OREANDA-NEWS. March 10, 2011. Asia Pacific businesses will benefit from Tata Communications’ Infrastructure as a Service offering, combining pay-per-use applications with an extensive and reliable global network

Singapore: Tata Communications, a leading provider of a new world of communications, today, launches its InstaCompute cloud offering in Singapore, covering neighbouring countries: Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines. InstaCompute brings scalable cloud computing services to the region’s large and medium enterprises, the gaming industry, as well as global businesses with an Asia Pacific audience.

InstaCompute is an Infrastructure as a Service offering that is secure, elastic and on-demand. Computing and storage resources are delivered to businesses over Tata Communications’ IP backbone and MPLS networks, as and when they need them. Self-provisioned and completely automated via an intuitive web interface, InstaCompute allows organisations to manage their businesses in line with growing and fluctuating market demands and rapidly evolving technology. InstaCompute uses compute and storage infrastructure from Dell. The Singapore zone is physically based in Singapore at the Tata Communications Exchange (TCX) internet data centre. InstaCompute brings with it a service agreement that is inclusive of unlimited customer support, multiple IP addresses, load balancing and firewalls as well as credits in the unlikely event of any service downtime.

Vinod Kumar, managing director and chief executive officer, Tata Communications, says, “As one of the business and financial hubs of Asia, Singapore is strategically positioned to drive a rapidly evolving economy where businesses demand flexible and scalable infrastructure, as they pursue growth within Singapore and overseas. Singapore businesses are aggressively adopting innovative business technologies that will allow them to leapfrog on to the international stage. Singapore is where our international headquarters are based and is a key market for us.”

The pay-as-you-use service enables Asia Pacific businesses to quickly and easily tap into scalable, global IT infrastructure via the internet, without the usual cost and complexities associated with IT provisioning. InstaCompute provides a delivery model that is tailored to meet both the local and global needs of Singapore and Asia Pacific businesses.

IDC forecasts that over the next five years, Asia Pacific spending on IT cloud services will grow fourfold, reaching USD 4.6 billion by 2014. Spend on cloud computing will accelerate through the forecast period, with a forecasted CAGR of more than 40 per cent across the region from 2010 to 2014?. InstaCompute will free up considerable financial and managerial resources in the transition from a capex-heavy, on-premise model, to a pay-as-you-use model with hourly and monthly billing options and the choice of multiple payment methods. Customers can focus their energies on pursuing revenue generating growth opportunities, from their core business areas, while relying on Tata Communications to deliver the technology infrastructure to support their growth.

“Tata Communications is in a strong position as a global cloud provider as a result of its extensive network portfolio. We can provide our customers with traditional network connectivity or secure MPLS VPN connectivity, all under service level agreements of the highest industry standard. Security on the network is a critical element for any customer looking to enter the cloud. Our security business forms an integral part of our customer’s cloud development, rather than being an add-on after the infrastructure has been built,” says David Wirt, senior vice president, and global head, managed services, Tata Communications. 

Tata Communications cloud services have several advantages over other providers, including:

Free trial of its cloud services with full user privileges for all trial customers available at http://iaas.tatacommunications.com.

The ability to offer hybrid solutions mixing cloud services, traditional hosting and colocation services.

Direct connectivity into Tata Communications’ Tier 1 internet backbone and MPLS network.

Pre-and-post-paid billing options in Singapore Dollars, US Dollar and Euros, using credit cards or traditional invoicing.

Web-based service access that allows administrators to quickly set up individual users and utilise project structures to allocate user access and monitor spending.

Singapore-based web developer Magma Studios was one of the first customers to experience the benefits of InstaCompute. Aroon Tan, managing director, Magma Studios, says, “We are in the process of rolling out a new and exciting portfolio of video games. A critical time for us where we need to ensure we are partnering with an organisation that is responsive, reliable and offers a fully managed IT service that allows us to scale up and down at a moment’s notice, depending on the online traffic we receive. The InstaCompute web portal is easy to use and gives us instant access to IT resources. Knowing our IT is being taken care of means we can focus on our core competency of creating online games without regular investment of capital, resources and manpower. Tata Communications’ global network and world-renowned data centre facilities also make it the ideal cloud service provider for us.”

The launch of InstaCompute in Singapore joins Tata Communications’ recently launched cloud platform for India, and will be followed by launches in Europe, the US and South Africa by the end of the year.