Frost & Sullivan: CSF and VADS are Champions in the Malaysian Data Centre Services Market

~Frost & Sullivan's proprietary tool Frost IQ assesses performance of vendors~

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Nov. 6, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Malaysia is the preferred location for many data centre players due to its geographical location, as it is free from all major natural disasters like earthquakes and volcano eruption. Malaysia's other key competitive factors include its favourable political climate, competitive cost of real estate and lastly, the availability of technically trained English speaking graduates.

The Malaysian data centre services market is highly competitive in nature. In 2012, the market experienced a growth of 15.9% and achieved total revenue of USD 112.5 million. With the growing demand for data centre space from both domestic and international customers, Frost & Sullivan has forecasted the Malaysian data centre services market to be worth USD 355.9 million at the end of 2019.

"Frost & Sullivan sees many encouraging trends in the Malaysian data centre services market," said Mayank Kapoor, Industry Analyst for ICT, Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific. "Data centre service providers are diversifying their service offerings instead of focusing solely on co-location services.  In line with market demand, these service providers also offer managed hosting and managed services.  Green data centre features are often added to attract clients and overcome competition."

The Malaysian data centre services industry has seen the entry of many new players in recent times, thanks to the various initiatives implemented by the Malaysian government. The Malaysian government, through the agencies like MDeC and MOSTI, helps to facilitate the entry of foreign data centre service providers in Malaysia. Various incentives are also being offered by these agencies including tax breaks and rental waivers.

Frost & Sullivan has analysed the activities of 9 major data centre service providers in Malaysia and plotted them on the Frost Industry Quotient (Frost IQ) matrix. The Frost IQ matrix consists of four quadrants: champions, challengers, defenders and explorers. Key criteria used to determine relative positioning on the matrix include revenue market share, services strategy, business strategy and people skills strategy. CSF and VADS emerge in the champions' quadrant while Strateq, NTT MSC, AIMS and SKALI are part of the challengers' quadrant.

"CSF is the leading wholesale data centre service provider while VADS is the leading retail service provider. Both are well positioned in the champions' quadrant. The other four companies which have been profiled are part of the challengers' quadrant, which rightly indicates the amount of competition they have been giving VADS," said Mayank.

He continued, "Out of the 4 participants in the challengers' quadrant, Strateq and AIMS have been working very hard to improve their market share, while working on future growth strategies to give players like VADS a run for their money. Players like NTT MSC which has a vast amount of international experience will have a strong influence on the Malaysian data centre industry." 

"Maxis, Jaring and Basis Bay sit in the explorers' quadrant. One of Malaysia's oldest ICT players, Jaring, has seen its market share fall with little clear focus for the future.  Another experienced player, Basis Bay, has not diversified itself much from its initial business aims, and thus also falls into the explorers' quadrant. Newcomer, Maxis, has impressed the data centre industry with its Uptime Institute certified data centre," he added.

The Malaysian data centre service market is highly competitive. With incentives being offered by the Malaysian government, for both service providers and clients, Malaysia's data centre environment is witnessing significant growth. With the government having a target of achieving 5 million square feet of data centre space by 2020, Frost & Sullivan sees a bright future for the current players and the potential new entrants in terms of revenue growth.

About Frost IQ

Frost Industry Quotient, Frost IQ, is a proprietary Frost & Sullivan vendor assessment tool which leverages Frost & Sullivan's analyst expertise and industry knowledge in the context of decision-making and provides a localized yet objective perspective in a highly heterogeneous business environment. The Frost IQ matrix infuses both analytical and quantitative perspectives, taking into account current market shares and future growth strategies of vendors. 

Frost & Sullivan Malaysia

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, works in collaboration with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today's market participants. Frost & Sullivan established an office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2000. The Kuala Lumpur office currently has more than 100 dedicated consultants covering 9 major industries across 18 countries in Asia Pacific. 

Frost & Sullivan is also proud to partner with Multimedia Development Corporation and Iskandar Investment Bhd (IIB) to set up a Global Innovation Centre in Medini. The Global Innovation Center in Iskandar will serve Frost & Sullivan's global operations and offices, providing opportunities for local employees to work on global projects, while developing and delivering capabilities that assist in driving Growth, Innovation and Leadership for our local and global clients.

Media contact:

Carrie Low
Corporate Communications – Asia Pacific
T: +603 6204 5910
E: carrie.low@frost.com