RIYADH: The digital arm of the Kingdom’s futuristic project NEOM has announced the role of its $500 million data center in offering global tech giants an end-to-end gateway to Saudi Arabia and the wider GCC markets.
‘ZeroPoint DC’, launched in partnership with EzdiTek, will support three data centers, operating a capacity of 36MW that can be further expanded, NEOM Tech & Digital said in a statement.
The giant data center, which seeks to be operational during the first half of this year, comes as part of a $1 billion investment by the city in AI-based products, two of which it introduced on the first day of Saudi flagship tech event LEAP.
Customers across the Middle East, Africa, and Eastern Europe will see the new data center provide facility management, data center operations, and smart fit-out hand services, the company added.
It will allow them to rent and utilize ready-built data centers where they can later set up and operate their own data centers, subject to NEOM’s rules.
The hyper-scale data center will be designed in a way that ensures compliance with security standards.
Its strategic location at the nexus of terrestrial and subsea cables comes in line with its goal to deliver quick and reliable connectivity for customers.
Earlier, ZeroPoint DC had announced Oracle as its first tenant.
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, part of the US computer technology giant, is to be hosted at the data center to provide a high-performing, resilient foundation for cloud services.
“ZeroPoint DC is crucial to our ability to offer our partners unparalleled access to cutting-edge network capabilities across the region and beyond,” said the head of NEOM Tech & Digital, Joseph Bradley.
“The hyper-scale data center will drive wider network opportunities and future partnerships and is a testament to the innovation at the heart of NEOM,” he added.
Speaking to Arab News, Joseph Bradley described XVRS as “the world’s truly first metaverse platform.”
“The region’s first next-generation hyper-scale data center will be instrumental in powering M3LD, NEOM Tech & Digital Company’s groundbreaking, five-layer data-consent management platform, and XVRS, our own take on the metaverse,” CEO of ZeroPoint DC, Fabio Fontana, said.
“ZeroPoint DC will support these unique cognitive solutions, and others that follow in their footsteps, by providing fast, effective, high-capacity connectivity, computing power, and data storage.”
As NEOM enriches its “human-centric” strategy, it unveiled the world’s first end-to-end consent management platform, called M3LD.
Another revolutionary product it has rolled out is XVRS – a metaverse network blending the digital world with the physical environment.
