SINGAPORE - Keppel Data Centres Holding (KDCH) has inked two memoranda to look at using innovative spaces for data centres, in a move to help strengthen Singapore's competitiveness as a data centre destination in the region.
KDCH is a 70-30 joint venture firm between Keppel Telecommunications & Transportation and Keppel Land - both units of mainboard-listed Keppel corporation - to consolidate their data centre assets. It manages and operates a gross floor area of more than 648,500 sq ft in data centre, business continuity and disaster recovery centre space in Singapore.
Keppel said on Wednesday that one agreement was signed with JTC, which aims to explore the feasibility of deploying data centres underground to provide highly resilient and secure services to customers looking at high-tiered data centres.
Under the memorandum of understanding, KDCH and JTC will establish a concept and design specifications applicable for an underground data centre that can match performance standards of an equivalent aboveground centre.
The second was a memorandum of intent, in which KDCH will collaborate with the Infocommunications Media Development Authority of Singapore (IMDA) and Huawei International to look at the feasibility of deploying a high-rise green data centre that features energy-efficient technologies.
KDCH will identify possible data centre building sites as well as conduct studies into the design, construction and operation of the facility.
Keppel noted that the exploration of alternatives to conventional aboveground data centres will open up new possibilities for land-scarce Singapore.
It cited data from BroadGroup research, which showed Singapore is home to 50 per cent of data centre capacity in South-east Asia, with new demand for data centre space expected to continue growing at a compounded annual growth rate of 23.6 per cent between 2014 and 2021, fuelled by increasing cloud computing and data storage requirements.
Insights from the feasibility studies on underground and high-rise data centres are expected to contribute to Singapore's attractiveness among data centre customers with varying requirements.
"We look forward to potentially exploring new ideas with the collaborations, such as improving energy efficiency and technical space layout. With the concerted efforts of our partners, we are proud to support Singapore's Smart Nation vision," said Mr Wong Wai Meng, chief executive of Keppel Data Centres.
Ms Khoo Wee Lin, director of InfoComms Media and Start-Up Cluster at JTC, added: "Data centres form part of the global connectivity infrastructure and are an important component within the digital economy. JTC recognises the need to constantly create new value to our customers, including innovative solutions such as underground facilities.
"Our partnership with Keppel Data Centres Holding is a step forward towards such creative space solutions in hosting underground data centres."
