In a speech, Chan said the “one country, two systems” government principle gave Hong Kong a competitive advantage in the data-trading industry, especially given the scale of the mainland’s digital economy. He also praised the city’s progress in developing a cross-boundary information flow with mainland China, saying that a pilot scheme would be launched this month to enable business owners to obtain loans by consenting to share their financial data with partnered banks in a bid to remove barriers and encourage the exchange of services between the two areas.
He cited the Greater Bay Area as an example of Hong Kong’s global standing, describing it as “a key strategic hub for businesses in the region to expand their market presence and tap into new opportunities.” The region is also home to one of Asia’s largest and most advanced data centre markets, which offers extensive network connectivity and access to international peers through a dense concentration of enterprises, networks and IT service providers.
While modernisation of data protection laws in the SAR is currently mooted, Chan stressed that until any changes happen, businesses should make sure they understand their obligations under the existing framework. This includes ensuring that they have the right security measures in place to protect their customers’ personal data. In particular, they must take all necessary steps to ensure that the personal data they process is collected only for a lawful purpose and that it is adequate but not excessive in relation to that purpose. In addition, they must use secure storage, encryption and other technical means to safeguard the personal data they collect.
TD SYNNEX and Tech Data are committed to supporting companies as they grow their businesses in Hong Kong and beyond. They provide the infrastructure, services and support to help them succeed in this region with a wide range of colocation facilities, interconnects and other data centre services. These are supported by a rich industry ecosystem and one of the most comprehensive cable networks in Asia.
In order to meet growing demand for data centres, we are expanding our capacity in Hong Kong to offer more locations and services. This will include new facilities in the HK1 data centre and a dedicated colocation suite for high-profile enterprise users. We are also working with local service providers to develop a new high-density solution for our clients. This will combine a wider range of compute power and networking capabilities with lower total cost of ownership. This will be available in Q3 2020. We are also exploring the possibility of extending our services into other parts of Asia in the future.
