Open DC: Data Centres In Malaysia Help Evolve Technology Locally
Open DC is developing local vendors and talent by giving them hands-on exposure to advanced cooling systems and data centre technologies.
- Open DC actively develops local vendors by working alongside global equipment suppliers, giving Malaysian companies exposure to advanced data centre technologies.
- Open DC mandates knowledge transfer from equipment suppliers to local companies, building a sustainable pool of homegrown talent in Malaysia.
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Open DC Sdn Bhd (Open DC), which operates six data centres in Malaysia, is creating meaningful job opportunities while equipping local companies with the skills needed to support increasingly advanced data centre technologies.
The initiative is in line with the direction of the 100% locally owned data centre company, which is focused on strengthening local talent and building a homegrown ecosystem to support Malaysia’s growing data centre industry.
Open DC managing director Wong Weng Yew said the company was actively working with selected local vendors to build their capabilities and enable them to operate and support state-of-the-art data centre ecosystems.
He said this was particularly important as Malaysia’s tropical climate presented additional challenges in developing and operating highly efficient cooling systems for data centres.
“At Open DC, what we have been developing is the local talents or local support through our many projects. What we’re doing essentially is we carefully select some of the local vendors and then we actively develop them in order for them to be able to operate the state-of-the-art ecosystem,” Wong said during a media briefing in Kuala Lumpur today.
Open DC, carrier-neutral and AI-ready data centre provider, operates six data centres in Malaysia – two each in Johor Bahru and Penang, and one in Cyberjaya and Kedah.
Wong said that in 10 years of its existence, Open DC had always handpicked local vendors and brought them into its projects to work alongside global equipment suppliers with advanced cooling technologies.
He said the approach allowed Malaysian companies to gain exposure to technologies that they might otherwise have limited opportunities to work with.
Local Vendors Gain Exposure To Advanced Cooling Technology
Wong said liquid cooling was among the niche technologies increasingly deployed in the Data Centre industry, but many local vendors would have limited opportunities to work with such systems without participating in major data centre projects.
“Traditionally, we have seen that a lot of players chosen to use foreign vendors to come in to outsource everything to them.
“But instead of doing that, we actually pick local companies to work alongside with us,” he said.
According to Wong, Open DC also requires equipment suppliers to transfer knowledge to local companies, including training their personnel and involving them as part of the teams responsible for delivering complete solutions.
He said the process could help local vendors develop specialised expertise that could subsequently be applied to Open DC’s ongoing operations.
Seeding A Local Talent Ecosystem
Wong said the company hoped its approach would help create a sustainable pool of local expertise capable of supporting Malaysia’s growing data centre industry.
“We encourage them. We mandate the equipment supplier to do a knowledge transfer to the local players and then to train them and to recruit them as part of their team in order to supply the whole solution to us.”
Through the model, he said Open DC could continue working with the local vendors while giving them opportunities to build their capabilities through exposure to advanced technologies.
“By doing so, hopefully we can also start a seed in the local market that hopefully we can grow to become a tree of talents in the local market.”
The approach comes as Malaysia continues to see growing demand for data centre infrastructure, including facilities capable of supporting increasingly power-intensive AI applications.
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