Basis Bay: Ushering a New Paradigm in Green Data Centers and Sustainable Cloud

At the end of 2019, as businesses wrapped up their planning for the year ahead, few could have predicted the unprecedented changes that awaited them. The coronavirus pandemic had severely disrupted all manner of operations globally, forcing enterprises to pivot in realtime to accommodate remote working for the vast majority if not all of their workforce. This significant transformation, accompanied by massive levels of uncertainty and budget constraints, required heavy restructuring of IT infrastructure. Across the globe, IT operations managed this monumental shift by adopting a hybrid cloud environment model to move additional workloads. In many cases, though these digital transformations were already occurring, the COVID-19 pandemic acted as a catalyst that accelerated plans already in place by teams who increasingly foresaw the value of hybrid cloud environments.

"Our suite of services and solutions support businesses not only in continuing day-today business operations but enable enterprise businesses to leverage technology to improve, grow and expand"

With hybrid cloud deployments primarily the domain of large organizations, regulations governing the use and storage of sensitive customer data is a vast cybersecurity and compliance concern for enterprises. However, it also increases the complexity of selecting the right toolset to deliver end-to-end services in a multisourced environment. While the onus falls on cloud providers to provide cost-efficient architectural solutions, a growing number of businesses expect a consumption-based model rather than paying a flat monthly rate to optimize these services. In addition, many organizations are prioritizing sustainability in their business strategies as a critical feature that is becoming non-negotiable. As the need for business continuity permeates across industries, hybrid cloud services will inevitably be the norm of robust IT infrastructure to support high-end enterprise clients’ business continuity. Basis Bay is one of the pioneers in data centres, sustainable cloud solutions, and multi-platform managed maintenance engineering services. Since its inception in 1996, the company has carved a niche for itself in the space as Asia’s leading green data centre and cloud solutions provider. Basis Bay offers an independent multi-platform private/hybrid cloud service that supports proprietary enterprise platforms such as IBM power systems with proven internal technical capabilities, running on a purposed built/carrier-neutral data centre. Basis Bay offers premium cloud solutions for IBM Power System i, p, and z systems and UNIX platforms such as AIX, HPUX, and Solaris. “Our suite of services and solutions support businesses not only in continuing day-to-day business operations but enable enterprise businesses to leverage technology to improve, grow and expand,” says Thomas Wong, Director of Cloud Solutions at Basis Bay.

Basis Bay data centres provide over 99.9999% availability and adhere to global standards and best practices such as TIA-942, ISO/IEC 27001, and Threat Vulnerability Risk Assessment (TVRA). The company’s holistic and integrated approach towards data centre management ensures comprehensive monitoring and control of resources. Basis Bay offers customers the option of selecting a customized private suite or a shared space for their IT infrastructure.

In addition, Basis Bay’s Sustainable Cloud solution allows clients the flexibility of the consumption payment model and the ability to utilize their cyber-security measures or help them design one to suit their needs. Its co-location services enable organizations to outsource their production or disaster recovery environment with the flexibility to manage, maintain and secure the designated area. On the cloud side, Basis Bay specializes in enterprise proprietary platforms. The company’s Sustainable Cloud solution allows enterprises to place high-end proprietary systems on the cloud with on-demand managed scalability and seamless integration with existing infrastructure during migration.

With over two decades of experience in providing end-to-end managed services that are cost-effective and have minimal impact to ongoing operations, the company aims to understand each organization’s requirements to advise on the suitable data centre tiers to meet financial and regulatory body compliance. It has the in-house expertise of certified engineers and a worldwide resource network for hardware parts to help organizations extend the lifecycle of their proprietary/legacy systems and lower the total cost of ownership through Basis Bay’s Smart Hand services. Furthermore, the company also performs real-time monitoring services tailored to an organization’s IT environment. Its Service Operation Center (SOC) provides a single point of contact for issues and service requests. To further illustrate the efficacy of Basis Bay’s solutions, Thomas cites a case study where a client required reliable and competent technical resources that have experience in data centre technology and cloud migration to new enterprise IT infrastructure. The client intended to upgrade its existing IT infrastructure performance as it could not meet the current and future business growth demands. However, they struggled to get approvals to upgrade to the expensive IBM Power System from their board. Basis Bay provided a “utility/pay-per-use model” that eliminated the high upfront cost and allowed the client to gain approvals quicker and accelerate go-to-market strategies. In turn, the company enabled quicker return on investment for the client’s business and helped them scale up business quickly with zero to minimal CAPEX.

"Currently, Basis Bay is building a new Tier IV ready data centre in Malaysia, which will be Asia's most secure data centre"

This year signifies Basis Bay’s 25th anniversary as a leading provider in the sustainable cloud and IT infrastructure services with a presence in over 50 countries, including Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong, Netherlands, and Thailand. Initially, the company dealt with pre-owned IT hardware, which eventually supported businesses with disaster recovery management solutions. Since then, Basis Bay has built its maintenance and engineering services of pre-owned high-end equipment, building and managing green data centres, and sustainable cloud solutions. Today, its long-standing advocacy for anti-corruption, sustainability, and ESG/CSR has led them to embark on a transformational journey termed ‘Basis Bay 2.0’ to drive innovation, manage risk and reduce cost consistently in the data centres and private cloud space. Currently, the company is building a new Tier IV ready data centre in Malaysia, which will be Asia’s most secure data centre. “Throughout our 25-year history, we’ve always had the foresight that sustainability is going to be an important aspect in this industry. With our Clean IT initiative, we will continue to champion sustainability and expand our focus in this space along with other social aspects,” concludes Shikha Patnaik, Marketing and Communications Lead at Basis Bay.