Etisalat witnesses rapid growth in SmartHub data centres
Etisalat’s SmartHub community of customers is witnessing massive growth, mainly due to its diverse and complete ecosystem offering an ideal environment for interconnecting and its proximity to regional end-users, said Ali Amiri, Group Chief Carrier, and Wholesale Officer, Etisalat.
"As one of the biggest neutral carrier hotels, Etisalat’s SmartHub data centres will be an ICT bridge between continents always supporting critical business activities of global customers. We at Etisalat are committed to making ‘SmartHub’ a preferred location for carriers, cloud service providers, Internet exchanges, and companies looking for carrier-grade data centres," Amiri said.
What is Etisalat’s Smarthub?
SmartHub is a trusted digital enabler for global customers from various industry verticals including, telcos, OTTs, cloud players, content delivery networks, financial services, and gaming platforms. It also has direct access to multiple independent subsea cable systems, interconnecting Europe, the US, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, which makes it capable of serving more than two billion people within 30 milliseconds latency to guarantee a superior customer experience, Etisalat claims.
SmartHub is also the largest hub of submarine cable landing stations in the region, allowing access to a list of wholesale services including data, voice, mobile, and satellite teleport services as well as Internet and IPX Exchange and offers flexible services and pricing models.
Recently, Etisalat was recognised as ‘Best Regional Data Centre Operator’ at the fifth annual Carrier Community (CC) Global Awards ceremony in Berlin.
The ‘Best Regional Data Centre Operator’ award recognises an entity with a unique service or an initiative that demonstrates the most effective and new service or solution and can illustrate the business benefits derived from it.
Commenting on the award, Amiri said: "Through our commitment to excellence and innovation, Etisalat’s SmartHub became one of the fastest-growing wholesale data hubs in the regions it serves including the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. SmartHub is a key element of the digital infrastructure in the region, and will continue to offer its customers a world-class service that meets their evolving requirements."
Etisalat SmartHub is a multiservice carrier-grade wholesale data centre in Fujairah, The SmartHub ecosystem currently has three facilities, namely SmartHub Fujairah 1, SmartHub Fujairah 2, and SmartHub Dubai.
Etisalat’s UAE SmartHub facility
Etisalat is currently building a fourth SmartHub facility in the UAE, which is expected to enter service in the first quarter of 2022. The new facility is set to increase Etisalat’s capabilities and global capacity to meet its international clients’ growing needs for infrastructure across Asia, Africa, Europe, Middle East, and the Americas.
With the expansion, Etisalat’s Carrier and Wholesale Services has set a benchmark in the region, and is a testimony to the company’s strategy to ‘Drive the digital future to empower societies’. It is also in line with UAE leadership’s vision to continue leading as an ICT and data hub for the region addressing the diverse requirements of global telecom infrastructure.
