Abstract:
A paper published recently mentioned that global investment in data centres will reach $78 billion by 2020. With only $18bn of that in the US, there is a tremendous opportunity for the rest of the world. With the stated policy of the HKSAR Government in developing Hong Kong as a regional hub for high-valued data centers, this forum is timely. The objectives are to allow all relevant stakeholders in Hong Kong to express their views to identify the key issues to achieve a share of this opportunity.

- What are the factors holding us back? Why has Singapore apparently been more successful to date?
- What needs to be done by Government to make Hong Kong more competitive?
- What is our synergistic positioning and role of serving China? Is this our comparative advantage?
- Will this create further opportunities for our knowledge workers and complement our objective to be a thriving knowledge economy?

All stakeholders, including government officials, IT professionals and industry leaders are welcome to attend.

The format of the forum is a panel of experts providing their informed views on the strategic formulation of this initiative, followed by a discussion with questions welcomed from the floor.

Panel of Experts:
Co-moderators:
The Hon Samson Tam, Legislator (IT), HKSAR
Mr. Stephen Lau, President, HKCS

Panelists:
Mr. Steve McWhirter, Senior Vice President, Salesforce.com Asia Pacific
Mr. Michael Thatcher, Regional Technology Officer, Microsoft
Mr. Michael Mudd , Regional Representative, The Open Computing Alliance
Mr. Gabriel Leung, General Manager, EMC HK and Macau
Mr. Raymond Cheng, Chief Technology and Services Officer Asia Pacific, HSBC Technology and Services Asia Pacific

Deadline for registration: Wednesday April 27 2011. (The venue is limited in size so first come first served, early registration is recommended)