Outlook of data centre expansion in APAC

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Outlook of data centre expansion in APAC

Last year was an unexpected year for all industries, including the data centre industry in APAC. With the accelerated push towards all things digital, technology players witnessed and will continue to experience exceptional growth. While we are hopefully turning a corner in the fight against COVID-19, investment in digital transformation at the same time will continue to grow at an exponential rate.

On top of that, with the massive shift to both private, public or even hybrid cloud, businesses are leveraging the explosion of data as the new currency that will help them gain a competitive edge in today’s digital driven economy. So where should data centre operators be looking to grow within the region?

Why Southeast Asia is set to be the fastest growing data centre region in APAC

Historically, data centre development in APAC has taken place in Tier 1 markets such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo. These markets account for most of the data centre capacity in APAC, driven by cloud providers that have deployed their infrastructure.

According to a report by Cushman & Wakefield, Southeast Asia (SEA) is one of the fastest growing markets for data centres globally. The overall APAC data centre market size will be worth US$28 billion by 2024, with SEA accounting for an estimated 13% of the region’s total market value.

A closer look at the distribution of data centres in SEA does show a disconnect between capacity and local demand. Tier 1 markets like Singapore, account for over 60% of data centre capacity in SEA despite having only less than 2% of internet users in the region.

However, with an unparalleled acceleration in digital transformation, data centre industry players are facing pressure and the need to expand beyond Tier 1 markets to meet these demands and address existing challenges. Some challenges include land and power constraints and/or increasing regulation – such as sustainability and data sovereignty regulations.

Therefore, Tier 2 markets in SEA with favourable demographics like India, Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand will be the next focus for expansion and explosive growth in APAC. Coupled with the growing appetite for all things digital, the acceleration will create additional attractions to these fast growing data centre markets.

What makes Tier 2 markets so appealing

The key drivers of data centre expansion within Tier 2 markets are twofold. Firstly, the domestic digital demands from Tier 2 markets are exponentially growing, and secondly Tier 2 markets can continue to offer resources such as lands and manpower necessary for data centre developments.

40 million internet users came online in Southeast Asia in 2020, pushing the total number to 400 million. Behind the numbers, there is a pool of young and digital savvy consumers, contributing to a dynamic e-commerce and technology industry and escalating data storage needs. From a talent standpoint, Tier 2 markets will benefit from data centres as well – the digital advancement will help upskill tech personnel and bring new technologies that can be used across other industry sectors.

Additionally, Tier 2 markets have an abundance of landmass for data centre operations to expand, allowing them the physical capabilities to potentially integrate renewable energy technology, which generally requires at least ten times more land area per unit of power produced.

What’s more, as governments in emerging markets are trying to catch up with more advanced economies, they are more open to data centre developments. For instance, Mumbai in India has become one of the most attractive investment destinations for setting up data centres, thanks to the high quality and cost effective infrastructure like stable IT power load, as well as comprehensive ecosystem to serve data.

At the same time, the rising demand for data centres is driven by the desire of cloud service providers to expand geographically, broadening their reach and offering improved performance such as reduced latency to drive data centre demand and gain first mover advantage in tier 2 markets. For example, Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud and other cloud providers have announced new cloud expansion plans in the region, which will contribute to the increasing number of data centres in tier 2 markets.

What are the underlying challenges to expansion

While the growth can be exciting, we cannot lose sight of the potential challenges in these Tier 2 markets. Firstly, for developing economies, uncertainty of political stability, lack of intangible resources such as data centre skillsets as well as limited systems and procedures in place can hinder the expansion. It is crucial for governments to provide regulatory certainty and set out a roadmap for data centre investment that addresses its limitations.

Secondly, sustainability is increasingly becoming a higher priority across the Southeast Asian region, with consumers and regulators alike placing greater emphasis on climate consciousness.

Southeast Asia’s tropical climate is a challenge on data centre’s energy efficiency and the growth of sustainable data centres, as cooling needs represent 35 – 40% of total energy demand to maintain the controlled environment of the servers and IT facilities. Data centre developers will need to rethink the long term sustainability of power supply while ensuring the expansion is meeting future energy demands.

Lastly, industry players need to consider the impact of unstable internet connectivity, power supply or natural disasters that can impact the chances of expansion in shortlisted cities.

At SpaceDC, we have been introducing best practices and cutting edge technologies to the Tier 2 markets. Data centres in these emerging economies should tap into the technological advancements for sustainable growth, especially in today’s digital economy. Having said that, governments also need to support data centre operators with adequate legislation and incentives and establish common sustainability standards within the sector.

As we move forward in the digital age, the data centre sector is a part of broader society and it has the potential to be a force for great good and change, that potential needs to be realised in the face of global disruptions, particularly for Tier 2 markets.

We are excited to see how data centres will progress in APAC, particularly how a more united force of change between each country can benefit the wider economy in the region.

By addressing the key challenges in its infrastructure connectivity and equipping with a deeper understanding of each country’s data centre landscape, Tier 2 markets in APAC will continue to be the hotbed for data centre expansion and will eventually blur the existing tiering system across the region.

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Data Center Tiers — the whole story on these key ratings

June 9, 2021

Why digital connectivity is key to Making Indonesia 4.0

April 30, 2021

Data Center Tiers — the whole story on these key ratings

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Data Center Tiers — the whole story on these key ratings

For an “apples to apples” comparison of data centers, data center tiers are a good place to start. Tier certifications make sure that data centers satisfy clear, comparable criteria. They help you choose the right data center to meet your goals.

Yet tier certification ratings alone only tell you part of the story. True, they let you compare expected uptime between data center facilities. However, availability is only one piece of the puzzle. You also need to know how to align ratings with different types of business.

In this article, we describe tier classification levels. We position them for different needs. As well as telling you what they can do, we also tell you what they cannot do. You get the whole story about the data center tier system and how to choose for your organization.

All about availability

Businesses rely more and more on their data and information systems. Data center availability is a key factor. The time you can survive without your data or systems depends on your type of business. For some, an outage of days or hours might be tenable. For others, even minutes of downtime could be a disaster. Many businesses therefore look to data center operators for uptime guarantees.

But what sort of uptime promise can you get? How can you compare one specification with another? Enter data center tier classification. Using open or industry standard criteria, an independent entity can assess and rate data centers. A data center can then present its rating to users to set their expectations.

An example of such an entity is the Uptime Institute. It has defined its own data center classifications that are divided into four levels or tiers. The tiers define criteria for maintenance, power, cooling, and fault handling. Each tier builds on the tier below, adding stricter criteria. An example of an open standard is ANSI/TIA-924-B. There are similarities between this standard and the Uptime Institute criteria.

Getting certification for a data center can be expensive. This is especially true for higher tiers like Uptime Institute Tier III and Tier IV. Some data centers may simply declare that their facilities have uptime to the same level as a certain tier. For example, “Tier III equivalent”. However, if no official rating exists, users should check for themselves.

Data Center Tiers I to V

The main differences between data center tiers are in uptime, redundancy, and paths for power. For data center operators, added factors are costs and times to implement. Each tier rating is based on the weakest component or system in the data center. The higher the availability required, the higher the cost of the data center facility.

The Uptime Institute tiers for data centers can be summarized as follows.

Tier I

A Tier I data center has an area for IT systems with dedicated cooling. It has an uninterruptable power supply (UPS). It also has an engine generator for power outages. Tier I protects against human error. It does not protect against unexpected failure or downtime. The facility must shut down for maintenance and repairs.

Tier II

A Tier II data center includes Tier I capabilities. It adds redundant power and cooling at the component level. This improves protection against disruptions. Maintenance of components can be done without an entire shutdown. However, failures will affect the system.


Tier III

A Tier III data center builds on Tier II capabilities. It adds distribution path redundancy to the Tier II component redundancy. No shutdowns are needed for maintenance or replacement of equipment. Any part can be shut down without impact on IT operations.


Tier IV

A Tier IV data center adds fault tolerance to the Tier III capabilities. Redundancy comes from independent and physically isolated systems. There will be no disruption from planned or unplanned events. However, if maintenance is in progress, a failure may mean a higher risk of disruption.


Tier V

There is also a Tier V. It has been defined by the service provider Switch. Tier V aims to enhance uptime and reliability for colocation facilities. Tier V data centers must meet all the Tier IV conditions plus other even stricter ones.


Which tier rating is right for my business?

How do tier certification ratings relate to the real world? There are no hard and fast rules. However, the following indications may help.

Tier I

  • Smaller businesses, branch offices.
  • Bricks and mortar businesses or those with a limited online presence.
  • Low reliance on IT like professional service or construction firms.
  • Downtime is unwanted but not a disaster.

Tier II

  • Dependent on phone systems and/or email, like support centers.
  • Use of multiple servers.
  • Physical points of sale, customer relationship management (CRM).
  • Limited, scheduled downtime can be handled.

Tier III

  • Highly dependent on IT and or VoIP phone system.
  • Online business is the biggest source of income.
  • High profile brand, nationwide (worldwide) presence.
  • Enterprise resource planning (ERP), insurance, hospitals, online banking.

Tier IV

  • Multimillion dollar organizations.
  • Critically dependent on IT and/or electronic transactions.
  • Downtime costs are high.
  • Financial securities trading, electronic funds transfer, energy utilities.

Moving from one tier to another means more investment by data center operators. In turn, data center and colocation prices go up for customers. For example, a Tier IV data center may cost twice as much to build as a Tier III data center. Many customers opt for Tier III as a good mix of availability and affordability.

How many nines do you need?

Each of the four data center tiers corresponds to a certain minimum uptime. Or in other words, a certain maximum downtime.

  • Tier I (basic) is 99.671% uptime. This is “two nines” or better. Annual downtime is then 28.8 hours.
  • Tier II (redundant components) is 99.741% uptime. Again, this is “two nines” or better. Annual downtime is 22.0 hours.
  • Tier III (concurrently maintainable) is 99.982% uptime. This is “three nines” or better. Annual downtime is 1.6 hours.
  • Tier IV (fault tolerant) is 99.995% uptime. This is “four nines” or better. Annual downtime is 0.4 hours.

To see how many “nines” you need, start by estimating the cost of downtime to your business. Cost may be financial, as in loss of revenue. However, downtime can also cost you in terms of your reputation. For some organizations, there may be fines for non-compliance. Overall, higher costs of downtime will mean more “nines”.

More uses for data center tier ratings

An operator can use tier standards to drive design of its data center. It is better to include availability while building a facility. Trying to bolt on availability after is harder and riskier. Whichever approach is used, an assessment by a recognized entity is still needed for a rating.

Businesses using data center services can show the rating to their own market. Your clients and partners may even insist on such proof. They want to know that they are not at risk because of a problem with your uptime. Likewise, your stakeholders want to see that you are protecting their investments.

Dealing with collateral impacts

Data center availability costs more than money. It also has an ecological impact. Businesses are under pressure to make their carbon footprint smaller. Stakeholders and governments want to see results. Carbon footprints also extend to partners and suppliers. Businesses cannot pass the buck to their providers. They must be sure that the raw materials and services they use are green as well.

Data centers should strive to be as efficient and as green as possible for a given data center tier certification. Users also need a green approach. Right-sizing of uptime is key. Poor availability can hurt business. On the other hand, uptime specifications that are too high are wasteful.

The Uptime Institute encourages effective and efficient operations. However, its focus is on behaviors and risks in data centers. It is not on carbon footprints. The Tier V standard from Switch is greener. It demands that data centers run on local, renewable energy.

Overall, good design decisions help make data centers and their availability green. Sustainability can rise via the following choices.

  • Efficient cooling air distribution, heat removal, and water saving. This cuts down on waste.
  • Smaller carbon footprint of power generators.
  • High density racks for lower overall power and cooling needs.
  • Better power usage effectiveness (PUE). A lower PUE is more efficient and economical.

SpaceDC builds data centers that are sustainable as well as available. Our company focuses on the low-carbon factors listed. At the same time, we achieve Uptime Institute rating certifications for our data centers internationally.

What tier ratings do not do

Tier ratings help to compare data center uptimes. However, they do not cover all uptime factors. Local geography and weather are examples. So are security, staffing, and compute infrastructure. These items can also affect availability over the short or long term. So, while making the most of tier certifications, it also pays to check the following.

  • Protection against natural disasters. Regional storms and floods are classic cases. Check that the data center you want to use is properly disaster proofed.
  • Security at multiple levels to prevent breaches and downtime. Staff to deal immediately with any incidents. Industry threat and vulnerability risk assessment (TVRA) standards apply. Security should meet these standards as a minimum.
  • Expert onsite support to help customers with uptime related tasks. These include IT asset deliveries, installs, compliance, updates, and audits.
  • Hardware technology, flexibility, and innovation. These help to meet new compute demands quickly and efficiently with the right uptime.
  • The right data center availability for you today must also be the right one for you tomorrow. SpaceDC ensures that its data centers continually conform to all the uptime requirements listed above.

Official data center tier ratings help you to see what uptime you can expect from a data center, and therefore, which data center tier certification best suits your business. The estimated cost of downtime to your organization will steer you towards a suitable tier. Finally, be sure to consider any additional factors for a well-rounded view and the right data center choice.

Contact us if you would like to find out more about how SpaceDC can help your organization to achieve optimal data and systems uptime.

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Outlook of data centre expansion in APAC

July 22, 2021

Why digital connectivity is key to Making Indonesia 4.0

April 30, 2021

Why digital connectivity is key to Making Indonesia 4.0

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Why digital connectivity is key to Making Indonesia 4.0

Reinventing a national economy with more than 270 million people is a huge challenge. Yet the Making Indonesia 4.0 initiative aims to do just that. The vision? To put Indonesia in the world’s top 10 economies by 2030. There are five priority sectors for this. They are food and beverage, textile and apparel, automotive, chemicals, and electronics. Together, they are the targets for new world-class industry value chains.

The tech that drives the change

Digital transformation is a big part of meeting this goal. Key digital technologies include artificial intelligence (AI) and human-machine interfaces. Others are the Internet of Things (IoT), robotic and sensor technology, and 3D printing. Software apps and data turn this tech into business value. To do so, they need the right compute and storage infrastructure. Colocation and cloud can be fast, cost-effective ways to meet these needs.

Good connections are vital

Robust, high speed digital connectivity is also a must. Indonesian enterprises will need to send data to their AI and analytics apps for business insights. They will rely on good networks. Low latency is mandatory. This allows programs and the data they receive to always be in sync. Capacity must be high. There will be large amounts of data in real time from IoT devices. Making Indonesia 4.0 will also attract organizations from abroad. Good connectivity to and from Indonesia is vital for them and for export.

Plan for now and the future

Connectivity has multiple facets in Indonesia as in other countries. Data centers must ensure that all the parameters are properly addressed. For example, links that are fast but often break down are not good enough. Neither are connections that cannot scale as digital transformation yields more network traffic. Data centers must plan their networks to handle both today’s and tomorrow’s needs.

Where connectivity design starts

What is the starting point for design and operation? It is the current connectivity landscape in Indonesia. Mobile communications have already grown rapidly. Now, there is also a rise in fixed line links. Fiber optic cables are being put in place across the country. Urban development and road construction projects are chances to cost-effectively install higher volumes of fiber. The fiber that is not used immediately (“dark fiber”) can serve for redundant routing. It is also backup for future growth.

Challenges in links uptime

Fiber links already meet many criteria such as speed and capacity. But network resilience is also essential. As cities in Indonesia grow, so too does congestion, both on roads and in cable ducts. Accidental damage to network links from building and road works happens more often. Downtime and costs increase.

Location location location

Smart connectivity planning for a data center must therefore include a location for the best performance and reliability. For this reason, SpaceDC data centers in Jakarta are on the west side of the city, instead of the more congested east side. This innovative decision favors safer, high-speed land links. It offers good dark fiber connectivity. It also means that the SpaceDC data centers are close to strategic subsea cables as well as the international airport.

Network? Have it your way!

Choice for customers is also important. A data center that is not tied to any one network operator (carrier-neutral) can offer customers such choice. This means access to a range of telecoms, cloud service, and internet service providers. Organizations can then define and customize their network solutions. They can balance cost and performance. At the same time, they have the flexibility to adapt to new needs.

Links inside the data center

Inside data centers, connectivity is equally important. This includes links between servers and other IT equipment, and to network service provider access points. Many connections inside data centers may be changed or added daily. Links and power distribution for those links must work and be error-free. This can be handled by expert teams in the data center using management and automation tools.

Building in the network uptime

Resilience of connectivity should also be designed into data centers from the beginning. On its data center campus to the west of Jakarta, SpaceDC has built in better connectivity uptime in several ways. For example, servers can connect to multiple ISPs via separate “Meet Me Rooms”. This avoids single points of failure. There are multiple network entry points to the data centers on the SpaceDC campus for the same reason.

Fast, robust and green

Likewise, diverse underground cable pathways on campus make resilience higher. SpaceDC uses these within and between its data centers. Customers can use the high speed links for mirroring systems and data across the SpaceDC campus. Robust power and backup systems make sure that each data center and its connectivity are always protected. They are also designed to be sustainable. SpaceDC power systems achieve one of the lowest power usage efficiency (PUE) ratings in the industry.

Connect from all over the world

SpaceDC also continues to enhance connectivity for customers in other ways. A recent example is the agreement with Console Connect and its network. This lets users access SpaceDC’s data center facilities in Jakarta from more than 50 countries. The Console Connect network is low-latency and fully redundant. It means end-to-end link quality for users all the way to their SpaceDC hosted systems.

Making Indonesia 4.0 on the way to success

World class data center connectivity lets data flow freely and securely. It helps power the digital technologies at the heart of economic change. With performance, resilience, and flexibility, it brings new capabilities to enterprises. It brings them possibilities they cannot get from their own business location. And it scales to accompany them as they grow into their Making Indonesia 4.0 roles.

» Download our Connectivity & Resiliency white paper for more information and business insights.

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The rise of India as a global power for the cloud and data center market

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The rise of India as a global power for the cloud and data center market

The rise of India as a global power may not be a new conversation, but it is certainly becoming more pronounced as the global markets evolve during these interesting times. Not only are global cloud players increasingly setting up shop and pouring capital in the country, but local players are also stepping up to the plate and demonstrating that they can do everything global players can and better.

With more and more local businesses turning to Cloud and leveraging data to chart their next phase of growth, India might just emerge as the next big playground for cloud unicorns. We take a closer look at the drivers of this growth, and what hurdles Indian players will need to address in growing their cloud market.

Setting the stage for Cloud success

India is ripe for “Cloud” growth, with digital transformation and the move to cloud being a no regret decision for local businesses. According to a report by BCG, India is one of the largest and fastest-growing public cloud markets in the APAC region, projected to chart trifold growth from US$2.6 billion to US$8 billion between 2018 and 2023.

More than ever, businesses are realizing the potential of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT) and blockchain in automating processes, reshaping personalized experiences, and sparking new innovations. Their enthusiasm to go all in on digital is expected to grow cloud spending by 49% in 2023.

Powering intense competition in the business landscape are global cloud hyperscalers like Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud who have already made inroads in the country through hiring top tech talent and are setting their sights on building new availability zones and demonstrating their commitment to align with local security and compliance regulations.

Apart from the fierce adoption of cloud and emerging technologies amongst local businesses, strong support from India’s government has been critical in setting up the stage for its Cloud success. Programs such as Digital India, which aims to transform India into a digitally empowered society and supporting initiatives such as GI Cloud to optimize ICT spending are kindling both businesses and consumers’ digital readiness and embrace of cloud technologies, services, and experiences.

 

Making the climb to a new normal

COVID-19 has been a catalyst in ramping up the demand for cloud as private and public organizations increasingly turned to digital channels. This pivot to digital is also here to stay, as more businesses of all sizes and stripes are looking at leveraging intelligent solutions to tackle business-critical issues such as business continuity, resilience, and productivity. Over 60% of Indian companies have said that they’re planning to leverage cloud for digital innovation.

But perhaps what is more important is that businesses are looking at long term cloud infrastructure investments to build for their future, beyond plug and play cloud tools. With cloud as the new backbone of sustainable growth, businesses will not only be able to scale their services but also deliver innovative services and customer experiences.

Much like how Indonesia grew its digital economy with e-commerce players and unicorns, India is now home to promising cloud computing companies who are providing a range of SaaS, security and cloud business management solutions and looking at ways to cater to new demand and trends.

As the cloud ecosystem in India matures, we’re likely to see a new generation of local players that are “born in the cloud” emerge and grow to compete with mainstay cloud providers. To date, there is already a growing string of startups, with a valuation of over a billion dollars, joining the unicorn club including InMobi, Paytm and Ola.

 

Addressing local challenges to pull ahead of global counterparts

However, these efforts would be futile if India doesn’t address key challenges in its digital infrastructure and data governance, against the impacts of external forces such as an ongoing pandemic and increased competition from other markets with established cloud players

For example, the physical connectivity infrastructure or lack thereof in India is a key challenge. Without basic routers, fiber optic links and servers to provide access to technologies, there is a growing digital divide between India’s urban and rural populace which is slowing India down in its digital sprint. To resolve this issue, data center operators need to work with multiple telecommunication providers to explore best options to set up good WAN links, from making sure the infrastructure set up remains resilient, adaptable to change and capable of supporting the distribution of users, workloads and different demands of cities. This increased connectivity will also give rise to potentially new data centres, which will further support India’s growing Cloud market.

Robust data policies will be key in positioning India as an attractive and trusted location for global companies to invest in for their cloud needs.

Lastly, with transformation boiling down to not only technology but also talent, one more consideration for India would be to equip their existing pool of IT professionals with the relevant skill sets for cloud and improve their data management strategies.

India stands a real chance at rewriting history as the next big cloud player, with all the right conditions for its growth already in place, including a strong adoption of cloud technologies in its business ecosystem. To make its next big leap in becoming a global cloud player, it will just have to address local challenges in its digital infrastructure and data governance and provide an innovation sandbox for local players to unlock the full potential of Cloud.

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Message from our COO

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Message from our COO

‘We remain dedicated to exceeding our customers’ needs and delivering operational excellence in ID01’

Welcome to our first newsletter of 2021!

We trust you’ve been safe and well as we start to recover from the global pandemic that shook the world in 2021. Despite COVID-19, we are pleased to have launched our JAK2 facility in September last year. Now that we have settled into 2021, we are excited about what the rest of the year has in store for us. This will be a year of growth and opportunities for us here at SpaceDC as we focus on completing the ID01 campus.

In 2020, JAK2 was recognised as a Tier III facility operating at international standards by Uptime Institute, and has also been certified PCI DSS Compliant by the PCI Security Standards Council. This accreditation means our customers can trust that our facility has  safeguarded transactions against data theft and frauds. JAK2 was also among the top 3 finalists in DatacenterDynamic’s Construction Team of the Year award for the completion of our JAK2 build. It would not have been possible without the build and construction team lead by Nick Stavroulakis. The team was quick to adapt to the changing landscape brought on by COVID-19, which allowed our facility to be completed in less than 12 months.

Our team has shown resiliency, commitment and adaptability in amidst the global pandemic and it was a proud moment for us when the facility went live in. The operations team spearheaded by Country Manager Elisabeth Simatupang have a combined experience of 33 years in the telecommunications and data center industry, working for companies such as AWS, Bali Towerindo and Hutchinson 3. Together, they have the international experience and expertise to operate our local facility and support our customers needs. We remain dedicated to exceeding our customers’ needs and delivering operational excellence in ID01.

This year SpaceDC continues our commitment to bringing you world class data centers and we look forward to sharing our expansion plans soon. Stay tuned!

All the best,
Carolyn Harrington
COO of SpaceDC

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Data centers for a post-pandemic world

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Data centers for a post-pandemic world

In a mere span of a few months, the COVID-19 crisis has seen a quantum leap in digitization across organizations and industries of all levels as customers, supply chains, and internal interactions make a dramatic move online. While the digital mandate is not new, the pandemic has brought it into sharp focus.

Regardless of which digital transformation stage organizations are at, they all have the need for more data, connectivity, and bandwidth as they seek to accelerate their business transformation in light of this ‘new normal’. Be it to survive or thrive, organizations can no longer ignore what business and technology experts have been emphasizing: cloud and mobile apps are drivers and data is the fuel in the new economy. There are more information, interactions, and transactions on mobile devices over the internet today than physical or face-to-face ones.

In fact, the cloud is the foundation of most digital transformation strategies in organizations across the region. Two out of five priorities in ASEAN’s most recent digital integration framework are closely related to harnessing the power of the cloud to coordinate and facilitate business interactions across Southeast Asia.

“Be it to survive or thrive, organizations can no longer ignore what business and technology experts have been emphasizing: cloud and mobile apps are drivers and data is the fuel in the new economy.”

Other key technologies being leveraged in digital transformation include AI, analytics, robotic process automation, IoT, mobile collaboration, digital twins, augmented reality and 3D printing.

Even without taking a deeper look into each of these technologies, it is quickly discernible that deploying and maintaining cloud infrastructure, ensuring connectivity and bandwidth availability, and managing the huge amount of data produced can be overwhelming but necessary.

Hence, data availability and access – and the digital technologies that create, store, manage, secure and analyze the data – have become business critical for most organizations today and into the foreseeable future as we continue on our never-ending digital transformation journey. These transformational technologies require huge provisions for data management, application uptime and real-time connectivity.

 
The importance of tomorrow’s data center

While some experts liken data to fuel, others use the analogy of currency. If data is the currency of the digital economy, then data centers are its banks. Just as governments, businesses and consumers need reliable banks for efficient and secure transactions and services for a healthy economy, they similarly require reliable centers for efficient and secure data access and management for the digital economy.

Additionally, as the business develops and matures, managing the exponentially growing data is also a challenge and may not be feasible to do in-house due to the infrastructure and backend support needed. At such, finding the right data center partner is key.

To find out more about the considerations when planning for your business’ future data center needs, download SpaceDC’s white paper. You can also contact us if you would like to find out how SpaceDC can help your organization manage data.

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Covid-19 accelerated growth of the digital economy

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Covid-19 accelerated growth of the digital economy

Digital business transformation among organizations in Asia has been ongoing for years to survive and thrive in this changing environment. Amid the economic uncertainty and ongoing global pandemic, one would assume that businesses may have scaled down or temporarily halted investments in technology. However, according to the 2020 TechTarget/ Computer Weekly IT Priorities survey, findings showed that despite budget cuts and a slower growth in IT spending, the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region remains a hotbed for digital transformation initiatives.

Moreover, Southeast Asia’s digital economy is still expected to increase to US$300 billion by 2025 from US$100 billion in 2019, according to a report by Google, Temasek and Bain & Company. The burgeoning digital economy is also set to add US$10 billion to Singapore’s gross domestic product (GDP) by 2021.

 

“Mobile streaming in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore grew by 60%, or 21.6 billion minutes a week between January to April 2020.”

 

The Covid-19 crisis has accelerated the growth of the digital economy, fueling a spike in ‘live’ streaming for entertainment, cloud-based collaboration, conferencing for business, social media messaging and video call apps for communicating. Mobile streaming in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore grew by 60%, or 21.6 billion minutes a week between January to April 2020.

In addition, byproducts of Covid-19 such as city lockdowns, quarantines, work from home stipulations and coronaphobia have taken virtual events, online shopping, food delivery services, and digital banking to another level.

With that in mind, let’s look at how different types of organizations are performing or coping with the ‘new’ normal:

Data-driven enterprises

This category of businesses will see their transformation strategies and efforts come to fruition

These organizations are ahead in the transformation journey. Also known as data-driven, digital native or smart enterprises, leaders in this category include banks and financial institutions that provide digital banking and financial services and ‘smart’ manufacturers with fully integrated automation across the supply chain. For such organizations, business operations are as usual and to improve customer and employee experience, they are enhancing their digital infrastructure, scale in the cloud and deploying more cutting-edge technologies for innovation and focus on differentiation.

Digitally transforming enterprises

Enterprises in this phase will likely scramble to deploy the innovations and technologies they’ve been exploring

These are businesses in the middle of their transformation journey, with strategies implemented to leverage digital and data technologies. Enterprises in this category include food and beverage businesses automating their central kitchens and coping with surges in online orders and making contactless deliveries, and offices across all sectors with some semblance of cloud collaboration, due to remote or hybrid working arrangements. These organizations are struggling for business continuity, accelerating the digital transformation to cope with the needs and demands of customer and employee experience to make their business relevant in a growing digital economy.

Digital newbies

Newcomers will struggle to meet the challenges of customer and employee experiences

These organizations are still figuring out the works of digital transformation. Many are small enterprises without a comprehensive strategy for transformation or traditional businesses. They tend to struggle to survive in the digital economy, looking for help to digitally transform for business continuity.

Which category does your business fall into?

If you would like to know more about scaling your business for the new economy, download SpaceDC’s white paper. You can also contact us if you would like to find out how SpaceDC can help your organization manage data.

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The 8 layers of security your data center must have

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The 8 layers of security your data center must have

Digital transformation has resulted in cloud service providers demanding more storage facilities to keep up with the growing volume of big data generated every year. Because a data center houses information, applications and services that businesses use every day, organizations must ensure they are using appropriate security measures to protect the facility.

In our previous blog, we highlighted the consequences of an inadequate data center security. But what are the security standards your facility should have to meet and maintain compliance? Here, we outline how SpaceDC’s 8 layers of security sets the benchmark for best practices in safeguarding your data.

 

“The right data center for you today must also be the right data center for you tomorrow.”

1. Perimeter security

On the outer perimeter of the data center is the multi-faceted wall, the first line of defence to withstand every possible type of attack and natural disaster. In 2017, five suspects were arrested after breaking into a data center in Johannesburg and stealing more than USD $130,000 worth of copper cables. Physical barriers are important as they serve to dishearten potential intruders. To ensure security at a maximum level, the perimeter wall needs to be coupled with additional features that we have highlighted below.

2. Perimeter guardhouse

The second layer is the guardhouse at the fence. All visitors should be required to register at least 48 hours before their visit and answer a series of security questions from the Access Request Application System regarding their background, purpose of visit and list of accompanying people. They should only be allowed access to the facility in limited zone areas after prior screening and approval.

3. Building entry

Upon entry, any items that visitors carry must be declared through an industrial x-ray and metal detector to ensure no unauthorized items are brought into the site.

4. Personal access to secure zone

Visitors to the data center should then be given access passes to specify which areas they are allowed to enter, and which areas are prohibited. Then, the visitor should pass through a small air locked room – the human trap – where they get weighed, and any large discrepancies in the visitors’ weight at the site of arrival and departure will be highlighted to security to uncover the root cause. This ensures that no item gets left behind that could potentially cripple the security of the facility.

5. Lift access control

For high rise data center buildings, visitors can move from the airlock through to the liftaccess control and should only be permitted to use their designated lifts. Visitors will only be given access to certain floors to prevent unauthorised personnel. Every person with access to the facility has the potential to undermine any of the security systems, hence limiting the movement of visitors around the facility is crucial to keeping the integrity of the data center.

6. Data hall secure corridor

Smart sensors and CCTV should be installed along the aisle to prohibit tailgating. A no tailgating policy is essential to enable the Network Operations Centre (NOC) to monitor every individual entering the data hall and beyond. This is crucial, as it ensures the accuracy of all visitor data, which would be required in the event of a security breach at the facility.

7. Data center vault

Vaults should be under comprehensive CCTV surveillance for any suspicious activity, and to maintain visual contact of every visitor at all times, as this is where the racks are housed. At any point in time, a data center must know exactly who is in the vault, where they are and what they are doing. If there are more people than there should be, an alert that should go off.

8. Rack level access

Only a very specific, pre-assessed, pre-approved selection of people will be given a biometric key to obtain access to the rack. As biometric access cannot be duplicated or physically stolen, it ensures the safety of the data housed on the racks. On top of this, many customers can opt to have their own rack surveillance based on their specific needs.

Summary

A good operations team needs to consider the worst case scenario and apply all possible security measures to ensure an impregnable facility. Following the industry standard is not enough, facilities should always be updated on new technology advancements or developments in the threat landscape and proactively anticipate them.

SpaceDC understands the importance of maintaining data security and implements the latest safety standards to keep your information intact. We set the benchmark for best practices in security innovations to create a formidable fortress against break ins and unlawful entry in the interests of your businesses.

If you would like to find out how SpaceDC ensures maximum security for our data center, read our whitepaper or contact us today.

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Consequences of an inadequate data center security

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Consequences of an inadequate data center security

As we step into the era of technology, data has become businesses’ greatest asset. In our previous blog, Data center security: Threats against operability, we explored four areas companies must consider when selecting a facility to keep their information safe. But what happens if your data center is not adequately equipped? Here, we highlight the consequences a lack of security infrastructure can have on organizations.

Disruption to operations

In 2012, Hurricane Sandy took out at least eight data centers in Manhattan, New York. InterNAP’s data center along Broad Street was submerged by floodwater, causing connectivity and server issues. Customers of InterNAP were even urged to shut down servers immediately. Datagram was among the worst hit by the hurricane. The NYC-based Hosting and Internet Services Provider suffered flooding in the basement of their facility, taking out servers hosting BuzzFeed, Huffington Post, Gawker and other sites. The lack of mitigation infrastructure to combat such natural disasters at these data centers left organizations like the United Nations and Bloomberg News unable to function.

“If a data center doesn’t prescribe to Murphy’s Law – that is operating under the assumption that anything can go wrong will go wrong- you shouldn’t be entrusting them with the security of your data.”

An Infrascale survey conducted in May 2020 on small and medium businesses (SMBs) revealed more than a third (37%) of SMBs lost customers to downtime, highlighting the importance for a business to have a reliable and secure infrastructure preventing such situations from arising. Downtime affects any company that depends on online sales, as this means customers are unable to purchase products and services, which ultimately leads to loss in revenue.

Monetary loss

Cognizant, one of the largest providers of server hosting and IT services in the US, was a victim of a ransomware incident which negatively impacted its Q2 revenue in April 2020. Access to a series of services was cut and their servers were eventually inaccessible. Karen McLoughlin, Cognizant Chief Financial Officer said they expect this downtime to be within a range of USD $50-70 million for the quarter. In March last year, aluminium producer Norsk Hydro, also reported a ransomware incident, which cost total revenue losses of more than USD $40 million – a sum later adjusted to $70 million.

Marriott has also disclosed yet another security breach in April 2020 that exposed personal information such as names, birthdates, phone numbers and loyalty account numbers. This comes on the heels of their 2018 data breach, where a security investigation concluded that there was “unauthorized access” to a database holding hotel guest records. In 2019, UK authorities fined Marriott more than £99 million for the incident in 2018.

IBM’s study of over 500 data breach victims — conducted by the Ponemon Institute — shows that most organizations incur only about two-thirds (67%) of their data breach costs in the first 12 months. They spend 22% in the second year and the remaining 11% more than two years after the incident as fines and legal fees accumulate in the years following a breach, and not in the immediate aftermath of one.

More attention is needed for data center security infrastructure, as there is no room for complacency in today’s evolving cybersecurity landscape when the consequences of a security breach could result in significant losses.

Reputational damage

The consequences of a data breach goes beyond potential fines. The reputational damage is just as devastating.

Following major revelations on Twitter in October 2019, VPN provider NordVPN confirmed it was hit by a security breach in March 2018. NordVPN admitted that it learned of the attack in April 2019, more than a year after it happened, but the company only went public some six months later in October 2019, after details were exposed on Twitter. NordVPN claims the breach was due to a fault by the data center that let an undisclosed IPMI (Intelligent Platform Management Interface) account to access the server.

Research has shown that up to a third of customers in retail, finance and healthcare will stop doing business with organisations that have been breached. Presently, with the advent of technology, information dissemination is almost instant, and organisations can become a global news story within a matter of hours of a breach being disclosed. Striving to restore the trust and confidence between stakeholders after a data breach is one of the most difficult task a company must overcome. Reputational damage is long-lasting and can have an impact on an organisation’s ability to attract new customers, future investment and new employees to the company.

An ICO survey conducted in 2020 found people are increasingly likely to choose service providers based on how their business critical data is protected, and some 73% of respondents mentioned they would hold companies responsible for data breaches involving their personal information. This shows the importance that we place on the security of our data. In other words, data centers must incorporate security measures from the ground up to protect the data of their customers.

SpaceDC understands the importance of security and we ensure our data centers are built to international standards. With 8 different layers of physical access controls at our facility and extensive protocols meeting TVRA standards, it is SpaceDC‘s top priority to safeguard your data all the way from design to mitigating threats.

Discover how SpaceDC maximizes security in our whitepaper or contact us for more information.

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Data center security: Threats against operability

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Data center security: Threats against operability

Southeast Asia is the fastest growing region for colocation data centers, with an expected compounded annual growth rate of 13 per cent from 2019 to 2024, according to a 2019 Cushman & Wakefield report.

The rising number of data centers means more business critical information is vulnerable to threats. Facilities with inadequate security features are at risk to potential data breaches. In May 2020, Tokopedia, one of Indonesia’s biggest e-commerce platforms admitted that some data related to names, e-mails and telephone numbers were accessed by hackers. This breach of user information drew criticism from the public, as Tokopedia was an established and trusted technology company.

“Like banks, the sheer volume of valuable assets data centers contain make them a flashing beacon for attack.”

Here are key areas you need to consider and audit when selecting a facility to ensure your data remains secure:

Physical threats

Physical attacks or terror attacks to undermine data centers are far more common in certain geographical regions, particularly in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia. These violent intrusions can cause damage resulting in businesses downtime and loss of trust from stakeholders.

Natural disasters are one of the top concerns of data centers around the world. With 44% of the world’s natural disasters coming from Asia, ResearchGate shared that this region is most vulnerable to unforeseen circumstances such as storms and floods. Thus, it is important that data centers in Asia develop disaster recovery and business continuity plans. For example, in 2009, Vodafone’s facility in Istanbul, Turkey was flooded during a torrential downpour. CCTV footage caught the watery onslaught filling up the server room, but Vodafone had implemented a disaster recovery plan, which allowed them to restore most of the data that was affected.

Such happenings are not something companies can afford to simply ignore and data centers should be proactive in their planning for physical threats.

Economic Corruption

Certain regions around the world are faced with higher levels of economic corruptions, making theft and sale of sensitive digital data a reality. The consequences of a data breach could be damaging to both the business and company reputation.

When selecting a facility, ensure it has multiple layers of security that would effectively protect your data. For example, visitors must ask for access at least 1 day prior to arriving at the data center, and will be escorted throughout their time there. Strict security procedures mean there is no opportunity for an individual to access the data in your racks without permission.

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks are committed by malicious third parties to damage significant infrastructure as an attempt to cause disturbance to business activities. Unlike theft of data, DDoS attacks steal time and operability, causing outages to the company’s data. This is extremely detrimental to many companies that have a 99.99% uptime guarantee.

In September 2020, a series of DDoS attacks plagued online learning in Miami-Dade County public schools by overloading the district’s data center and disabling the system, preventing students and teachers from logging in. With workarounds, the schools have been able to continue with online classes, but a permanent solution has yet to be found.

Without a proper security infrastructure to deal with DDoS attacks, many businesses that rely on the data center would experience difficulties proceeding with daily businesses.

Neglect of security

As the number of data users rapidly grows in the region, solution providers will need to accommodate at the same pace. This results in risk of speed being prioritized over security, leading to weaker infrastructure, less comprehensively planned systems and increased human error.

SpaceDC understands the seriousness of these threats when it comes to building our data center and implements the very latest in terms of physical security standards. Companies can trust our data centers, as we have the best possible IT infrastructure and top tier facilities that can withstand these threats and protect the interests of your businesses.

If you would like to find out how SpaceDC ensures maximum security for our data center, read our whitepaper or contact us today.

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