Gulf Business Machines (GBM) Oman and Cisco Systems have completed the first phase of a project to upgrade the Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) Data Centre, using the latest Cisco Nexus hardware.

This is the first time the complete range of Nexus Data Centre switches have been installed in the Sultanate of Oman, said a statement.

The project was undertaken as part of an initiative within PDO to improve efficiency, reliability, expandability and scalability at their data centre, located at PDO’s Mina Al-Fahal headquarters.

Additionally, the upgrade is part of a plan to achieve Tier 3/4 compliance of the Telecommunications Industry Association’s TIA-942 Standard, while paving the way for use of emerging server technologies such as cloud computing and virtualisation. The TIA-942 Standard defines international guidelines for planning and building data centres, particularly with regard to cabling systems and network design.

“Our decision to upgrade to Cisco Nexus switches was driven by the need to optimise reliability and efficiency, while preparing our infrastructure to handle architectural changes involving new server technologies,” said Abdullah Sultan Al-Rashdi, Data Centre Upgrade project manager Petroleum Development Oman.

“With the deployment of Nexus technology, the data centre will benefit from increased energy and resource efficiency, operational continuity and infrastructure that can be scaled cost-effectively,” added Olivier Mouries, country general manager for GBM Oman.-TradeArabia News Service