SURGE IN DEMAND FOR IDC, CLOUD-COMPUTING SERVICE

 

Although the flood crisis might have damaged several businesses it has also created huge opportunities in some areas such as cloud computing and Internet data centre (IDC). 

 

Two IDC service providers – True IDC and TCC Technology – have experienced rapid growth during the flood crisis and plan next year to make huge investments to expand their service capacity in order to serve the surge in demand.

 

Janewit Kraprayoon general manager of True Internet Data Centre, a subsidiary of telecom group True Corporation, said that during the flood crisis the company gained more new customers for both its data centre and cloud service. True’s two IDC sites are located at True Tower on Rachada Road while its data centre is at Muang Thong Thani, areas which were not affected by the flooding. That is the main reason why new customers have moved their server and systems to be hosted by it. 

 

“We got nine new corporate customers, who moved their servers from other Internet data centre service providers, from their flooded offices, and from flooded industrial estates,” said Janewit.

Next year, True IDC aims to expand its new IDC site, which is located in the provinces. It plans to invest Bt1 billion in building up a data centre over a 4,000-square-metre facility. 

 

“Normally, we invest about Bt100 million for each data-centre facility as we utilise our own buildings. But the new site for the data centre would require a bigger investment because we have to find a place and set up the whole facility from zero. We are looking for a site somewhere upcountry, which would be safe from natural disasters. We plan to build a green data centre,” said Janewit.

 

He added that the new investment is to tap the huge potential of data centre and cloud-computing services. He forecast that cloud computing next year in Thailand would double growth. The key driving factor is the recent flood crisis, which has alerted corporates to focus on their back-up sites as well as move towards cloud services rather than investing in whole systems by themselves.

 

For two years of cloud computing service, True IDC has 30 customers. Most of them are software houses developing software and service based on Web architecture. Currently, True IDC offers free cloud-computing service for 60 days. It aims to help companies affected by the floods to move their systems onto its cloud-computing facility so that they could continue with their system without needing to invest in a whole new one. 

 

“Our main service is co-location, while cloud computing is the potential service. Our customers require more management services such as video conference, PABX, disaster management, and call centre,” said Janewit.

 

Next year, it expects revenue to grow 20 per cent year on year. Growth this year is likely to be 15 per cent year in year, totalling Bt315 million. 

 

Meanwhile, TCC Technology, another major Internet data centre service provider, has been also positively impacted by the flood crisis. Its two data-centre sites were not flooded, while the flooding created more awareness of its services and pushed up demand for its data-centre and cloud-computing services. 

 

TCC Technology’s managing director, Kosit Suksingha, said that the Internet data-centre market is expected to see high growth as customers have now become more aware of it and the flood disaster has alerted them to find a back-up site. 

 

“During the two months of flood, we grew 100 per cent,” said Kosit.

 

In the last quarter, due to the flood, TCC Technology gained a lot more new customers. The company has revised up its revenue growth forecast for this year from 30 per cent to about 40 per cent. 

 

“Our business is wholesale, of which 90 per cent of our customers are multinational companies and about 80 per cent are in industrial estates, which place their servers at our centre. About 20 per cent of them use our cloud-computing service,” said Kosit.

 

He added that the company plans to expand its data centre with a 1,000 square-metre facility at GTIS Tower on Bang Na-Trat Road. 

 

“Since our capacity is going to be full, we need to expand the centre capacity with a 30-per-cent buffer,” said Kosit.

 

Also, it plans to invest in building up a new data centre as its third site, apart from the ones located at GTIS Building and Empire Building. It possibly will be located in the provinces.

Kosit said next year will be a bright year for Internet data-centre business. He expected the market to grow 30 to 40 per cent, while cloud-computing will see even greater growth.   

“Cloud computing will drive Internet data-centre service,” said Kosit.