Russian ICT firm Liberum Navitas has announced a project to build a network of 15 data centers across the country.
The company this week said it has launched a large federal investment project to create an all-Russian network of data centers united by a single fiber-optic communication line. The company is aiming to deliver the facilities within two years.
Liberum Navitas offers consulting services, colocation via partner facilities, and cloud services to customers.
The project provides for the construction and commissioning of 15 core data centers targeting both government agencies and commercial enterprises of all sizes as customers.
Each data center will host 500 server racks, with Moscow due to house 2,000 racks. The total initial capacity of the project will amount to 9,000 racks, with the potential scope to double the capacity if required.
“The need to create a powerful infrastructure for storing, processing, and transmitting information throughout the country is one of the key challenges facing businesses today,” said Ayrat Mustafin, CEO of Liberum Navitas.”The country does not currently have a properly organized data infrastructure. This is unacceptable. Business and technology investors must join forces as soon as possible to meet this challenge in the shortest possible time.”
“We have launched a large, complex investment project, but I think it would be wrong to shift the financial burden of its implementation onto the state. There are quite serious investors in the country, including in the IT market. Everything can be done in two years; my partners and I have already started implementing the project, and I am sure that the pool of like-minded people wanting to participate in solving this problem will steadily expand."
Liberum said work is already underway on the final design of a 'typical' data center. The company and its partners intend to invest about 10 percent of the total estimated 48.6 billion rubles ($683.3m) required, and plan to involve domestic large strategic and venture investors working both in Russia and abroad.
The company plans to build in the following cities; Moscow, St. Petersburg, Murmansk, Kaliningrad, Sevastopol, Sochi, Volgograd, Nizhny Novgorod, Tyumen, Novy Urengoy, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Khabarovsk, and Vladivostok.
The project will be looking to keep development local; Liberum said priority will be given to Russian manufacturers of equipment and software, with up to 80 percent of the budget to be allocated for the purchase of domestic technologies and services.
