Category Archives: Singapore

Alibaba Cloud opens its first International Product Innovation Center

Alibaba Cloud, the digital technology and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group, has unveiled its first international product innovation centre and partner management centre, to further enhance customer services and better facilitate customers’ digitalisation journey.  The new Product Innovation Center will help facilitate future roadmaps for developing more market-specific solutions, and will oversee the management of… Read more »

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Singapore tests out its green finger on data centres

Location Singapore. Green pin on the map.Singapore has continued its drive towards becoming the worlds’ smartest nation by announcing trials for a Tropical Data Centre (TDC), which could potentially reduce energy consumption in data centres by up to 40%.

The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), the government body responsible for the development and growth of the infocomm sector, will conduct the PoC with the aim of creating a data centre which can operate in up to 38 degrees Celsius, and humidity levels of up to 90%. Data centres are generally cooled to temperatures between 20 and 25 degrees Celsius, and operate efficiently in humidity of between 50-60%. The PoC will be conducted with simulated data, creating various different ‘live’ conditions such as peak surges or transferring of data.

The trial is part of the IDA’s Green Data Centre Programme which was launched in 2014 and aims to create a more energy efficient data centre, as well as guidelines for more sustainable computing, through the implementation of emerging technologies. Partners of the programme include Dell, ERS, Fujitsu, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Huawei, Intel, Keppel Data Centres, The Green Grid, and Nanyang Technological University.

“With Singapore’s continued growth as a premium hub for data centres, we want to develop new technologies and standards that allow us to operate advanced data centres in the most energy efficient way in a tropical climate,” said Khoong Hock Yun, Assistant Chief Executive of the IDA. “New ideas and approaches, such as raising either the ambient temperature or humidity, will be tested to see if these can greatly increase our energy efficiency, with insignificant impact on the critical data centre operations.

“To create new value in our Smart Nation journey, we need to embrace an attitude of experimentation, to be willing to develop new ideas together, and test the feasibility of progressive and positive technological advancements that has a good possibility to enhance our industry’s competitiveness.”

The IDA has run a number of initiatives over recent years in its quest for Singapore to be named as the world’s first ‘Smart Nation’. The country already received an impressive number of accolades including world’s fastest broadband nation by Ookla and the top and fastest-changing digital economy, according to Tufts University. Singapore is currently being impacted by a number of global trends including population growth, emissions and mobility, which are driving the efforts towards a smart nation.

Singapore is one of the most densely populated nations in the world, with nearly 8,000 people per square kilometre, with these number expected to rise. This is having a substantial impact on the emission levels, traffic, mobility, employment and energy demands on the city state. Singapore’s response has been to create a nation state which is driven by big data and analytics technologies, and next-generation connected and sensor networks. The new initiatives have seemingly had a positive impact on innovation within the city as the number of start-ups has increased from 24,000 in 2005, to 55,000 in 2014.

Alibaba to set up cloud datacentre, HQ in Singapore

Alibaba is adding a datacentre in Singapore, where it will also place its international HQ

Alibaba is adding a datacentre in Singapore, where it will also place its international HQ

Alibaba’s cloud computing division Aliyun revealed plans to set up a datacentre in Singapore, where it also plans to base its overseas business headquarters.

The Singapore datacentre, its seventh globally, will host the company’s growing suite of cloud services and link up with its existing datacentres in Beijing, Hangzhou, Qingdao, Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Silicon Valley.

“The cloud datacentre in Singapore is a key milestone in our strategy to help businesses of all sizes innovate and scale, wherever they are based, and however they choose to grow,” said Sicheng Yu, vice president of Aliyun. “Aliyun offers a unique combination of services for success in the cloud, including high-volume cloud-based transaction support and quality assurance for cloud computing services.”

Singapore will also be home to the company’s international headquarters, where its global business outside of China will be managed.

Aliyun claims demand for its cloud services is growing at a whopping 82 per cent, with revenues from its cloud services more than doubling year on year. The company said it has over 1.8 million cloud customers as of June this year.

Last month Aliyun’s parent Alibaba announced plans to plough $1bn into its cloud computing division, which cloud give it the scale it needs to compete more effectively with the likes of Amazon and Google. In addition to the Singapore datacentre, which is scheduled to go live in September this year, the company also plans to add cloud datacentres in the Middle East, Japan, and in various countries in Europe as part of that investment.

At the time the company said it also plans to use the funds to expand its partnerships through its recently announced Marketplace Alliance Program, a move that sees it partnering with large tech and datacentre operators, initially including Intel, Singtel, Meeras, Equinix and PCCW among others to help localise its cloud computing services and grow its ecosystem.

Equinix to bolster cloud in Hong Kong with $40m expansion

Equinix is investing $40m in expanding its datacentre estate in Hong Kong

Equinix is investing $40m in expanding its datacentre estate in Hong Kong

American datacentre giant Equinix is looking to expand its cloud and colocation footprint in Hong Kong, the company announced this week.

Equinix said it will spend about $40m upgrading its existing Hong Kong datacentres, HK1 and HK2. The latest expansion of HK2 will provide space for an additional 900 cabinets, bringing the total capacity of the datacentre to 2,350 cabinets, while the HK1 expansion will add 275 cabinets.

The company said the upgrades should be completed by Q4, 2015.

“With the strong momentum of cloud and content companies deploying in Hong Kong, as well as datacentre services demand from worldwide customers including many in China, it was a clear strategic business decision to expand our presence in Hong Kong,” said Alex Tam, managing director, Equinix Hong Kong.

“The investment in HK1 and HK2 further positions Hong Kong as an important regional hub, not only for financial services firms but for cloud and content companies as well,” Tam said.

The company said it is expanding the datacentres to cater to growing demand for its cloud services, particularly from local content and media customers  – a client segment it said grew by about 16 per cent year on year.

Equinix seems to be on a streak in the Asia Pacific region and abroad, adding a third datacentre in Singapore in March this year and its first datacentre in Melbourne late last year.

Last month the company also added its sixth datacentre in London, and approached European datacentre incumbent Telecity Group about a potential acquisition.

CenturyLink partners with NextDC on Australian cloud expansion

CenturyLink is partnering with NextDC to bolster the reach of its cloud services in Australia

CenturyLink is partnering with NextDC to bolster the reach of its cloud services in Australia

CenturyLink is expanding its cloud footprint in Australia this week, partnering with local datacentre incumbent NextDC to bolster its managed and hybrid cloud services to the region.

CenturyLink already has a datacentre presence in Australia but the partnership announced this week will see CenturyLink offer its managed hosting, colocation and cloud services from NextDCs network of datacentres in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra and Perth.

“We are eager to offer our managed hybrid IT services and consistent IT experience to multinational corporations in Australia, one of the most connected countries in the world,” said Gery Messer, managing director, Asia Pacific, at CenturyLink.

“The extension of CenturyLink’s datacentre footprint into Australia signifies our commitment to serve growing customer demand for IT services in the Asia-Pacific region,” Messer added.

Craig Scroggie, chief executive officer of NextDC commented: “NextDC’s agreement with CenturyLink continues the trend of the world’s top IT providers utilizing NextDC’s national datacentre network to provide services. CenturyLink is an important new member of our ecosystem of carriers, cloud and IT service providers, and its presence will essentially open up a world of new possibilities for Australian organizations on their journey to a hybrid cloud model.”

Like many American cloud incumbents CenturyLink views APAC as a key market moving forward. Last month the company launched a cloud node in Singapore and last year set up a datacentre in Shanghai, China, all in a move to bolster demand for its services in the region.

Fujitsu partners with Equinix on Singapore cloud datacentre

Fujistu has opened its third cloud datacentre in Singapore this week

Fujistu opened its third cloud datacentre in Singapore

Fujitsu has set up another datacentre in Singapore this week amidst what it sees as increasing demand for cloud services in Singapore and neighbouring countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

The datacentre, hosted in Equinix’s western Singapore facility, will host Fujitsu’s portfolio of cloudservices and offer a number of new connectivity features “currently under development” that would allow enterprises to federate with other cloud platforms.

The recently announced datacentre is Fujitsu’s third in Singapore, and it already operates over 100 worldwide; the company’s cloud services are hosted from six datacentres globally.

The company said it chose to add another datacentre in Singapore because of its strategic location and attractiveness to large multinational firms.

“In recent years, companies increasingly are embracing cloud services as a platform to support the accelerating pace of business in Asia. In particular, because of its low level of natural disaster related risk and its position as an international network hub with reliable broadband network lines, Singapore is often chosen as the location for integrated systems operations by many companies that are pursuing multinational business expansion,” the company said in a statement.

Fujitsu is the latest cloud vendor to view Singapore as a relatively untapped market for cloud services. This week CenturyLink, which recently expanded its managed services presence in China, added public cloud nodes to one of its Singapore datacentres.

Apart from locally established multinationals and the booming financial services sector, the Singapore Government has also shown itself to be looking to invest more in both using cloud services and growing usage of cloud platforms in the region.

According to Parallels, local SMBs are also hopping onto cloud platforms with reasonable pace. The firm believes the SMB cloud services market in Singapore is projected to hit $916M in 2017, with a three-year CAGR of 21 per cent.

Gurango Software Corporation Launches Gurango Accounting Online for Singapore Accountants

Gurango Software Corporation (GSC) recently launched Gurango Accounting Online, an IRAS-certified online accounting software for accountants, bookkeepers, and tax advisors. The software is based on Microsoft Dynamics ERP technologies and was designed to meet the specific requirements of certified accountants and tax advisors in Singapore.

Gurango Accounting Online complies with GAAP, IFRS, and the IAF standards published by IRAS. “It’s important for us to provide accountants, bookkeepers, and tax advisors in Singapore an efficient platform to accomplish their day-to-day work. Gurango Accounting Online is compliant with Singapore standards and best practices. So there are no issues in terms of aligning financial reporting with regulatory requirements,” said GSC CEO and managing director Joey Gurango.

Accessed online, Gurango Accounting Online is a Software as a Service application and is provided through GSC’s on-demand cloud service for businesses, Gurango Hosted Solutions (GHS). The service provides accountants, bookkeepers, and tax advisors the freedom to work on their day-to-day deliverables anywhere and at anytime.

Security and cost savings are also some of the top features of Gurango Accounting Online. All data is hosted in the company’s private cloud, or remote data centers, ensuring data security. Gurango Accounting Online is offered at a SME-friendly price, according to Gurango. “A big IT budget is not required to obtain this solution, and empowering small and medium businesses with enterprise-level software.

“Because there is no software to install, hardware to acquire, or IT staff to hire, additional savings are realized. The only thing required is an Internet connection,” he said. GSC provides free training classes and free technical support.

Aside from GHS, Gurango Accounting Online is built on Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft Windows Server 2008R2 with Remote Desktop Services and Microsoft SQL Server 2008R2 Standard Edition.

GSC has received numerous awards and distinctions including the Microsoft Dynamics Partner of the Year three years in a row (2008-2010). GSC has offices in the Philippines, Singapore, and Australia. It also offers business software services ranging from financial and human capital management to customer service.

For more information on Gurango Accounting Online, please visit http://www.gurango.com/gurango-accounting-online.