(Borneo Post; March 3, 2006)

KUCHING: Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Dr. George Chan yesterday launched the Sarawak Information Systems Sdn Bhd (SAINS) Data Centre, here.

The SAINS Data Centre – located on the third floor of Wisma Bapa Malaysia- is the first of its kind in Sarawak to offer information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure outsourcing services to both the public and private sector.

With the Data Centre, the government and commercial sectors in the State could now enjoy affordable ICT infrastructure outsourcing services readily.

Dr Chan who is also chairman of SAINS believes that the setting up of such a facility would enable local companies to expand their business through enhancing their ICT capabilities, thus able to compete more effectively in the global market.

“Local business that want to expand their business and need ICT to move forward would appreciate the SAINS Data Centre as it is way for them to reduce their cost, as well,” he said, during the simple launching ceremony.

“With the launch of its Data Centre, SAINS unveils a new business model that the government and commercial sectors could take advantage of, to give them the competitive edge on today's business world.”

The Data Centre facility project, which took two years to build at a cost of nearly RM10 million, as a dedicated and highly-secured facility that provides end-to-end ICT resources and services, such as application and database servers, data storage systems, and data network communications equipment.

The structure is also carefully designed and laid out to have a complete environment and security control, protected against fire and interruption in power supply, and armed with round to clock intelligence security surveillance, and access control systems. Currently, the SAINS Data Centre houses 80 servers that run the application system used by State Government departments across Sarawak.

These applications include the 'Leave Management System' (LMS), 'Sarawak Monitor' for monitoring management projects, 'e-Recruitment' for jobs in the State government, 'Email Messaging' and directory services, among others.

Apart from that, there are also more than 100 applications develop and hosted at SAINS Data Centre, such as 'Talikhidmat', 'PayBills Malaysia', 'e-Recruitment' and 'Angkasa Online Library'.

Among those present at the launch were State Secretary Datuk Amar Abdul Aziz Husain, Sarawak Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) chairman Datuk Abang Abdul Karim Tun Openg and SAINS chief executive officer Teo Tien Hiong.