Equinix and Omantel December 2020

Equinix & Omantel

Delivering World-Class Connectivity

DIGITAL REPORT 2020

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Delivering World-Class Connectivity

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Judith Gardiner and Sohail Qadir discuss their companies’ joint venture to bring an unprecedented level of connectivity to the Middle East

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erched at the easterly edge of the Arabian Peninsula, where the Gulf meets the Indian Ocean, the Sultanate of Oman sits at the

crossroads of Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Europe. Positioned as it is, Oman is uniquely suited to serve as an interconnection hub for the entire 04

Middle East region, as well as the wider world beyond.

“The positioning of Oman is excellent,” says Judith Gardiner, Vice President of Growth and Emerging Markets at Equinix.

Sohail Qadir, Vice President of the Wholesale Business Unit at Oman’s largest and leading telecom operator, Omantel, agrees. “This region is becoming highly connected,” he affirms. “Our location between Europe and Asia means that all the subsea cables that connect Asia to Europe, or Asia to Africa and so on, pass through the Middle East. We are becoming a hub for interconnection.”

In 2018, Omantel and Equinix embarked on a historic joint venture. Over the past couple of years, the data centre giant and Omani telecom leader have worked together to build a world-class, carrier-neutral data centre hub and international business exchange

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“ There is no other place with this level of connectivity in the region. Even in the bigger data centres in Europe, it would be very rare to see something like this” — Sohail Qadir, VP, Wholesale Business Unit, Omantel

(IBX) in the city of Barka - just outside the Omani capital of Muscat. The facility, MC1, came online in early October of this year, with more than 23,600 square feet of colocation space and 725 cabinets for colocation hosting. Most importantly, the partnership has allowed Equinix to unite its global data centre network and extensive infrastructure expertise with Omantel’s strategically placed network of subsea cables to create the most highly connected telecom facility in the region. We sat down with Gardiner and

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Qadir to learn more about this unique partnership and what it means for the future of Oman as the connectivity nexus of the Middle East and beyond.

A DIGITAL REVOLUTION As one of the world’s premier digital infrastructure companies, Equinix operates more than 220 colocation data centres in 26 countries globally. The Middle East, Gardiner explains, holds a great deal of promise for the company.

“The Middle East has proven to be one of the most exciting areas of cloud growth and cloud has quickly become a key factor in the region’s digital transformation,” she says. “There’s been

Introduction to Judith Gardner Vice President of Gems at Equinix CLICK TO WATCH

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07 rapid growth of the digital economy

and storage that is required for eve-

and it’s really driven increased demand

rything to function harmoniously,” she

for global connectivity and hybrid multi

explains.

cloud solutions. The increased use

Qadir notes that the Omani govern-

of cloud services and mobile devices

ment’s active role in the data centre

are causing an exponential growth in

and cloud industry has accelerated

the volume of data being stored and

dramatically over the past year, due in

processed.” Gardiner adds that the

part to the COVID-19 pandemic, but

expansion of the Middle East’s digital

also as a result of the region’s changing

economy has also spurred the adop-

relationship to the oil and gas industry.

tion of new applications and services

“The Middle East is heavily dependent

using advanced analytics and machine

on oil revenues, with some economies

learning, which are demanding greater

in the region being as much as 90%

performance. “They’re really leading to

dependent on oil revenues, and you

a reshaping of the network compute

will not find a country - especially in the www.e qui ni x .c o m

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“ The Middle East has proven to be one of the most exciting areas of cloud growth” — Judith Gardiner, VP, Growth and Emerging Markets, Equinix

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Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) - that

A few years ago, cloud was something of

is less than 75% oil dependent,” he says.

a no-no in this region. Just a few months

Following the global drop in oil prices

ago, the Omani government announced

last year, there has been a serious push

plans to deliver Oracle cloud in Oman to

towards cloud and digital services, as

consolidate all its IT requirements. Cloud

governments work to ramp up cloud ser-

has become a very important goal for the

vices in preparation for a regional pivot

government.”

towards a more digital economy. “It’s “In response, governments and agencies

MC1 - THE NEW TELECOM HEART OF THE REGION

have been aggregating and consolidat-

The Middle East and the rest of the world

ing their requirements on services like

are moving towards increased cloud

Oracle, AWS, Azure, etc. and these

adoption and greater dependence on

projects are starting to come online.

digital services at an unprecedented rate.

a big crisis in the region,” Qadir explains.

09 E X E C U T I V E P R O FILE :

Judith Gardiner Title: VP, Growth and Emerging Markets Company: Equinix

Industry: Internet

Judith Gardiner joined Equinix in 2013 as Director of Sales Strategy and Operations for EMEA, going on to serve as Chief of Staff for EMEA leading multiple high impact projects in the region, including acquisitions and integration programs, before becoming Vice President of EMEA’s Growth and Emerging Markets in 2019.

Judith joined Equinix from Polycom, where she held management positions in Finance and Sales Operations in Europe over the span of 10 years. Previously, Judith worked at Peoplesoft (now Oracle) in the Netherlands, after spending five years at Deloitte in Ireland. Judith qualified as a Chartered Accountant with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland. www.e qui ni x .c o m

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THE COVID-19 FACTOR

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The current crisis has, Gardiner explains, dramatically accelerated the pace of digital transformations around the world. “Before COVID-19, a digital transformation project could be expected to take two years, and now that same transformation has to happen in two months. The conversations we’re having with other countries in the Middle East have been accelerating,” she says.

A recent report from Deloitte identified the trend, noting that a global shift towards remote work, and the pandemic rendering on-premises data centres inaccessible has rapidly accelerated cloud migrations around the world. “We’ve seen two years’ worth of digital

transformation in two months,” Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella told Deloitte, confirming Gardiner’s assertion.

Executing a historic joint venture like the one between Equinix and Omantel is a challenging feat at the best of times. However, Gardiner reflects, the companies’ respective teams rose to the challenge commendably. “Previously, we would have never thought we could achieve something like this without travel,” she says. “While it’s been disappointing not to be able to do a lot of the work in person, it’s also been really rewarding to see the teams join together and integrate successfully, even in the midst of a pandemic.”

“ With Omantel in Muscat we’re going to be able to offer 160 milliseconds of latency between Frankfurt and Singapore” — Sohail Qadir, VP, Wholesale Business Unit, Omantel

in Oman. The Sultanate also has another operator, which has another two cables landing in the country. All of these subsea cables now have access into MC1, making for 16 subsea networks in one data centre,” says Qadir, adding that “There is no other place with that level of connectivity in this region. Even in the bigger data centres in Europe, it would be very rare to see something like this.”

The latest findings from the Global

The initial success of MC1 has already

Interconnection Index predicts that

garnered significant interest in the

enterprise consumption of interconnec-

project. Qadir notes that the venture

tion bandwidth will grow at a CAGR of

is currently working on five additional

45% across the EMEA region by 2023.

projects to bring even more connectiv-

Equinix and Omantel’s joint venture is

ity to MC1. “There’s a point-to-point

poised to elevate connectivity in the

link between Perth in Australia and

region to a revolutionary degree.

Oman, which will land in MC1 and go

First opened in early October this

live towards the end of 2021. It is called

year, MC1 is a state-of-the-art IBX,

the Oman Australia Cable (OAC) and

strategically positioned to make use

will be one of the longest direct subsea

of Omantel’s extensive subsea cable

cables in the world. We are also working

network. Omantel currently has invest-

with Google and Telecom Italia Sparkle

ments in more than 20 subsea cable

on a cable system called Blue-Raman,

systems, which connect to five landing

which will also land in MC1, just to name

stations in Oman and one in France,

a few,” says Qadir. “Moreover we are

making Omantel the first GCC telecom

planning to extend the GCCIA cable to

operator to have a subsea landing sta-

MC1, which is an alternative terrestrial

tion in Europe.

path connecting the GCC countries”, he

“Omantel has 14 subsea cables landing

added. Qadir explains that the goal is to www.e qui ni x .c o m

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12 E X E C U T I V E P R O FILE :

Sohail Qadir Title: VP, Wholesale Business Unit Company: Omantel

Industry: Telecommunications

Sohail Qadir is vice president of wholesale business. He is responsible for developing and growing Omantel’s emerging International businesses, like expanding submarine cables, voice transit and national interconnects including MVNO. In addition, as senior management member he is responsible for overseeing the company’s growing business and footprint outside Oman. He has more than 20 years of experience in a broad range of IT & telecom segments with a specific focus on international business. Before joining his current position in August 2010, he served as chief operating officer in Worldcall Telecom Limited. Mr. Qadir holds B.E. in Computer Systems and Masters in Business Administration.

Introduction to Sohail Qadir Vice President of Wholesale at Omantel CLICK TO WATCH

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13 create an environment where Omantel

adding that Equinix’s role is then to man-

does not need to build its own subsea

age those intersection points between

cables into MC1, as the facility attracts

cables globally. “With Omantel in Muscat

outside investment from cable and

we’re going to be able to offer 160 mil-

infrastructure companies due to its role

liseconds of latency between Frankfurt

as a regional interconnection point. “Five

and Singapore, and that sort of connec-

years down the line, MC1 will be among

tivity is only going to accelerate adoption

the most highly-connected data centres

and transformation even further.”

globally,” he enthuses.

This level of connectivity is going to

GLOBAL CONNECTION

be a driving force behind uniting the

The pace of innovation and adoption

digital economies in EMEA with APAC

around digital services is only going to

and beyond. “The subsea cables that

accelerate. The Equinix and Omantel

Omantel is investing in are really going

joint venture is set to keep pace with

to drive connectivity,” says Gardiner,

demand. “We launched MC1 just last www.e qui ni x .c o m

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An insight into the partnership between Equinix & Omentel CLICK TO WATCH

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“ Before COVID-19, a digital transformation project could be expected to take two years, and now that same transformation has to happen in two months” — Judith Gardiner, VP, Growth and Emerging Markets, Equinix

month and we are already in discussions over possible expansions,” says Qadir.

In closing, Gardiner emphasises the fact that continued investment in the Middle East’s digital infrastructure is essential for the region’s success, and that its opportunities, both locally and as a global interconnection point, are significant. “We’re very focused on Muscat right now. The interconnection platform is incredibly important. What we’re seeing drive our customers isn’t space and power, it’s the interconnection platform we provide, the reliability and service excellence, and fundamentally the access to all the digital ecosystems and partners we can offer,” she says, adding in conclusion that “It’s vital that companies invest in developing the digital infrastructure of the Middle East, or the pace of innovation will quickly outstrip its capabilities, and the region’s promising growth as a digital hub will stop. But we’re not expecting to see that; if anything, we’re expecting to see it grow and develop even faster than we’ve already seen.”

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EQUINIX AMSTERDAM THE NETHERLANDS WWW.EQUINIX.COM OMANTEL MUSCAT OMAN WWW.OMANTEL.OM

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