Savvis to boost online presence of global brands on mainland
Savvis' data centre in Hong Kong will help global brands reach their mainland customers
International data centre operator Savvis aims to support the online marketing activities of global brands on the mainland through its new "virtual hosting" service in Hong Kong.
This initiative marks the Missouri-based information technology services provider's sharpened focus on business opportunities on the mainland, the world's largest internet market. The mainland had 538 million internet users at the end of June.
"Chief marketing officers know that mainland China is one of the most desirable markets in the world, but complicated regulations and other issues prevent their e-commerce sites, online product promotions and other web content from reaching this coveted audience," said Mark Smith, the managing director for Asia at Savvis.
Smith cited a recent study by Canadian firm Strangeloop Networks, which found that the websites of major luxury brands took more than 16 seconds on average to download by mainland internet users.
About 80 per cent of consumers leave a site that took more than three seconds.
"Many brands tried to bypass these latency issues in the international network connection by hosting their content within the market, only to find the process of securing a local-hosting licence onerous," Smith said.