NATO awarded Italtel, an Italian telecommunications company, an international contract to build two transportable data centers, the company said Wednesday.
The data centers are planned to be deployed at the NATO Rapid Deployable Corps Italy (NRDC – ITA) in Solbiate, Olona, Italy to align the communication and information system (CIS) infrastructure with the requirements of the recently-awarded role of land-heavy Joint Task Force (JTF) Headquarters. This involves leading NATO joint operations within NATO areas of responsibility, which is often performed outside of member national borders.
Over 250 companies in the 28 NATO member states were notified of the tender for the project, with the demand generated by the Italian Army. The acquisition was delegated by the Italian Defence Telecommunication Procurement Directorate (TELEDIFE) to the NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCIA). NCIA then developed the technical specification with its knowledge and prior knowledge of systems currently in place, Italtel said.
The data centers are meant to be eventually be used by the NRDC-ITA in overseas locations where NATO forces are deployed.
“This achievement recognizes Italtel’s constant hard work over the last two years, through a continuous strengthening of the relationship between various divisions within the Italian Armed Forces and NATO,” Stefano Pileri, Italtel CEO, said in a statement.
“Italtel has built a complex and delicate dialogue with a select number of Italian and international suppliers, who have assisted us in creating the winning solution for our project,” Pileri added.
Italtel generally focuses on Network Functions Virtualization (NFV), managed services, and All-IP communication.