MAXIS LAUNCHES MALAYSIA’S MOST ADVANCED CLOUD COMPUTING SERVICES

Convenient access to the Maxis Cloud, and better software solutions, for flexible business management

(L-R) Fitri Abdullah, Senior Vice President of Maxis Business Services; and YBhg Datuk Badlisham Ghazali, Chief Executive Officer of the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC), officiating at the launch of Maxis Cloud and agreeing to work closely to establish joint programmes for cloud adoption amongst Malaysian enterprises.

Kuala Lumpur, 22 August 2011. Malaysia’s leading integrated services provider, Maxis Berhad (‘Maxis’), today launched Maxis Cloud, the most advanced on-demand, real-time, fully managed cloud service in Malaysia. Maxis also announced that customers will be able to access Maxis Cloud via the country’s highest speed business broadband access over its 100 gigabit per second (100G) optical backbone network and Telekom Malaysia’s HSBB network.

Moving forward, Maxis aims to work closely with key stakeholders such as MDeC, to establish joint programmes to promote adoption of cloud computing services for Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) by identifying industry applications which are needed by Malaysian SMEs within the key pillars of Malaysia’s economy; selecting talented software vendors to develop these applications, providing to them joint counsel, market and technology insights and funding; and developing a framework and standards for the overall development of the Malaysian cloud industry as a platform for world-class ICT practice.

Maxis’ Senior Vice President of Business Services, Fitri Abdullah said: “Today’s launch of Maxis Cloud is designed to support the growing need of Malaysian businesses, and help them operate at the next strategic level. With Infrastructure-as-a-Service, we give businesses our capacity for secure, pay-per-use access to computing power, information and content from any screen. We’ve designed Maxis Cloud to enable businesses with better IT solutions and offer tools for skilled software developers to further grow cloud solutions for a more mature market.”

“In addition, we believe that our collaboration with MDeC will further accelerate the adoption of cloud technology by software vendors and businesses, and pave the way for an array of enterprise-grade cloud solutions to become available to Malaysian businesses. This will undoubtedly make them more agile, cost-efficient and globally competitive, and enable them to provide better products and services to Malaysian consumers”.

YBhg Datuk Badlisham Ghazali, Chief Executive Officer of MDeC commented, “The economic benefits for SME’s and businesses when moving some or all of their IT to the Cloud are compelling. Local companies now have the opportunity to buy server and application resources in the required capacity, through easy-to-use and highly scalable architecture. Cloud computing is allowing these companies to move ICT spending from CAPEX to OPEX”.

“On a national level, we welcome the opportunity to work alongside private sector players such as Maxis and deploy the required technology. Our collective efforts will help Malaysia realise its ambition to become a leader in the global ICT industry much faster,” added Datuk Badlisham.

Fitri Abdullah, Maxis’ Senior Vice President of Business Services, continued: “Whether a small or large business needs extra computing or customer interaction capacity, to cope with seasonal fluctuation, large scale campaigns or with long-term business continuity and reducing energy use: cloud services are extensible to meet and help master the situation, on demand”.

“Imagine a small retail business like a florist, which has a sudden influx of festive season orders. With Maxis Cloud’s pay-per-use data storage and employing customer relationship management software, the florist can continue to attend to customer orders as normal. The same principle applies to the case of a large brand which seeks to launch a new campaign to last a period of time. With accounting software to keep a tight watch over numbers, and the ability to manage resources as needed through the self-service portal, the company gains better insight and keeps better control over the progress of its campaign. Cloud services make it possible for businesses to focus on meeting their customers’ growing needs and on developing their core products to a higher level of competitiveness and value”.

Ramaswami Venkatesan, Country General Manager, Technology Services, of Hewlett Packard - a key partner in building the infrastructure of the Maxis Cloud - said, ”Maxis Cloud’s integration of state-of-the-art components, technologies and services from a solid foundation of technology solutions over an advanced network, enables its current offering of IaaS as the most advanced, secured and user-friendly cloud offering in Malaysia”.

Maxis Cloud offers businesses a unique cloud ecosystem as a managed service, featuring a self-service portal which counts among its features: a simple interface, provision of real-time statistics, a single repository of billing information, and simplified remote management in addition to a secure connection.

Maxis Cloud can be accessed through business connectivity solutions including the new Maxis Business Fibre Internet, providing enterprise with download speeds of up to 32MB, the fastest available in the current market. It is also available in a choice of packages featuring speeds of 4Mbps, 8Mbps and 16Mbps. Leveraging on its 100G optical coherent network solution, Maxis will be able to address growing bandwidth and data usage requirements driven by smartphones, tablets, modems and fibre-to-the-premises services; while providing high-speed connectivity and automatic restoration capabilities to enterprises for their data centres and services such as cloud computing and machine-to-machine communications (M2M). In addition, through collaboration with Telekom Malaysia, Maxis will be able to offer services in all HSBB coverage areas across Malaysia.

Maxis recently played host to an emerging cloud community of Malaysian and international software companies on 20th July in Kuala Lumpur. Participants responded positively so that some are now going through an incubation development stage. They include MSC companies such as Wavelet Solutions and IMEUS, and providers such as EVVO Media and Henry Butcher. These companies anticipate more agile operations, seamlessly delivered innovations, and clearer, competitive points of difference, leveraging Maxis Cloud’s affordability, flexibility, security, reliable uptime, accessibility and scalability.

Point-of-sales solutions provider Wavelet will now depend on robust internet hosting from Maxis Cloud to serve its retail clients satisfactorily. Online healthcare solutions provider IMEUS will use Maxis Cloud to lower its costs to seamlessly serve medical practitioners who are responsible for patient wellbeing across the country. Live streaming technology provider EVVO Media will rely on Maxis Cloud to enable clients to stream on-demand broadcasts from their websites. Asset consultants Henry Butcher will scale up to meet the needs of an expanding and diverse portfolio of clients on the back of Maxis Cloud’s on-demand IT resources.

For more information on Maxis Cloud, please call Maxis Business Services at 1800 82 1919 or go to maxis.com.my/business