PLDT opens second data center in Cebu

CEBU, Philippines — The Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) opened its second data center in Cebu.

The P1 billion Vitro Cebu 2 is the 10th data center opened by PLDT Enterprise and ePLDT in the Philippines in the last 18 years, responding to the increasing need of the companies here and abroad to put their data in a secured facility such as data centers.

Located in PLDT Mandaue compound, the 1,400 square-meter redundancy facility, provides 800 racks, an addition to the existing 8,300 racks available in the nine Vitro Data Center around the country.

In a press conference yesterday, ePLDT Group president and chief executive officer (CEO) Eric R. Alberto said that need for risk protection nowadays is no longer part of a company's contingency plan, but it is already at the core of the organization's strategic plan.

Thus, Alberto expects that utilization of data center capacity will rise in short term, as not only the Philippine-based companies are availing of data center storage subscription, but also companies from all over the world making the Philippines their alternative data storage hub.

Locally, the Vitro Data Center accommodates the increasing data and ICT needs of at least 10,000 industrial and commercial businesses in the Cebu province.

The first Vitro Data Center installed in 2012 in Cebu is near its full capacity utilization. The additional 800 racks however, will complement the growing number of investments coming to Cebu, as well as the technology-adepth small and medium enterprises demanding for sophisticated risk protection facilities.

"This new state-of-the-art facility is part of the PLDT Group's nationwide effort to support local organizations and enterprises of all sizes--helping them store, manage and safeguard mission-critical data from cybersecurity threats and physical disasters," said Alberto, who is also the chief revenue officer of PLDT Group.

The Vitro Cebu 2 is built from the ground up, using the most up-to-date and globally competitive technologies, including finger-vein scanning features, special CCTV cameras, and 24/7 monitoring and surveillance.

"We've made sure that our critical systems – uninterruptable power supplies, switch gears, and transformers – are fully redundant, so collocated clients need not worry about service interruptions that could temporarily halt business operations," explained ePLDT Group's senior vice president and chief operating officer Nerissa Ramos.

Ramos added that this infrastructure also allows them to conduct IT maintenance without any disruption on client operations, ensuring that crucial data remains safe, all of which resides behind 11 formidable layers of security.

The Vitro Network of Data Centers has established presence in key cities across the Philippines, like Makati, Pasig, Clark economic zone, and Davao.

The 10 sites are interconnected via a software-defined network, making data centric services available across the facilities.

The newly inaugurated Vitro Cebu 2 is so far the largest data center facility in Southern Philippines. (FREEMAN)