Author: Alfie Amir

Alfie Amir is a senior analyst in Current Analysis Group. He is responsible for research, consulting and analysis focusing on market and technology trends, competitive analysis and account-based intelligence for ICT spending and modeling future investments. He also works across several trackers (e.g., fixed, mobile and IT) providing market sizing, forecasts and insights across the region. Alfie is quoted regularly in trade press and is a regular speaker at conferences, workshops and other industry events.

Bosch IoT: Strong Potential in Manufacturing, a Huge and Rapidly Growing Sector in Asia-Pacific

by Alfie Amir, posted in Internet of Things
A. Amir

Summary Bullets:

  • Bosch has strong potential in manufacturing, automotive, and transportation sectors, which are the high-growth verticals in Asia-Pacific.
  • The provider needs to expand its cloud partners and strengthen its security solution to address the main IoT challenges of Asian enterprises in those sectors.

Bosch is not the first name you would think of when talking about IoT or even in a wider ICT topic. The brand is more synonymous with industrial equipment and household appliances. However, with 6.2 million IoT connections and more than 250 deployments, Bosch is considered as one of the key players in IoT space. It started its initiatives in IoT as early as 2008, when the company acquired Innovations Software Technology. Fast forward to 2018, Bosch Software Innovations has acquired three companies to expand its IoT capability, launched Bosch IoT Suite (available on third-party clouds) and Bosch IoT Cloud, and opened its IoT Lab and IoT Campus. Continue reading “Bosch IoT: Strong Potential in Manufacturing, a Huge and Rapidly Growing Sector in Asia-Pacific” →

Huawei IoT: Capabilities Across the Solution Stack, but Low Mindshare in the Region

by Alfie Amir, posted in Communicate, Internet of Things
A. Amir

Summary Bullets:

  • Huawei’s capability across IoT stacks offers a competitive advantage in the market.
  • Huawei has the potential to drive IoT adoption in the region through carriers. However, it has yet to leverage this unique advantage outside China.

The IoT ecosystem is complex, as it involves all technologies within IT and bridges IT with operational technologies (OT). As a technology company with core business in telecommunications equipment, IoT for Huawei is not just enabling NB-IoT features in carriers’ cellular network. The vendor is also leveraging its company-wide capabilities to play across the IoT stack. Its IoT portfolio includes the chipset, an operating system (OS) called LiteOS, an NB-IoT network through its radio access solution to carriers, security (through its 3T+1M approach), a platform, cloud, professional services and even an initiative to drive the ecosystem (through its OpenLab). While Cisco and Nokia can closely match this capability, Huawei’s key advantage is with its IoT chipset and OS. Continue reading “Huawei IoT: Capabilities Across the Solution Stack, but Low Mindshare in the Region” →

Chinese Players Are Disrupting the Cloud Market in Asia-Pacific

by Alfie Amir, posted in Cloud Enable
A. Amir

Summary Bullets:

  • The cloud market in Asia-Pacific is getting more competitive, driven by the Chinese cloud giants: Huawei, Alibaba and Tencent.
  • The growing competition offers businesses wider options beyond the traditional cloud providers such as AWS, Microsoft and IBM.

The three Chinese ICT giants – Huawei, Alibaba and Tencent – are originally from different ICT areas. Huawei started with telecommunications equipment, Alibaba with e-commerce and Tencent with instant messaging. However, today, they all actively play in cloud market, challenging the traditional cloud players such as AWS, Microsoft, Google and IBM. Continue reading “Chinese Players Are Disrupting the Cloud Market in Asia-Pacific” →

Avaya’s a Laggard in Cloud, But Not Too Late in Asia-Pacific

by Alfie Amir, posted in Cloud Enable
A. Amir

Summary Bullets:

• Avaya finally has a cloud strategy; a late mover compared to the other UCC players

• But cloud adoption in Asia-Pacific especially in emerging markets is still low and demand is growing

While Avaya already has a number of cloud-based deployments for several years for example Avaya IP Office as-a-Service (IPOaaS) offered by Optus in Australia, the cloud delivery model is mainly driven by the partners. Avaya itself is finally moving to cloud-based offerings recently. It is a late move considering the other UC major players have gone to cloud years earlier, for example Cisco with Spark and Webex and Microsoft with Microsoft Office 365 and Skype for Business. Continue reading “Avaya’s a Laggard in Cloud, But Not Too Late in Asia-Pacific” →

Vodafone Asia Industry Analyst Summit 2018: Retaining Leadership in IoT and Staying on Track to Challenge the Market with SD-WAN

by Alfie Amir, posted in Internet of Things, Network
A. Amir

Summary Bullets:

  • VGE has a comprehensive enterprise services portfolio as well as a strong vision on how to build an agile network platform leveraging SDN/NFV.
  • Vodafone remains a leading player in the IoT space, and it is able to use IoT to open new opportunities with new and existing customers.

Vodafone Global Enterprise (VGE) hosted its Asia Industry Analyst Summit in Singapore on January 30-31, 2018. While various information involving business directions, products and partnerships was shared at the event, this blog post zooms in on the two key areas: SD-WAN and IoT. Continue reading “Vodafone Asia Industry Analyst Summit 2018: Retaining Leadership in IoT and Staying on Track to Challenge the Market with SD-WAN” →

Nokia Innovation Forum: Enabling Digital Transformation Through Telcos

by Alfie Amir, posted in Cloud Enable, Communicate, Internet of Things, IT Leader, Network
A. Amir

Summary Bullets:

  • Nokia uses its strength and experience in network solutions as well as its strong relationships with telcos to drive digital transformation.
  • In emerging markets where digital transformation is slow, Nokia needs to work more closely with the telcos and focus on particular solutions and verticals.

Nokia held its Asia-Pacific Innovation Forum in Singapore on the October 24, 2017. Various topics and use cases around IoT, 5G, cloud, network and security were discussed by not only Nokia executives, but also its industry partners, its telco customers, start-ups, government agencies and end users. Despite the diverse topics, the presentations and discussions throughout the event focused around digital transformation themes. Continue reading “Nokia Innovation Forum: Enabling Digital Transformation Through Telcos” →

TM ONE (Telekom Malaysia’s Business Arm Brand) is Going Beyond Domestic Market with Its Twin-Core Data Center

by Alfie Amir, posted in Cloud Enable
A. Amir

Summary Bullets:

• TM ONE is launching twin-core data centers in Malaysia, targeting businesses in Malaysia and Singapore as well as service providers

• While the features and price may be comparable against services offered in Singapore, there is a trade off in latency and options for exchange partners

TM ONE (the business arm brand of Malaysian incumbent carrier, Telekom Malaysia) is launching twin-core data centers in south of Malaysia and the capital city. The first data center is planned to be commercially launched in November this year while the second one is expected to be ready next year. The data centers will be Uptime Institute Tier-III certified for design and construction, and comply to other industry standards such as TVRA, PCI DSS, ISO-27001, ISO-14001, GBI and US LEED for security and green technology. TM will also offer carrier diversity and wide exchange options through its partnerships with various carriers as well as service providers. As TM is going beyond its domestic market, targeting the Singapore-based businesses and service providers, does it have unique values to challenge the existing players and win the market there? Continue reading “TM ONE (Telekom Malaysia’s Business Arm Brand) is Going Beyond Domestic Market with Its Twin-Core Data Center” →

Is Cloud Still an Exciting Technology in Asia Pacific?

by Alfie Amir, posted in Cloud Enable
A. Amir

Summary Bullets:

• Overall cloud adoption in Asia Pacific is still low. As the region is very diverse, cloud adoption of a country can vary significantly.

• Despite playing in the market for many years, majority of providers are still struggling to find the right formula to win in this region.

Is cloud no longer an exciting technology? It is true to a certain extent. Cloud has been around for many years. With a matured ecosystem today, service providers are well aware of their positions and competitions in the market while businesses are already seeing both technical and business benefits from their cloud implementations. The conversations have changed from ‘moving to cloud’ to ‘cloud enabling digital transformation’. This is at least how cloud appears to be in the industry. Continue reading “Is Cloud Still an Exciting Technology in Asia Pacific?” →

Nokia AP Analyst Summit: Going Beyond Infrastructure and Getting Closer to the Enterprise

by Alfie Amir, posted in Network
A. Amir

Summary Bullets:

  • Entering the enterprise services market, Nokia has defined its market position and target segments, but its direction is still unclear, especially with its multiple sub-brands.
  • Nokia’s brand visibility is still low in Asia. Solid strategies are required to win the market, especially with greenfield accounts.

At Nokia Asia-Pacific (AP) Analyst Day in Hanoi, Vietnam last week, Nokia shared its AP business updates and plans, covering topics from hardware to software, products to services and carriers to other enterprises. As one of the pioneers in digital communication technology, Nokia’s capabilities in providing network infrastructures to carriers do not need any introduction. Nokia is rated as a ‘leader’ in GlobalData’s product assessments for small-cell, GPON and next-gen edge solutions, just to name a few. However, Nokia may not be the brand you would think when it comes to the enterprise services market. While it has several enterprise offerings through its sub-brands or previously acquired brands, its overall direction in this market is still not very clear. One of the key topics discussed at the event was Nokia’s initiative to streamline its strategy, portfolio, position and target segment in the enterprise services market. While the AP market is promising, it is also highly challenging. Can Nokia win and survive in the enterprise market? Will it have a clearly defined value proposition and potentially be able to compete against its traditional channel partners? Continue reading “Nokia AP Analyst Summit: Going Beyond Infrastructure and Getting Closer to the Enterprise” →