Singapore colocation market to reach over $1bn by 2016
Wed 29 Jul 2015
The Singaporean colocation market is experiencing a boom period and is set to surpass $1.2bn (approx. £770mn) in revenue next year, according to a market valuation study conducted by analysts Structure Research.
Thanks to its geographical proximity to China, its political stability and a business-friendly regulatory policy, Singapore has grown as a key data centre and networking environment, strategically linked to both leading Asian markets and the rest of the world.
The Structure report counted around 50 colocation providers in Singapore. This group included providers with their own data centres as well as resellers. Together, the colocation providers currently sell space in 44 data centres, with further facilities planned to go live over the next year.
Structure senior analyst and native Singaporean Jabez Tan explained that although the country now faces growing competition from neighbouring markets and business hubs such as Cyberjaya and Johor in Malaysia, and Jakarta in Indonesia, Singapore benefits from a much more established data centre industry.
The country enjoys reliable and robust networking, power supply and critical submarine cabling which connect the island to Hong Kong and Australia. Singapore is also an attractive business destination, particularly for financial services which are investing heavily in cloud and hosting infrastructure.
“Business ecosystems like the ones Singapore has established take years of time and effort to develop and are not easily replicated, since there are no shortcuts, which is why first-mover advantage is critical and why Singapore has successfully positioned itself as the top data centre hub in Asia,” said Tan.
According to Structure, the biggest data centre provider in Singapore today is national telco Singtel, which owns eight data centre sites in the country and holds 40% of the market share. U.S. giant Equinix takes second position with three data centre locations on the island as well as confirmed expansion plans.
