The Hong Kong SAR government is seeking a site for its second integrated data center while the first integrated data center will 'hopefully' be ready for use in 2019, said government CIO Daniel Lai at Legco’s Panel on Economic Development this week.
Without revealing any timeline for the second facility, Lai added that the OGCIO lately submitted a feasibility and technology study report for the first integrated data center to the Architectural Services Department.
The OGCIO will consolidate and move six of the existing 29 government data centers to the first integrated facility, he noted.
As 2019 is five years away, lawmaker (IT constituency) Charles Mok questioned whether the government effectively aligns different departments’ data center plans with its own integrated data center roadmap.
“In the past year or two, departments including the Transport Department as well as the Trade and Industry Department had their new data centers,” Mok noted. “I wonder if more departments will have their own new facilities—which might mean unnecessary additional expense and duplicated efforts—before the government’s first integrated data center is live.”
Lai didn’t touch on the alignment issue, but said the existing data centers plus non-government facilities in use have enough capacity to meet users’ requirements before the first integrated facility’s up and running.