Samuel Lee (Digital Edge)
Singapore-headquartered data centre operator Digital Edge has struck a joint venture deal that will see it construct and operate a 10MW data centre in Manila, Philippines.
The joint venture agreement is with the Threadborne Group family office, an entity within the country’s Rufino family’s business holdings, focused on technology and real estate, and claims a capital commitment in excess of US$100 million collectively from both parties.
Already under construction, the Manila data centre is slated to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2022, and is expected to stand as the largest operational carrier neutral data centre in the Philippines upon completion.
It is anticipated that the facility will allow Digital Edge to offer flexible, high-quality colocation and interconnection services to both local and international customers in the Greater Manila region.
The new data centre is based on Digital Edge’s next generation architecture and is to be operated under the Digital Edge brand name. The facility also aims to be the most advanced facility in the market, in terms of energy and water efficiency.
“We are very excited about the energy and water efficiency achieved in the design of the Digital Edge Manila data centre. Given Manila’s hot and humid climate, it is extremely difficult to achieve an annualised PUE [power usage effectiveness] of 1.193 at the optimal operating temperature, but the team has been able to achieve an impressive result,” said Jay Park, chief development officer of Digital Edge.
“The WUE [water usage effectiveness] of 1.355 is also significant in that it uses less than a quarter of the water needed for cooling when compared to traditional style cooling tower type setups.
“These are industry leading numbers. We will be seeking LEED Gold certification, EDGE certification, and participating as an early pilot partner for BERDE (Philippines Local Green Building Certification). This data centre will most certainly put the Philippines into the league of having one of the most advanced data centres in Asia,” he added.
According to Samuel Lee, CEO of Digital Edge, the Philippines is an underserved market with substantial demand for data centre capacity.
“Together with the Threadborne Group, we intend to be at the forefront of developing the critical data centre infrastructure for this market,” Lee said. “The Threadborne Group’s principals are experienced real estate developers with a proven track record and we are very pleased to have joined forces with them to undertake this important initiative.
“This venture is another step forward in the Company’s ambition to transform Asia’s digital infrastructure by building and operating the most energy efficient and connectivity-rich data centres in key emerging markets,” he added.
For Raymond Rufino, principal for investments and real estate of the Threadborne Group, Digital Edge’s knowledge and experience in designing, constructing and operating data centres, combined with Threadborne’s local real estate and customer knowledge, has created a solid foundation on which to grow the partnership.
“Digital Edge shares our strong conviction for this market and in the importance of setting robust, long-term ESG goals,” Rufino said. “We are already receiving very positive feedback from a number of potential customers and are confident that this is just the beginning.”
The deal comes just a handful of months after Digital Edge acquired a controlling stake in PT Indointernet Tbk – Indonet – one of the leading digital infrastructure service providers in Indonesia.
The US$165 million investment, accomplished via the Stonepeak Infrastructure Partner-backed data centre operator’s Digital Edge (Hong Kong) subsidiary, saw Digital Edge become the single largest shareholder in Indonet.
Indonet is a facilities-based carrier that owns substantial self-built fibre assets in the Jakarta metro area and provides a full suite of internet connectivity, local loop, cloud access and colocation services.
