SingTel bullish on cloud computing

SingTel bullish on cloud computing
By Ryan Huang | Posted: 28 March 2011 2154 hrs

SINGAPORE: SingTel has raised its forecast of contribution of cloud computing to its revenue.

The telco now expects the segment to now grow as much as 70 per cent each year until 2014, instead of the previously estimated 50 per cent.

This is on the back of a strong take-up rate for its services, and also as more companies think of business continuity measures in the wake of the massive earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

Cloud computing is Internet-based, and shared services, resources and software are provided to users on demand.

The destruction caused by the massive earthquake and tsunami in Japan more than two weeks ago has left many companies to pick up the pieces.

SingTel said many of its customers are now thinking more about disaster-recovery measures, and how they can leverage on cloud computing for the business continuity.

SingTel Business Group EVP Bill Chang said: "Recently, with the unfortunate earthquake in Japan, we see that if businesses have the means to move their applications up to the cloud, it will help them secure a lot of their work load and be able to tide through this period".

VMware's Southeast Asia GM Ed Lenta said: "The unfortunate reality is that a lot of our customers in Japan found that their virtualised infrastructures were far easier to recover then their physical infrastructures.

"Virtualisation doesn't just drive consolidation, it standardises the atomic units of your data centre".

SingTel said it is aiming to meet those needs and the wider growth for cloud computing services, with a new enterprise grade offering that it is launching in Singapore and across Asia.

Targeted at large enterprises, this service enables businesses to lease IT infrastructure such as processing power and storage, without losing control over sensitive data, under a pay-as-you-use model called PowerON Compute.

SingTel said it would be the first time the so-called "infrastructure-as-a-service" product will be offered under a hybrid cloud.

A hybrid cloud allows companies the flexibility to decide how much of its sensitive data it wants to manage in-house.

This is opposed to a public cloud where the data is housed externally.

SingTel will be partnering VMware to offer its hybrid cloud solution across Asia, and will be launching it in the coming months in other key Asian cities like Hong Kong.

SingTel currently offers it in Australia through Optus.

VMware chief executive officer Paul Maritz said: "Hybrid clouds provide customers with freedom of choice that will eventually give rise to applications that can be 'dragged and dropped' between clouds and delivered securely to any device, anywhere, at any time".

The telco is bullish on demand for cloud-computing services and has raised its 50 per cent annual growth forecast made last year September.

"We are starting to see more robust growth rates," Mr Chang said.

"That's because Singapore (is getting) more wired up to its fibre connectivity to all businesses. When that happens, (many) more people will be more open to the cloud services.

"The other thing is that there are more smart devices penetration (such as) smart phones and of course, the tablet revolution that's happening. That allows customers and businesses to consume all these cloud services more rapidly."

SingTel said that by tapping on processing power and storage on demand, businesses can reap cost savings of up to 73 per cent.

Mr Chang said: "They will also be able to preserve investments in existing computing infrastructure without changes to their IT operations.

"By improving their productivity and simplifying their processes, we seek to allow customers to increase their business agility, focus on their core business activities and reduce their costs significantly".

-CNA/wk

- wong chee tat :)