Saudi Telecom has signed with Cisco's for its Unified Computing System and its partners to build a data center hosting business built around EMC storage, VMware Vsphere and Wipro services.

It listed Indian based services provider Wipro as a key contractor who will 'deliver the Cisco infrastructure to the STC.'

In a statement Cisco said: "The agreement...within the STC's data center to include the Cisco Unified Computing System chassis, blade servers, SAN Switches, EMC Storage and Backup and VMware vSphere."

Wipro 'also provided a Saudi market specific services creation and market demand analysis for revenue calculations.'

Samir Matboly, vice president, Enterprise Business Unit, STC "The STC's goal is to provide integrated communications services in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, by continuously to responding to market requirements, and keeping abreast of developments in technology to enable us to meet the needs of our customers."

The statement said Cisco's data center services has committed to 'help to lower power costs as well manage and measure the STC's IT operational expenses' while 'meeting or exceeding end-user demands.'

Cisco managed services will provide centralized application provisioning, patch management, monitoring, and support.

Technologies to be deployed inside the STC's data center include the Cisco Unified Computing System chassis, blade servers, SAN Switches, EMC Storage and Backup and VMware vSphere.