(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Canadian outsourced data center infrastructure provider Q9 Networks (www.q9.com) has signed a 15-year, more than $100 million data center services agreement with public sector business process and information technology outsourcing provider EDS Advanced Solutions (www.edsadvancedsolutions.com) to support EAS’ recently announced contract to provide data center services to the British Columbia Ministry of Labour and Citizens’ Services.
According to the company’s Thursday announcement, Q9 will build and operate a new, high-availability data center in Kamloops, British Columbia, which will be built in phases with an ultimate power capacity of 3.5 megawatts. While EDS Advanced Solutions and the BC Government will be anchor tenants, capacity in the new facility will also be available to other Q9 commercial customers. Q9 will also be providing EDS capacity at its newest Calgary data center when it opens in the second half of 2009.
The Kamloops data center is expected to include such features as outside air cooling capability to maximize energy efficiency, biometric security systems, multiple connections to the Internet, redundant power, HVAC and fire suppression systems, as well as 7/24 on-site security and technical support teams.
“We are delighted to be partnering with EDS Advanced Solutions to support the Province’s critical computing requirements,” Q9 Networks chief executive officer Osama Arafat said in a statement. “With this agreement, we are significantly adding to our national footprint. In particular, we expect customers in British Columbia and Alberta to leverage the new Kamloops facility as an integral part of their business continuity solutions.”
EDS Advanced Solutions president Jim Hamilton said Q9 is ideally suited as a partner for this project because it has proven itself a capable player in the Canadian outsourced data center services market. “The Province is looking for a seamless solution that will support its changing, complex and growing data center needs,” Hamilton said in a statement.
Q9′s network and data centers are backed by an service level agreement guaranteeing 100 percent network and power availability. Q9′s managed service offerings include bandwidth, dedicated servers, firewalls, load balancing, virtual private networking and back-up/restore.
In August 2008, Q9 signed a definitive acquisition agreement with Boston-based ABRY Partners (www.arby.com) affiliate CDC Acquisition to allow it to purchase all of Q9′s outstanding common shares for approximately $361 million. The deal closed in October.
