Khazna Data Centres, one of the leading wholesale data centre providers in the Middle East and North Africa, and Beeah Digital, Beeah Group’s digital transformation and future technology business, have formed a joint venture that will bring to Sharjah its first Tier 3 data centre. Data centres are rapidly growing into the base building blocks of smart cities that maintain business continuity, strategic operations, and data sovereignty. In response, the joint venture between Beeah Digital and Khazna Data Centres is developing the digital infrastructure in Sharjah, beginning with an industry-standard tier 3 data centre.
The data centre would be equipped with ultra-modern security, fire and environmental control systems, and full redundancy grade power. The recently formed joint venture would be called One Data Centre SPV Limited and would operate under the name of Khazna Data Centres.
In a signing ceremony recently held at the Beeah Group headquarters, Hassan Alnaqbi, the CEO OF Khazna data centres and Khaled Al Huraimel, Vice Chairman and Group CEO of Beeah Group, formally established the joint venture. As the venture’s inaugural project, the Tier 3 data centre in Sharjah would support the Sharjah Government’s elaborated digital transformation endeavours. It would also enable organisations across the UAE to pursue digitally led operations that deliver high performance services that are scalable, foster customer satisfaction, create new jobs and commercial opportunities.
Once effective, the data centre would have a capacity of nine megawatt (MW). It would have multiple power and cooling pathways, increasing uptime while reducing the cost of maintenance and power. Technologies to lower cooling conditions would be integrated into the data centre. With solar power, the project would reduce emissions involving to power consumption. Smart LED lighting with motion sensors would also assist in saving energy. With a power usage efficiency of 1.5 and below, the data centre would be more energy-efficient in comparison to the industry standards. The data centre would also be created to decrease water consumption with systems to recycle and reuse sewer water.
It is aligned with Khazna’s ‘Future First Strategy,’ which aims to achieve carbon-neutrality operations across all its sites by 2050. The data centre would adopt net-zero waste standards and certifications, benchmarked against the UAE’s sustainability agenda and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Khazna and Beeah Digital are committed to exploring renewable energy sources to meet the data centre’s power requirements. The facility will also be constructed to achieve green building certifications from Estidama and Leadership in Energy and Environmental design (LEED). In early 2022, Beeah Group launched the region’s first commercial-scale, waste-to-energy plant in Sharjah with a 30 MW output. A portion of the output from this waste-to-energy plant is being explored as a potential energy source.
Hassan Alnaqbi, CEO of Khazna Data Centers stated that the data centres are keystones in enabling innovation and driving growth for businesses across a variety of sectors. They are also creating digital opportunities and seamless connections as businesses continue to develop and scale their operations. At Khazna Data Centers, we are focused on further investments in building the infrastructure in UAE to enable our existing and new customers in Sharjah, specifically to launch their services closer to their consumers. The data centre will be well-positioned to support businesses in enhancing the experiences of their customers, unlocking the value of technologies, and making headway on their carbon footprint reduction goals by meeting their environmental and sustainability needs.
Khaled Al Huraimel, Vice Chairman and Group CEO, Beeah Group, said that keeping communities connected and providing ready access to digital services is essential for an excellent quality of life. With a Tier 3 data centre, the group could enhance the existing infrastructure to government entities as well as private firms. The advanced IT infrastructure would help boost investments, appeal to business, and bring best-in-class services and data sovereignty for the broader community.
About Khazna Data Centres
Khazna Data Centres shapes and orchestrates an all-inclusive technology ecosystem for its customers through its commercial wholesale data centres that maintain data, deliver trusted turnkey solutions, empower ICT strategies, and allow digital transformation for elite organizations through highly secure, efficient, dependable, and scalable facilities. Khazna Data Centres provides users with a resolute, fully built data centre space to meet the ever-growing demands placed on businesses in the region.
About Beeah Digital
Beeah Digital is Beeah Group’s digital transformation and future technologies business. Beeah Digital’s ventures are exploring technologies that are scalable, accessible, and enabling hyperconnectivity between communities, businesses, and cities, driven by sustainability and digitalisation, the pillars of the modern economy. Evoteq, one of the ventures of Beeah Digital, is a digital transformation catalyst that is developing AI, blockchain and IoT-based solutions that empower companies and industries to achieve their objectives.