Two new sophisticated multi-million Internet hosting centres launched by TELUS Corp. in Calgary and Toronto are a critical vanguard in the telecom company’s effort to lead the lucrative e-business market in Canada and beyond, says CEO Darren Entwistle.

“We intend to dominate the web-hosting industry in Canada,” Entwistle said in Calgary last week, as he officially opened the $36-million Internet Data Centre, at 1525 10th Ave. S.W.

“Why Toronto and Calgary? Because this is where corporate Canada is located — right here. And we’re going after it right now.”

The high-security centres will be the backbone of the Burnaby-based telecom’s IP and wireless services, delivering a range of high-speed Internet hosting services for small- and medium-sized businesses to international corporations.

Shannon Oatway, Business Edge
TELUS CEO Darren Entwistle swipes a giant ID card to open the new centre.

Clients include Calgary-based Forzani Group’s Sport Chek web page, Tripeze.com, Harry Rosen, NetDriven Solutions, and e-business web-hosting services for the federal government.

Company officials showed off the building’s high-security features, which include bullet-resistant glass, fingerprint scanners and a double steel-plated concrete “bunker” to house the servers. Multiple firewalls, redundant fibre networks and other intrusion-detection systems are meant to thwart hack attacks and power failures at the facility, which will house up to 35,000 servers.

Instead of a ribbon cutting — “we can’t just let anyone walk up with a pair of scissors,” quipped John Maduri, president of TELUS Business Solutions — a giant electronic I.D. card was delivered to the opening ceremonies by a Humvee flanked by a running security escort. Entwistle swiped the card and planted his fingerprint on the scanner to open the building. “I feel like I’m in a Dr. No movie,” he said.

Calgary MLA Ron Stevens welcomed the centre, noting that Alberta has one of the most advanced telecommunications systems in the world and is Canada’s most wired province. “By effectively using technology to meet the telecommunications needs of Albertans, TELUS is helping ensure that our province has a place in this new economy.”

Entwistle said the aggressive path taken by TELUS in the past 12 months, which includes seven major acquisitions including Clearnet and Internet service provider PSINet, has helped catapult the company into a leadership position in a market currently contested by rivals Bell, AT&T and Sprint Canada.

“We now lead that industry. We have the largest revenue base, the highest revenue per customer,” he said.

Web hosting across Canada and the U.S. is an attractive multi-billion dollar market, he added. “We want a big chunk of that market, and we’re seeking to dominate the market within the Canadian marketplace.”

While Bell Intrigna may have nabbed the Alberta government contract to build the SuperNet, TELUS intends to watch over its own back yard, Entwistle vowed.

“We still have an excellent relationship with the government of Alberta, we do over $50 million in business with them. And TELUS, in terms of expansion, has won many more contracts in central Canada than we’ve lost out in the West. It’s not a close call.”