Huawei Launches Asia Pacific Digital Cloud Exchange in Johor to Power Digital Business in Malaysia

As part of its long term commitment to support Malaysia’s aspiration to transform into a regional ICT Hub, Huawei opened its first Regional Data Hosting Centre, the Asia Pacific Digital Cloud Exchange, in Iskandar, Johor this afternoon.

The Centre will aggregate and distribute digital music, mobile games, video and other multimedia services to telcos in Malaysia and the rest of the Asia Pacific region. The opening ceremony, held at the site of this Exchange this afternoon, was officiated by the Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister, YAB Tan Sri Dato’ HJ Muhyiddin HJ. Mohd Yassin and Mr. Wu Zhengping, the Economic and Commercial Counselor at the Embassy of People’s Republic China in Malaysia. Around 200 guests, including dignitaries from state and central government, also graced the occasion.

In October 2013, Huawei formed an agreement with Khazanah Nasional to open a Regional Data Hosting Centre in Iskandar. This came on the sidelines of government’s announcement to strengthen Malaysia’s vision to be a regional ICT Hub.

YAB Tan Sri Dato’ HJ Muhyiddin, Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia and Abraham Liu, officiating the launch

According to Huawei, the ongoing ICT convergence in the world will continue to be the enabler in driving a new round of exponential growth across industries. By 2020, there will be 4.6billion mobile users and 5.9 billion smartphones. 100 billion connections will be made and mobile market size will be over US$3.9 trillion. In the light of this upcoming “Digital Tsunami”, Huawei has invested to develop the Asia Pacific Cloud Exchange in Iskandar that aggregates over 2,100 partners worldwide and more than 200,000 pieces of digital contents, including digital music, mobile game, video, open Application Program Interface (API), traffic monetization, B2B cloud, and M2M. These aggregated multi-media services will help telco operators to shape a digital service ecosystem and generate more revenue from digital market. Meanwhile, it will further explore the promising digital market with local and international content providers. Huawei’s Asia Pacific Digital Cloud Exchange will act as the bridge between partners and telcos in digital product distribution and trading.

Huawei’s Digital Cloud Exchange has hit the ground running with several new initiatives announced at the opening ceremony. Global mobile game distributor Uzone Games launched its Mini 4WD game in Malaysia. Les’ Copaque Production owned Upin & Ipin, the most influential animation series in Malaysia, also announced that it will provide its digital content to the Asia Pacific region from the Huawei Digital Cloud Exchange in Iskandar. Meanwhile, Huawei signed Memorandum of Understanding with Uzone Games, Les’ Copaque Production, M-Mode Mobile and Elite Entertainment to promote digital business and with Universiti Teknologi Malaysia to encourage academia and industry collaborations.

“As one of the fastest growing markets in the region, we are pleased to open our first Data Hosting Centre, the Huawei Digital Cloud Exchange, in Malaysia. Our investment in this facility is a major milestone in making Malaysia our regional business gateway. Malaysia’s investment-friendly policies, its skilled workforce and geographic advantages underline our confidence in the country’s potential as a Regional Digital Cloud Exchange,” said Abraham Liu, CEO of Huawei Malaysia.

Today, Malaysia ranks No. 15 on the Global Foreign Direct Investment Contribution Index attracting more than 5,000 foreign companies in 2014. Malaysia has become the main gateway for foreign ICT players operating in South-East Asia. Today, Malaysia is one of the fastest growing markets in the region. Huawei believes that the reason Malaysia is well-poised to attract foreign investment is two-fold. One, the excellent technological infrastructure the country has to offer with developments in High Speed Broadband (HSBB), Suburban Broadband (SUBB), and LTE, and second, the immense talent the country has to offer. Huawei’s Asia Pacific Digital Cloud Exchange is set to be an excellent platform for Malaysian content providers to expand into international markets as well as boost the position of the country’s creative talent in the global marketplace. The industry has a global market size of US$158.9 billion based on PwC’s Global Entertainment and Media Outlook 2014-2018 Report. With an estimated worth of RM18.7 billion, the Malaysian creative multimedia industry is not only a lucrative one, but has the potential to grow as digital connectivity becomes faster and more fluid around the world.

“We hope that Huawei’s Digital Cloud Exchange will not only help nurture Malaysia’s creative content and the vast pool of local talent and but also create a productive and innovative digital market worth billions of USD. We are keen on partnering with the public and private sectors to turn this vision into reality,” added Abraham Liu.

In the last few years, Huawei has contributed significantly to the ICT and related skill development initiatives in Malaysia. In addition to the most recent Data Hosting Centre investment in Iskandar, the company opened its global training centre in Cyberjaya in 2012 that aimed at training 20,000 engineers annually. In collaboration with MDeC, Huawei completed the training for over 10,000 teachers and students by the end of 2014 and has built training labs in eight top Malaysian universities. Huawei also partnered with University Malaya to develop entrepreneurial skills among the students through a semester-long challenge to independently run the Huawei device store on campus – a first of its kind in the country. Huawei’s business portfolio and initiatives in Malaysia continue to fulfill the company’s two most important objectives – making connectivity possible for all Malaysians and enabling their digital lifestyles. With the opening of Huawei’s Digital Cloud Exchange as a gateway for Malaysian content providers to expand to the region, the company’s role in the local ICT industry, as an investor, employer, and partner, continues to grow.

“We are grateful for the enormous support from the Malaysian government that continues to encourage a partnership approach with investors. Their policies and approach to foreign investment make investing in Malaysia win-win proposition. We are happy to share our experiences with other investors looking to expand to Malaysia,” concluded Abraham Liu.

About Huawei:

Huawei is a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider with the vision to enrich life through communication. Driven by customer-centric innovation and open partnerships, Huawei has established an end-to-end ICT solutions portfolio that gives customers competitive advantages in telecom and enterprise networks, devices and cloud computing. Huawei’s 170,000 employees worldwide are committed to creating maximum value for telecom operators, enterprises and consumers. Our innovative ICT solutions, products and services have been deployed in over 170 countries and regions, serving more than one third of the world’s population. Founded in 1987, Huawei is a private company fully owned by its employees.