Covering Disruptive Technology Powering Business in The Digital Age

Written by: Khairul Haqeem, Journalist, AOPG.

Given its central location in Southeast Asia, Malaysia is quickly becoming a formidable rival in the race to become the region’s next data centre hub. For instance, due to its convenient location and close proximity to Singapore, the state of Johor has attracted a lot of foreign investment for data centres.

Malaysia As the Data Centre Hub of The World

Ts Mahadhir Aziz, CEO of MDEC, spoke on Malaysia’s proactive strategy for cloud & data centre adoption during the recent Malaysia Cloud and Data Centre Convention 2022. In 2019, the government of Malaysia announced its ‘Cloud First’ plan. The Internet economy is predicted to continue its rapid growth as a result of an expanding youthful, wealthy population with increased data requirements.

Beginning with a goal of 10% 5G coverage in Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, and Cyberjaya by the end of this year, Malaysia is anticipated to attain around 80% of 5G network coverage in populous regions by the end of 2024. As a result, service providers in Malaysia might see an increase in income of up to MYR 16 billion (USD $3.8 billion) by the year 2030.

In comparison to many countries in the region, Malaysia has progressively grown to be a more desirable place for the proliferation of data centres and cloud services due to its geopolitically stable climate, a safe position from natural catastrophes, and competitive real estate market.

Ts Mahadzir also stated how Malaysia is positioned as a regional hub for data centres and cloud services by utilising a number of variables, including cost-effectiveness, the availability of experienced labour, and a solid foundation in data governance rules.

The next few years are exciting for the industry as Malaysia is in a prime position as one of the three primary markets driving the CAGR of the SEA region.

The Sustainable Journey for Data Centres

Among the highlights of this year’s Malaysia Cloud and Data Centre Convention is everyone drives towards sustainability. For instance, Fiona Selvadurai, the Software Sales Manager for Schneider’s Electric discussed the ways of enabling resilient, secure and sustainable IT infrastructure. Especially with data centres. As she put it, almost 4% of the energy used globally is hogged by data centres. The energy could run an entire nation as big as Malaysia!

Fiona said, “With 4 billion consumers connected around the globe, it’s inevitable that data centres will expand at an exponential rate.” The increasing number of data centres will undoubtedly have a negative impact on the environment due to their high energy demand, water consumption, and carbon footprint.

As a first step, Fiona shared that Schneider’s Electric suggests conducting a comprehensive assessment of your company’s data centre efficiency. Then there are three quick fixes you may try:

1. Monitor and Manage.
2. Plan.
3. Customised Solution and Integration.

Are We Really On The Right Track?

The million-dollar question is, are we really making a dent in the worldwide concern? According to PwC, the amount of data created by humans grows at an exponential rate. In 2019, there were 4.4 ZB of data in the digital universe. In 2020, that figure increased tenfold — up to 44 ZB. Just how much is a zettabyte? One trillion gigabytes. Allow that to sink in.

While we are becoming more aware—as evidenced by the fact that the bulk of keynotes at the convention focused on the topic of sustainable data centres—I believe that our current approaches and efforts are not substantial enough. We are currently barely within a single-digit percentage of reaching carbon neutrality by 2050, especially in this region.

Adapting to new circumstances can be a lengthy process but a firm commitment to sustainability ought to be the norm rather than a marketing ploy to show customers that a company “gets it” when it comes to environmental consciousness. The goals of the convention to raise consciousness and generate solutions among the top decision-makers in the business have been met. The question is whether or not they will take heed.

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