GTower, Malaysia’s first Grade A++ development chooses 3Com’s Intelligent Building Solutions to power its ICT connectivity

MALAYSIA – 16 September 2008 – GTower Sdn. Bhd. today announced that is has sealed a strategic business relationship with 3Com Corporation, a leading global provider of secure converged networking (SCN) solutions for enterprises of all sizes. GTower Sdn Bhd has specially selected 3Com’s power-efficient networking solutions as part of the design of its new world-class and eco-friendly GTower.

“GTower is Goldis’ latest investment initiative and is the first and only Malaysian corporate office to be rated Grade A++, with one plus for achieving an international “environment-friendly” standard from Singapore’s prestigious Building & Construction Authority (BCA) Green Mark GOLD certification (provisional) and another plus for Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) compliant building and connectivity specifications,” said Colin Ng, Director, GTower Sdn Bhd.

“We started this green and intelligent initiative some three years ago, whilst the building concept was still evolving. In light of the recent electricity price rises, our green investment will see much faster payback. We are therefore very proud and honoured that our efforts have been recognized by the Building and Construction Authority of Singapore in March 2008 with a Green Mark Gold (provisional) award,” added Ng.

GTower is a unique development integrating offices, hotel and club – comprising 120,000 square feet of open office space, a 180-room five-star boutique hotel, 112 CEO duplex office suites ranging in size from 2,500 sq ft to 7,200 sq ft, and stylish club facilities, food and beverage and recreational facilities.

Added Ng, “GTower integrates these elements to provide a more holistic and better working environment for temporary, short-term and long-term business people.”

What are most compelling about GTower are the unique CEO duplex offices, which offers a new work concept for the 21st century. These suites are meticulously designed to allow CEOs or other top managers enjoy the ultimate luxury and comfort in a technology-driven and high-security environment.

GTower has been designed to provide energy and water efficiency, good indoor environment quality and protection. It will be the first “carbon positive” building in Malaysia, cutting carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere.

GTower’s intelligent building infrastructure also includes fully redundant fiber-optic and Cat 6 cable for connectivity, IP-based intelligent applications, a dedicated data centre and 24/7 on site technical support. GTower will showcase the latest smart card and RFID technologies, as well as true multimedia convergence for IPTV, video on demand, data services, IP telephony and other IP based applications. It will be a building ahead of its time, on par with the best in the world.

The deployment of the 3Com Intelligent Building Solutions (3CiBS) forms the backbone and platform for these IP-based applications. 3CiBS will help to reduce power consumption and carbon emissions, whilst providing optimal power and networking capacity. In addition to having the highest fabric capacity per watt in the industry and being up to 60 percent more energy-efficient than its competitors – according to a recent report by independent research firm In-Stat – 3Com’s network switches come standard with ‘green’ power adaptors that have 90 percent power conversion efficiency.

3Com’s ‘Green’ Solutions for GTower
The 3CiBS deployment at GTower includes two 3Com® Switch 7900E core modular chassis switches that support 10-Gigabit switching performance and IPv4 and IPv6 routing capabilities together with integrated power over Ethernet (PoE) and advanced security features that enable secure converged applications.

Other network components include 3Com Switch 5500G and Switch 4800G distribution switches; a bank of 37 3Com Switch 5500 access switches and a 3Com Router 6080 modular router. These products deliver Gigabit-speed connectivity in a secure enterprise environment.

Secure wireless connectivity is provided by 40 3Com Wireless LAN Managed Access Point 3750 access points and 3Com’s wireless management solutions. These secure wireless offerings will enable the detection and location of rogue access points, ad-hoc networks and other radio frequency interferences on an individual or per-group basis at GTower.

Security at GTower will be further bolstered by 3Com’s TippingPoint Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS) and 3Com’s TippingPoint Security Management System, which will manage and control 25 IPS. TippingPoint IPS provides continuous protection against service-impairing security breaches and distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks.

Together, the 3CiBS installation at GTower not only delivers the high speed and high security to meet GTower’s requirements; it also provides a robust, power-efficient network infrastructure that is ideal for this ‘green’ and ‘smart’ building.

Picking Only The Best
GTower evaluated solutions from a number of networking vendors and eventually selected 3Com because its LAN switches are the most energy efficient available in the market and its technology support, development and upgrade roadmaps are expected to ensure long-term investment protection for GTower.

“For GTower tenants, the energy-saving measures and plug-and-play infrastructure of the 3Com Intelligent Building Solutions offers a pay-per-use model ultimately resulting in greater savings,” said Ng. By reducing electricity consumption, 3Com’s technology helps businesses reduce capital and operating expenditures.

“3Com is proud to partner with GTower in setting the benchmark for sustainable development in the commercial sector in Malaysia,” said Marcus Lai, country manager, 3Com Malaysia. “3Com’s green strategy is well aligned with businesses’ requirements for keeping IT power consumption down as a cost-cutting measure as well as an act of corporate social responsibility, especially in light of the rising global energy costs.”