CARDIFF is now home to one of the most advanced Internet data centres in the world.

BT's £90 million flagship centre at Celtic Gateway Business Park has been completed on schedule a year after First Minister Rhodri Morgan got work at the site under way.

Mr Morgan described the project at the time as "one of the biggest and most significant infrastructure investments in Wales in years".

Last week he returned to declare the centre open and unveiled a sculpture near the entrance made by Newport artist Brian Hughes.

The 60,000 sq ft facility accommodates 250 skilled staff and is the latest in a 22-centre BT worldwide network.

It boasts high-level security including iris scanning and car number plate recognition systems.

Extensive measures have been taken to guard against power failure.

The building receives two independent national grid power supplies and has five back-up generators with sufficient on-site reserves to power 30,000 homes for a week.

This data centre Mr Morgan said: "The Data Centre will give Wales the high-tech infrastructure so essential for attracting the international knowledge-based companies we need and for home-grown businesses to develop to their full potential.

"The Assembly played a key role in the development of this facility through Regional Selective Assistance (RSA)."

BT's existing data centre in Stadium House, Cardiff, was opened in 1996 but has rapidly outgrown its site because of the huge growth of the internet and demand for related services such as web and content hosting, web design and data management.

Chief executive of BT, Retail Pierre Danon, said the company's decision to build the new data centre in Cardiff underlined BT's commitment to Wales.

"The skills and expertise of our people in Cardiff and the support of the Welsh Assembly and the WDA were key factors in our decision to locate the centre here.

"Wales now has one of the most modern data centres anywhere in the world, delivering a world-class service to our customers and providing the highest possible standards of security in a vibrant capital city.

"This has to be good both for BT and Wales plc."