Pacnet has officially opened CloudSpace II (SGCS2), the first data center design in Singapore to be recognized with Uptime Institute’s Tier Certification of Design Documents. The US$90 million facility is one of Pacnet’s flagship data centers built to help meet the rapidly growing demand for interconnected, advanced data and managed services in the Asia-Pacific region. Leading multinational companies and local enterprises such as Acclivis Technologies and Solutions (Acclivis) have already committed to deploying in SGCS2 to expand their business.

The eight-storey, 155,000-sq-ft standalone facility, strategically located in Paya Lebar, was built to Tier III criteria and received certification of the design documents by Uptime Institute on 4 December 2013. The facility is also designed in accordance with the BCA Green Mark scheme — the equivalent to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification by the U.S. 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 center services,” said Giles Proctor, vice president of data center construction and operations at Pacnet. “We are excited about launching Singapore’s first data center with Tier III Design Certification from the Uptime Institute, and continuing to grow along with the Lion City in the years ahead.”

The new flagship data center 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 Pacnet Enabled Network (PEN). Available in the first quarter of 2014, PEN is an industry-first 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.

Officiating the Opening Ceremony of SGCS2 today, Jacqueline Poh, managing director of the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) said, “Singapore is committed to being Asia’s preeminent place for doing business. New data centres that assist companies to anchor themselves in Singapore to reach half the world’s population are always welcome here.  We are therefore pleased that Pacnet has chosen to base its latest state-of-the-art facility in Singapore.”

“We congratulate Pacnet on achieving the first milestone in the Tier Certification process with its Tier III Design Certification. This Design Certification proves that Tier III concepts may be applied in Singapore — an established data center epicentre with unique characteristics,” said Thomas Baehr, senior director of APAC Development of Uptime Institute.  “During the Certification process, Uptime Institute reviews each and every element of the engineering solution, which must stand up to this rigorous analysis.”

“As demand for our enterprise cloud offerings increase, CloudSpace II would enhance our existing data center infrastructure to meet the needs of our clients looking to accelerate their adoption of cloud solutions,” commented Mr Marcus Cheng, CEO of Acclivis. “We are particularly looking forward to leveraging Pacnet’s robust subsea cables to give our customers greater flexibility and control to enterprise data and cloud applications as we expand in the region.”

SGCS2 is 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.

The newly opened data center 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.

With the addition of the facility, Pacnet is currently operating 455,000-square feet of data center space across 14 cities in the region – all of which are connected by Pacnet’s high speed network.

To learn more about how Pacnet obtained the Uptime Institute’s Tier Certification of Design Documents, read Giles Proctor’s blog here.