Du to open two new data centres in Dubai and Abu Dhabi

They will be opened at Dubai Silicon Oasis and the Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi in the first quarter of next year

Founded in 2005 as the UAE’s second licensed telecommunications provider, du is 50.12 per cent owned by Emirates Investment Authority. Charles Crowell for The National

Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company, also known as du, will open two new data centres in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, the company said on Sunday.

The new facilities will be opened during the first quarter of next year and will bring the total number of du’s data centres to 12. They will be located at Dubai Silicon Oasis and the Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi.

The new centres will help du to support the UAE government and financial organisations “seeking to outsource their data centre requirements” through a managed service provider, the company said in a statement.

Du did not disclose the amount it will invest into the new facilities.

“The new data centres in Dubai and Abu Dhabi will maximise our capabilities to serve our customers and help them achieve desired objectives,” Farid Faraidooni, chief new business and innovation officer at du, said.

“We are committed to supporting organisations operating in the government and financial sectors … our digital infrastructure provides agile, resilient, secure and scalable solutions,” he added.

The new data centres will offer the most advanced connectivity available with optical transport networks, du said.

They will also help the telecoms operator to support 5G connectivity in the UAE.

The new 5G network demands more computing power, analytics, memory and cloud infrastructure, which are in turn driving investment in data centres.

In September, the UAE's second-biggest telecoms operator signed a Dh800 million agreement with the Technology Holding Company to sell its minority stake in Khazna, the only  commercial wholesale data centre provider in the UAE.

It reached the sales and purchase agreement to sell its 26 per cent indirect stake – including its interest in shareholders loans – through its wholly owned subsidiary EITC Investment Holding.

The new data centres have been designed with full geographical redundancy and robust disaster recovery capabilities to ensure the continuation of services, the company said.

“Complete security integration will be overseen 24 hours per day, seven days per week, by a team of dedicated and certified data centre experts.”