How to choose a data center in Asia: Hong Kong vs. Singapore

The market demand for Asian data centers continues to grow. According to IDC's "Data Age 2025" research, the total amount of data around the world will increase from 33 zettabytes in 2018 to 175ZB in 2025, with a compound annual growth rate The rate is 61%. Datasphere also pointed out that China and the Asia-Pacific region are the regions with the fastest data growth. U.S. internet giants such as Google and Facebook are planning to deploy their own data centers in the Asia-Pacific region to meet growing demand in the region. Hong Kong and Singapore are both important financial centers in Asia. When choosing the location of Asian data centers, many companies are hesitating between Hong Kong and Singapore when making decisions. We will provide a comparison between the two places in this article to help you choose the ideal location for your business.

Hong Kong and Singapore share many characteristics with many first-world developed countries. Per capita income is high in both places, and the local economy is dominated by the service industry. Both places are famous for their free economic systems. According to data, Hong Kong was rated as the freest economy in the world in the 2019 Economic Freedom Index, while Singapore ranked second.

Geographically, Hong Kong is adjacent to mainland China, which can serve as a springboard to enter China's huge market, and being a traditional bridge to the mainland also gives Hong Kong a huge advantage. Among them, the line connection between Hong Kong and China brings advantages to the data transmission speed between the two places. Mainland China is one of the fastest growing markets in the world. Many international companies want to enter this market, but it is difficult to establish an online business in Mainland China. Website administrators must apply for an ICP license to keep their websites online. Chinese government agencies regularly check the servers they host for websites and conduct audits.

In contrast, Hong Kong's economy is relatively open, with free flow of capital and information, attracting many international companies to set up companies in Hong Kong. Moreover, in terms of network infrastructure, Hong Kong has low-latency connections to mainland China, and 11 operating submarine cable systems connecting the world. Coupled with the "One Belt, One Road" initiative promoted by Beijing, Hong Kong is seen not only as a major gateway to China but also as a market along the ancient Silk Road. Therefore, Hong Kong data centers are very suitable for companies targeting China and East Asia, as well as countries participating in the "Belt and Road" initiative. It is predicted that in the near future, the flow of data in Hong Kong will increase significantly, which also means that countries around the world will enter China or other East Asian countries through Hong Kong, which shows that its potential is no less than that of Singapore.

As of January 2019, Hong Kong has 11 submarine cable systems, including:

• Asia Africa Europe-1 (AAE-1)
• Asia-America Gateway Cable System (AAG)
• Asia Pacific Cable Network 2 (APCN-2)
• Asia Pacific Gateway (APG)
• Asia Submarine-Cable Express (ASE)
• EAC – C2C
• FLAG Europe Asia (FEA)
• FLAG North Asia Loop (FNAL) / REACH North Asia Loop (RNAL)
• SeaMeWe-3
• South-East Asia Japan Cable System (SJC)
• TGN-Intra Asia Cable System (TGN-IA)

Several other systems are also being planned, including: Pacific Light Cable Network (PLCN), Hong Kong – America(HKA), Hong Kong – Guam (HKG), Southeast Asia–Japan 2 (SJC2).

Singapore is the gateway to Southeast Asia. As of January 2019, it had 23 submarine fiber optic cable systems in service, making it one of the most connected countries with high bandwidth capabilities today. If you primarily serve customers in South Asia, a Singapore data center is a good choice.

The submarine cable system connected to Singapore includes:

• South Asia Express (SAEx2)
• Indonesia Global Gateway (IGG) System
• SEAX-1
• Australia-Singapore Cable (ASC)
• Asia Pacific Gateway (APG)
• PGASCOM
• SeaMeWe-5
• SeaMeWe-3
• APCN-2
• Moratelindo International Cable System-1 (MIC-1)
• Thailand-Indonesia-Singapore (TIS)
• i2i Cable Network (i2icn)
• Tata TGN-Tata Indicom
• Asia-America Gateway (AAG) Cable System
• Tata TGN-Intra Asia (TGN-IA)
• SeaMeWe-4
• EAC-C2C
• JAKABARE
• Southeast Asia Japan Cable (SJC)
• Jakarta-Bangka-Bintan-Batam-Singapore (B3JS)
• Batam Singapore Cable System (BSCS)
• Matrix Cable System
• Asia Submarine-cable Express (ASE)/Cahaya Malaysia

Other systems being planned include: Singapore-Myanmar (SIGMAR), INDIGO-West, Bay to Bay Express (BtoBE) Cable System and Southeast Asia-Japan Cable 2 (SJC2).

For detailed maps of submarine cables, see https://www.submarinecablemap.com

Dataplugs' Hong Kong data center provides dedicated servers, virtual hosting and server hosting services. If you have any questions about our data center or services, please feel free to call +86 147 156 98234 or Contact our sales staff by sending an email to sales@dataplugs.com and we'll be happy to answer your questions as soon as possible.

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