By Philbert Shih, theWHIR.com
January 17, 2006 — (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — The rapid economic growth of the Asia-pacific region is attracting business to the region and creating opportunities for hosts looking to take advantage of the expanding hosting and IT requirements of businesses in that area.
DataPipe (datapipe.com) became the latest host to expand into Asia, announcing that it had acquired 2,500 square feet of data center space and placed sales and support staff in Hong Kong, China. The move comes shortly after AT&T, already in Hong Kong, expanded its own Asian presence with the opening of a new data center facility in Shanghai.
DataPipe says it will offer the same services in Hong Kong as it does out of its locations in metropolitan New York, San Jose, California and London, England. This includes a comprehensive line of managed hosting, security and network and data center infrastructure services.
The company’s move into Asia was precipitated by strong demand from customers keen to tap into the region’s growth, but did not want to move to another vendor, explains Robb Allen, chief executive officer of DataPipe.
“Over the last two or three years [in Asia], we’ve earned preferred vendor status with a number of multinational companies that we do business with, and part of our commitment to them is to support their expansion efforts in key markets around the world,” says Allen. “We have a lot of existing clients, who were saying, ‘listen you are the vendor of choice for us, we don’t want to go to another vendor, we want to work with you.’”
Hong Kong was ideal, not just because of its proximity to China, but because it possesses a well-developed infrastructure that is supported by an educated, English-speaking work force. This makes it easier for DataPipe to hire the right people, Allen says.
The comfort level was another selling point. “Hong Kong reminds me a lot of New York. It’s got the same sense of urgency, the same vibe in a lot of ways, so we felt very comfortable there.”
Most of DataPipe’s customers in the region are in financial services, so setting up in Asia’s financial center made a great deal of sense and presents the company with a strong potential customer base. Locating on Hong Kong was also preferable because of the company’s concerns with the mainland government’s heavy hand with regard to Internet regulation and censorship.
“There are some concerns with being on the mainland, as far as what kind of restrictions the Chinese government would [impose] with censorship,” says Allen, “that you don’t really face in Hong Kong.”
Though Allen says the company does have a long-range goal of being on the mainland, he believes Hong Kong is the best starting point. “We think that Hong Kong right now, is the easiest way to enter the marketplace,” he says. “I think our clients are pretty comfortable with that location.”
Being in the Asia-pacific presents hosts with a unique set of challenges. US-based hosts typically deal with the possibility of September 11-type threats or natural disasters like earthquakes. In Asia terrorism is less of a concern, but emergencies particular to the region could have equally devastating effects and require preparation and vigilance.
“I think the unique thing that we deal with in preparing for [disaster] in Asia, is this Avian flu,” says Allen.
Though it won’t elaborate on any details, DataPipe has contingency plans for the outbreak of a serious flu pandemic. “If there is an outbreak or pandemic they could say there is no travel in or out for the next six months. So you have to be prepared, you have to have enough employees in place on the ground to deal with that.”
Allen is optimistic that the developing Asia-pacific market will continue to help the company grow, with demand coming from all corners – from the larger enterprises to the smaller companies with as few as five servers.
“We’re excited about the idea that we really have become truly a global company now, because we are in Europe as well as Asia. And we have a long range plan to be in other locations.”
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