The JT Group has opened a new data centre at Rue des Pres, making it the largest provider of data hosting services in the Channel Islands.
The new facility was officially opened by the Assistant Minister for Economic Development, Senator Paul Routier. It is the JT Group’s sixth data centre in the Channel Islands and is an important step in the Group’s plans to make the Channel Islands the primary telecommunications hub for Europe.
The new data centre is based at Rue des Pres trading estate and covers just under 7,000 square feet. It has capacity to house over 140 server racks, bringing the total provided by the JT Group to circa 700 racks. In total the JT Group has invested £15m in the data hosting sector.
“State of the art data centres such as this one enable the Island to offer disaster recovery and data hosting services to a broad range of industries across the globe”, says the JT Managing Director, Tim Ringsdore. “It will also enable the Island to make the most of the e-gaming market which was worth £50m to Guernsey alone last year. The States of Jersey have now passed the necessary regulations to open up that market, and our investment in data centres and infrastructure means the JT Group is well poised to support this flourishing industry”.
JT’s data centres provide resilient and highly secure environments for customers’ essential computer equipment, including the powerful computer servers that run business critical systems. The data centre at Rue Des Pres can be completely self-sufficient in terms of power generation; it also has diverse data connections using fibre-optic cabling, the latest environmental controls and fire prevention technology.
“Becoming the largest provider of data hosting services in the Channel Islands is a key part of our strategic growth plans, and is crucial in enabling Jersey to develop a digital economy, which will be of great benefit to businesses and individual residents alike”.