14 January 2014 - Speech by Ms Jaqueline Poh, Managing Director, IDA Singapore, at the Opening of Pacnet's SGC2 Data Centre 14 Jan 2014, Tuesday, 11.00am.
Speech by Ms Jaqueline Poh, Managing Director, IDA Singapore, at the Opening of Pacnet's SGC2 Data Centre 14 Jan 2014, Tuesday, 11.00am
Mr Carl Grivner, CEO of PacNet
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
1. I am pleased to join you today at the opening of PacNet's new Cloudspace 2 Data Centre. We welcome PacNet's setting up of one of its flagship data centres in Singapore to serve its customers not only here but also around the Asia-Pacific region. The addition of this data centre is testimony to Singapore's growing reputation as one of the key data centre hubs in the world.
2. Exponential growth in IT applications and the increasing prevalence of high-speed fibre connectivity has led to more demands for data storage and data centre construction is healthy. According to a Frost & Sullivan report on the Asia-Pacific Data Centre Services Market, the Singapore market is expected to more than double from US$223 million in 2010 to US$550 million in 2017, at a compound annual growth rate of 13.8 per cent.
3. Singapore prides itself on being a good place to locate high-end data storage facilities. We are recognised by the World Bank as being one of the easiest and the most conducive places to do business. More than 7,000 MNCs base themselves here to reach half the world's population within a seven-hour flight radius. Many use Singapore as a regional hub to support their expanding business in Asia. Data centres serve a critical function for their businesses.
4. Singapore is the hub of Asia for Internet connectivity with an extensive network of submarine cable systems connecting us to all the key global markets. Within Singapore, the Next Generation Nationwide Broadband Network offers ultra high speed fibre broadband connectivity of up to 1Gbps to 95% of homes and businesses in Singapore. The NextGen NBN supports the development and delivery of innovative interactive digital services to homes, schools and businesses. For businesses, the high speed fibre network is expected to lower domestic connectivity charges for data centres and boost productivity.
5. Safety and security is another reason for companies to site their data storage needs here. Digital Realty's report last year showed that 67% of respondents considered Singapore the preferred locale for their companies to base their data centre needs due to security. Singapore is not placed near a plate boundary, reducing our risk to earthquakes, a key consideration for companies when sourcing for locations to site data centres.
6. As Singapore's commercial data centre space is projected to increase by 50% from 2010 to 2015, it is important to look at how to make our data centres more green and sustainable, given their reputation as heavy users of power. It is estimated that a typical large data centre in Singapore consumes energy equivalent to 10,000 households. Energy cost for data centres is also currently estimated to make up 50% of operating costs. With the potential savings for green data centres, we have noticed tremendous efforts being made by equipment manufacturers and the data centre industry to innovate so as to reduce power consumption. Last year, the jointly-developed BCA-IDA Green Mark for New Data Centres was introduced to encourage data centres to adopt these energy-efficient designs, technologies and systems during the planning and design phase. I am pleased to note that PacNet has designed its data centre in accordance to the Green Mark scheme.
7. I also congratulate PacNet's data centre for being certified as Tier 3 by the Uptime Institute, making it the first data centre in Singapore to obtain this certification. This certification-which promises a more than 99% uptime and availability even when the infrastructure needs to undergo maintenance-is especially important for clients with mission critical IT application needs.
Conclusion
8. To close, I would like to congratulate PacNet again on this occasion of its flagship new data centre and commend you for your commitment in contributing to the data centre and cloud ecosystem in Singapore.
9. Thank you.
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