HP to invest US$1b in APAC cloud computing centres
August 4, 2011
Hewlett Packard (HP) is investing some US$1 billion (RM2.97 billion) to set up at least six commercial data centres to offer cloud computing services in the Asia Pacific region this year.
HP Enterprise Services chief technology officer for Asia Pacific and Japan, Bradden Wondra said the company has identified six locations for the data centres, namely in Japan, China, India, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand…
"We have already begun developing the data centres, starting with the one in Sydney, Australia," he said at the HP media roundtable held in Singapore recently.
On the outlook of cloud computing in Asia Pacific, Wondra said such services is here to stay and Asia Pacific businesses need to be ready for the evolution of Internet services.
"This next evolution of the Internet is inevitable and we believe it has tremendous potential to transform business capabilities," he said.
While cloud delivery methods are proving to be an important paradigm, he said the optimal model for most organisations is one that is multi-sourced.
"New research from HP indicates that senior business, government and technology executives in Asia Pacific believe that by 2015, 18 per cent of their information technology (IT) delivery will be through the public cloud and 28 per cent by the private cloud.
"That leaves the remainder of IT delivery to be handled by traditional delivery methods, either managed in-house, outsourced, or both," he said.
On the local front, nex.kloud, a specialist cloud computing services company, and MacroLynx, a leading provider of enterprise class Internet connectivity, have partnered with HP to launch 1Cloud, a unified single source for computing and Internet resources in Malaysia.
HP Enterprise Malaysia general manager for enterprise servers, storage and networking Anita Lim said 1Cloud is Malaysia’s first end-to-end computing.
"It promises to bring a new revolution in IT services, delivering information services as a true utility, much in the same way that power, water and other essential systems are brought about.
"Through advanced technology provided by 1Cloud’s partners, the end users’ total cost of ownership can be significantly reduced," she said.
She said 1Cloud was officially launched on January 18 this year and the companies involved have already started works on the project in the second half of 2010.
Under this partnership, Lim said HP provides nex.kloud a converged infrastructure to power 1Cloud, which includes HP networking technology, ProLiant servers and storage solutions.
"This partnership will help nex.kloud in the pursuit of its Instant-On Enterprise. In a world of continuous connectivity, the Instant-On Enterprise embeds technology in everything it does to serve customers, employees, partners, and citizens with whatever they need, instantly," she said.
HP defines Instant-On Enterprise as a data-driven organisation that leverages technology for everything, but specifically to better address the ever-evolving needs of end-users.