Melita has welcomed its first clients in its new state-of-the-art data co-location centre housed in the company’s technical control centre in Madliena. The new data centre is part of a multi-million Euro investment that the company is rolling out over a five year period, amounting to a total of Eur60 million.
Melita’s data centre was inaugurated by Dr Chris Cardona, Minister for the Economy, Investment and Small Business who praised the company for its commitment towards strengthening the country’s telecommunications infrastructure. He added that Melita is creating optimum conditions for more foreign companies to relocate their operations in Malta through investments in its network infrastructure. “Cutting edge data facilities, as these developed by Melita, are particularly attractive for financial services and online gaming operators, who are increasingly finding Malta as a reliable and secure location from where to conduct their business” Minister Cardona said.
Melita Group Chief Executive Officer Andrei Torriani said that this latest investment in a new data centre adds another important link to the chain of telecom infrastructure investments that the company has already completed, including a submarine fibre cable to mainland Europe, broadband speeds of 100 Megabits nationwide, and 250 Megabits in select areas and a new international data link to one of the world’s best internet providers directly in Milan.
Mr Torriani announced that more than 50% of available data storage space in the new facility is already committed and that there is particularly strong interest from the financial and online gaming communities. Melita is also in the early planning stages of extending its data centre to accommodate more clients, thus supporting the country’s economic growth.
“Our investments are enabling customers, global businesses and the Maltese economy at large, to prosper and do more in Malta. Over the years Melita has evolved into a highly advanced, converged telecoms company providing a wide portfolio of products and services for consumers and businesses” explained Mr Torriani.
He thanked Melita’s international shareholders, the technical experts brought in from the US and Europe and Melita’s own clients who contributed their global commercial knowledge, technical expertise and feedback respectively, towards building Malta’s first state-of-the-art data centre.
Mr Torriani identified five key pillars that make Melita’s data centre stand out from the rest available in Malta:
1. Location: High ground, perimeter-fenced, distant from major traffic areas
2. Security: Multi-stage access controls, CCTV, 24/7 security
3. Reliability: Power redundancy, temperature control, fire suppression
4. Connectivity: Carrier Neutral, Tier 1 to Level 3
5. Support: Dedicated 24/7 technical support team
Group Chairman, Mr Joseph A. Gasan said that Melita’s new data centre is specifically designed to fulfil customer demands for more security, peace of mind and higher quality of service.
“Knowledge-based companies in Malta, both local and foreign, are on the increase, and so is their demand for high quality data services” said Mr Gasan, adding that the commitment of Melita’s international shareholders to Melita and to Malta has been expressed time and time again through their investments and the wealth of international expertise that they bring to the company.