IT center of attention for GDS

GLOBAL Data Solutions, Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft have signed agreements to jointly invest more than 800 million yuan (US$106.04 million) to build an information technology infrastructure data center in Chengdu.

It will be the largest of its kind in China, Beijing-based GDS said. The center, to open next month, contains disaster-recovery systems for the transport and finance sectors.

The lost data can be quickly restored with remote information after disasters, similar to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States, according to officials of Chengdu, in the country's southwest.

The High Availability Data Center, in the Chengdu High-Tech Industrial Development Zone, will also include data processing and personal information arrangement services. It is designed to serve banking, securities, insurance and government institutions.

"The center is in construction now and the detailed opening schedule hasn't been finally decided," a marketing official at Beijing GDS said yesterday during a phone interview.

The new center will be put into operation on a limited basis as early as October, and in the initial period it will be used in some transit areas provided by the government.

The construction of the formal service center will begin at that time and be completed in 18 months, according to He Zheng, vice president of GDS, quoted by Chengdu media yesterday. The center will focus on providing disaster-recovery services and will be connected with GDS' disaster-recovery centers in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen to form a large network.

Companies can rent center space to store their data for back-up, according to GDS.

HP and Microsoft have rich experience in storage-server management and related software in disaster recovery.

As a "Go West" strategy, HP announced on July 31 that it will establish an IT service center with Sichuan-based Yinhai Software, which provides services for neighborhood ISV (independent software vendor).