Intelligent CIO APAC Issue 01 | Page 66

INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Data Centres Digital Realty breaks ground on first facility in South Korea Digital Realty, a leading global provider of cloud and carrier-neutral data center, colocation and interconnection solutions, has begun construction on its first facility in South Korea following a virtual ground-breaking ceremony. Digital Seoul 1 (ICN10), the first carrierneutral facility in Korea, will be built on a 22,000 square foot land parcel within the Sangam Digital Media City in northwest Seoul, a newly developed urban planning zone focused on technology and media companies, designed to promote South Korea’s digital economy. The move marks a significant expansion of PlatformDIGITAL across Asia Pacific which will enable customers to rapidly scale Digital Transformation by deploying critical infrastructure with a leading global data center provider at the heart of a growing community of interest in Seoul. ICN10 is designed to accommodate 12 megawatts of information technology (IT) load. The building will encompass over 162,000 square feet, spanning 12 levels. It will provide seamless connectivity, with a vibrant community of domestic and internal bandwidth and data service providers, Internet transit and multiple Internet access services. The facility is scheduled to be ready for customers in the fourth quarter of 2021. Executive Officer A. William Stein. “The current pandemic has accelerated the pace of Digital Transformation and adoption of cloud services across the world. Customers in the Asia Pacific region are set to gain from our new ICN10 facility, as they ramp up their own digitalization efforts.” Mark Smith, Managing Director APAC for Digital Realty, added that South Korea was one of the key digital hubs in the APAC region with a major focus on digital technology and solutions. “Applications such as Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, 5G mobile services and the Internet of Things are already gaining SOUTH KOREA IS ALSO ONE OF THE FASTEST GROWING DATA CENTER MARKETS IN THE REGION. momentum,” he said. “South Korea is also one of the fastest growing data center markets in the region and a strategic market for us to enter as the first global provider to build from the ground up.” Digital Realty is one of the world’s largest owners, developers and operators of highly reliable data center facilities. The new Seoul development will strengthen Digital Realty’s presence within the Asia Pacific region, where the company currently operates a network of industry-leading data centers located in Tokyo, Osaka, Hong Kong, Singapore, Sydney and Melbourne. “We are eager to welcome customers to ICN10,” added Jay Weon Khym, Country Manager, Korea at Digital Realty. “There is a significant opportunity for us to provide a trusted foundation for the nation’s technology roadmap. “Upon completion, the multi-story facility will not only support domestic business growth, but also broaden opportunities for more international companies to expand their core digital assets into the South Korean market with a truly-carrier neutral platform.” • “Our investment in South Korea is an important milestone on our global platform roadmap, adding coverage, capacity and connectivity capabilities to enable our customers’ Digital Transformation strategies while demonstrating our commitment to supporting customers’ future growth on PlatformDIGITAL,” said Digital Realty Chief 66 INTELLIGENTCIO www.intelligentcio.com