Abu Dhabi Ports Company’s Information Technology Unit (ADPC-IT) has today announced the completion of its in-house virtualisation project (“Phase 2”) and in doing so has created a unique operating platform that is regarded as a regional first.
According to all parties involved, a VMware overlay of Oracle applications has not been done before in the Middle East, at least not in terms of the complexity and consolidated number of operational and applications suites that have been successfully integrated into a unique ‘hybrid’ platform.
Further to the announcement, ADPC-IT has said that the newly consolidated infrastructure has shown immediate benefits, with IT performance levels now up by at least 50 per cent. In some cases, ADPC report that there has been a ten-fold increase in time saved relating to reports generation.
The completion of “Phase 2” of the project has also delivered massive cost savings for the company – estimates already suggest a figure of over AED4mn (USD 1.1mn).
According to ADPC-IT, one of the reasons behind the successful implementation – and savings – is the fact that the project was completed using its in-house team of experts and no outsourced input. In addition, the consolidated infrastructure means less individual licensing costs, savings on the refreshing and upkeep of hardware, and overall maintenance and running costs are dramatically reduced due to no longer having to cool, or power, large numbers of servers.
Indeed, one of the main infrastructural changes introduced by the project was a migration from physical to virtual servers. The introduction of virtual servers has meant that ADPC’s requirements to purchase physical servers have now been reduced by almost 75 per cent. On the other hand, the introduction of multiple virtual servers means speed, cost (financial and environmental), and available space, are now greater improved. The new IT infrastructure, also allows for a hugely enhanced scalability for future demands – both within the company and for ADPC-IT’s growing list of external clients.
Commenting on the project’s completion, Dr. Saif Al Ketbi, Vice President, Information Technology, ADPC, said:
”Being part of Abu Dhabi’s government initiative to reduce the emirate’s carbon foot-print, and by hosting IRENA and signature projects such as Masdar, ADPC IT has been driven by efforts to create a more efficient and ‘green’ IT environment.”
“Following on from the success of the first infrastructure virtualisation project, in 2010 [“Phase 1”], which received four independent regional awards, these latest efforts now complete the secondary phase of the primary goal – a fully-fledged virtualised server’s environment that includes all its critical infrastructure servers, ERP Applications servers and services, and eliminating any single point of failover,” Dr. Al Ketbi added.
ADPC currently has 20 external clients ranging from government to private sector enterprises, including: Emirates Aluminium, Abu Dhabi Terminals, and Abu Dhabi Customs. According to ADPC-IT, this demonstrates its capabilities to manage major IT infrastructure projects without need for outsourcing.
In fact, ADPC IT’s stated mission and aim is to proactively outsource their own in-house team for consultancy and implementation services; and with the now greatly improved space and scalability of its new platforms, ADPC-IT is actively looking to take on many more clients through its new Data Centre services.
In related news, the Khalifa Port Data Centre was recently awarded the Best Data Centre Project of the Year by Network World Middle East, as part of the magazine’s annual Innovation Awards – 2013.
Abu Dhabi Ports Company’s IT submission was based on the successful completion of the Data Centre, situated at the new deep-water Khalifa Port and Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (Kizad), in Taweelah, where the port’s state-of-the-art IT and support services are now run from.
A wide range of IT services is currently offered by the Khalifa Port Data Centre, including: Consultancy; Connectivity and Networking; 3G Data Connection; IP Telephony; Tele-conferencing; Computing Hardware; e-Hosting; and Software Services.