Category Archives: Softbank

AI, Alibaba, Artificial intelligence, Database, News & Analysis, Public Cloud, SB Cloud, Softbank

Alibaba and Softbank launch SB Cloud for Japanese market

AlibabaAlibaba and Softbank have announced the establishment of SB Cloud Corporation, a new joint venture to offer cloud computing services in Japan.

The demand for public cloud in Japan and surrounding countries has been growing in recent years, with Japan leading the way as the most advanced nation. A report from Gartner last year estimated the total public cloud services spending in the mature APJ region will rise to $11.5 billion by 2018. Alibaba has targeted the region to grow its already healthy cloud business unit.

“I’ve really enjoyed working with the Alibaba Cloud team on the joint venture over the past few months,” said Eric Gan, the new CEO of SB Cloud and EVP of SoftBank. “During the business planning discussions, I quickly felt that we were all working very much as one team with one goal. I believe the JV team can develop the most advanced cloud platform for Japanese customers, as well as for multinational customers who want to use the resources we have available in Japan.”

SB Cloud will enable Alibaba to increase its presence in the market, where it already offers services to SoftBank’s business customer base in Japan, which primarily comprises of global organizations. SB Cloud will open a new data centre in the country, where it will now serve customers outside of established SoftBank customer base, offering data storage and processing services, enterprise-level middleware as well as cloud security services.

A recent report from the US Department of Commerce highlighted the Japanese market is one of the most competitive worldwide, though five of the six major vendors are American, Amazon Web Services, Google, IBM, Microsoft and Salesforce. Domestic companies, such as Fujitsu, have announced aggressive expansion plans. Fujitsu claims to be to investing $2 billion between 2014 and 2017 to capture an increased market share in cloud computing, primarily focused on the growing IoT sub-sector.

While Alibaba’s traditional business has been in the Chinese market, the company has been making efforts over the last 12-18 months to diversify its outreach. Last year, the company launched a new data centre in Singapore, as well as in Silicon Valley. It also launched what it claims is China’s first cloud AI platform last August, DT PAI. The purpose-built algorithms and machine learning technologies are designed to help users generate predictive intelligence insights, claiming the service features “drag and drop” capabilities that let users easily connect different services and set parameters, seemingly following IBM’s lead in designing a more accessible offering for the industry.

Azure, Internet of Things Telecoms, Jasper Wireless, Ken Laversin, Macario Namie, Microsoft, News & Analysis, Sam George, Softbank

Jasper, Microsoft partner on enterprise IoT

Jasper and Microsoft are integrating Jasper's IoT tech with Azure

Jasper and Microsoft are integrating Jasper’s IoT tech with Azure

IoT platform provider Jasper has announced a new strategic partnership with software giant Microsoft designed to help businesses bring IoT services to market more easily, reports Telecoms.com.

The partnership will involve integrating Jasper’s platform with Microsoft’s Azure cloud suite, a preview of which will be available later this year. The combined platform will aim to cater for the full IoT journey, from sensors and devices, to wireless communication, to big data collection and analysis.

“Through this strategic partnership with Microsoft, we continue to increase the business value of IoT by making it easier and faster for enterprises to bring their IoT services to market, and to scale those services globally,” said Macario Namie, vice president of Strategy at Jasper.

“Our vision for the Azure IoT Suite is to help companies thrive in this era of IoT by delivering preconfigured solutions and world class services that any company, whether startup or the most established global enterprises, can use to create new value,” said Sam George, director of Azure IoT at Microsoft.

“Jasper’s IoT services platform is a critical component of delivering on this vision. By bringing together the Jasper Platform and the Azure IoT Suite, businesses of any size and in any industry can build cost effective IoT solutions for themselves or their customers.”

While it’s been around for over a decade, Jasper is currently accelerating its partnership activity with big tech companies in a sign that IoT itself is approaching critical mass. Earlier this week Jasper announced a similar partnership with Japanese telco SoftBank, to help it introduce IoT solutions to enterprise.

“The Japanese market is enthusiastically embracing the opportunity created by the Internet of Things to transform the way they operate, interact with customers and create revenue,” said Ken Laversin, senior vice president of Worldwide Sales at Jasper, “SoftBank’s partnership with Jasper demonstrates their commitment to bringing cutting edge IoT technology to Japan.”

8X8, Partnerships, Softbank, Virtualization, Zerigo

8×8 and SoftBank Partner to Offer Virtualized Cloud Data Services

8×8, Inc., provider of cloud-based business communications and computing solutions, and SoftBank Telecom Corp. today announced that they have signed an agreement for SoftBank to license 8×8’s subscription-based “Zerigo” enterprise cloud software.

The agreement calls for 8×8 to license its Zerigo software and to develop some additional related software for Softbank to provide virtual desktop interface (VDI) services to its customers in Japan and throughout the world. The combination of the Zerigo software and the new VDI software will enable SoftBank to offer a full suite of virtualized cloud services to its major enterprise customers using Vblock products from VCE, a leader in converged cloud infrastructure systems.

Initially, SoftBank will deploy these services in Japan, but plans to rapidly extend the roll out of services to the rest of Asia as well as Europe, the United States and other major markets throughout the world. SoftBank counts some of the world’s largest enterprises as customers for its award-winning services and it intends to market these new, innovative virtualized services to those same customers. The agreement provides 8×8 with development and installation fees as well as on-going license fees over an initial 36-month contract.

“8×8 is delighted to partner with SoftBank to deliver these valuable services to their business customers,” said 8×8 Chairman & CEO Bryan Martin. “SoftBank is one of the most agile, successful telecom service providers in the world and the speed at which they move matches 8×8’s similar culture of always leading rather than following the market.”

“SoftBank selected 8×8 after an extensive search of software providers based on 8×8’s clear commitment to quality, scalability and reliability as well as flexibility and cost competitiveness,” said Ken Miyauchi, Director of The Board, SoftBank Telecom Corp. “SoftBank is pleased to partner with such a nimble, Silicon Valley company whose culture mirrors our own and whose experience in delivering cloud services will be invaluable in helping us to rapidly deploy similar services in Japan. We expect our customers will be delighted with these new offerings and we look forward to expanding the available markets in the near future.”