral Tier IV facility in the region, will materially assist the Kingdom in achieving one of the top ten goals of the new national industrial strategy. The DeepCloud Madinah Technology Center will provide a facility for technology-dependent businesses to co-locate their mission-critical IT equipment and will create a symbiotic environment where Knowledge and Innovation Industries (such as Internet businesses developed by Saudi entrepreneurs) can collaborate and thrive." KEC is expected to attract around $8.5 billion of investment. State owned King Abdullah Foundation, Savola Group, Taiba Investments and industrial conglomerate Binladin Group are among the largest share holders in KEC. It is one of four economic cities the Kingdom is building to diversify its economy away from oil and to provide job opportunities for its growing population of over 25 million. To see more of the Arab News or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.arabnews.com. Copyright (c) 2010, Arab News, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]