NUSAJAYA: Johor plans to be in the forefront in knowledge economy by attracting more information and communications technology (ICT) companies to invest within Iskandar Malaysia.
Mentri Besar Datuk Mohamed Khaled Nordin said under the 11th Malaysian plan, the Government has stressed upon the advancement made within ICT as an important sector to spur economic growth.
“We cannot afford to ignore ICT with its innovative approach and it has become a vital piece in the current knowledge economy which will spur our economy as well, he said.
Mohamed Khaled said this when met after the ground-breaking ceremony for the VADS data centre held at Nusajaya Tech Park here on Monday.
He pointed out that by having such a centre operating within Iskandar Malaysia, it would make the southern economic corridor more attractive and draw global ICT players to set up their base here.
Johor will be able to rival other data centres operating in Singapore and Japan as we will be able to give affordable prices and other incentives when they want to invest here compared to other places, he said.
VADS chief executive officer Massimo Migliuolo said the construction of the centre is to meet the demand of its customers for digital market and high-speed broadband in Malaysia and the region as well.
He added that the first phase of the construction would involve a regional hub for ICT/Business process outsourcing (BPO) and would be build in about 14 months, involving 30,000 square feet.
The market for such service is growing by the day with the demand increasing and we want to be part of it, he said.
Meanwhile, TM chairman Tan Sri Sulaiman Mahbob said the centre is designed to meet the hosting demand which is important to their corporate customers, government agencies including cloud and data service supplier.
The establishment of the VADS data centre here is in line with Budget 2016, which is to make our country a competitive technology hub and transform Malaysia into a world class data centre, he said.
