Dubai Internet City, Jordan Telecom sign pact on data services

BANGALORE: Dubai Internet City (DIC) and Jordan Telecom (JT) have signed a

agreement to provide reciprocal off-country disaster recovery data services to

their regional customers.

Managed and run jointly by DIC and IBM Global Services, the eHosting Centre

at Dubai Internet City provides regional businesses with the ability to

cost-effectively and securely outsource mission-critical IT systems on a wide

choice of platforms. Jordan Data Centre (JDC), a fully owned subsidiary of JT,

offers similar services to businesses in Jordan.

Under the agreement, the two entities will provide their respective customers

with off-country disaster recovery data services in Dubai and Jordan.

DIC, CEO, Omar Bin Sulaiman said, "The agreement with JT is the first in

a series of planned initiatives to transform the region into a Knowledge Based

Economy (KBE). This venture will allow us to leverage regional market

opportunities in the area of data-services and data disaster recovery through

greater technology access."

JT, CEO, Pierre Mattei, said, "Two of the most important cornerstones of

the ICT strategy is to stimulate foreign technology co-operation, while

promoting awareness and increasing adoption of the latest information and

communications technologies by businesses in the country."

Explaining the significance for data disaster recovery systems for

businesses, Sulaiman said, "According to a recent Gartner Group study, two

out of five enterprises that experience a disaster affecting their core business

data go out of business within five years. One of the key challenges facing

businesses in the region is to ensure the availability of key business processes

on a 24/7 basis under all circumstances. In the event of a disaster that

destroys the IT infrastructure of a business, a contingency plan allows access

to crucial data, thereby ensuring the continued smooth running of the business

with minimum downtime. This is where this collaboration will provide value-added

services to the customers of both DIC’s eHosting Centre and JDC."

"Regional businesses need to make an important paradigm shift in terms

of how they view and incorporate data disaster recovery efforts within the

company's overall strategy towards ensuring a coherent, end-to-end business

continuity plan," he added.

Through the agreement, customers hosting mission-critical data and

applications at DIC’s eHosting Centre, can also choose to avail of a similar

solution at the JDC facility in Jordan. Reciprocally, JDC will also offer its

customers the option to simultaneously host data and applications at the

eHosting Centre in Dubai.

Mattei further said: "In the past 10 years, Business Continuity Planning

(BCP) has evolved into a major concern for corporate and IT decision makers, and

the Internet and evolution of e-business have significantly increased its

importance. When ensuring business continuity, often only cursory attention is

paid to the robustness of the communications and IT network. To maintain

customer confidence and financial stability in the event of a disaster, BCP must

be addressed at the beginning of an IT project."