ISKANDAR PUTERI: Japanese multinational information technology and electronics company NEC Corporation through its local subsidiary, NEC Corporation of Malaysia Sdn Bhd (NEC Malaysia), is positioning itself to grab the opportunities arising from the currently negotiated Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone (JS-SEZ).

Vice-president regional and Singapore, managed services business unit, Job Chan said the establishment of the special economic zone would help the company’s business, which is strong in the government and public healthcare and enterprise, especially Japanese-oriented companies.

“We hope with this SEZ, many will decide to move... non-sensitive public services eventually can also be set up in Iskandar,” he told reporters after the launch of Intelligent Centre Operations of NEC (ICON) here today.

The centre was launched by Johor investment, trade, consumer affairs and human resources committee chairman Lee Ting Han.

Chan said the company has been equipping itself with the necessary certification to attract new clients brought in by the JS-SEZ.

“That is why we continuosly get ourself industrial certified in terms of security, data control and all these aspects, so we can be more forward looking not just the current need that we have to look at,” he said.

Meanwhile, Lee said Johor has witnessed the rapid expansion of the data centre industry over the past two years.

“At the moment, we have four data centres that are up and running while 10 more are in various stages of construction. Fourteen more are in various stages of discussion with the state and federal governments.

“All these are the necessary digital infrastructure that will allow the digital economy sector to prosper and eventually attract the artificial intelligence and related industries to the region,” he added.

Spanning an area approximately 1,021.93 square metres, ICON is part of NEC’s growing network of advanced response centres in the region that integrates service desk operations, network operation centre and security operation centre in a seamless three-in-one concept for greater resource synergies, enhanced situational awareness and overall cost efficiencies.

The centre utilises advanced artificial intelligence (AI)-powered automation tools and provides support in eight languages to cater for over 10 countries in Asia including Japan and South Korea. -Bernama