Data Cloud Technology secured its organizational and human resource capacities and then, a little less than a year ago, began providing services to a plethora of commercial clients. Interest in DCT’s services is expressed among companies that have the highest reputation at the world level.
CEO Danilo Savić says that’s he’s a major optimist because Serbia’s ICT sector is recording significant growth. Planning is one of the biggest challenges in this area, but the experts at DCT are ready to take their share of responsibility in a great job that has been launched successfully and needs to be completed in the same way.
The Government of the Republic of Serbia established the company Data Cloud Technology on 17th December last year. With what kind of results achieved did you celebrate your first birthday?
Certain dynamics of implementation and development are dictated by the complexity of the system of the region’s most modern facility of its type. During the first year of operations, we formed a team of experts ready to respond to the challenges posed by the management of such a facility, standardization was completed in accordance with the highest internationally established criteria, and all security and protection subsystems were tested successfully.
Alongside the initially established cooperation with IBM and Huawei, the best example is the Memorandum of Understanding signed with Oracle for establishing Oracle Cloud at our Centre, and we also expect the signing of a contract soon. The fact that giants of the world ICT industry, such as Oracle, IBM, and Huawei, have decided to cooperate with us shows that we are on the right track and is the best recommendation for DCT.
At the fair events held recently in Dubai (DUBAI EXPO and GITEX), we established contacts with leading companies in the ICT sector, so we also expect an increase in the number of foreign clients in the coming period.
Could it be said that the Centre is among the most modern in the region, in terms of technology and security standards?
According to technical and security standards, our Centre is the most modern in the region and the only one that provides 2N redundancy of all system components: power supply and cooling of IT equipment, as well as telecommunication connections. The Centre is designed in accordance with the Tier 4 standard, while the services we provide satisfy the ISO 27001 safety standard and the ISO 9001 quality standard. When we were establishing the Data Centre, we kept in mind that the key information and communication infrastructure of the Republic of Serbia is hosted here. In that sense, we are primarily orientated towards the highest technical and safety standards. Such an approach is only acceptable if we consider that the Centre hosts the data and equipment of the most important state institutions. Potential commercial users also imply that the noted standards have been met because that’s a prerequisite for any kind of cooperation in this time of digitalization.
Which foreign and domestic companies have signed contracts on the use of the Data Centre? Is there reason to consider expanding its capacities in the future?
The Centre’s services are used by clients from several different industries. Alongside the aforementioned international ICT giants (IBM, Huawei, Oracle, and IngramMicro), we’ve also gained the trust of companies from the telecommunications. Interest in DCT’s services is expressed among companies that have the highest reputation at the world level sector (Telekom Srbija, Cetin, Orion Telekom, and SOX), domestic ICT system integrators (ComTrade, AIGO), the financial sector (Srpska banka, Poštanska štedionica Banka) and the media sector (RTS).
Expanding the capacities will be essential already during the next year because the existing capacity has already been reserved to a great extent. The Centre project envisages three construction phases. The first phase was realized with the implementation of blocks 1 and 2, with a capacity already significantly filled and reserved. The second phase envisages the construction of blocks 3 and 4, which would double capacities, and all phase II construction has already been completed. The plan for phase III is to build blocks 5 and 6, in line with future needs and according to existing project documentation.
You have some of the most highly-sought services in your portfolio today. Could you tell us more about those services?
When it comes to the services that we offer, Telehousing (Collocation) is intended for clients who have their own ICT equipment that they want to install on the premises of the Centre. On the other hand, Cloud services like Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) are directed towards users who want to rent individual virtual servers with adequate processing, memory, and storage capacities. These characteristics vary depending on the needs of the client, while DCT is ready to go out of its way to meet everyone’s needs with an optimal offer.
It has been made possible to connect with all providers present at the Centre via the ‘meet me room’ and through two separate network cables, which ensures the system’s redundancy. Moreover, we also offer Hands and Eyes engineer services at the Data Centre. From our NOC (Network Operations Centre), through state-of-the-art information monitoring systems, the operations of the server, communications, and all relevant statuses of equipment and services are monitored continuously, 24/7.
Given that you represent part of an industry that’s synonymous with progress, how demanding is it to make plans for the development of digital infrastructure?
We have great challenges ahead of us, but we don’t have any other option than to continue along the path we’ve set out on. Digitalization must happen, as a phase of technological development or, stated more precisely, we have to implement it. Only if we keep pace with developed societies will Serbia have an opportunity to advance and develop in the way its citizens want, because the benefits brought by digitalization are key to progress.
Due to everything that’s been mentioned, but also due to the speed at which this progress is unfolding, the development of digital infrastructure isn’t only the biggest challenge for the ICT sector, but also for the state and society as a whole.
What has the Centre that you head brought to the City of Kragujevac and Serbia as a whole?
With the construction of the State Data Centre in Kragujevac, this city has become one of the most important ICT centres in Serbia, alongside Belgrade and Novi Sad. As the geographical centre of Serbia, and viewed also in the context of security, Kragujevac was the most logical choice for the location to build the Centre. It is up to us to justify the trust shown and provide our contribution to the development of the ICT sector in Kragujevac, the Šumadija District and the Republic of Serbia.
Borders and distance are no obstacle for modern technologies, so I wouldn’t separate the importance of the Data Centre to Kragujevac from its importance to the entire country and region.
Improving e-business, using the latest ICT capacities to provide services to users, reducing the risks data are exposed to and contributing to digitalisation – these are all great benefits to Serbia as it aspires to keep pace with the most developed economies and countries.