TelOne unveils US$4 million data center facility

By Staff Writer

TelOne Thursday unveiled a US$4 million data center facility which will enable locals to store their information within Zimbabwe.

Speaking at the commissioning of the TelOne Data center in Mazowe Thursday, Muswere said the project is not only of national significance but presents internal security opportunities.

He said the aspect of data sovereignty should never be underestimated as it is of key importance.

“This project therefore enhances our Data Sovereignty by ensuring the personal information of Zimbabweans.

“This is a valuable commodity in the global market, and is kept within our borders for use by our people to bring value to the nation at large. Currently, more than 88% of all international traffic is going to the US and Europe,” he said.

Muswere underscored that initiatives such as the TelOne Data Centre enable entrepreneurs and corporates to capitalise on the opportunity to produce and distribute local content through local resources reducing our burdens on under-sea cables as a landlocked country.

A data center is a physical facility that organisations use to house their critical applications and data with designs based on a network of computing and storage resources that enable the delivery of shared applications and data.

The key components of a data center design include routers, switches, firewalls, storage systems, servers, and application-delivery controllers.

Muswere said the expansion of the Mazowe Data Centre is a firm foundation for the implementation of the National Development Strategy One (NDS1) which requires that we set up a sound digital economy.

Also speaking at the occasion, TelOne managing director, Chipo Mutasa said the company invested, cumulatively at least US$4 million in the past four years for a total of 1300m2 of floor space.

“Allow me to give a special mention to our partner who worked on this project – Tendo Electronics and Power Engineering Company.

“This is such a profound story and such great joy to have worked with local suppliers for a technical project,” she said.

Mutasa said the company has been able to deliver a very high quality project and have applied themselves with such a high degree of professionalism.

“This must be a lesson to us that our country has the talent and capacity and we should move more and more to consider local suppliers in many of our projects,” she added.