Unified National Networks (UNN) recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of its 51,000 square feet data centre facility at UNN Tungku Submarine Landing Station.
The eco-efficient data centre is slated to be completed in five months and is expected to begin operation in the early quarter of 2024.
In his welcoming remarks, UNN CEO Dr Steffen outlined the project’s progress since the signing of a contract between UNN and Vertiv in March 2023 with data centre modules and equipment already fabricated.
“It is currently undergoing testing before they will be shipped to Brunei and erected at the landing station,” he said.
Dr Steffen further said that Berakas Power Company is progressing well with providing the location with a second independent power feed to ensure high availability and resilience of the data centre facility.
“The new data centre comes at the right time as our fiberisation project is in its final phase and 5G services just launched in June this year,” said Dr Steffen.
The CEO is confident that with reliable and high-speed connectivity readily available in Brunei, the digitalisation within the country’s economy is looking for all enablers to implement projects for smart logistics, smart city, digital payment hub, e-Government and the Internet of Things, among others.
The new data centre, he added, will be an addition to UNN’s DCIT portfolio to further enable ICT companies in Brunei to provide what the Digital Masterplan 2025 has projected, and what the economy needs.
The new facility is built to host data centre and IT services and infrastructure of government and private businesses in Brunei.
Together with other UNN’s existing data centre locations, the increased capacity and services are provided in geo-redundancy, said UNN in a statement.
To ensure the data centre facility is in a high availability and high energy efficiency state, UNN worked together with Vertiv, a global provider of critical digital infrastructure and continuity solutions, to design and construct UNN data centre is an eco-efficient infrastructure that is in line with Brunei’s digitisation roadmap and ensures on meeting Brunei’s increasing digital needs.
On his part, Vertiv Vice President Asia Paul Churchill said that he is confident that their collective efforts of pursuing digitalisation, partnered with a mutual passion for innovation, will make the project a resounding success.
“It is my pleasure to witness this momentous occasion as we commence the construction of Brunei’s first prefabricated modular data centre. Today is a milestone for Vertiv as we embark on a journey with UNN to support Brunei’s digitisation roadmap,” he said.
The prefabricated modular data centre design which consisted of 200 racks provided by Vertiv offers deployment speed that is 30 per cent faster than traditional builds, more flexibility and modularity that are efficient to install and set up as opposed to the traditional brick and mortar design.
Another advantage provided by Vertiv is that the data centre is also designed to reduce emissions by using state-of-the-art technology for environmentally conscious practices without compromising productivity, which is a priority for UNN.
Present at the ceremony were UNN Director Hajah Amalina Haji Ghani, UNN Senior Vice President Data Centre & IT Daniele Cuocci, UNN Chief Financial Officer Bernd Flack, UNN Chief Operations Officer Lukasz Trzos, Vertiv Senior Director of Telecom Sales Asia Danny Wong, Vertiv Project
Director Selvarajoo Sibramaniam, Vertiv Head of Telecom Sales Malaysia & Brunei Kevin Khong, UNN Senior Vice President Network Factory Chris Phan, and other senior managers, managers, and officers from UNN.
THE BRUNEIAN | BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
