The Asian information technology services arm of NTT Communications Corp, a subsidiary of Japanese carrier Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp, will spend HK$3 billion to develop a site in Tseung Kwan O as the largest and most advanced enterprise data centre facility in Hong Kong.
'This is the biggest data centre investment made by NTT outside Japan,' Takanobu Maeda, president and chief executive of NTT Com Asia, said. 'This reflects the huge demand in the market and reaffirms Hong Kong's position as an international financial and telecommunications hub.'
It is also part of a strategic regional network expansion by NTT Com Asia, which is expected to open a new data centre in Vietnam next year and another one in Singapore in 2012.
The company has acquired a plot in Tseung Kwan O that measures 30,000 square metres. It expects to break ground on the site next year and begin operations by early 2013. The new data centre will be NTT Communications' largest-capacity facility outside Japan.
A data centre is a secure, temperature-controlled infrastructure built and equipped to house large-capacity server computers and enterprise data-storage systems, which are maintained with multiple power sources and high-bandwidth links to the internet, and have systems administrators on hand to attend to any issues.
Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia are the leading data centre locations in the Asia-Pacific, according to business research and consulting firm Frost & Sullivan. It forecast revenue from data centre co-location and managed hosting services to enterprises in the region would reach US$10.68 billion next year, up from US$9.18 billion this year and US$8 billion last year.
Brandon Lee, executive vice-president for new business and marketing at NTT Com Asia, said the company's new data centre in Tseung Kwan O was three times larger than its Tai Po facility, which was launched last year.