Ireland's first telehouse, or "carrier hotel" facility was officially opened yesterday by the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke.
The 60,000-square foot facility, located in the Citywest Digital Park, provides a base for telecommunications companies, Internet service providers (ISPs) and e-commerce companies to safely locate high-tech equipment so that their networks can efficiently interlink, switch and exchange data.
It is the result of a public/private sector partnership between TeleCity, a British-based company, the Department of Public Enterprise and IDA Ireland. From August this year, TeleCity will provide the first connection point for telecommunications companies and ISPs to the Global Crossing international fibre-optic cable network.
TeleCity's managing director Dr Mike Kelly told The Irish Times that the company would have come to Dublin even if it had not been selected to provide the facility. He also said he expected to fill all the spaces in the facility in "less than a year".
The opening comes two days after the signing of the Electronic Commerce Act by the President, Mrs McAleese. It also follows the news yesterday that Global Crossing's subsidiary, GlobalCenter, is to base a state-of-the-art 100,000-sq ft data and networking centre in the former Hitachi site in Clonshaugh, Co Dublin.
The Minister confirmed plans to spend £150 million in Government and EU funds to facilitate investment in advanced communications in the less developed regions.
