KUCHING: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) on the development of the Disaster Recovery Centre (DRC) through a reciprocal approach.
The MoU document was signed by UNIMAS Vice Chancellor, Prof. Datuk Dr. Mohamad Kadim Suadi and UMS Vice Chancellor, Prof. Datuk Dr. D. Kamarudin D. Mudin.
Speaking during the ceremony, Dr. Mohamad Kadim said that DRC was one of the critical needs of every organisation to ensure the availability of the system services and data during an unexpected disaster .
He said the DRC would also act as a backup data centre during the hardware or software maintenance and upgrading process.
“DRC was intended to be developed in UNIMAS’ city campus, which is about 10 kilometres from the main campus, and was estimated to cost about RM10 million back then.
“But the opportunity made available through strategic partnership cooperation with another public university is the best alternative for the implementation. UNIMAS and UMS have created history by working together to create a DRC for both universities in the Borneo region,” said Kadim in his speech during the signing ceremony held at UNIMAS yesterday.
He said based on a simple research, only 10 out of 20 public universities in Malaysia had their own DRCs, which were either self-developed or rented from a third party.
“High implication of cost is the reason that prevents some of the universities from implementing the DRC.
“With the implementation of the DRC through the reciprocal approach, UNIMAS and UMS only need the allocation for the hardware, software and licence and this initiative has saved UNIMAS an estimated RM8 million,” said Kadim, adding the implementation would fully utilise the existing MYREN (Malaysia Research and Education Network), which linked UNIMAS to UMS through a fiber optic connection.
Meanwhile, UMS’ Deputy Chancellor, Datuk Dr. D Kamarudin D Mudin said that currently UMS had a limited Information and Communication Technology (ICT) facility, and this reciprocal cooperation would help to develop UMS’ DRC without increasing the cost.
“This ceremony is a catalyst to improve the cooperation between UMS and UNIMAS, and it is hoped that more cooperation will be implemented in various other fields in the future.
“Not only that, it will place UMS and UNIMAS as a catalyst for DRC services in Borneo, too,” said Kamarudin.
