T-Systems supplies “Data center to go” for Cypriot port

12-07-2016

• IT container supports harbor operations in Limassol
• Joint project with Huawei for terminal operator EUROGATE
• Data center remote-controlled from Hamburg

The new technical hub of Limassol container port on Cyprus fits seamlessly into its environment. T-Systems and Huawei have installed a container-housed data center for EUROGATE, Europe’s largest independent container terminal operator. EUROGATE will assume operational control of container handling in Limassol using the small, local, private cloud from the end of January 2017. T-Systems will control the data center from Hamburg.

“We wanted to implement the project quickly together with existing partners and were confident T-Systems could meet this tight deadline,” is how Wolfram Müller, CIO of EUROGATE, explains the choice of the Deutsche Telekom subsidiary as its technology partner. The project was launched in July 2016. T-Systems took on the role of general contractor and joined forces with Huawei to design the container solution. Just three-and-a-half months later, the project partners have now commissioned the mobile data center in line with the German installation.

Remote-controlled via data highway

The 34-hectare port in Limassol can handle up to 500,000 standard containers (TEU) per year. The IT container is instrumental in ensuring smooth loading procedures, as it has everything on board that a data center requires – servers, memory, cooling system, its own power supply, and access controls. The administrative and operative container applications, groupware applications and network communication systems run on the local systems. The IT box can also mirror data from the cloud. The T-Systems control team monitors the data center via a secure and powerful MPLS connection.

“We have been EUROGATE’s outsourcing partner for ten years now. We also manage this system from our 24/7 remote operations center so we can ensure we meet the very demanding service level agreements,” says Bernd Wagner, SVP Sales and Service TC from T-Systems in Germany.

EUROGATE has already collaborated with T-Systems on IT projects at three other ports in recent years. The terminal operations group based in Bremen secured the contract for Limassol port in April 2016 and will therefore have twelve container terminals in its network from January 2017 in Germany, Italy, Russia, Portugal, Morocco, and Cyprus.