Hitachi Sunway combined a few announcements in one last week in Petaling Jaya. They announced the opening of their new offices, new datacenter and also two local acquisitions.
Group CEO Cheah Kok Hoong along with Mr. Masato Saito Chairman of Hitachi Sunway discussed their plans for the region. Most telling about this joint venture is how we see Hitachi positioning to exploit what they view as a huge opportunity in the IT services market in the ASEAN region.

Speaking with Mr. Saito it is very clear he understands the nuances of the ASEAN market. Even though they inherited offices in Thailand, Philippines and Vietnam with the Sunway Joint Venture, we can see Mr. Saito understands ASEAN is a varied market where local networks and connections count for everything. To that end don’t be surprised if you see Hitachi enter other joint ventures on a similar scale to that of Hitachi Sunway in some of the more emerging countries in the ASEAN region.
 
We were interested to understand why Hitachi chose Malaysia as their spring board into ASEAN and again Mr. Saito showed good knowledge of this locality, referring to culture fit, relatively low costs, multiple language skills as part of his reasoning. However it seems the biggest deciding factor was what Sunway Computers had to offer, the relationships are key and we at DSA feel the pedigree of the IT companies ultimate owner had something to do with the decision. Sunway's main business is property and no doubt that has played a big part in being able to construct the state of the art facility and datacenter that was officially opened last week.
 
The two acquisitions that were also announced also make a lot of sense. Powerware build datacenters and this is where Hitachi Sunway are heading, we were also really pleased to hear of the acquisition of FREENET. This is a local Malaysian SI with excellent datacenter management skills that DSA has been aware of for some time. Mr. Cheah and Mr. Saito declined to say how much they paid for the outright purchase of FREENET, but at DSA we hope that the FREENET team are smiling, they are a good local team add a real level of expertise to the Hitachi Sunway growing business. 

Press Release follows

Hitachi Sunway Positions as Powerhouse in Data Center Market
 
i) Japan-Malaysia JV makes two major acquisitions in accelerating to leadership position for data center solutions and services;
ii) Builds new data centre in Klang Valley as direct response to the Malaysian government’s drive to position the country as a premier location for regional data centre hub
 
PETALING JAYA, MALAYSIA – July 31, 2014 – Hitachi Sunway Information Systems Sdn. Bhd. (“Hitachi Sunway”), a leading one-stop IT services and solutions provider in Southeast Asia (SEA), today announces its latest corporate maneuver in bid to become a major data center player in the region.
               
Cheah Kok Hoong, Group CEO and director of Hitachi Sunway shares that these include the acquisitions of two privately held Malaysian companies – Free Net Business Solutions Sdn Bhd (‘FREENET’) and Powerware Systems Sdn Bhd (‘PWS’) in strategic investments that instantly positions the Japanese-Malaysian joint venture (JV) company to be the next powerhouse player in the region’s data center sector.
 
Cheah says, “Hitachi Sunway has fully acquired FREENET and thirty percent (30%) shares of PWS, in our latest corporate investment to leverage the strong demands for regional data center services as the Cloud Computing trend experiences continued growth throughout SEA’s ICT markets.” 
 
*Note: FREENET has over 15 years of experiences in system integration, backup and data recovery, data center facility, managed services, network services and IT outsourcing businesses, whereas Powerware Systems has presences in Malaysia and Middle East focusing in Data Center Design and Build over a span of 10 years. For more details about the companies being acquired, please refer the boilerplates.    
 
Prior to the acquisitions, Hitachi Sunway already has a data center business that runs under its Infrastructure Managed Services (IMS) division that offer data center services, data management, IT outsourcing managed service, data center design and building solutions. 
 
“These two strategic acquisitions come in timely as Hitachi Sunway is underway to complete the building of its newest 5000 sq. ft data center located at The Pinnacle Sunway by October 2014,” shares Cheah.
 
With the acquisition of FREENET, Hitachi Sunway instantly gains two (2) additional ISO-certified Tier III compliant data centers within the country located at Cyberjaya and Kuala Lumpur; and to a total of 18,500 sq. ft, while its third data center at The Pinnacle Sunway is currently under construction.
 
He adds that the Japanese-Malaysian JV intends to be a top player in the region with comprehensive data center services, Cloud infrastructures and solutions to support multinational customers, especially Japanese-oriented businesses look to expand their businesses in SEA via ICT support partnership with Hitachi Sunway.
 
Responding to Malaysian Government’s Call For More Data Centers
 
Cheah says that this emphasis of Hitachi Sunway’s corporate business direction into the data center market aligns with the local government’s drive towards greater developments for the country to be SEA’s preferred data center hub.
 
“Invest KL and Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) is in close support of Hitachi Sunway’s acquisitions and revealing of our latest data center at The Pinnacle Sunway, as this is also exemplary of the kind of strategic foreign investments that is sought after to boost Malaysia’s ICT sector,” he says.
 
As a country, Malaysia has already seen its economic revenue from the data center market grew by over RM500 million last year, up by 25 percent. At the same time, the Cloud Computing trend has taken off as an increasing number of conglomerates and SME businesses are adopting this ICT delivery model to manage data and deploy technology.
 
“As Cloud Computing is a major growth strategy for Hitachi Sunway, it is only logical for us to invest to be a stronger player as data centers are the fundamental infrastructure and ICT architectural support for Cloud to be delivered,” explains Cheah.
 
The Pinnacle Sunway: MSC Cybercentre
 
Located at The Pinnacle Sunway, Hitachi Sunway’s latest data center facility is certified with the Green Building Index to compliment its data center services to customers from a cost perspective.
 
Cheah adds, “Hitachi Sunway’s newest data center will be handle the demands of more from local corporations, which want to outsource their IT and call centre operations, yet at the same time prefer their data to be residing closer to them.”
 
Hitachi Sunway has also officially relocated its Headquarter at The Pinnacle Sunway recently where is designed with highest building efficiency optimized for MSC-status companies’ operations.
 
In conjunction with the acquisition announcements, Masato Saito, Chairman / Director of Hitachi Sunway also shares that Hitachi Sunway has been growing steadily with a significant increase in revenue of over 50 percent in the past 12 months.
 
Saito ends, “The remarkable business growth is a testament of the conducive collaboration between Hitachi Systems and Sunway Technology. Especially IMS, which is one of the three core business divisions of Hitachi Sunway has recorded more than 100 percent growth in revenue. This will continue to be fuelled by the force of the new acquisitions.”