Qtel today announced the opening of its world class state of the art Internet Data Center. The center has been named Qatar Data Center to symbolize our national pride and Qtel’s contribution to the development of the country. The Center is built to the highest specifications, up to the best standards worldwide and will become the home to Qatar’s most valuable data and information that is the lifeblood of commerce and trade.

The announcement was made at a joint press event attended by senior Qtel officials including Chairman Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohammed Bin Saud Al Thani, Chief Executive Officer Dr. Nasser Marafih and Executive Director for Wireline Services Mr. Khalil Al Emadi. Qtel’s partners in the Qatar Data Center, from AT&T and NavLink included NavLink senior officials, Mr. George Chammas, Co-President and CFO, Mr. Laurent Delifer, Co-President and COO, Mr. Bassel Dbaibo, Director - Middle East Operations,
Mr. Bassem Soubra, Sales Manager, Mr. Naji Chakhtoura - Product Marketing Manager and Dr. Heinz Schrey - Director, Professional Services & Business Consulting.

Present from AT&T were Mr. Geoff Webster, Vice President, Global Segment Marketing and International Ventures, Ms. Karen Clark, Director of EMEA Ventures, Mr. Cedric Moirand - Middle-East Sales Director and Mr. Andre Cretegny - Network Interconnect Global Product Manager

Qtel’s Chairman, Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohammed Bin Saud Al Thani said, “The QATAR DATA CENTER also hosts the first and only AT&T Global Network (AGN) node in the Middle East, which will provide Qtel’s customers the possibility to connect to 150 other nodes located in 50 countries around the world.”

“Qatar is increasingly being seen as an attractive center in the Gulf region as well as a desirable point of presence in the Middle East to lure so many new businesses to invest and contribute to the economy of Qatar. All businesses are not only looking for stable and secure locations, but they also need the re-assurance that the computer servers that hold their company’s records, databases and other mission-critical information are housed in safe and totally reliable conditions.”

QATAR DATA CENTER provides a secure and reliable infrastructure located close to the thousands of active businesses. QATAR DATA CENTER is the first and the only center of its class in Qatar that is fully redundant, i.e. no point of failure,

Security is a top priority for QATAR DATA CENTER and for Qtel. Dr Nasser, CEO at Qtel commented,”We have taken extreme care to install the maximum levels of security to re-assure our customers that their data is safe and secure. Our Data Center is located in heavily protected buildings where the security personnel are on guard 24x7. We know that the integrity and reliability of customers’ data can be the difference between business success or business failure.”

Other security features include; biometric fingerprint readers on rack locks; strategically placed cameras and motion detection; and doors equipped with alarm systems.

Thorough climate control operation is essential for maintaining the performance and security of data center operations. QATAR DATA CENTER uses a scalable environmental control system that provides stable temperatures as well as a dust-free static free environment. This system is under continuous operational status monitoring.

Khalil Al Emadi, Qtel’s Executive Director for Wireline Services said, “QATAR DATA CENTER will offer a wide range of services to Qtel's valued customers. Collocation which is an outsourcing solution where customers place their servers in a protected caged cabinet space. In addition, services such as Internet connectivity, bandwidth on demand, server monitoring, back up and many other professional services will be available.

“QATAR DATA CENTER will save customers time and money of building and maintaining a network for their own servers. At the same time, this frees them from concerns about data storage and maintenance which means they can focus on their own core business.”