Globally speaking, most cloud application service platforms are built and operated by the vendors themselves, but a few supported the concept of “package plant export”. However, GWS CLOUD has successfully created a unique benchmark by not only leveraging the technical expertise and experience of its own GWS CLOUD platform to assist several operators in Taiwan to create cloud platforms, but also expanding overseas to help SUPERNAP Thailand, a renowned data center operator in Thailand, to transform and enter the cloud service market.
SUPERNAP Thailand officially launched its cloud services in December 2020. Despite operating for just a few months, it has already gained recognition from the industry. First, by YSentric Thailand, a major local AR/VR digital image transmission application, manufacturer, who used the platform to promote 5G telemedicine services; then by Bridgestone Thailand, who used the cloud platform and DR to create a remote, cloud-based backup center.
By 24/7 Professional Customer Services On-hand to Resolve Sales or Technical Issues for Partners
Abbie Liu, Senior Business Manager for the Asia Pacific Regions at eASPNet, stated that by adopting a “package plant export” approach to creating SUPERNAP’s cloud platforms, all configurations and settings can be completed by remote access; however, this required technical proficiency and experience, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic period. The scope of service encompassed the initial cloud platform adoption and education training, as well as the use of a self-developed pricing and billing system; most importantly, even after the SUPERNAP cloud platform has been successfully brought online, eASPNet remained available to resolve sales or technical issues with 24/7, real-time customer service.
Taking Bridgestone Thailand as an example, the company adheres to the policies set by its global headquarters to adopt a cloud backup and disaster recovery solution based on a rigorous and stringent selection process. Relying on the remote assistance provided by eASPNet, SUPERNAP successfully passed 10 challenges proposed by Bridgestone Thailand, winning the other’s trust to delegate the heavy responsibility of remote backup services to SUPERNAP and eASPNet.
Abbie Liu stated that according to Bridgestone’s global policy, all information systems in the branch offices must establish off-site backup mechanisms. However, due to the surge of the COVID-19 pandemic in Thailand, the country has enacted a lockdown anti-pandemic measure, preventing local Bridgestone employees from accessing the physical backup server rooms to carry out remote backup maintenance. Consequently, the company turned to a remote cloud backup mode.
Bridgestone Thailand believed that in adopting remote cloud backup, purchasing and configuring matching server equipment will no longer be necessary, as they can back up to one or more VMs based on needs, making the use of overall resources more flexible and cost-effective; in addition, by adopting a remote cloud backup approach, management of the services will no longer be restricted by lockdown, making it an all-around excellent solution. There are several reasons why SUPERNAP has won the competition amongst other Thai cloud companies; one is due to its Tier-IV certified data center and professional certifications such as ISO and PCI-DSS; the other is that DR is self-service, allowing customers to configure the settings themselves, requiring no inputs from a cloud vendor, which saves on time spent on back-and-forth communication and waiting process, and greatly improves the immediacy of the operation.
Replicating the Success Experience of Thailand to More Oversea Markets
It is also worth mentioning that Bridgestone Thailand has proposed 10 challenges with sophisticated test items, all of which were overcome by SUPERNAP and eASPNet working together, leading to the award of this benchmark project. The test items included data center security, cloud management (ISO 27017 and 27018 certification), security management (user authorization management, cloud platform functional verification), Site-to-Site/Client-to-Site VPN, load balancing, multiple DR scenario simulations (including verification on partial system recovery, whole system recovery, and user tests), DR practice (following scenarios designed by the customer), scheduled backup, DR Failover & Failback, network structure, and information security.
Abbie Liu stressed that both SUPERNAP and eASPNet have put significant efforts during the test to clarify each testing specification and complete all required verifications as solidly as possible. The goal is not just to win recognition from Bridgestone Thailand, but also to set a benchmark example to attract more Thai enterprises using the GWS CLOUD services.
The efforts of eASPNet in planning the overseas markets have gradually paid off; the company hopes to replicate the successful experiences of Thailand in other markets such as the Netherlands, China, or Hong Kong, promoting the value-added services so carefully created by GWS CLOUD to more customers around the world, first by widespread adoption then followed with in-depth utilization, building up the digital transformation capacity layer by layer
