Philippines data center by Digital Edge becomes first in Southeast Asia to achieve globally recognized certifications

NARRA1 secures TIA and EDGE certification, setting new standards for digital infrastructure in the region    

Manila, Philippines, 4 July 2024 – Digital Edge (Singapore) Holdings Pte. Ltd. (“Digital Edge”) has announced that its NARRA1 data center in Manila, which opened in early 2023, has becomes the first facility in Southeast Asia to secure two globally recognized industry certifications; ANSI/TIA-942-C certification for resilience, security and quality, as well as EDGE certification for green buildings. These accreditations further demonstrate Digital Edge’s position as one of the leading data center providers in the market and reinforce Manila’s standing as an important future hub for the region’s digital infrastructure sector.

Digital Edge was today awarded ANSI/TIA-942 certification, recognized as an industry gold standard in terms of data center resiliency. To achieve certification a data center must meet minimums standards covering all aspects of the physical infrastructure within the facility, including but not limited to, site location, electrical, mechanical, telecommunications, fire safety, and security. The certification was awarded to Digital Edge by EPI Certification Pte Ltd (EPI), the leading ISO-17021 accredited TIA-942 Certification Body.

In May this year the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) issued a revised version of this certification known as ANSI/TIA-942-‘C’, with Digital Edge becoming the first in Asia to achieve certification under the enhanced standard. Digital Edge received a Rating-3 out of 4 levels, with 4 being the highest. Rating-3, defined as a concurrent maintainable data center, means the facility has multiple redundant capacity components and distribution paths, allowing each and every component to be removed, replaced or serviced without disrupting the operations thereby supporting 24×7 availability.

In addition, Digital Edge has become the first data center in Southeast Asia to achieve EDGE (Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies) certification, a standard developed by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group. EDGE certification focuses on resource efficiency and is awarded to buildings that demonstrate 20% or more savings energy use, water use and embodied carbon in materials.

NARRA1 was recognized for its resource efficient design including its innovative liquid cooling system which has enabled it to achieve a market leading design Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) of 1.193, as well as numerous energy conserving features such as a 57% reduction in lighting power density. This follows on from Digital Edge’s achievement last year when it became the first data center in the country to receive LEED Gold certification, another internationally recognized green building standard determined by the U.S. Green Building Council.

Fuelled by the rise of AI applications, the Philippines data center colocation market is growing rapidly with latest estimates predicting a five-year CAGR of 36% through 2028[1], while investment from the global cloud and hyperscale customers is expected to increase at an even greater rate of 61% CAGR¹ during the same period. Industry certifications supporting the adoption of international quality and sustainability standards are expected to become increasingly important as the Philippines looks to attract more leading technology companies to its data center market.

Commenting on the certifications Vic Barrios, Country Manager for Digital Edge in the Philippines said, “We are proud to contribute to the Philippines standing as a credible player within Southeast Asia’s digital infrastructure landscape. We believe these best-in-class certifications support our country’s ability to attract the world’s leading cloud and technology companies, as Digital Edge continues to further enhance the Philippines’ thriving digital economy”.

Edward van Leent, Chairman and CEO of the EPI Group of Companies shared. “The ANSI/TIA-942 is the leading standard for data center design and build. The latest release, version C (ANSI/TIA-942-C), introduces significant enhancements in best practices in data center design.  It mirrors the rapid advancements within the industry, thus ensuring data centers deliver improved performance and robustness in line with the evolving needs of the ICT sector. We commend Digital Edge for their foresight, speed and leadership in becoming the first data center to achieve the TIA-942-C constructed facility certification in Asia.”

Raymond Rufino, Principal for Investments and Real Estate of the Threadborne Group, Digital Edge’s joint partner on the NARRA1 project, remarked, “Since day one of this partnership we have sought to uphold the highest standards, from our impeccable construction safety record, to the highly energy efficient design of our facility, to maintaining 100% uptime across our operations. Securing these internationally recognized accreditations is further proof of our commitment to bring world class infrastructure to the Philippines, and we hope our achievements will serve to raise the bar for this dynamic and fast-growing industry across the country”.

About NARRA1

With 2,200 cabinets and 10MW of IT power, NARRA1 is the largest carrier neutral data center in operation in the Philippines, designed to meet the latest demands from cloud, network and enterprise customers, including high power density deployment such as AI. NARRA1 is located in Laguna Technopark in Binan, Laguna, in the Greater Manila region, within close proximity of the major Central Business Districts (CBD) and access to key cable landing stations. Since launch in March 2023 the company has already signed a number of key customers for the facility, including major domestic internet service providers.

About Digital Edge

Headquartered in Singapore, Digital Edge is a trusted and forward-looking data center platform company, established to transform digital infrastructure in Asia. Through building and operating state-of-the-art, energy efficient data centers rich with connectivity options, Digital Edge aims to bring new colocation and interconnect options to the Asian market, making infrastructure deployment in the region easy, efficient and economical.

Digital Edge was founded by a seasoned senior management team with decades of industry experience and an established track record of value creation in the data center, cloud and telecommunications industries in the Asia Pacific region. Backed by leading alternative investment firm Stonepeak, Digital Edge has in excess of US$1 billion in deployed and committed capital, establishing itself as a market leading pan-Asia data center platform. The company provides data center and fiber services across Asia, with a presence in India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, China and the Philippines. Visit our website here for more information: www.digitaledgedc.com

About Threadborne Group

The Threadborne Group is a family office whose interests are in real estate, technology and their intersections. Its principals have several decades worth of experience and played key roles in the establishment of the Makati and Bonifacio Global City central business districts as well as the first wave of Internet portals in the Philippines.

Media Contacts

Digital Edge

Liane Cresswell, Director Corporate Communications
Liane.Cresswell@digitaledgedc.com
+852 5503 2522

[1] Philippines (Manila) DCI Report 2023: Data Centre Colocation, Hyperscale Cloud & Interconnection