Malaysia’s cloud and data centre industry grows 26%, new hub in Iskandar

• Growth driven by federal government, BFSI, and content and technology sectors
• Sedenak Iskandar Data Hub aims to attract high-value investments

MALAYSIA’S cloud services and data centre industry recorded RM795 million (US$219 million) in revenue for 2014, a 26% increase from the RM630 million (US$173 million) recorded in 2013.
 
Exports grew from 7% to 18%, according to national ICT custodian Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC), the Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu) of the Prime Minister’s Department, Johor Corporation (JCorp), and the Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA).
 
Key industry sectors that contributed to the industry revenue include the federal government (29%), banking and financial (19%), and content and technology (17%), MDeC said in a statement.
 
There was also growth in high-value data centre services such as managed services that accounts for 50% of the total revenue, a 20% increase from 2013, it added.
 
“We are targeting the industry to grow by 15% to RM915 million (US$252 million) by the end of 2015,” said MDeC chief executive officer Yasmin Mahmood.
 
Also announced was a new data hub in Sedenak, a 700-acre area in the Iskandar Region earmarked for local and global data centre companies.
 
The Sedenak Iskandar Data Hub is equipped with robust, state-of-the-art infrastructure; supported by high-capacity power and reliable connectivity, comes with friendly cloud and data centre policies, MDeC claimed.
 
“With the new data hub, we aim to attract high-value investments from top cloud services and data centre providers to Malaysia, to further accelerate the growth of industry and position Malaysia as a world-class data hub in the region,” Yasmin declared.

When asked when the Sedenak data hub would be operational, MDeC would only say, “We’re currently working with JCorp and IRDA to build the groundwork and infrastructure. As a matter of fact, basic infrastructures have already been established and are being improved on.”

“We’ll make further announcements once it is ready to be shared,” the agency told Digital News Asia via email.
 
A ‘Data Centre Task Force’ consisting of MDeC, Pemandu and MIDA (the Malaysian Investment Development Authority) will continue to work together with IRDA and JCorp to further develop the cloud services and data centre ecosystem and industry.
 
“We will continue to support these data centre initiatives as part of Iskandar Malaysia’s efforts to provide state-of-the-art ICT infrastructure and connectivity under our Smart City Framework,” said IRDA chief executive officer Ismail Ibrahim.
 
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