Ooredoo celebrated the 10th year of operations of its Qatar Data Centre in the presence of senior executives, key customers, VIPs from across Qatar, and leading technology experts at a ceremony held yesterday.
Launched in 2006, the Qatar Data Centre was the first facility in Qatar to offer businesses a full suite of enterprise services, evolving into one of the most important technology assets in Qatar’s drive to become a truly “smart” nation. 
The first facility was approximately 2,000sft and provided co-location and basic reporting services. Over the past decade, Ooredoo’s data centre offering has grown and now manages and operates five data centres with a capacity of more than 55,000sft, with potential future expansion capacity of up to 100,000sft. 
The event was highlighted by the ribbon-cutting ceremony to inaugurate the new server floor at Ooredoo’s QDC5 led by Ooredoo chairman Sheikh Abdulla bin Mohamed bin Saud al-Thani and HE the Minister of Transport and Communications Jassim Seif Ahmed al-Sulaiti.
Al-Sulaiti stressed that Qatar Data Centre contributes to the growth of businesses in Qatar by expanding the scope of solutions and technologies that are available to them. 
“The Ministry of Transport and Communications is focusing its attention on positioning Qatar as a leading nation for the digital economy, and has made significant strides towards achieving that leadership role,” he said.
Sheikh Abdulla said: “Today is a proud day for Ooredoo and for Qatar. The Qatar Data Centre has evolved into the most advanced and sophisticated facility in the region and continues to enable businesses to achieve greater efficiencies and deliver significant success. We will continue to invest in new services and solutions for our customers and look forward to further innovation in the future.” 
The ceremony was also attended by a number of senior Ooredoo executives, including Ooredoo Group CEO Sheikh Saud bin Nasser al-Thani, Ooredoo Qatar CEO Waleed Mohamed Ebrahim al-Sayed, Ooredoo Qatar chief operating officer Yousuf Abdulla al-Kubaisi, and Ooredoo Qatar chief New Line of Business Officer Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad bin Nasser al-Thani, among others. 
Al-Sayed said: “Our network of Qatar Data Centres is the beating heart at the centre of Ooredoo’s ICT development strategy, which will see us become a major provider of technology and solutions to organisations and businesses not just across Qatar but for the whole region. The Qatar Data Centre’s growth has played a vital role in Ooredoo’s journey to being a data experience leader, and we will continue to drive innovation across the facility.” 
Qatar Data Centre facilities have been designed in compliance with Tier-3 standards and provide local and regional organisations with a full range of services, including hosting and co-location, Cloud Services, Data Backup and Restoration, Managed Storage, Email and Web Security and more.
Sheikh Nasser said: “QDC 5 is one of the first data centres to deploy ‘Data Centre Infrastructure Management’, which monitors the facility’s capacity, space, power and cooling through one integrated platform. This captures real-time information about our facility infrastructure and power usage efficiency. We have also invested in the human resources to manage and operate this facility, including achieving multiple ISO standards.” 
Ooredoo continues to support the launch of new breakthrough technologies for customers, in-line with its strategy to become an ICT innovation engine for Qatar and the region.


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