PCCW expands coverage of data centre services business through new global alliance

PCCW Solutions, the information-technology services arm of Richard Li Tzar-kai’s PCCW Group, has extended the reach of its data centre business into more than 40 cities around the world through a major international alliance.

“We’re providing a partnership that would make it easier for our customers in Asia to have the required connectivity and service-level agreements they need to do business across the globe,” Ramez Younan, the managing director of PCCW Solutions, told the South China Morning Post ahead of that initiative’s launch Friday.

The new “D-Infinitum Global Data Center Alliance”, which has commenced operations, comprise a network of more than 80 data centres located in Hong Kong, mainland China, Australia, France, Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium, the United States and Canada.

Data centres are secure, temperature-controlled facilities built to house large-capacity servers and data storage systems, and feature multiple power sources and high-bandwidth internet connections.

These facilities are largely used to host cloud computing operations. Cloud services enable companies to buy, lease or sell software and other digital resources online, just like electricity from a power grid.

“PCCW Solutions together with the D-Infinitum partners intend to provide a full suite of hosting and co-location services ... providing a one-stop hub for clients’ global hosting needs,” Younan said.

Previously, companies with global hosting needs would negotiate with multiple data centre services providers, and get into complex, time-consuming negotiations with differing capability and quality standards.

The D-Infinitum partners include US-based Cascade Divide, New Continuum and Zayo Group, CentriLogic of Canada, Docklands Data Centre in Britain, Australian firm edgeDC and Hydro66 in Sweden.

PCCW Solutions runs seven data centres in Hong Kong and one in Guangzhou. The company, which had total revenue of HK$3.59 billion last year, has a license to operate data centres across mainland China, according to Younan.

Research firm Gartner predicted global demand for information technology services to reach US$929 billion this year, up 2 per cent from US$910 billion last year.

“The need to invest in IT to support digital business is more urgent than ever,” Gartner vice-president John-David Lovelock said in a recent report.

PCCW Solutions expected other partners to join D-Infinitum in future.