MITA launches €7 million data centre

MITA officially launched its new Corporate Data Centre in St Venera which involved a total investment of €7 million to strengthen hosting space required for existing and new ICT projects which the government.

Transport and Communications Minister Austin Gatt said that the development of the new data centre was a direct answer to additional storage space required since the existing centre was not equipped to cater for the government’s ICT requirements.

“The eLearning solution which will be accessed by over 45,000 teachers and students in primary and secondary schools, the eHealth solutions and the eID cards systems, to be used by every Maltese and Gozitan citizen, together with the eGovernment services are clear examples of the imminent need of more data storage facilities,” Gatt said.

Gatt also said that due to the sensitive nature of the services, the government could not risk losing control of the complex systems.

“Therefore through its ISO 27001 certification MITA takes on a high level of security, this is important especially since it will be handling such important ICT solutions,” Gatt said.

The new Data Centre will serve to support the already two existing hosting data centres namely the one close to MITA’s Head Office and the other in Mater Dei hospital.

MITA said that the centre’s design was inspired from computer elements such as circuit boards and flow diagrams, and the design of the new facade reflects the dynamism and futuristic outlook of the IT world.

A total of 7,000 metres of copper cabling and 8,000 metres of fibre cabling were laid out and the energy will be supplied by two substations within the actual centre whilst two generators will serve as backup.

Photo-voltaic panels of 20KW were also installed on the centre’s roof and the centre is equipped to manage over 28,000 users, 450 terrabytes of storage place and has the capability of managing 16,000 accounts handling a million emails every day.

The new Data Centre, MITA-01, will adhere to TIER III Site Specification which is based on the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) TIA-942 standards. A centre can qualify within one of the four tiers, the higher the tier the higher the architectural, security, electrical, mechanical and telecommunication availability recommendations.

MITA-01 is also expected to draw strong consideration on energy use in an attempt to become more environmentally friendly placing it in line with the EU Code of Conduct on Data Centres.

Gatt also said that had the government not utilised ICT to better their services for the Maltese citizens while providing them with a better quality of life, such a complex data centre would not have been required.

“A clear example is the emphasis that is being set on eGovernment services which seeks to better Government’s service to the general public whilst making it more efficient. Today we have over 90% public services which can easily be accessible online by citizens and businesses. Other similar services that this centre will be catering for include eID, eHealth, email, internet browsing and webhosting, Arms Billing Systems for Water & Electricity, VAT, IRD, SABS, CDB, VISA, Customers.... the list is endless. Every year, the number of transactions that go through the Government’s Payment gateway amount to about 361,000 having a total value of €51 million per annum,” Gatt added.

The government recently launched its eGovernment vision which Gatt said centred specifically round the requirements of Maltese citizens in an attempt to provide online services to ensure accessibility on a 24 hour basis and through any device one would like to access the service.

The services will also reduce citizens having to go to and from different departments and be served from one single portal that will allow access to the various eGovernment services.

“This new Corporate Data centre fulfils MITA’s commitment to provide high-quality data centre services whilst retaining MITA’s dedication to improve uptime and economic value. The data centre will satisfy the hosting requirements for the broad portfolio of new ICT initiatives highlighted in MITA’s Strategy Plan and will maximise the levels of services availability, making them accessible on a 24/7 basis,” MITA Chairman Claudio Grech said during a presentation of the investment.

Grech explained how costs were kept below the average for similar projects while adhering to newly-emerging data centre standards as well as enabling the adoption of new technologies such as virtualisation and cloud computing.

“The centre will also be catering for a demand forecast for a time horizon of over a 10 year period. In line with this it will offer physical security and therefore enable business continuity. Put simply, MITA-01 will facilitate that Government continues offering a better public service delivery and citizens enjoy a better quality of life through ICT,” Grech said.