The Saudi government has announced that its Ministry of Haj through Sejel Technology has invested SR800,000 towards new technology infrastructure with the aim of providing improved services to the growing number of pilgrims visiting the kingdom’s holy places including Makkah and Madinah.

As part of the ministry’s upgrade initiative, Tripp Lite, a leading manufacturer of power protection and connectivity equipment, has delivered two 80 kVA UPS systems which are now being used to support the Umrah Database Centre’s power, cooling and cabling infrastructure. One of the most important benefits of the project is the considerable reduction in time required to process pilgrims’ visas. The visa processing can now be completed in less than 24 hours against 6 weeks prior to the implementation.

By speeding up the visa application process, the ministry will deal with more than a quarter of a million transactions per day. The installation of the UPS was completed by Tunsi Electronics and Compute (TEC), Tripp Lite’s Jeddah-based partner, with the entire project completed within its three-week planned duration.

“We had more than 25 engineers and technicians working round-the-clock to ensure the new system would be up and running by the deadline. The superior features of Tripp Lite products and our expertise in implementations of such scale have resulted in the success of this project and we are glad the Ministry of Hajj was pleased by the end-results,” said Sameer Abu Mattar, projects manager of TEC.

Maximum benefits
The project, which involved the replacement of the centre’s UPSs and their batteries, the air-conditioning system, power and network cabling and generator, is now providing maximum benefits, boosting the productivity of all datacentre staff, according to Tripp Lite.

Sharma: an exceptional project

“This project is of particular relevance to us, given the massive extent of benefits it can afford Muslims worldwide stemming from seamless information sharing between the Ministry of Haj and private organisations that provide services to pilgrims,” said Vipin Sharma, Tripp Lite’s sales vice president for EMEA and India. “We are proud to have been part of this exceptional project, which underlines our commitment to the region and our competence in undertaking massive implementations with significant impact on the lives of millions of people.”

TEC is one of Saudi Arabia’s main data centre installers and suppliers of computer network solutions, products and spare parts. Headquartered in Khalid Ibn Al-Waleed in Jeddah, it has successfully executed more than 300 major project implementations in computer networking and power-based systems.

Unique manufacturer
Tripp Lite was the first company to manufacture a UPS system specifically designed for desktop PCs by integrating their inverter technology with a battery charger and transfer switch. With over 16 million isobars and more than 4 million UPS systems sold around the world, Tripp Lite remains the leading manufacturer of power protection supplies, including UPS systems, surge suppressors, notebook accessories, line conditioners, cabling and connectivity products and network management accessories. In 1999, Tripp Lite became the exclusive licensee for IBM-brand UPS systems. Tripp Lite products provide increased reliability and protection to PC workstations, network file servers, telephone systems, point-of-sale terminals, audio/video systems and laboratory equipment. It recently received the ISO 9001 certification for the highest standard of design, manufacturing, distribution, marketing and service excellence. Eighty-five years after it began, the Tripp Lite marketing effort now spans the globe with shipments to more than 80 countries worldwide.