Pacnet opens Tier III, green data centre in Singapore

• US$90mil facility designed to Uptime Institute criteria and BCA Green Mark scheme
• Provides customers with colocation, connectivity and Pacnet’s managed services

PACNET has officially opened its Cloudspace II (SGCS2), which it said was the first data centre design in Singapore to be recognised with the Uptime Institute's Tier Certification of Design Documents.
 
The US$90-million facility is one of Pacnet's flagship data centres built to help meet the rapidly growing demand for interconnected, advanced data and managed services in the Asia Pacific region, the company said in a statement.
 
The eight-storey, 155,000 sq ft standalone facility, located in Paya Lebar, was built to Tier III criteria and received certification by the Uptime Institute on Dec 4, 2013.
 
The facility is also designed in accordance with the BCA Green Mark scheme – the equivalent of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification by the US Green Building Council.
 
“With Singapore firmly entrenched as a dynamic financial hub, the Infocomm Development Authority’s recent push to develop into a big data hub translates into a rising need for data centre services,” said Giles Proctor, vice president of data centre construction and operations at Pacnet.
 
“We are excited about launching Singapore’s first data centre with Tier III Design Certification from the Uptime Institute, and continuing to grow along with the Lion City in the years ahead,” he said.
 
The new flagship data centre not only provides customers with colocation and connectivity services, it also offers them access to Pacnet’s managed services, including Hardware-as-a-Service (HaaS) and the Pacnet Enabled Network (PEN), the company said.
 
Available in the first quarter of 2014, PEN is a Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) platform that will allow customers in the SGCS2 to manage networking services virtually and build high-performance and cloud-ready networks that are cost-efficient, reliable, flexible and scalable, Pacnet claimed.
 
“Singapore is committed to being Asia's preeminent place for doing business,” said Jacqueline Poh, Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) managing director.
 
“New data centres that assist companies [in anchoring] themselves in Singapore to reach half the world's population are always welcome here,” she added.
 
Pacnet, with headquarters in Singapore and Hong Kong, said it owns over 46,000 km of fibre and connectivity to interconnected data centres across 14 cities in the Asia Pacific region. With the addition of the facility, Pacnet is currently operating 455,000 sq ft of data centre space across these 14 cities, all of which are connected by Pacnet's high speed network.
 
“We congratulate Pacnet on achieving the first milestone in the Tier Certification process with its Tier III Design Certification,” said Thomas Baehr, senior director of APAC Development at the Uptime Institute.
 
“This Design Certification proves that Tier III concepts may be applied in Singapore, an established data centre epicentre with unique characteristics,” he added.
 
SGCS2 was also designed to comply with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) technology risk management guidelines, which address a range of potential security threats. The SGCS2 facility has undergone a threat vulnerability risk assessment (TVRA) to ensure it meets the security requirements of the financial services industry, Pacnet said.
 
The newly opened data centre is carrier neutral and is directly connected to Pacnet's submarine cable networks. It boasts fully redundant power and cooling systems, advanced fire detection and suppression systems, as well as a latest-generation security access system.
 
Related stories:
 
Maxis’ data and cloud computing facility gets Tier III certification
 
CSF changes data centre business model to adapt
 
 
For more technology news and the latest updates, follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn or Like us on Facebook.