Southeast Asia DataCenter and Cloud Congress Unlocks Malaysia as an Ideal Destination for Data Centre Growth

MDeC and global key industry players share insights on the business value of the Malaysian data centre industry within the region

Johor Bahru, 26 March 2014 – The Multimedia Development Corporation today held the Southeast Asia DataCenter and Cloud Congress, featuring key global players from the data centre industry. The congress aims to establish Malaysia as a world class data centre hub with Iskandar Malaysia being one of its primary regions. This is one of the key projects that are part of Malaysia’s Economic Transformation Programme (ETP).

Now in its third iteration, the two-day event highlights Asia Pacific as a growing region for the data centre industry while showcasing Malaysia’s potential as a preferred data centre destination. MDeC, working with the Iskandar Regional Development Authority is confident that Iskandar Malaysia can become the region’s data center hub due to a number of factors such as infrastructure, talent, and geography.

Datuk Badlisham Ghazali, Chief Executive Officer of MDeC said, “Creating and enhancing the data centre industry is an integral part of Malaysia's digital economy aspirations. Our nation’s data centre industry continues on an upward trend, recording over RM630 million in revenue in 2013, a 40% increase from the previous year. With such positive growth within a short period of time, we are confident of Malaysia achieving the world class data centre hub status by 2020”

He added, “As the lead agency for this project, MDeC’s role is to boost the marketability of our data centre infrastructure and service providers through various platforms. This increases the opportunity for industry players to showcase their services and value propositions. We are currently spearheading the establishment of data centre parks, with Cyberjaya and Iskandar Malaysia earmarked as locations for these new facilities.”

There are now 23 data centre providers in Malaysia under the ETP’s Entry Point Project 3 (EPP3), which generated RM630 million in revenues for the year 2013, surpassing the targeted projection of RM563 million by 12%.

2013 was a good year for the data centre industry – it attained five more International Data Centre Organisational Certifications, in addition to the eight certifications that were achieved in the previous year.

The Malaysian Data Centre Directory was also launched in September, as a one-stop guide to Malaysia’s data centre industry players and providers, while October saw the formation of the Malaysian Data Centre Alliance (MDCA). This was a timely effort as it provides the industry with a unified voice and further drives the growth of Malaysian data centre services.

Based on the above initiatives as well as other ongoing activities to support the EPP3’s objective, the data centre industry is set to contribute a total of RM2.462 billion to the country's GNI, RM7 billion in private investments and create 13,290 jobs by 2020. For 2014, the EPP3 is targeting to achieve RM787 million in revenues.

Beyond discussing the growth of the industry in Malaysia, the two-day congress will also look at issues surrounding cloud services, finance and investment, as well as new technological innovation, and data centre megatrends. The line-up of speakers include Datuk Badlisham Ghazali, CEO of MDeC, Steve Wallage, Managing Director of BroadGroup Consulting, Bob Sharon, Founder and CEO of Green Global Solutions, and Markku Lepisto, Technological Evangelist, APAC, and Amazon Web Services amongst other business leaders.

The event sponsors include MDeC, Iskandar Malaysia, Basis Bay, Digital Realty, and Vads Berhad as well as Malaysian Data Center Alliance as the official partner organisation.

For more information on the Southeast Asia Data Center and Cloud Congress, please visit http://www.datacentersasia.com