NTT unveils Hong Kong's first 'financial data centre'

NTT Communications, the information technology services arm of Japanese firm Nippon Telegraph and Telephone, expects to buttress Hong Kong's position as an international financial centre with the opening yesterday of its new HK$3 billion data centre in Tseung Kwan O.

Takanobu Maeda, president and chief executive of NTT Com Asia, the regional subsidiary of NTT, said the complex was Hong Kong's first "financial data centre" consisting of high-performance infrastructure designed to meet the requirements of financial services providers and information technology companies.

The facility is the largest and most advanced data centre investment by NTT, which operates more than 140 sites around the world. Its other Hong Kong data centre locations are located in Kwai Chung and Tai Po.

A data centre is a secure and temperature-controlled facility equipped to house large-capacity server computers and data-storage systems. They are maintained by multiple power sources and have high-bandwidth internet connections.

Brandon Lee Ming-fai, the chief strategy officer at NTT Com Asia, said the new NTT financial data centre was Hong Kong's first such facility with a so-called Tier-IV rating. The rating is the highest industry certification possible. It is given to places that can host critical computer systems in such a way as to be safe from earthquake, leak or fire.

The NTT complex is for two data centre towers and a command building. It contains space for more than 6,000 racks of servers.