Pacnet intensifies hosted services play

SINGAPORE--In a bid to ride on the cloud computing boom, Pacnet is looking beyond connectivity services and to become a data center player, according to company executives.

At a media briefing to announce the launch of its Data Landing Station (DLS) here Tuesday, Pacnet CEO Bill Barney said the industry has seen a shift from a business model based on traditional networks to a software-as-a-service cloud computing platform. The hosted app model will in turn drive the need for more data centers, he noted.

Barney added that Pacnet has been playing in the distributed applications market and is now preparing itself to become a hosted services player. Pointing to the company's 22 data center sites across the region, Barney added that the telecommunication services provider also has experience in managing data centers.

Pacnet previously leased data centers but now operates its own data centers and is building more sites in the region, said Barney. Its data center facilities will leverage the company's cable landing stations which, including the new site in Singapore, are situated in major markets of Asia, he noted. The DLS have direct connectivity to Pacnet's subsea cable network.

With the data centers, the company also plans to expand its products to include more managed services. Pacnet currently offer a series of cloud offerings such as managed security and e-mail systems, said Barney, adding that the company plans to include other services such as managed co-location and network services.

Apart from DLS, Pacnet also plans to build Asia Gravity Centers which can support more than 2,000 racks of servers, he said. However, this project will only be completed in five to six years' time, said Barney.