Scottish data center providers DataVita and brightsolid are teaming up to create a ‘critical digital infrastructure’, which should improve communications and cloud services for businesses across the country.

The two companies will remain independent, but collaborate on services.

A nation divided

With DC Thomson’s brightsolid located in Aberdeen and Dundee, and DataVita located in the west central belt, the partnership aims to close the “digital divide” between the two population centers of Scotland, Richard Higgs, CEO of brightsolid, said.

Gareth Lush, DataVita commercial director added: “The collaboration means increased security and connectivity with greater access to data and cloud services for our customers.

“The combined network means customers have more choice and diversity in their communications, super high speed access and a latency of less than 2 milliseconds.”

DataVita is set to open a massive 100,000 sq ft facility in Lanarkshire, which the company calls Scotland’s largest energy efficient data center. Clients are expected to be able to use ‘Fortis’ from early August.

Brightsolid, meanwhile, won a £3 million contract with the Aberdeen City Council earlier this year, and in 2015 opened the first Microsoft Azure-enabled Tier III data center in Scotland.

Higgs is now looking further afield for brightsolid’s next expansion, telling Herald Scotland: “Having three facilities now in Scotland in effect does Scotland for us, so no guesses where we are going next.

“It is about winning customers south of the Border then looking at where we should be placing our data centers in the future.”