BP, following in Shell’s footsteps, has installed its first IT ‘Mega Data Center’ in the Far East. BP’s ‘Most of the World’ (MoW) Mega Data Center, the first of three worldwide, was opened at the SingTel Telecom Complex in Singapore last month.
Tier 4
BP’s MoW data center is a 10Gbps, Tier 4 facility which will provide BP’s businesses with an ‘improved quality of service’. All of BP Singapore’s current digital infrastructure will be moved to the new Center which will also assure ‘enhanced’ disaster recovery thanks to a high speed link with a mirror facility. The Center will house upwards of 100, mostly Intel-based, servers.
Leggate
BP CIO John Leggate said, ‘We are always looking for opportunities to enhance productivity. The consolidation of servers into the Singapore Mega Data Center will help our businesses in Asia to move at an even greater pace. In many ways, Singapore is at the commercial crossroads of the world.’
Kian
Teo Ming Kian, Chairman of the Singapore Economic Development Board, added, ‘We are pleased that BP has chosen Singapore as the location for its ‘Most of the World’ Mega Data Center. The decision is a testament to Singapore’s reputation as a trusted and reliable IT and business hub.’
Disposal
Following BP’s disposal of its local refining interests last year, the company decided to turn its Singapore unit into a service center for the region, providing key functions such as legal, tax, audit, and digital business. BP Singapore’s role has since expanded to service BP’s regional and global business interests. An estimated 10,000 MoW users will be connected to the Center from BP’s upstream, midstream and downstream segments.
Kong
BP Singapore president Wu Shen Kong said ‘BP Singapore has transformed into a knowledge hub for Asia Pacific, playing a strategic role in BP’s activities including trading and service support functions.’
500 personnel
BP Singapore expects to grow from its current 430 employees to over 500 next year, especially as it scales-up its global trading activities. BP’s second data center is under construction in the UK, with a third planned for North America. Shell inaugurated its first Mega Center in Malaysia’s ‘Silicon Valley’ back in 2002 (see Oil IT Journal 7 N°1).
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