Siemens NextGen Data Centre (NGDC) Conference 2024

In response to the increasing demands for energy efficiency, space optimization and enhanced speed ffor data centres, Siemens Malaysia organized its inaugural NextGen Data Centre (NGDC) Conference in Kuala Lumpur on 30 January 2024. This event brought together over 100 industry experts and peers to delve into the challenges, requirements and best practices in Malaysia’s swiftly expanding data centre market.

NGDC 24 covered key topics that addressed existing challenges and anticipated future growth for data centers:

• Cloud & Data Centre Market Trends
• Next-Generation Data Center Facilities
• Voice of the Data Centre Market
• Scalable, Sustainable, and Resilient Solutions

The program included two panel discussions with key data centre market influencers who shared their insights about the flourishing data centre industry in Malaysia. The first panel  featured Patrick Chan, VP Asia of Uptime Institute; Tan Tze Meng, Head of Digital Infrastructure at Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation; and Rajvinder Singh, Head of Technology at Amazon Web Services Malaysia. They delved into the rapid growth of data centres in Malaysia, which are placing increased demands on electricity and water resources. In response, the government aims to implement sustainability policies by 2026 to strike a balance between growth and sustainability.

In another panel, Billy Lee Kok Chi, Chairman of Atlas CSF Sdn Bhd; Ir. Yau Chau Fong, Managing Director of Duriane Professionals Sdn Bhd; and John Leing, Technical Director at Huawei Malaysia Data Centre Facility, shared insights on energy consumption and overall operational efficiency, emphasizing it as one of the three pillars of data centre innovation.

In addition to the panels, there were also guest speakers who spoke about facilities and financing for data centres. They include:

• Dato’ Stewart Labrooy, Executive Chairman, AREA Group, who shared about the strategically positioned Delapan Special Border Economic Zone (SBEZ) in the Northern Territory and its green sustainability initiatives aimed at reducing the carbon footprint of the new data centre park.

• Mark Ee, Head of Equity Finance, Asia Australia, Siemens Financial Services, who shared insights into Siemens’ equity and debt interests in the data centre market.

Billy Lee Kok Chi, Chairman of Atlas CSF Sdn Bhd, commented: “This is my first time attending a data centre industry showcase, and I’m quite impressed with the products and solutions by Siemens, particularly the digital twin, as it aligns with what the industry needs to streamline all the designs in terms of simulation and process.”

“To accelerate the development of data centers, it is imperative to establish an ecosystem of partners for collaborative discussions and the exchange of use cases,” stated Tindaro Danze, President & CEO of Siemens Malaysia. “Through this conference, we want to highlight solutions aligned with data center demands, including cybersecurity, sustainability, digitalization and automation. We are setting the tone for building resilient and sustainable data centers in Malaysia.”