Telekom Malaysia Strengthens Cloud Offering with Microsoft Partnership

TM adds Office 365 to its suite of world-class ICT solutions to help Malaysian businesses connect, communicate and collaborate online; powered by Microsoft and delivered by VADS

Kuala Lumpur – December 14, 2011 –Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) expands its cloud services offering to include Microsoft Office 365 as part of TM’s Software-as-a-Service offering. The current cloud services delivered through its wholly owned subsidiary, VADS Berhad (VADS) already provide a suite of services under Infra-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service.

In this unprecedented partnership, TM through its wholly owned subsidiary, VADS was selected to be the syndication partner to Microsoft to bring Microsoft Office 365, to Malaysian businesses throughout the country.(L-R) Ghazali Omar, CEO of VADS, and Ananth Lazarus, MD, Microsoft Malaysia, exchanging documents at the signing the TM-Microsoft Office 365 Syndication Partnership Agreement

The agreement was signed by Ghazali Omar, Chief Executive Officer of VADS who is also the Executive Vice President of TM’s Enterprise Division, while Microsoft was represented by Ananth Lazarus, Managing Director, Microsoft Malaysia.

“TM chalks up yet another new milestone - moving up the value chain to provide beyond mere connectivity for our business customers. Cloud computing is a revolution that would enable businesses to be more agile and flexible to keep pace with changing market speeds and expectations. Today, we are expanding our cloud services offering to include Software-as-a-Service. We are proud that Microsoft has selected TM through VADS as the syndication partner for Microsoft Office 365. Office 365 will strengthen our cloud offering to the market, joining a family of applications and solutions in our cloud portal,” said Ghazali.

He further elaborated that Office 365 will be available online through our cloud services starting from January 2012 primarily targeting at the SME market. TM is the only Service Provider in Malaysia that provides dedicated 24/7 local technical support for Office 365 subscribers.

“SMEs play a very important role in our country’s economy. It is therefore critical that SMEs remain competitive so they can continue to play their role and maintain their sustainability. Our partnership would not be limited to global technology providers, but we will also collaborate with local SMEs through Independent Software Vendors (ISVs), to offer a rich selection of software applications to the Malaysian market and beyond. This is made possible through our cloud services and it is in line with our aspiration to become the aggregator of aggregators in the cloud space,” added Ghazali.

With Office 365, TM and Microsoft will give all Malaysian businesses convenient and affordable access to the world’s best productivity services for a predictable monthly cost without any upfront infrastructure investments. The Office 365 Package offered by TM combines the power of Office WebApps applications with enterprise-grade e-mail, shared documents, instant messaging, video and web conferencing (Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, and Lync Online) in an always-up-to-date cloud service that is powered by Microsoft and delivered by VADS.

“For Microsoft, we could not be happier to partner with TM and help realize transformation together for businesses. Not only are we both strongly aligned with the same vision to empower Malaysian businesses with world-class ICT solutions to transform the way they work, we are both able to bring this vision to life. Apart from Microsoft, there is no other IT company in the world that offers strong, credible solutions for businesses of all sizes. At the same time, TM is Malaysia’s leading broadband provider with a 95 percent share of the Malaysian fixed broadband market. TM is the ideal syndication partner to help us bring the benefits of Office 365 to all Malaysian businesses,” said Ananth Lazarus, Managing Director, Microsoft Malaysia.

Presently, 90 percent of Office 365 customers across the world since the service was launched in June 2011 are coming from small businesses with less than 50 employees. In a survey of U.S. SMEs commissioned by Microsoft, 50 percent reported cost savings when using Microsoft Office 365 and 42 percent said cloud computing has reduced their IT workload.

Large global companies are also choosing Office 365 to enable their employees and customers to work together in the cloud. Today, 41 of the global Interbrand list of the 100 top brands use Office 365 or related cloud productivity services from Microsoft.

“Many businesses are beginning to realise the power of cloud computing technology – whether it is the ability to leverage IT capabilities more cost-effectively, creating new ways to serve new customers, or even operating a business without IT limits. Microsoft, through Office 365, is helping businesses rest assured that their IT needs are taken care of, leaving them to concentrate on what they do best: managing and driving their businesses,” concluded Ananth.

Office 365 will be available via TM cloud in January 2012 and there will a special early bird promotion. Details will be announced at a later date.