Data Centers in China

How will China fare in the data center space? Mak said that the HKSAR's cramped spaces and high rents make this inevitable. 'In Hong Kong,' he said, 'it is very difficult to find a suitable space to build a super data center. Most data centers are built in industrial buildings or even commercial buildings.'

Mak said these factors have driven his firm to confront 'structural shortcomings and further increase initial investment [during the] design and construction stage' in Hong Kong. But, he added, 'there are super data centers built in science parks, software parks and technology parks everywhere in China.' According to Mak, data centers in Hong Kong offer more value-added services to improve revenue per unit of floor space, while value-added services at data centers operating in China are rare.

The HKSAR government data center

Chua from Atos Origin gave his insight into how his firm won the government data center contract: 'Our technical solution provided more value in achieving the Hong Kong government objectives [including] transforming its legacy systems to newer technologies, server consolidation to streamline overall management, and real time data synchronization for disaster recovery.