Anticipating demand for network connectivity with the growth of intelligent technologies and smart city developments in the ASEAN market, CITIC Telecom CPC recently completed the network gateway deployments of its SD-WAN enterprise connectivity solution in Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta.
By expanding footprint and capacity of its TrueCONNECT Hybrid solution in Southeast Asia, CITIC Telecom CPC is catering to the significantly growing base of innovative ICT companies and smart cities being created in the region. TrueCONNECT Hybrid's ASEAN coverage now includes Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok and Jakarta.
In the first quarter of 2021, CITIC Telecom CPC also plans to expand its network gateways to 10 more cities including in the Philippines, to ensure delivery of the best network performance to customers.
"A huge percentage of the ASEAN population is digitally savvy," said Derek Ung, general manager, enterprise sales, CITIC Telecom CPC. "Companies and people are eager to embrace and enjoy new technological products and services. ASEAN is still relatively under-represented in terms of tech startups. The potential for solutions that support all these new businesses and government projects especially smart city initiatives is huge, and creates opportunities for win/win/win for our company, our partners and our customers."
ASEAN: an economic powerhouse on the cusp
Its been five years since the 10-nation ASEAN launched its own regional economic bloc in 2015, making up nearly a third of the world's population and account for 29% of global gross domestic product.
ASEAN expects business activities to grow to new heights as it joined in November 2020 the newly-formed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), a free trade zone that includes China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.
RCEP setting out the framework for becoming the largest free trade area in the world - bigger than both the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement and the European Union. It is a potential window to reshape the future of trade as well as to propel enterprises to capitalise new opportunities across Asia Pacific.
Anticipating ASEAN’s burgeoning digitalisation
On the tail of ASEAN’s massive economic growth, analyst research has pointed to potentially immense growth of the sub-region’s digital economy to some US$300 billion over the next five years, likely encompassing multiple areas including smart products and services in mobility, e-commerce, travel, social media, telecommunications and even healthcare – the latter driven by telehealth demands in Southeast Asian countries lacking sufficient medical workers, and COVID-19 social distancing impacts.
The "Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity 2025" has also forecast up to $625 billion in annual economic impact in ASEAN by 2030, through disruptive technologies such as mobile Internet, Big Data, Cloud and Internet of Things applications.
"We may also see tremendous growth in fintech as the financial sector leverages new connectivity and computing technologies to innovate banking and investment services," said Ung. "Manufacturing is yet another area that will evolve, with many regional companies relocating or building out their supply chain in ASEAN. With our latest gateway deployment, we want to be ready to serve our customers in ASEAN and those moving to ASEAN."
The solution, called TrueCONNECT Hybrid and powered by VMWare, promises to enable companies leverage the most cost-effective bandwidth available without compromising QoS delivery. Enterprises can dynamically create hybrid networks that bind multiple access technologies into single logical paths, taking advantage of MPLS linkages' reliability, security, and performance, yet limiting associated expenses.
Furthermore, network traffic is steered intelligently on optimal paths at the best times to increase performance and reduce costs. It improves business agility, application performance, bandwidth conservation and maximizes business application accessibility. TrueCONNECT(TM) Hybrid achieves these compelling advantages without requiring the high traditional costs, additional in-house staffing or other ongoing overhead expenses, often prohibitive for companies with tight budgets and timeframes. IT managers also gain more visibility, traffic routing control, rapid deployment and recovery, all with almost zero on-site IT personnel.
The new Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta network gateways significantly enhance TrueCONNECT Hybrid performance across ASEAN, long popular as an ideal region for world leading technology companies expanding physical presence. In particular, Singapore's political and legal stability and transparency have attracted considerable investment from MNCs and global technology pioneers to the city-state, including purchasing significant real property in the central business district and establishing innovation research labs. ASEAN as a whole is receiving increasing venture capital from around the world.
"We have always focused on identifying and serving the most important needs in the most important market segments," said Taylor Lam, senior vice president of product development & management from CITIC Telecom CPC.
Within a year of its launch, TrueCONNECT Hybrid already covers nearly 50 gateways across 49 cities in 15 countries, including six in Southeast Asia. The new ASEAN gateways in Malaysia and Indonesia underscore CITIC Telecom CPC’s commitment to ASEAN customers and highlight our continued strong SD-WAN partnership with VMware.
“More network gateways translate to better link quality, lower latency and overall improved performance,” said Lam. "We are fully committed to the long-term success of our customers.”
