Southeast Asia as a powerhouse

A report by Cushman & Wakefield estimates that the Southeast Asia Datacenter market is set to achieve a Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 13% in the years 2019 to 2024. The region is projected to achieve accelerated growth in the market as more companies are choosing to develop datacenters in Southeast Asia. Asia-Pacific as a whole, is on track to lead the datacenter market by 2021 with a total market size estimated at US$28 billion. 

Malaysian-based and Japanese-owned company, Regal Orion Bhd Sdn., is in the process of building a US$290m Green Datacenter in Labu, Negeri Sembilan. The datacenter facility will occupy 11,520 square metres of space, and host up to 4,064 racks. Essentially making it the largest facility to be housed within a single site in Southeast Asia. 

Datacenter firm DCI Indonesia, has also begun construction of its third datacenter facility called JK3 in Cibitung, West Java in Indonesia. Toto Sugiri, CEO of DCI, shared that “DCI is ready to become a pioneer who presents the largest hyperscale datacenter facility in Indonesia,”. Furthermore, Indonesia’s stellar growth as a young market is capped off by NTT Communications Corporation, announcing the development of a new datacenter campus at Bekasi, Indonesia.

The greater need for an improved IT infrastructure is driven by the potential for rapid digital economic growth. The ever-increasing development of datacenters in Indonesia is a testament to the improved IT ecosystem. With an enhanced IT infrastructure, companies can depend on reliable and stable data access and ramp up service delivery. 

With its developed infrastructure and vibrant business climate, Singapore is the natural choice for Facebook as their entry point into the Southeast Asian Datacenter Market. This new datacenter will be the first to incorporate the new StatePoint Liquid Cooling system, an innovation targeted at the minimisation of water and power consumption. Additionally, Singapore’s scarcity of land resources was central in Facebook’s datacenter high-rise design, reducing urban sprawl, and maximising land. These innovative approaches signal new paths of growth in mature markets. 

Hosting powerhouse of data

Singapore is projected to lead APAC growth well into 2024, outpacing North America. Considering the land-scare nature of Singapore, Jakarta and Malaysian are next in line for a massive uptick in datacenter growth. Industry giants such as Huawei, Alibaba, and Microsoft are already investing in these countries as a recognition of their market potential.

As its market position evolves, Malaysia will be the beneficiary of green technology becoming the pillar of datacenter design. As the notoriously energy inefficient processes of Datacenters get addressed in more mature markets, an emerging market like Malaysia stands to gain from this new call to action. The abundance of hydro-resources and its geographic nature as a peninsula makes it an ideal candidate for sub-sea cables.

With over 22 cables connected in close proximity to Singapore, Malaysia is seen as a major contender in the region. Malaysia’s public and private sectors, are keen to promote digital transformation through effective strategic partnerships with global and local datacenter vendors. The government of Malaysia is focused on upgrading the telecommunications and network infrastructure to improve readiness for hyperscale datacenters. Considering business continuity plans are already central in rising and mature datacenter markets, the region looks set to achieve healthy growth in the foreseeable future. 

The rapidly changing landscape of Southeast Asia’s Datacenter industry opens the playing field to new entrants, and international heavyweights. W.Media’s series of Cloud and Datacenter Conventions throughout the region, focuses precisely on the vast growth opportunities available. The Conventions are tailored to be country-specific yet fully designed to carve out and capitalize on the local market’s international standing.  Reach out to our consultants to best meet your business and marketing interests. 

Be part of the latest developments in Cloud and Datacenters:

• Malaysia Cloud & Datacenter Convention, Kuala Lumpur – 27th February 2020 
• South Korea Cloud & Datacenter Convention, Seoul – 12th March 2020
• Vietnam Cloud & Datacenter Convention, Hanoi – 8th April 2020
• Philippines Cloud & Datacenter Convention, Manila – 14th May 2020
• Singapore Cloud & Datacenter Convention – 16th July 2020
• Vietnam Cloud & Datacenter Convention, Ho Chi Minh – 27th August 2020 
• Indonesia Cloud & Datacenter Convention, Jarkata – 24th September 2020 
• Thailand Cloud & Datacenter Convention, Bangkok – 4th November 2020

Opiah, Abigail, and Antony Savvas. “Regal Orion to Build $289.8m Green Data Centre in Malaysia.” Data Economy, 3 May 2019, data-economy.com/regal-orion-to-build-289-8m-green-data-centre-in-malaysia/.

Opiah, Abigail, and Antony Savvas. “DCI Indonesia Begins Building Its Third Data Centre Facility.” Data Economy, 18 Nov. 2019, data-economy.com/dci-indonesia-begins-building-its-third-data-centre-facility/.

Kwang, Kevin. “Facebook to Build First Asian Data Centre in Singapore, Investing S$1.4 Billion.” CNA, 6 Sept. 2018, www.channelnewsasia.com/news/technology/facebook-data-centre-singapore-jobs-asia-10688962.

The inaugural Thailand Cloud & Datacenter Convention (THCDC 2019) organised by W.Media was held at Sofitel Bangkok Sukhumvit on 6 November 2019. The event welcomed over 750 attendees, 30 technology showcase and 30 expert speakers from all over the world. It was a comprehensive experience for the industry as the event covered key themes, including connectivity, data centres development, cybersecurity and cloud, which are essential to the industry’s growth.

Thailand Cloud & Datacenter Convention 2019 – Plenary Hall

Kick-off

As the morning buzz around the entire expo area reached incredible decibels, the plenary session began with Vincent Liew, the Director of W.Media, who showed appreciation to OpenTec on their contribution to the convention.

Up next, the Guest of Honour Dr Yuttasart, the Vice President of CAT Telecom representing Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (MDES) and Digital Economy Promotion Agency (depa) delivered a short presentation addressing Thailand Government’s Initiatives to Drive Digitalisation in Thailand. MDES plays a crucial role in driving digitalisation in Thailand through its framework and plans of Thailand 4.0.

He further revealed current projects that depa and MDES have been developing such as Net Pracharat (Village Broadband Internet Project), Asean Digital Hub (International Network Infrastructure), Digital Park Thailand, GDCC (Government Data Center and Cloud Service), GBDi (Government Big Data Institute) and Smart Cities. The goal of the government is to have 100 Smart Cities in 70 provinces including Bangkok within the next two years.   

With regards to the newly released laws, Dr Yuttasart further explained on The Cybersecurity Act B.E. 2562 (2019) and Personal Data Protection Law B.E. 2562 (2019). The Cybersecurity Act aims to secure national security in cyberspace, governing both public and private sector databases and information. The Personal Data Protection Law aims to protect individual rights and personal data. PDPA came into effect since 28 May 2019 except for provisions under Chapters 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7, and Sections 95 and 96, which are the operative provisions.  These operative provisions will come into force after a grace period of one year from the publication date, and that will be on 27 May 2020.

The debates

Unique to W.Media, the plenary hall commenced with an exciting debate. Opening Debate on “Is Thailand still apt to be the Connectivity Hub of Indochina?” was joined by Tanat Sangkasem, Chief Technology Officer of True Internet Data Center, Sean Bergin, Co-Founder & President of APTelecom, Wong Ka Vin Managing Director of DC1st, and Clement Goh, CEO of ST Telemedia Global Data Centres. The session was moderated by Toni Eid, Editor In Chief of Telecom Review International. 

Highlights

-Bergin mentioned that to be a good hub, 3 main things have to be present in a country or region, which would be good connectivity, good and friendly regulatory environment and also good market rate to encourage investment and people to be part of the hub.

-Sangkasem was confident that Thailand is ready to be the hub as they are officially launching 5G next year. He added that there is also enough manpower and space for Thailand to grow further as a hub among all other key players of the industry. 

-Goh and Bergin agreed that Singapore has been established as the Digital/Internet Hub of the region and due to that, traffic from Thailand still heads towards Singapore till it is redirected up north, thus increasing the latency time. 

-Goh highlighted that the most important part of being a hub would be being the coastal city for laying subsea cables which Thailand clearly is.

-Kavin contested with a different viewpoint that being a hub is no longer relevant as its importance has been superseded by becoming a mega city. Being a megacity creates interconnection between city thus placing Thailand in a good economic state. This alone would attract many key players to enter the Thailand marketplace. 

-The panel were divided in their opinions of whether Thailand’s technology landscape is suitable for OTT players to make Thailand as their primary location for their infrastructure and digital services for the region. Those who contested find that the current internet cost in Thailand is significantly higher than its ASEAN neighbours, causing it not to be the primary option. 

Opening debate session : From Left to Right – Toni Eid, CEO of Telecom Review, Sean Bergin, CO-Founder & President of APTelecom, Tanat Sangkasem, CTO of True Internet Data Center, Clement Goh, CEO of ST Telemedia Global Data Centers (Asean), Wong Ka Vin, Managing Director of DC1st 

The plenary hall adjourned with a Closing debate “The new Cybersecurity Bill passed by the Thailand Government – beneficial or a threat?”, joined by Narudom Roongsiriwong, Senior Vice President and Head of IT Security of Kiatnakin Bank and member of CSA, Dr Tan Kian Hua, CISO of Insyghts Security Pte Ltd, Anthony Lim, Regional Principal Consultant of Fortinet and finally the Moderator: Supparat Sivapetchranat Singhara na Ayutthaya, CEO of ST Telemedia Global Data Centres Thailand. 

Highlights

-The moderator Supparat explained on the Cybersecurity Act by highlighting two key points. If there is any info or data deemed to be a threat, the government has an authority to request access to the particular data and hardware the organisation is using. Second, this act focuses on all industries and mainly on banking, logistics and key government industries. Everything other than retail will be under this act. 

-Similar act has been established in several ASEAN countries. The act can even be deemed as a necessary measure. Cybersecurity as a whole has no borders and it is good to see common defence action. 

-The panelists unanimously voted that malware would be the immediate threat that everyone needs to keep a lookout as they are capable of existing undetected for a long time while collecting data. Building the first line of defence by having a firewall and training the team to be more adept are essential steps of cybersecurity. 

The Expo – the cloud and data centre marketplace in Thailand

The expo started early at 8am with senior IT professionals enjoying a variety of the latest cloud and data centre technologies.

Technology showcase by TCC Technology Group

The technology bench in the expo featured 10 minute rapid-fire technology demonstrations and presentations during coffee breaks and lunch. Delegates learnt about various new technologies and innovations in a short space of time. 

Technology Bench and Private Workshop: 

Technology bench session by Mathias Wernitz from STULZ GmbH

The expo welcomed a new feature, the Plug-In DC, which was built up by SITEM, a renowned data centre engineering company in Thailand. The Plug-In DC featured modern innovations of a live data centre such as: 

1.Cold Aisle Containment system

2.Wireless Power & Environmental Monitoring system

3.Automatic airflow controls system

4.Water mist system for data center

5.Smart city management operating system

6.STULZ Nano DC and Micro Dc

Deeper engagement with the VIPs

An exclusive private luncheon welcomed the top 20 VIPs of Thailand Cloud & Datacenter Convention 2019. Participants discussed about their upcoming data centre projects and learnt from the vast experience Schneider Electric has in data centre refurbishment and upgrades.

Schneider Electric Private Lunch Workshop by Abhay Ghosalkar, head data center application center of Schneider Electric

Finale

With strong beliefs in the importance of networking amongst senior IT professionals, W.Media concluded the inaugural Thailand Cloud & Datacenter Convention with refreshments and hors d’oeuvres. Starline and Wyndham Hotels & Resorts contributed to the finale lucky draws, drawing the convention to a perfect end.

Ng Kim Yong, Regional Manager of Starline, presenting the Grand Draw of an Apple Watch to the winner

With that, W.Media completed its 2019 CDC series, with successful runs in S. Korea, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand. The calendar for 2020 CDC series has been launched with new location, the Philippines. Having travelled and conversed with senior professionals in the emerging markets, I can affirm that any business that is serious about expanding into these markets must invest significantly in building relationships and educating the marketplace. For further information, you may visit https://w.media/events/ or email partner@w.media. 

W.Media (Singapore), in collaboration with OPEN-TEC and 17 enterprises in Asia, has launched THCDC 2019, with aim to attract business opportunities and tech knowledge into Thailand, as well as strengthen Thai IT infrastructure.

BANGKOK, Thailand, September 24th, 2019 – OPEN-TEC (Thai tech platform) and WMedia Pte. Ltd. (W.Media) (Singapore platform) reached a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in July, 2019 to foster collaboration in Cross Country Tech Knowledge Base. Execution has been initiated in a form of the event “Thailand Cloud & Datacenter Convention 2019” (THCDC 2019), to be held on November 6th, 2019 at Sofitel Bangkok Sukhumvit. The objective of this joint project is to promote technology ecosystem collaboration among members in ASEAN from both platforms. The four major mutual interests include Cross-Border Activities, Cross-Ecosystem, Cross-Platform, and Cross-Media. 

This joint convention aims to highlight Thailand as an emerging key market that plays an important role in driving economic growth, and as an ideal digital hub in ASEAN. With its 17 sponsors and supportive strategic partners in Thailand and ASEAN, W.Media will gather key players and providers in the industries to share insights about cloud, data center, cybersecurity, and technology trends in the digital era, to develop solid foundations in term of infrastructure, technology and workforce in accordance with digital economy. Mr. Vincent Liew, Founder and Director of W.Media from Singapore, shared his vision for the technology demand in the future. “Infrastructure investments by data center operators, OTT providers, cloud service providers, Gaming, Banking and Finance and Government sectors, for example, are being driven by ever-increasing demand for low latency connectivity, storage capacity and computing power via mission critical cloud-based applications,” he said.

According to a study by Frost & Sullivan, global traffic between data centers will grow by 28% annually between 2018 and 2021, a higher growth rate than the traffic between data centers and the users, which is projected at 24%. This trend has been driven by CDNs and the need to disseminate large volumes of static content closer to the user, such as images and video. The ASEAN data center market is set to grow at a CAGR of 16.1% over the next 5 years. Emerging markets, Indonesia and Thailand, are expected to be key growth engines in ASEAN. 

This resonates with Thailand’s push for Industry 4.0 across multiple industries including manufacturing, logistics, tourism and more. The route to digital transformation by corporations in Thailand aims to cope with changing customer behavior and intense competition from global players. To support digitization, corporations will need to focus on building a strong and agile IT infrastructure, leading to the need for cutting edge strategy and technologies in cloud, data centers, and connectivity.

“W.Media is a global marketing agency that specializes in the cloud and data center industry. Its flagship series of Cloud & Datacenter Conventions (CDC) span across ASEAN and South Korea, and have witnessed strong growth in key markets, including Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam. The success of W.Media lies with its strong connections and understanding of the industry, which enable it to build market confidence of global business and infrastructure leaders in locations where CDCs are,” Vincent Liew said.

On behalf of OPEN-TEC (Tech Knowledge Sharing Platform), which is inspired by TCC Technology, Mrs. Waleeporn Sayasit, TCCtech Corporate Communications Director, stated that “Cloud & Datacenter Convention Thailand 2019 emphasizes the continuity of collaboration. We OPEN-TEC are very honored to be part of THCDC 2019 to attract valuable knowledge into Thailand, and to welcome the regional networking community that aims to work together to strengthen the business and technology workforce in Thailand. Nowadays, each country seeks the global partnership in order to collaborate, co-create projects to amplify the positive effects on the industries, and finally contribute sustainable society. I believe that the international knowledge sharing and learning convention is one of the most important tools to contribute to well-rounded and sustainable business development in our region.”

Thailand Cloud & Datacenter Convention (THCDC) will be the first ever global vendor-neutral convention for the cloud and data center professionals and businesses in Thailand. There will be over 700 senior professionals, business leaders and investors, with more than 30% flying in from the region to attend the convention. THCDC will serve as a catalyst to increase trade through highlighting of opportunities in Thailand, and through the building of an ecosystem by gathering key stakeholders, including corporate and government representatives, leading TELCOs, cloud and data center providers, and trade associations. THCDC will also delve into the recent Cybersecurity Act, which is the latest in a wave of new laws in ASEAN that assert government control over the internet. Similar laws have been enacted in Indonesia and Vietnam which contribute to the significant rise of local cloud and data center adoption by both international and local corporations.

This was the ambitious topic which we panelists joined at the Indonesia Cloud and Data Centre convention organized by W Media.

The panelists consisted of

-H. Sukamta, DPR (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat)
-Thomas Kyung Joo Suh (Epsilon)
-Alex Budiyanto (Indonesia Cloud Computing Association),
-Theo Nasser ( Right- Hand AI Cybersecurity),
-Nimisha Tailor (Keynote Women Speakers),
-Rudi Rusdiah (ABDI)
-Ajay Sunder (SC-Nex)
And was moderated by Ted Hilbert (Cloudmatika)

It was amazing that we managed to cover a range of topics ranging from digital culture, regulations, connectivity, cybersecurity, talent and more in the 45 minutes allotted.

Some key notes from the discussion:

Regulations
Indonesia is embracing itself for some transformation. This will happen at a regulation level as well. Although there will be a new Cabinet this October but the fundamentals of regulations regarding Indonesia’s digital economy ( OJK – 82 / Others ) has been clarified .

The difference between Data Privacy and data protection should be clearly understood by Indonesian enterprises both wrt implications and impact .Data Privacy is about getting the consent to use data from the user . The user needs to be clear on what purpose will this data be used.Data protection is ensuring control over the location of the data and strict controls to prevent unauthorized access to the data .

As ASEAN countries across ( Thailand , Malaysia , Singapore , Indonesia and others ) introduce and enforce Data privacy laws , key issue will be the extent of harmonization of these laws across the region. This will be important to unlock the benefits of ASEAN as a region so all countries can benefit from this .

Another discussion point was the new tax law on foreign tech companies which was announced a day before and the impact it will have on the Digital economy.

https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/indonesia-plans-tax-overhaul-to-make-tech-firms-pay-vat

Cybersecurity
Indonesian enterprises are still not that concerned /aware on the risks from under-investing in Cyber-security . It is important for CIOs to realize it is not a question of “If but When“” . Indonesian enterprises need a back up plan and constant monitoring to ensure they are aware of the vulnerabilities and are constantly assessing and trying to bridge the gaps in the Network to the extent possible.

Connectivity
Indonesia given the geographical complexity is a challenge wrt Connectivity. The telcos are doing a reasonably good job but the enterprise grade connectivity is still a challenge beyond the major cities.

New solutions like SD-WAN may be important for the CIOs to start evaluating to accelerate the Digital transformation

Talent
Pak Alex highlighted some new initiatives wrt scholarships which have been announced to better match the requirements from the tech industry with the current curriculum . This is essential to produce a future tech workforce which can support the growth of Indonesia’s Digital economy.

Nimisha shared her perspective on what are some of the best practices from other countries and how Indonesia should be embracing a culture of inclusion, mentor-ship and constant training to ensure females are represented well in the new Digital economy.

All in all a great session and was well moderated by the ever cheerful and cogent Ted Hilbert .

Thanks Ted for that and to all the panelists for a great session and to the W Media team for another great event !