UPTIME, a specialized American institute for data centers classification, has ranked Mobily Data Center (Almalqa 2) in Riyadh as Tier IV in construction (Certification for Constructed Facilities). The rating was accorded based on the premier standards of construction thus making it first data center for a telecom operator to receive such rating in the country. Tier IV classification is considered the top rank due to the applied Fault Tolerance that prevents errors and reduces potential downtime. This classification is awarded based on extensive examination of various stages carried out by a specialized team from the institute for many weeks that tasting the maximum abilities of the center. The tasted areas include power, mechanical and architectural design and construction as well as other criteria laid out by the institute for the ranking. The Institute is considered a global authority for assessment and classification of data centers around the world, and assessed the quality based on fixed global standards regarding designing and constructing data centers; this involves considerations such as advanced cooling systems and other measures for business continuity in extreme circumstances such as power outages and other operational errors. Engineer Essam Al-Jubeir, Executive Officer for Facilities & Administration, Mobily, said "the data center (Almalqa 2) is the first center owned by a telecommunications company in the Middle East, Asia and North Africa region to earn this advanced classification; this has been possible based on the strict adherence to standards that have been adopted since the work on the center started. We have also taken all humanly possible measures to ensure continuity of operations of the electrical and mechanical systems and other support systems." He added that the center is part of Mobily data centers which simultaneously work and provide backup support to each other to ensure highest efficiency in terms of disaster recovery in the region. Data centers are considered the backbone of the telecommunications sector and it is important to provide appropriate climate for servers that ensure provision of basic telecommunications services such as the Internet, hosting, all electronic services, as well as services for government and private sector including cloud computing, information security and business continuity services. The importance of focusing on continuity of operations for data centers is based on the fact that they are used to provide services around the clock on an ongoing basis for the sectors that require uninterrupted access to systems and infrastructure. Mobily is working to provide great flexibility in its infrastructure, which works to meet the needs of all its customers from the sectors of individuals and businesses.
