Equinix and Omantel today announced the opening of their new International Business Exchange (IBX) data center in Barka, near Muscat—the capital of Oman. Known as MC1, the facility is the first world-class, carrier-neutral hub in Oman where carriers, content providers and cloud providers can colocate critical IT infrastructure.
Kamel Al-Tawil, Managing Director for Middle East and North Africa, Equinix
Kamel Al-Tawil, Managing Director for Middle East and North Africa, Equinix said “As IP traffic growth continues to accelerate, it is more important than ever that the IP peering community has a scalable, reliable and globally consistent Internet Exchange solution in all markets where they want to peer traffic. Oman is strategically positioned between Asia, Africa and Europe, and with our partnership with Omantel, we intend to create a hub that will allow drivers of internet traffic to efficiently peer, and expand operations across the world”.
Strategically located between Asia, Africa and Europe, the new Equinix IBX in Oman will serve as a regional interconnection hub providing ultra-low latency connection points between key global business markets.
The new IBX benefits from direct connectivity to strategic cable landing stations (CLS) and subsea cable systems that terminate directly inside the facility, and is expected to provide customers with increased performance and security, along with significant cost savings.
Talal Al Mamari, CEO, Omantel said “Today, data center infrastructure sits at the heart of global ICT and enables all of us to enjoy the cloud-based apps and services we use every day. The new IBX in Oman represents a significant step forward for Oman and the Middle Eastern ICT markets. We are delighted that the facility is now open and, together with Equinix, we hope to enable a new era of telecommunications both regionally and globally. Coupled with the majority of the GCC’s international submarine cables landing in Oman, all accessible from the Equinix data center, we believe this partnership will further enhance Oman’s competitiveness in the global digital economy.”
