Alfa Tech: Singapore Demystifying Data Center Development in APAC

Today, as more businesses shift their data storage from physical, on-prem systems to cloud ecosystems, the business landscape is witnessing a rising need for digital data center solutions. Another key aspect of the shift from conventional data centers is their increasing carbon footprint, which has become a topic of concern in the modern-day marketplace. This new environmentally-conscious paradigm is also driving more stringent regulatory mandates, which are hindering businesses from finalizing the construction and development of newer data center assets. And while the mature western business world is already on board with these disruptions in the data center arena, growing markets, particularly in Asia, are still uncertain about how to approach their evolving data center needs. To mitigate this problem, leading organizations from across the world are trying to effectively penetrate the rich and diverse Asian market with their data center and networking solutions. However, owing to geography-specific laws and regulations as well as external factors such as unexpected power failures, climate-related issues, and more, carving a unique place in the Asian market has been an uphill battle for a majority of networking businesses.

Addressing this problem with its long-running experience in the APAC region and portfolio of end-to-end design, advisory, and at-risk turnkey data center project delivery services is Singapore-based Alfa Tech. The company’s services include site selection, design and architecture, mechanical, ACMV, electrical engineering, and facility management offerings for data center facilities.

Since its inception in 2010, Alfa Tech’s customer service prowess and entrepreneurial approach to business and technology have enabled the company to become early entrants in interesting markets such as MedTech, IoT, and urban agriculture across Southeast Asia. The company also prides itself on the role it played in building several Singapore public hallmark projects such as the national seedbank, the national supercomputer center, and recently, the university agriculture research center. Over the years, Alfa Tech has built a strong foundation of engineers and project managers with strong expertise in delivering projects across the APAC region.

Over the years, Alfa Tech has built a strong foundation of engineers and project managers with strong expertise in delivering projects across the APAC region.“With the combination of our end-to-end services suite and seasoned team, we bridge the technical, quality, and customer service gap between industry best practices and ground realities by MNCs looking to expand in Asia,” says Zach Wilson, managing director at Alfa Tech. Above all, the company continually strives to deliver solutions that go beyond its customers’ quality expectations.

According to Tim Ashwood, director of operations at Alfa Tech, the company’s ability to not only design and construct data center assets but also provide facility management services post-implementation is what makes them second to none. “Our facility management work has allowed us to learn the design and build decisions that can lead to future problems, which enables the accurate prediction of potential problems and their proactive mitigation in future projects,” adds Ashwood. For Asia, in particular, Alfa Tech’s holistic approach to customer projects enables the company to align interests and model out inefficiencies in the market, which drives the creation of a client relationship built on high trust and strong accountability.

Concurrently, Wilson’s deep expertise in the real estate industry also plays a vital role in Alfa Tech’s success as it enhances the due diligence and site selection processes from an early stage, thereby driving better outcomes post-completion. “Every project is like a unique musical score where the key pieces played by different musicians must harmonize perfectly to deliver a memorable performance. Similarly in data center development, we help our customers understand the significance of our full-service offerings and the benefits they offer throughout the life cycle of their asset,” explains Wilson.

With respect to the movement toward greener operations, Wilson elaborates how Alfa Tech is introducing Canadian HVAC provider, Nortek’s State Point Liquid Cooling unit into the Southeast Asian market. “We have installed Nortek’s cooling solution at the Singapore Tropical Data Centre Technology facility within the National University of Singapore, and this deployment will act as the testbed for a broader deployment across Asia,” explains Wilson. With the State Point Liquid Cooling unit, data center facilities can effectively drive down their power usage effectiveness (PUE) and water usage effectiveness (WUE), thereby minimizing the carbon footprint of their sites.

Moving forward, Alfa Tech aims to expand its teams and clientele across more nations in the APAC region, with several development projects already underway in the Philippines, Indonesia, and more. From a service portfolio standpoint, Alfa Tech is collaborating with a U.S.-based engineering firm to expand the applications and feature sets of their existing portfolio and boost their ability to holistically deliver value across all facets of data center projects. To conclude, Wilson reiterates the ethos of his company, “We will continue broadening our team and application horizons to help more businesses in the APAC region develop their desired data center assets cost-effectively and sustainably.”