Equinix is to build a new data center in Oman.
The colocation firm this week announced plans to build a data center in the city of Salalah, located on the south coast of the Sultanate of Oman.
The data center is being built in cooperation with Omantel, a wholesale carrier in the Middle East, and will be commercially and operationally managed by Equinix.
The new site, named SN1, will be the company’s second data center in Oman after MC1 in Muscat and will be Equinix’s fifth data center in the region alongside sites in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The new site will also offer direct fiber links to Equinix’s facility in Muscat.
“We are seizing on this fantastic opportunity to invest in Salalah by building a world class data center that will undoubtedly change the landscape of global traffic flows between three major continents,” said Kamel Al-Tawil, managing director of Equinix Middle East and North Africa. “With access to several new and existing submarine cables, this major new interconnectivity point continues Equinix’s strategy of developing network-dense and interconnectivity-rich ecosystems.”
Talal Al Mamari, CEO of Omantel, added: “We are delighted to extend our successful partnership with Equinix through establishing this new international subsea cable hub in Salalah, which is the rising star of the Middle East for Asia to Europe and Africa subsea cable systems passing the region. Salalah is quickly establishing itself as the new main regional strategic interconnection point and will be the hub for a connectivity ecosystem."
Equinix opened its Muscat facility in partnership with Omantel in 2019. The facility is the landing point for Sub.co’s Oman-Australia Cable (OAC) which runs from Muscat to an Equinix facility in Perth, Australia; it has potential to branch to Salalah and Djibouti.
