IBM today announced that it has entered into an IT services agreement with MTS India, the mobile telephony services brand of Sistema Shyam TeleServices Limited (SSTL), a joint venture company between Sistema of Russia and Shyam Group of India. As part of the agreement, IBM will design and build two green data centres -- one each in Chennai and Gurgaon. The move is integral to supporting SSTL's pan India expansion plans for offering telephony services. The green data centres will help SSTL achieve 20% energy savings.

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Speaking on the need to adopt energy-efficient IT infrastructure in an enterprise, Mr. Vsevolod Rozanov, President and CEO, Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd. said, "As a global telecom player with ambitious expansion plans for the Indian market, we are aware of the advantage of adopting energy-efficient operational measures and in the process will work proactively to reduce global energy emissions. We are glad to partner with a technology leader like IBM in making our IT infrastructure -- Green Friendly."

The data centre solution being deployed by IBM provides the facility to scale power and cooling automatically depending on the load. IBM will also build a Network Operations Centre (NOC) to help the SSTL team monitor and manage applications and network in a 24/7 environment. SSTL is currently in an expansion phase with plans to launch Pan-India telecom services in the coming months. The scalability and dynamic nature of the solution being provided by IBM will ensure that SSTL's expansion plan are well-supported by a robust, resilient and Green IT infrastructure.

Shanker Annaswamy, Managing Director of IBM India Pvt. Ltd. said, "IBM's association with Shyam Sistema TeleServices Ltd is aimed at helping our client take advantage of leading IT infrastructure solutions and assets that IBM has built especially for telecom companies. Moreover, SSTL's adoption of green and energy-efficient technologies can help them optimize their resources while serving their growing customer base across India."

The Chennai site will serve as the main data centre for SSTL, while the data centre in Gurgaon will serve as the disaster recovery site. IBM has deployed cooling solution at these data centres, which will result in substantial operational savings for SSTL.

SSTL is already providing telecom services in Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Kerala and has acquired licenses and spectrum to provide mobile telephony services in all the 22 circles across the country under its MTS brand name, recognized as one of the Top 100 Most Powerful Brands in the world.

About Sistema Shyam TeleServices Limited

Sistema Shyam TeleServices (SSTL) is a joint venture company between Sistema {LSE: SSA} of Russia and Shyam Group of India. Sistema is the majority share holder in this joint venture with a 74% equity stake, along with the Shyam Group, holding a 23.5% stake and the rest 2.5% being public partake. Headquartered in Gurgaon, India, SSTL has licenses and spectrum to provide mobile telephony services in all the 22 circles across the country. Presently, SSTL offers its services in the Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu as well as the Kerala circles. In a recent development, SSTL tied up with Mobile TeleSystems OJSC of Russia to bring the globally acclaimed telecom brand -- MTS -- to India. MTS intends to create sound value proposition for the subscriber with some strong marketing programmes and innovative schemes.

  For more information visit:  http://www.mtsindia.in/

  About IBM
  For more information, visit:  www.ibm.com/services


  Media Contacts:
  Goldie Srivastava                   Shalini Wadhwa
  IBM India                           Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd
  +91-9880309691                      +91 9711209768
  gsrivast@in.ibm.com                 shalini.wadhwa@mtsindia.in

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SOURCE: IBM