Dubai Airports to team up with Huawei to build world’s first Tier III certified modular data centre

WAM -- Dubai Airports will partner with Huawei to design and build the world’s first Tier III certified Modular Data Centre Complex (MDCC) at Dubai International (DXB), it was announced yesterday.

The design and construction contract was signed during GITEX Technology Week, one of the biggest annual ICT trade shows. The project will serve one of the world’s busiest international airport.

On average, almost 230,000 passengers pass through DXB per day and that is growing towards 325,000 per day by 2023, making zero downtime and high reliability a vital requirement for Dubai Airports.

The DXB data centre will be the first of two planned modular facilities that Huawei will build for Dubai Airports. Together, they will operate as a pair of mirrored Tier III data centres interconnected through a dedicated fibre optic link that will provide high-level resilience and availability to support the critical operations of Dubai Airports.

They will provide a stable and reliable environment for Dubai Airports to host its private cloud. The MDCC’s will be the world’s first modular data centres that will be certified by the Uptime Institute to Tier III for design and construction.

"Technology is the key to enhancing our ability to grow, innovate and ultimately enhance the customer experience," said Abdel Rahman Alhosani, Vice President, Business Technology Infrastructure and Operations, Dubai Airports, adding "At the same time we will improve system reliability across both airports and cut operational costs."

Alaa ElShimy, Managing Director and Vice President, Huawei Enterprise Middle East said, "Ensuring that mission-critical IT is constantly operational is key in the aviation sector – and even more so for the operator of the world’s busiest international airport. Huawei is working closely with Dubai Airports to design and build one of the most advanced and unique Tier III certified data centres in the world that will ensure highest levels of availability, maintainability, resiliency and seamless business continuity.

"We are committed to working alongside Dubai’s philosophy to create the ‘happiest city on earth’ through driving innovation and creating smarter services for its citizens and visitors from the moment they arrive in Dubai."

The first facility will be constructed at Dubai International Airport in 2017. The timelines for the other data centre have yet to be confirmed.

WAM/Majok