Digital Realty, a global provider of carrier- and cloud-neutral data center, colocation and interconnection solutions, on Apr. 5 announced the official opening of its third data center in Singapore. The multi-story, 50-megawatt facility, known as Digital Loyang II or SIN12, is Digital Realty's largest data center in the country, and will bring the company's total committed investment to date in Singapore to over US$1 billion. This significant expansion will enable local and multinational enterprises to deploy critical infrastructure and scale their digital business at the heart of a connected data community on Digital Realty's PlatformDIGITAL.
As detailed by a company statement:
Sustainability was a guiding principle for the design and construction of SIN12. It will be among the most sustainable data centers in the region, with a power usage effectiveness (PUE) of 1.25. The facility will feature efficient cooling system design and controls to help minimize evaporation losses and improve water-use efficiency. It will be equipped with turbine generators rather than diesel engines, and a combination of uninterruptible power supply (UPS) and lithium-ion batteries will facilitate sustainable management. The building management system (BMS) will monitor thousands of data points to ensure the data center is running efficiently and providing optimal energy performance for customers.
"Balancing digital growth with sustainability remains a key priority for the industry," said Mark Smith, Managing Director, Asia Pacific for Digital Realty. "We're proud that our new facility will help customers meet their digital and sustainability goals, with energy-efficient design and operational features. We're encouraged by the recently unveiled Singapore Green Plan 2030 and the new edition of the Green Building Masterplan. Sustainable growth will be critical for the country to remain competitive as a leading global data center hub."
SIN12 builds upon Digital Realty's track-record of delivering sustainable data center developments across the globe and has already achieved a Platinum certification under Singapore's BCA Green Mark building assessment system. The Green Mark certification scheme is designed to evaluate a building's overall environmental impact and performance and provides a comprehensive framework for assessing new and existing buildings to promote sustainable design and best practices in construction and operations.
"Digital Realty's continued investment in Singapore builds upon the strong existing business and investment ties between the United States and Singapore. Both countries rank highly in terms of digital competitiveness and are committed to building a robust digital economy at a global level," commented Christian Koschil, Digital Attaché, Embassy of the United States of America. "We believe Digital Realty's expansion in Singapore will further strengthen the Republic's standing as a global connectivity gateway. We also applaud Digital Realty's commitment to sustainability in their operations, as tackling climate change requires a collective response from all stakeholders – in government and the private sector."
The Digital Loyang II facility is adjacent to Digital Realty's Digital Loyang I, or SIN11. The two facilities are connected by diverse high-count fiber routes, enabling customers in both facilities to connect directly via dark fiber cross-connects and access a connected data community of network and service providers on Digital Realty's open global platform. Both facilities are also interconnected to Digital Jurong (SIN10), Digital Realty's data center located on the west side of Singapore. The Digital Loyang campus is less than 25 kilometres from Singapore's central business district and is strategically located in close proximity to the Changi north cable landing station, a key sub-sea interconnection hub for the region.
As stated by Digital Realty:
SIN12 is substantially pre-leased to a thriving community of leading global cloud service providers, local as well as global financial services providers and leading Southeast Asian enterprises. In addition, the new facility will introduce next-generation colocation services for regional customers in Singapore and will further expand PlatformDIGITAL, the company's global data center platform. It will offer customers in APAC new avenues to connect, extend their reach and uncover new business opportunities. SIN12 will offer enterprises the full spectrum of colocation services and will enable them to scale their critical infrastructure on-demand within a connected data community with optimal proximity to carriers, networks and cloud service providers. Productized solutions for network, control and data hub footprints offered on PlatformDIGITAL® will help accelerate customers' ability to rapidly scale their digital business.
"Singapore is a well-established financial and business hub, and consistently ranks among the top data center markets globally," commented Digital Realty Chief Executive Officer A. William Stein. "The opening of our third data center is a major milestone on our PlatformDIGITAL roadmap and underscores our long-term commitment to support the country's digital economy. The transition to the digital economy has impacted the way companies across all industries create and deliver value. There's a growing need for a combination of open interconnection and next-generation colocation that will reduce the complexity of digital transformation. Expanding our footprint in Singapore will enable us to better help our customers enhance their digital transformation efforts and scale their digital business models regionally as well as globally."
Singapore is ranked fifth among the top 10 data center markets globally, according to Cushman & Wakefield. These findings coincide with Digital Realty's Data Gravity Index, a recently published study that measured, quantified, and determined the implications of the explosion of enterprise data. According to the study, data gravity is expected to more than double annually from 2020-2024, with Asia Pacific expected to generate the fastest growth across all regions. Singapore is expected to be the second-fastest growing market across the 53 global metros analyzed, driven by growth in the intensity of data within the banking, financial services and high-tech manufacturing industries.