Hong Kong, 20 March 2002 - Singapore Telecommunications Limited (SingTel), Asia’s leading communications company, today launched EXPAN, its suite of Managed Hosting Services, in Hong Kong.
To further enhance its infrastructure and support the rollout of EXPAN, SingTel will invest US$20 million in Hong Kong over the next 12 months to develop, manage and operate two Data Centres, including a new 13,500-square feet facility at Chai Wan.
EXPAN is SingTel’s initiative to meet the growing demand in the region among multi-national corporations and those in Internet-related businesses to outsource their entire communications networks operations, application services and web-hosting needs. By outsourcing, these companies eliminate the need to incur heavy capital expenditure on infrastructure and equipment.
SingTel’s strategy is to grow its data and corporate business outside of Singapore. It expects revenue from the provision of Managed Hosting Services in the Asia Pacific to reach US$70 million on an annual basis by 2004 with Hong Kong accounting for 10 to 20 per cent of this revenue. The territory is one of SingTel’s top three regional markets, outside of Singapore and Australia.
EXPAN - a pan-Asian offering
EXPAN services include the provision of co-location, bandwidth, IT-related operations and disaster recovery via storage facilities. Customers enjoy 24x7 network monitoring and maintenance, security services, data storage and administration, performance monitoring and fault management, problem resolution and technical support.
The EXPAN network is the most extensive in Asia, presently comprising 10 Data Centres located in Singapore (three), Australia, Japan (two), Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong (two). These Data Centres are linked via SingTel’s pan-Asian submarine cable systems, which include the C2C cable network. EXPAN is also available in other markets like China, Thailand and Indonesia through marketing alliances with local partners.
SingTel’s President and CEO, Lee Hsien Yang, in Hong Kong for the launch of EXPAN, said that the outsourcing trend among multinationals will continue with estimates of as high as 70 per cent of companies in the region outsourcing at least part of their IT operations to a third party by 2003.
Mr Lee said: "Despite the perceived over-supply of Data Centres in the region, there is really a lack of experienced and truly global service players who are capable of providing advanced and comprehensive managed network services. It is important for customers to separate the wheat from the chaff. SingTel believes we have the know-how and end-to-end infrastructure to differentiate us from the rest of the field."
SingTel will work closely with technology leaders such as BMC Software, Cisco Systems, EMC Corporation and Hewlett-Packard, who will provide equipment, software solutions and expertise to support the provision of EXPAN in Hong Kong and elsewhere in Asia.
SingTel in Hong Kong
SingTel set up its representative office in Hong Kong in 1996 and has gradually built up its presence in the territory. Today, the office employs 35 people, most of them Hong Kong residents, and manages two Data Centres (at Shatin and Chai Wan) with a total floor area of 36,000 square feet.
The launch of EXPAN in Hong Kong will add to the range of services that SingTel already offers to its multinational clients, which include Citicorp, Deutsche Bank and Lucent Technologies.
From Hong Kong, SingTel already provides direct connectivity to Singapore, Japan, Korea, China and the United States for a variety of services. It intends to extend this list to include Australia, India, Taiwan and the United Kingdom in the near future.
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