STC and NavLink have announced their agreement to co-operate a carrier class data center. The data center symbolizes our national pride and STC’s contribution to the development of the country. The Center is built to world-class specifications will  host of STC customers’ most valuable data and information that is the lifeblood of the economy in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Saudi Arabia) and the Middle East.

The announcement was made during a joint press event attended by Mr. Samir Matboly, STC Vice President Enterprise Business Unit, Mr. George Chammas, NavLink Co-President and CFO and Mr. Osama Khader, NavLink Saudi Arabia Country Manager Arabia.

Saudi Arabia 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 many new businesses to invest and contribute to the economy of Saudi Arabia. Businesses are not only looking for stable and secure locations, but also need the assurance that the storage and servers infrastructure that hold their company’s records, databases and other mission-critical information are housed in safe and reliable conditions, and managed by  highly skilled experts in Information & Communication Technology (ICT).

STC Data Center provides a secure and reliable infrastructure located close to the thousands of active businesses. It is the first such carrier class data center in Saudi Arabia that is designed to host the growing and complex needs of the enterprise, government and education sectors. 

“Security is a top priority for STC  Data Center” highlighted Mr. Samir Matboly, ”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. STC 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.

Mr. George Chammas commented, “We are extremely pleased to partner with STC on this most important agreement.  We shall provide the necessary skills to enable the STC Data Center offer a wide range of services to STC’s valued customers. Services include Co-location, which is an outsourcing solution where customers place their servers in a protected caged cabinet space, Internet connectivity, bandwidth on-demand, server and router administration and 24 X 7 monitoring, back-up and many other professional services.

Mr. Chammas continued “STC Data Center will save customers’ time and money of building and maintaining hosting facilities and data rooms, as well as staffing valuable Information Technology resources that would otherwise need to be available around the clock.  We shall also provide full assistance to customers in developing Business Continuity plans, implementing Disaster Recovery solutions for their IP applications thus, assuring network and systems integrity; hence, enabling customers to focus on their core business”

This is part of a series of cooperation agreements signed between STC and NavLink that include Managed Router Services and AT&T Global Network connectivity services for worldwide access. The advanced data Node from AT&T will allow AT&T and NavLink customers to directly interconnect to STC’s nationwide Multi-Protocol Lab Switching (MPLS) network – the largest and most advanced MPLS network in the Middle East region, while STC customers will benefit from being able to access AT&T’s global network one of the world’s most advanced and powerful global data backbone infrastructures.

About STC
Saudi Telecom Company (STC) (www.stc.com.sa) is the incumbent telecom service provider operating both the Mobile and Fixed Line businesses, in Saudi Arabia, was established in1998. Being publicly traded company since the year 2002. STC is contributing towards the growth of the Saudi Arabian businesses through innovative services, latest technologies and extensive worldwide connectivity.

STC is listed as 13th ranked company in Telegeography’s rankings of telecommunication companies worldwide in terms of outgoing minutes. With a network of approximately 4 million fixed lines, over 13 million mobile subscribers and more than 2.5 million Internet subscribers, STC is the largest telecommunication companies in the Middle East. STC is investing heavily in a technologically advanced digital network, and it has completed its first phase of its NGN network by completing one of the most advanced national MPLS network in the world.

STC regional and global access is provided via terrestrial fiber networks that covers almost all the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and extends to connect to all neighboring countries; via its active participation and ownership in number of Submarine Cable Systems to more than 80 countries worldwide; and via satellite.

About NavLink
NavLink (www.navlink.com) is a leading provider of managed data services, managed hosting services, and managed enterprise networking solutions to medium and large enterprises in over 17 countries throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Founded in 1996, NavLink has built a strong reputation by delivering state-of-the-art business and technical consulting, enterprise networking, enterprise hosting, systems integration, and managed services. NavLink enjoys deep, strategic relationships with leading telecommunications carriers.

NavLink operates a carrier class data center in Nice, France part of AT&T’s 30 global data centers. NavLink is a strategic partner of AT&T, and acts as AT&T’s service delivery for enterprise customers in the Middle East and Africa. AT&T is an investor in NavLink.