Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing officially opened its Next Generation Data Centre in the Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate today (Thursday), further strengthening the technological foundation of HKEx’s markets and marking a bold commitment to the development of Hong Kong as an international financial centre.

Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region C Y Leung officiated at the opening ceremony and received a tour of the new, state-of-the art facility along with HKEx Chairman C K Chow and Chief Executive Charles Li.

The new Data Centre is the centrepiece of HKEx Orion Technology Initiatives, a comprehensive $3 billion programme designed to enhance HKEx’s technological infrastructure.  The Data Centre is a five-storey facility with a total floor area of about 31,400 square metres.  It consolidates the primary data centres for all of HKEx’s markets and clearing house systems under one roof, as well as majority of IT development and support staff.  Previously, HKEx had primary data centres in two separate locations in Hong Kong and backup centres in three other locations in the city.

"HKEx is at a transition point in its development.  With the acquisition of the London Metal Exchange, HKEx Group is a major global player in the exchange space,” said HKEx Chairman C K Chow.  “Robust IT infrastructure is the foundation of any modern exchange.  Without it, we would not be able to embark on our business expansion plans."

"We are investing $3 billion into Orion to not only meet today’s market needs, but also the needs of tomorrow," Mr Chow added.  "Our investment in Orion illustrates our commitment to the growth and further development of our markets, our commitment to Hong Kong, and our commitment to supporting this city’s role as a leading international financial centre."

"The development of this data centre – from concept to completion – in such a short amount of time is a testament to our management, staff, and project partners who worked so hard to make this happen.  The fact that a project on this scale can be accomplished on schedule within budget is a magnificent achievement.  I want to thank all of them for their excellent work," said HKEx Chief Executive Charles Li.

Among the services offered at our new Data Centre is Hosting Services, which provides market participants with a low-latency co-location solution with HKEx markets.  Through the provision of Hosting Services, HKEx brings together its systems, Exchange Participants, Information Vendors, technology vendors and telecommunication providers.  This ecosystem offers a strong value proposition through which participants can access global connectivity, order management, risk management and various types of services cost effectively.  Hosting Services occupies two dedicated floors in the Data Centre and can support up to 1,200 racks.

In addition, the new Data Centre enables high capacity trading and ultra-low latency price information with a suite of market data products, giving market participants more options for trading and data services, as well as flexibility in choosing the services which best fits their needs.

The Data Centre also meets stringent international environmental standards; it has been designed to meet the LEED gold standard, which is part of an internationally-recognised green building certification scale.  It is also among the first Exchange-built Data Centres in the Asia-Pacific region to reach the internationally-recognised Tier 4 standard.

Attached is a fact sheet and photographs of the HKEx Data Centre.

Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region C Y Leung (second from left) unveils a plaque to mark the grand opening of HKEx’s new Data Centre.  He is joined by HKEx Chairman C K Chow (left) and HKEx Chief Executive Charles Li (right).

Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region C Y Leung (centre) joins HKEx Chairman C K Chow (seventh from left), HKEx Chief Executive Charles Li (seventh from right), Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Professor KC Chan (sixth from left), Permanent Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury (Financial Services) Au King-chi (sixth from right), SFC Chairman Carlson Tong (fifth from left), SFC Executive Director Keith Lui (fourth from right), Hong Kong Science & Technology Parks Corporation Chairman Nicholas Brooke (third from left) and seven HKEx directors for a toast at the grand opening ceremony of HKEx’s new Data Centre. 

Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region C Y Leung (third from left) visits the Operation Control Centre of HKEx’s new Data Centre with HKEx Chairman C K Chow (second from left), HKEx Chief Executive Charles Li (second from right) and Co-heads of IT Bill Chow (right) and Richard Leung (left).

Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region C Y Leung (second from left) visits the Data Hall of HKEx’s new Data Centre with HKEx Chairman C K Chow (left), HKEx Chief Executive Charles Li (right) and Co-heads of IT Bill Chow (third from left) and Richard Leung (second from right). 

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