Braham Singh

Braham Singh is a seasoned executive leader, author and global thought leader with more than 30 years of experience in the telecom industry, content delivery networks, and cloud services. 

Braham is the CEO of Big Data Exchange (BDx) Data Centers, which offers unique hybrid cloud, connectivity and colocation solutions. Along his career, he has worked in brands such as Hutchinson AT&T, BtN Access (now PCCW Global), and Hutchison Telecommunications, among others.

As an author, he has written the novel ‘Bombay Swastika’ a thriller that swings from a Nazi Berlin gearing up for its Final Solution, to 1964 Bombay; and contributed to the Amazon Best Seller, Greener Data: Actionable Insights from Industry Leaders.

Bombay born and chemistry science graduate, Braham Singh got his first job as a software systems analyst and spending some time in the telecommunications field, Braham made his way to the world of data centers around 2008. It was then that he realized the growth potential of the data center sector was immense – and he’s been an influential player across the industry ever since. Along his career, Braham Singh has worked with brands like Hutchinson AT&T, Sprint International, Globe One, Teleglobe International, BtN Access (now PCCW Global), and Hutchison Telecommunications, among others. 

As an executive leader, Braham Singh has held key positions as SVP at Global Product Management of Reliance Communications & Global Cloud Xchange and also the CEO of Red Snapper, a Malaysian government-funded initiative, to promote the growth of wireless broadband in the country. 

As the CEO of IDC and Associated Business, Braham played a leading role in developing HGC’s cutting-edge Big Data Exchange (BDx) services – a one-stop content exchange platform built for content providers, with a focus on cyber and physical security, as well as on containment.

CEO of BDx Since 2020, he has been leading BDx as the CEO, overseeing the developments of the company’s data center, colocation and hybrid cloud solutions in Asia Pacific. Thanks to Braham’s leadership, BDx empowers enterprises to scale across the world from their centers in China, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Singapore. BDX’s portfolio includes BDx 360º, a digital, enhanced-DCIM platform providing customers insight into colocation infrastructure and IT workloads across BDx data centers. BDx is also committed to boosting sustainability and has resulted in partnering with renewable power suppliers and forging coalitions to develop groundbreaking technologies and digitally transform its facilities. The company is vigorously expanding its presence into emerging regions to meet the growing digital requirements of hyperscalers, multinational, and financial services enterprises.
 

As an author, Braham is an experienced leader, whose innovative ideas and philosophy can be seen throughout his books and articles. As an author, he has written ‘Bombay Swastika’ a thriller that swings from a Nazi Berlin gearing up for its Final Solution, to 1964 Bombay, where Ernst Steiger, a German Jew, accidentally finds himself caught up in the murder of a young tribal, killed amidst allegations of something being stolen from a secure, American compound.

Braham Singh is also a contributing author to the Amazon Best Seller, Greener Data: Actionable Insights from Industry Leaders that debuted on Earth Day – April 22, 2022. Greener Data shows a series of insights from industry leaders pushing the boundaries of the sustainability conversation in the data industry and challenging all of us to collectively do more.

He is also a writer, author of articles like “Following The Sun”, where he commits to renewable energy in the context of Data Centers; “Traders & Astronauts” where he draws a parallelism between traders and astronauts from the Netflix show Away;  He also wrote the screenplay for Emperor, a political thriller set in Malaysia and based around their May 1969 race riots. Emperor, the novel, is near completion. 

He recently began research on his third novel, The Little Eunuch, set in China. He divides his time between Virginia and Hong Kong.
 

Drawing analogy from the popular story "The Hedgehog and the fox", Braham Singh explains how BDx found its vision and focus to build a roadmap for future:

"In 2019, as BDx was taking shape, many challenges were in front of us. Aside from the logistical elements any new business faces, like where will we locate our headquarters and what kind of tea we will serve in the break room, our biggest question was how to combine our assets into something that would truly benefit the customer. Through our investors, BDx inherited data centers in China and Hong Kong, which included a combination of new builds, like Nanjing, and older data centers, which needed a lot of attention. Each was a separate entity with its own team and there was no connection between them. After months of considering how best to combine our assets into one cohesive ecosystem that would connect customers to physical and virtual infrastructure across time zones, we realized that our greatest challenge was our greatest opportunity.

Philosopher Isaiah Berlin’s essay “The Hedgehog and the Fox,” draws on the idea that the fox is known for being exceptionally good across a general range of tasks. Think of all the things you’ve heard about the fox: they’re cunning, sly, fast, they have excellent hearing making them skilled hunters, and so on. Now think of what you know about the hedgehog. If just one thing comes to mind, you’re not alone. 

Berlin’s essay details how the hedgehog knows one thing. The hedgehog may not have all the skills the fox does, but it knows how to curl up into a ball, stick its spines out and create an impenetrable force. If the fox hunts the hedgehog, no matter how cunning, sly or fast he is, the hedgehog will win by doing one thing and doing it extremely well. In our view, BDx is the hedgehog; the “X” in our logo represents this theory. Like the hedgehog, we’ve determined one thing we’re great at; focusing all our efforts on being the absolute best."

Likewise, in a recent blogpost, he drew a parallelism between traders and astronauts from the Netflix show Away. He wrote:

“Away is about the human endeavour to get to Mars; that’s a three-year journey for the astronauts, while loved ones carry on back on Earth. The production drew heavily from experiences on the International Space Station (ISS) and those isolated up there three months on end. What struck the filmmakers was the paradigm shift from actually seeing the planet without artificial lines drawing up political boundaries the way they do on maps.
Traders and travellers alike — the Marco Polo, Ibn Battuta, and Admiral Zheng Hes of the world — knew this for millennia. They didn’t need to look down from space to understand that at the end of the day, the world is one. Their livelihood and sense of purpose depended on looking past contemporary divides, fear and prejudices.

Same for today’s businessmen; those like us with one foot in China for example. To those Americans looking out from China at the rest of the world along with their Chinese team mates, the folly of political disputes is pretty stark. Political boundaries are what we make of them. Give them too much power in today’s environment and there’s no business to be had; we might as well pack up and go home. Any multinational band of brothers knows what I mean — Our world is different from what’s painted across maps. Each of us today is a Marco Polo contributing to a wonderful, new, mishmashed culture already birthed.”