Shaw Communications’ move to take control of its distribution network by launching a flagship Internet Data Centre in Calgary is major milestone in its efforts to beef up its high-speed service, says company CEO Jim Shaw.

Part of a $330-million investment towards ensuring greater reliability for Shaw customers following recent service hassles with the California-based Excite@Home network, the new $56-million centre is now Canada’s largest with a storage capacity for 32 billion e-mails, 1.6 million accounts and the ability for 50,000 simultaneous connections.

Larry MacDougal, Business Edge
Premier Ralph Klein helps launch the new Shaw Internet Data Centre in Calgary, assisted by company CEO Jim Shaw.

“We wanted to ensure if there was a mistake, or a problem, that we could fix it right away or handle it ourselves. And that’s why we went ahead,” said Jim Shaw.

“We were having server problems. And @Home serves all the cable companies in the U.S., and in turn the load for them was too much. It was time to bring it back home.”

The operations centre hub for the new IDC is located at Shaw headquarters at 630 3rd Ave. S.W., while the actual centre, which holds more than 400 kilometres of fibre and full back-up and redundancy systems, is located at an undisclosed suburban location in Calgary for security reasons.

“I think we’re getting a taste of the beginning of the communication revolution of the 21st Century,” said Premier Ralph Klein, who was on hand for the opening ceremonies July 25.

Shaw Communications president Peter Bissonette said the Calgary hub will manage the entire network and data centre, although smaller regional centres under construction in Vancouver, Kelowna, Edmon-ton and Winnipeg will also be interconnected through the company’s backbone.

“What we’ve done today is to raise the bar in terms of performance. We want to be number one,” he added. “To do that, you have to put your money where your mouth is. And $300 million is an investment that we’re absolutely confident will translate into ability to grow more services and provide more services, and to develop content if necessary.”

Shaw currently has more than 525,000 Shaw@Home customers, and plans to expand the subscriber base to more than a million by the end of the year.

New customers will be provided directly with e-mail service using an @shaw.ca address. Jim Shaw noted that the centre gives Shaw the ability to control and develop its own infrastructure. “If we’re going to sell you a product that costs $40 a month, we’d better deliver,” he said.