Property developer New World backs data centre venture focused on emerging economies in Asia-Pacific
- Turbidite plans to acquire three edge data centres this year and a total of 18 over the course of four years
- Customers will include multinational corporations, large internet companies and global hyperscale data centre operators
Called Turbidite and co-founded by telecommunications industry veterans Bill Barney and Wilfred Kwan, the venture will focus on developing so-called edge data centres, which are carrier-neutral and support the online businesses of multinational corporations, large internet companies and global hyperscale data centre operators.
“Turbidite will look like a private equity vehicle, buying existing edge data centres at the beginning, and then shift to a holding company over the course of two to three years,” Barney told the South China Morning Post in a videoconference interview last week. He estimated that an edge data centre could cost between US$20 million to US$50 million on average, but did not elaborate about Turbidite’s spending target.
The company plans to make three acquisitions this year and a total of 18 over the course of four years, while expanding the capabilities of these facilities, according to Barney, who previously served as chief executive at private undersea cable network operator GCX, Reliance Data Centres, telecoms services provider Pacnet and Asia Netcom.
Data centres are secure, temperature-controlled facilities built to house large-capacity servers and data storage systems, backed by multiple power sources and high-bandwidth internet connections. These facilities are largely used to host cloud computing operations. Cloud services enable companies to buy, lease or sell software and other digital resources online, just like electricity from a power grid.
