DE-CIX Malaysia Interconnection Platform extension to boost data exchange in South-East Asia

DE-CIX Malaysia announced its partnership with Northern Gateway Sdn Bhd — a wholly owned subsidiary of the Ministry of Finance — to extend its existing DE-CIX Malaysia Interconnection Platform into Kota Perdana, a high-tech area in the town of Bukit Kayu Hitam near the border between Malaysia and Thailand.

The project is expected to be completed by 2024, enabling prospective collaborative efforts with other regional tech players and the industry’s private sector to further improve the country’s Internet performance.

The project aims to facilitate traffic exchange in the region and pave the way for low latency and high-speed connectivity across borders in South-East Asia. It is prospectively expected to strengthen Malaysia’s position as a critical regional interconnectivity hub, providing secure and reliable connections from Singapore to the Thailand border, as well as between East and West Malaysia, via the establishment of interconnection platforms such as Internet Exchange (IX) across the country.

Additionally, it will highlight DE-CIX’s capabilities in enabling seamless data exchange for regional tech players, content providers, and businesses on a cost-neutral basis through interconnection services such as peering and direct Cloud connectivity.

While connecting to DE-CIX and exchanging traffic directly across the interconnection platform, it further ensures that data streams arrive at their respective destinations via the shortest and most cost-effective route, thereby improving the performance of clouds and content.

According to DE-CIX International CEO Ivo Ivanov (picture): “The extension of the existing DE-CIX Malaysia Interconnection platform to the border of Malaysia is a significant step in strengthening the digital ecosystem throughout the Asean region.

“It will not only bring low-latency and high-speed connectivity to currently underserved areas but also enable cross-border data flows.”

He explained that by facilitating the local exchange of traffic but also the direct interconnection with networks at other DE-CIX IXs in the region, DE-CIX gives people and businesses in Kedah, Perlis and across the border in Thailand the digital infrastructure they deserve.

Open DC’s founder and MD Wong Weng Yew added: “The interconnectivity hub will complement the development of Kota Perdana as a vibrant business hub in the north, allowing tech players to develop business hosting with better connectivity through Open DC’s data centre, and at the same time benefit from DE-CIX’s IX to obtain low-latency connectivity to the Internet and cloud services.”

Northern Gateway CEO Razwin Sulairee Hasnan Termizi said: “This partnership with DE-CIX signifies another major milestone for Delapan. DE-CIX-Delapan will strengthen our border ecosystem to benefit Malaysia, Thailand and also Indochina.

“Northern Gateway will continue to invest in developing critical infrastructure to position Delapan as the most sustainable gateway to the Indochina market.”

In Malaysia itself, all Internet sectors rebounded strongly in 2021 with double-digit year-on-year growth, while Malaysia’s Internet economy is expected to reach US$35 billion (RM152.82 billion) in 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of 14%. Hence, local access to a wide interconnection ecosystem and state-of-the-art interconnection services in the north of the country will play a significant role in strengthening the digital infrastructure in Kedah and Perlis, with a flow-on effect on the economies in the region. – The Malaysian Reserve