Hong Kong Is Lowest-Risk Data Centre; US Remains Number One

Tom Burroughes

28 May 2013

Hong Kong ranked as the lowest-risk Asian destination in which to locate a data centre, in terms of efficiency, bandwidth and ease of doing business, a fact of note for wealth managers increasingly reliant on technology, new data shows. Meanwhile, the US is number one in the low-risk scale.

The report was produced by international consultancies Cushman & Wakefield , hurleypalmerflatt and Source8. The Data Centre Risk Index 2013 evaluates risks likely to affect the successful operation of data centre facilities in the 30 most important global markets.

"Data centre demand in the APAC is expected to continue to expand, driven by the economic dynamism of the region and the businesses' reliance on IT systems and the cloud. Traditional hubs such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Sydney are expected to remain the favoured locations for multinationals operating in the region; however, most local businesses are expected to look for in-country data centres that are geographically close to their main areas of operation rather than regional hubs,”

Heidi Durrant, head of Cushman & Wakefield's Data Centre Advisory Group in Asia Pacific, said.

“Data centres house business-critical IT systems -- any downtime has the potential to threaten an organisation's viability and impact significantly upon revenues and customer services. The aim of the DCRI is to help companies make informed investment decisions about where to locate their data centres to increase efficiency, lower costs and to develop strategies to mitigate anticipated risk,” the report said.

In the report, factors such as energy and labour costs, internet connectivity, ease of doing business and the likelihood of natural disasters or political instability are all taken into consideration and individually weighted to reflect different risk levels.

The US maintains its place at the top of the DCRI and is considered the lowest-risk location for building and operating a data centre in the world. The UK remains second globally in this year's table but ranks as the highest-placed European country.

Sweden ranks third – up five places from 2012’s ranking; Germany ranks fourth, and Canada is fifth. Singapore, meanwhile, ranks 15^th.