This guide explains corporate IT infrastructure in Singapore and gives you a ready-to-use plan. You will get a 100–500 seat reference architecture, a PDPA control map you can implement, realistic RTO and RPO targets, example SLO and SLA commitments, and SGD cost bands with procurement steps. If you want a concise path that you can review together from start to finish, follow each section and keep reading to the end for the checklist and next steps.
Who this guide is for and how to use it
We wrote this for Singapore organisations in the 100 to 500 seat range, including regional HQs, fast-growing subsidiaries, and regulated teams that need robust, auditable infrastructure without unnecessary complexity. Use this as a checklist to stress-test your current state and to plan the next 12 to 18 months. If you are at the planning stage, our primer on IT infrastructure capacity planning will help you establish the baseline first.
What corporate IT infrastructure means in Singapore
When we say infrastructure, we mean the combined control plane and its run-state across identity, endpoints, networks, security stack, data protection and disaster recovery, cloud landing zones, observability, and the operating model that keeps everything compliant. In Singapore, the Personal Data Protection Act is the default backdrop. Sectoral rules such as MAS Technology Risk Management for financial institutions and the realities of cross-border data transfers shape design choices. If you need to explore governance in depth, this overview of cloud security consulting in Southeast Asia outlines practical controls, and financial teams can cross-check sector specifics in the notes on cloud banking solutions in Singapore and Southeast Asia.
Reference architecture for 100 to 500 seats
High-level design, text diagram
Dual ISPs feed a pair of high-availability firewalls. SD-WAN edges integrate with a SASE fabric that provides secure web gateway, cloud access security broker, and zero trust network access. Internal networks are segmented with VLANs for corporate, guest, and IoT. Identity such as Microsoft Entra ID enforces Conditional Access. Compliant devices are enrolled via MDM and protected by EDR with telemetry into SIEM and SOAR. Backups support immutability with off-site copies. Disaster recovery targets a secondary region or cloud. Unified logging and an observability layer expose health, cost, and security posture.
Bill of materials, illustrative
- Identity and access: Entra ID with MFA and Conditional Access, group-based RBAC, privileged access management.
- Devices: Intune with baseline policies, EDR tuned to reduce noise while catching hands-on-keyboard activity, application allow-listing.
- Network: SD-WAN, SASE with secure web gateway, cloud access security broker, data loss prevention and zero trust network access, high-availability firewalls, network access control with 802.1X.
- Security: SIEM and SOAR, secrets management, vulnerability management, email security with impersonation protection.
- Data protection: 3-2-1 backups with one immutable copy, cyber-recovery vault, restore verification.
- Disaster recovery: Secondary region or cloud target, documented runbooks, quarterly tabletop and annual failover tests with sign-offs.
- Observability: Centralised logs, metrics and traces, cost analytics, service health dashboards.
For landing-zone options and deployment patterns, compare approaches in this guide to hybrid cloud providers in Singapore. For sustaining the stack after go live, this explainer on what is IT infrastructure management services covers ongoing operations.
Identity-first Zero Trust
Identity is the control plane. Start here and make controls auditable.
- MFA everywhere, prefer phish-resistant methods for administrators
- Conditional Access requiring compliant, encrypted devices for sensitive applications
- Device compliance gates for OS version, encryption and EDR health
- Least privilege with just in time admin through privileged access management
- Segregation of duties with quarterly access reviews
Quick wins include blocking legacy authentication, enforcing passwordless for admins, defining break glass accounts, and applying step up authentication for finance and HR data. Tie this to your application suite through the enterprise applications overview and specifics for enterprise email and Microsoft 365.
Network and connectivity in a regional footprint
Most Singapore firms operate regionally, which elevates connectivity and egress design. SD-WAN gives transport independence and quality of service, while SASE adds cloud delivered security close to users.
- Use dual ISPs at headquarters and critical sites
- Apply application aware routing for unified communications and ERP
- Prefer zero trust network access for narrow access paths rather than broad VPNs
- Design explicitly for China connectivity to reduce unpredictable latencies
If you are comparing options for accelerating and securing global links, review Teridion enterprise connectivity and Teridion cross-border connectivity for China. For multi-provider overlays, the primer on inter cloud service interoperability covers design trade offs.
Endpoint management and device security
Standard builds and clean baselines pay off quickly.
- Autopilot or zero touch provisioning
- Full disk encryption with enterprise key escrow
- Removal of local admin rights with controlled elevation workflows
- Application allow listing and browser hardening
- EDR with behaviour rules and automated containment
Tighter endpoint governance improves safe collaboration. See the overview of online collaboration tools for policy integrations.
Data protection and disaster recovery with measurable targets
Design for resilience and verify constantly.
- Backups that follow 3-2-1 with one immutable copy and weekly restore verification
- Cyber recovery vault that isolates critical copies from the primary domain
- Disaster recovery tiers and runbooks with quarterly tabletops and annual full failovers with signed reports
Sample RTO and RPO table, illustrative
| Tier | Service or Data | RTO | RPO | Notes |
| 0 | Identity and DNS | 1 to 2 hours | 15 minutes or less | Break glass accounts and cross region redundancy |
| 1 | ERP and core finance | 2 to 4 hours | 15 minutes or less | Replication and application consistent snapshots |
| 2 | Email and collaboration | 4 to 8 hours | 1 hour or less | Geo redundant service with staged restores |
| 3 | File shares and intranet | 24 hours | 4 hours or less | Prioritised VIP and department restores |
For technology choices and patterns, this survey of cloud providers for backup and disaster recovery in Singapore is a useful landscape. If you are reviewing services, these neutral explainers on IT DR as a Service and Managed Backup Services outline typical scope.
Cloud strategy, platforms, and landing zones
Replace slogans with a simple decision tree. Keep, buy, or modernise.
- Keep when the current platform meets technical, cost, and risk goals
- Buy SaaS when it reduces undifferentiated work
- Modernise with re platform or re factor when the case is clear
Minimum viable landing zone includes naming standards, subscription vending, RBAC guardrails, baseline network such as hub and spoke, logging, cost policies, and break glass controls.
Helpful companions during evaluation include primers on the advantages of IaaS, the difference between PaaS and IaaS, and infrastructure as code versus IaaS. Use landscape scans of IaaS vendors and explore when private cloud hosting makes sense in 2025. If you are re thinking virtualisation, see the roundup of VMware alternatives.
If data centre tiering affects resilience decisions, these explainers on Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3, Tier 4, and Tier 5 clarify availability trade offs.
For neutral product context around platform choices, you can also review enterprise cloud computing, cloud infrastructure as a service, cloud service broker, and on premise private cloud.
Compliance and governance in Singapore with a PDPA control map
Map PDPA obligations to implementable controls so auditors and engineers use the same vocabulary.
| PDPA obligation | Practical controls, examples |
| Consent and Purpose | Data inventory and classification, consent capture in apps, privacy notices, DLP rules aligned to classification |
| Protection | Disk encryption, TLS everywhere, Conditional Access, EDR, email anti impersonation, secrets management |
| Accuracy | Master data governance, validation in critical workflows, controlled write access |
| Retention | Lifecycle policies in Microsoft 365 and cloud storage, archive tiers, destruction workflows with evidence |
| Access and Correction | Self service portals, logged admin edits, verifiable response timelines |
| Transfer Limitation | Data residency policies, approved cross border transfer mechanisms, vendor DPAs, SASE with regional egress |
| Accountability | Appointed DPO, quarterly controls attestation, breach playbook and after action reports |
If you handle public sector workloads, understand constraints around GCC, Government Cloud in Singapore. Regulated finance teams should align with MAS TRM expectations and keep an evidence pack that includes policies, control mappings, and test reports. For deeper governance design, revisit cloud security consulting in Southeast Asia.
Operations playbook with SLOs, SLAs, and monthly reporting
Turn architecture into reliability with explicit targets and visible evidence.
Example SLO and SLA snippets, illustrative
- Incident response: Priority 1 acknowledge within 15 minutes, restore within 4 hours. Priority 2 acknowledge within 1 hour, restore within 8 hours
- Patching: Critical within 7 days at 95 percent compliance or higher, high severity within 14 days
- Backups: Success rate 98 percent or higher weekly, restore test sampled weekly
- Availability: Core identity and network 99.9 percent monthly
What to report monthly
Mean time to restore trend, patch compliance, vulnerability backlog and risk reduction, endpoint compliance, backup success and restore tests, disaster recovery readiness, service availability, and major incident post mortems. To clarify operating models, review managed vs cloud services, the difference and the top benefits of managed cloud services. For typical scope boundaries, see Managed IT Services.
Cost and sizing in SGD for 50, 200, and 500 seats
Every environment is unique, but planning is easier with ranges. The figures below are illustrative operating expense per user per month in Singapore for a well managed mid market stack across identity, endpoint, network and SASE, security tooling, backup and disaster recovery, and observability. Hardware capital expense and migration costs are shown separately.
OPEX per user per month, SGD
| Seat band | Identity and M365 | Endpoint management and EDR | Network and SASE | Security such as SIEM and SOAR | Backup and DR | Observability | Total range |
| 50 | $15 to $25 | $12 to $20 | $25 to $45 | $18 to $30 | $8 to $15 | $5 to $10 | $83 to $145 |
| 200 | $12 to $20 | $10 to $18 | $20 to $38 | $15 to $26 | $6 to $12 | $4 to $8 | $67 to $122 |
| 500 | $10 to $18 | $8 to $15 | $18 to $32 | $12 to $22 | $5 to $10 | $3 to $6 | $56 to $103 |
Typical capital expense and one offs, SGD
- Edge refresh for high availability firewalls and SD-WAN, $40,000 to $120,000 depending on throughput and users
- Endpoint uplift for encryption keys, imaging and accessories, $300 to $600 per device
- Migration and professional services, 10 to 20 percent of the first year run rate for complex estates
Levers to reduce run rate include automation for onboarding and patching, zero trust network access instead of broad VPNs, right sizing log and retention tiers, and pushing non differentiating workloads to managed platforms. If you are evaluating hosting models, review Singapore cloud VPS on speed, cost and compliance. If you plan to seek external help, the primer on infrastructure IT outsourcing services in Singapore covers engagement models. For broader solution context, you can scan IT infrastructure solutions, enterprise connectivity, and the summary solution brochures.
Vendor selection matrix and a mini RFP
Use a weighted rubric so shortlists survive scrutiny.
Example criteria and weights
Security 30 percent, reliability 25 percent, cost 20 percent, support 15 percent, compliance 10 percent
What good evidence looks like
- Security with documented zero trust rollout, EDR tuning playbooks, and addressed red team findings
- Reliability with published SLO and SLA attainment and disaster recovery drill reports
- Cost with transparent unit pricing and clear scale levers
- Support with local bench strength and guaranteed response and restore targets
- Compliance with PDPA control mapping, data residency options, and audit ready evidence
Mini RFP checklist you can copy
- Reference architecture fit with diagram and narrative
- Customer stories with metrics in Singapore
- SLO and SLA samples and dashboards
- RTO and RPO tiers with test calendars
- Security hardening and onboarding runbooks
- Exit plan and data portability
- Price workbook with options
For procurement perspective and localisation nuances, this field guide to business IT support in Singapore is a useful cross check. If you are exploring operating partners, compare a Managed Cloud Service Provider and the rationale in Why Accrets. If you anticipate staff augmentation or partial outsourcing, see what is IT outsourcing services.
Bringing it all together
If you implement the reference architecture, layer identity first zero trust, enforce the PDPA control map, agree the SLOs, and budget within the SGD ranges, your infrastructure will be reliable, auditable, and scalable for 2025 realities. Keep the design simple, keep evidence current, and make daily operations predictable.Only if you need a second pair of eyes
When you are ready to validate your blueprint against these checklists or to stress test it for disaster recovery and cross border performance, use the short form on our contact page for a free consultation with an Accrets Cloud Expert for corporate IT infrastructure. We will benchmark your plan, highlight quick wins, and suggest next steps.
Dandy Pradana is an Digital Marketer and tech enthusiast focused on driving digital growth through smart infrastructure and automation. Aligned with Accrets’ mission, he bridges marketing strategy and cloud technology to help businesses scale securely and efficiently.
