Computerworld Malaysia November/December 2013

PP7687/08/2013 (032583)

The Voice of I.T. Management

computerworld.com.my

November–December 2013

e d e Crèm e m è r la C The ‘Best of the Best’ in this year’s Computerworld Malaysia Readers Choice Awards. Turn to page 14 to see the winners.

Inside News

2 Intel, Samsung Show the Galaxy Tab 3 4 Penang Grocer Uses Self-scanning 5 ‘Ahead of the Curve’ in Remote Working 6 First Year Pulse Check for Digital Malaysia

Cloud, Security, Virtualisation Special

8 Virtualisation Could Save More Than US$1B 9 Catching Up With Clouds 10 Sophisticated Attacks ‘Earn’ 50% More 11 ‘AWS Activate’ Eyes Startups 12 Cloud as a Transformation Driver

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Computerworld Malaysia November–December 2013 www.computerworld.com.my

Intel, Samsung Show the Galaxy Tab 3 The Intel-powered 4G LTE Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 will deliver the best balance of high performance, power efficiency and battery life, says Intel Malaysia & Singapore’s Prakash Mallya.

By AvantiKumar

T

he new Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 LTE, which is powered

by Intel’s Atom Z2560 microprocessor, or Clover Trail+, is expected to continue Samsung’s momentum in the Malaysian tablet market.

“Customers are selecting Intel technology because it offers the best balance of high performance, power efficiency and battery life,” said Prakash Mallya, country manager sales and marketing for Intel Malaysia and Singapore during the launch. “It’s ultimately about the consumer experience, and we are confident people will be pleased with what Intel has to offer.”

Mallya said people expect more from their tablets, and the dualcore Intel Atom SoC (Clover Trail+) platform for Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 LTE (long term evolution)

provides double the compute performance and 3x graphics capabilities with competitive battery life compared to the previous-generation Intel Atom processors platform.

The integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator provides realistic 3-D gaming experiences, 1080p HD video and crystal-clear graphics, he said.

Advanced Features Mallya added that advanced camera features including face recognition, mobile HDR and panorama help users create like never before while Clover Trail+ offers dual-core performance along with Intel HyperThreading Technology, supporting four simultaneous application threads for smoother, seamless multitasking.

Samsung Malaysia Electronics director of IT & mobile

Flanked by models, Prakash Mallya, Country Manager Sales and Marketing for Intel Malaysia & Singapore (middle right) and Vincent Chong, Director of IT & Mobile Communications, Samsung Malaysia Electronics (middle left), showing off the new Samsung GALAXY Tab 3 10.1 LTE.

communications, Vincent Chong, said: “At Samsung, we strive to keep a constant pulse to the everchanging needs of people to deliver devices that are not only relevant but complementary of a multitude of lifestyle demands.”

“The partnership with Intel allows us to deliver an innovation

Speed Up Malaysian Clouds: MDeC MDeC CEO Datuk Badlisham Ghazali says though Malaysian businesses are increasing cloud adoption, they must speed up to catch up with Singapore, South Korea.

By AvantiKumar

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uring the recent MSC Malaysia Cloud Computing conference, national ICT agency Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) said Malaysian businesses are increasing cloud adoption but must speed up to catch up with other countries in the region such as Singapore and South Korea.

MDeC chief executive officer Datuk Badlisham Ghazali said cloud adoption by local businesses is in line with the nation’s efforts to become a world-class ICT hub.

“While cloud adoption by Malaysian businesses is on the upward trend, countries such as Singapore and South Korea are still ahead of us,” said Badlisham.

“Thus, it is important for us to step up our efforts.”

“This is the fundamental goal of the MSC [Multimedia Supercorridor] Malaysia Cloud Conference,” he said. “MSC Malaysia and our key partners are deeply committed to providing an avenue for both enterprises and local small and medium enterprises [SMEs] to seek the right type of

cloud services that are suited to their needs. By getting more Malaysian businesses to turn to the cloud for their needs, we are one step closer to becoming a developed economy to be reckoned with.”

Badlisham said that according to Gartner, while the focus initially was on the implementation of software-as-a-service (SaaS), future rollouts will include

infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) and platform-as-a-service (PaaS).

He cited EMC’s ‘Transforming IT Study,’ which showed that 30 percent of Malaysians are private cloud adopters and 12 percent have adopted hybrid cloud services while also strongly leading by 25 percent in adopting a public cloud service.

“This bodes well for Malaysian businesses as these services have long been driven through MDeC’s

Datuk Badlisham Ghazali, CEO of MDeC delivering the opening address at the MSC Malaysia Cloud Conference 2013.

with unparalleled performance,” said Chong. “Powered by Intel Atom processor, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 LTE provides an enhanced multimedia experience for families.

The tablet seamlessly combines sleek design and enhanced multimedia capabilities for home and family use.”

Cloud Computing Enablement Initiative which was introduced in 2011,” said Badlisham.

Cloud Initiative He said the MSC Malaysia’s Cloud Computing Enablement Initiative (MMCCI), started in 2011, was to help promote MSC Malaysia software and services both locally and abroad, as well as equip companies, especially SMEs, with the cloud capabilities to speed up the nation’s development into a fully innovative digital economy.

Badlisham said that the initiative, which has so far helped the creation of more than 100 Independent Software Vendors (ISV) and more than 20 types of cloud by local IT players, comprises two programmes:  The ISV Cloud Computing Programme, MDeC works with six appointed technology partners to offer customised packages of cloud hosting subscription, training and go-to-market incentives worth RM30,000 (US$9,387) or more.  The SME Cloud Computing Adoption Programme, on the other hand, is designed to provide SMEs with a rapid entry into cloud computing Software-as-aService (SaaS) solutions, which will enhance the responsiveness and progressiveness of SMEs in an increasingly globalised marketplace.

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News

Anand Mehta, the Retail Director of Motorola Solutions, Asia Pacific (third from left) demonstrates how the Personal Shopping System (PSS) at SAM’s Groceria works to the Minister of Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism, Dato’ Hasan bin Malek (second from left) as SAM’s Groceria Gurney Paragon Mall Branch Manager, Abu Tarmizi (left) and SAM’s Groceria Executive Director, Datuk Wira (Dr.) Haji Ameer Ali bin Mydin (right) looks on.

Computerworld Malaysia November–December 2013 www.computerworld.com.my

Penang Grocer Uses Self-scanning SAM’s Groceria in Penang’s Gurney Paragon Mall is the first retailer in the Asia Pacific region to use Motorola Solutions Personal Shopping System, according to the retailer’s executive director.

By AvantiKumar

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ccording to premium grocer SAM’s Groceria in Penang’s new Gurney Paragon Mall, Malaysia, it is the first retailer in the Asia Pacific region to use the Personal Shopping System by Motorola Solutions, which allows shoppers to use self-scanning.

During the opening, SAM’s Groceria executive director Datuk Wira (Dr) Haji Ameer Ali bin Mydin said customers would appreciate the convenience and hassle-free attributes of self-scanning during their shopping.

“The introduction of SAM’s Groceria is a natural progression for us as we recognise the potential in the high-end market segment,” said Dr Ameer Ali. “The decision to kickstart our first two premium grocers in Penang was a conscious one as we recognise that Penangites have got high disposable income yet, there lacks an outlet to cater for this highly affluent group.”

Positioning itself as a familyoriented neighbourhood grocer, the 30,000 sq ft (2,800 sq m) SAM’s Groceria boasts a wide range of more than 19,000 pork and alcohol-free products, of which 60 percent of the brands in store are fully imported from countries such as the United States, Australia, Japan, Taiwan, India, Pakistan, and Thailand, he said.

Dr Ameer Ali said a total investment of RM34 million (US$10.43 million) by Malaysian retailer Mydin lies behind SAM’s

Groceria store at Gurney Paragon, which is the first of three premium grocers set to open within the next year with a second grocer—to be launched also in Penang—opening its doors by mid-2014. The third will be launched within the second quarter of 2014 at an undisclosed location in Kuala Lumpur.

He said the new store was equipped with a staff of 90. “When you walk into our store and see the phrase ‘Life Made Fresher’, that isn’t just a tagline to us. It’s a promise that at SAM’s, you will only obtain the freshest and best quality produce as it is our goal to cultivate a healthier and fitter lifestyle among our shoppers.”

Also present at the launch was the Minister of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism, Dato’ Hasan bin Malek and Dato’ Khor Teng Tong, Executive Chairman of Hunza Properties.

SAM’s Groceria’s Dr Ameer Ali said the use of the Personal Shopping System, comprising Motorola Solutions portable handheld MC17 series mobile computers powered by Re-Vision B.V., their global partner, would accelerate the checkout process at the store.

Unprecedented System Motorola Solutions has implemented its Personal Shopping System with the name of Sam’s Self Scan, said Motorola Solutions Asia Pacific retail director, Anand Mehta.

“In understanding global trends and wanting to introduce the same into the Malaysia market, we are very pleased to be the turnkey solution provider to implement the personal shopping system for Sam’s Groceria,” said Mehta. “In this case, the unprecedented personal shopping system delivers the vision of personalising every individual

consumer’s experience in the store with a dynamic interaction between the customer and the products.”

“Self-scanning is set to revolutionise the shopping experience for shoppers here in Asia,” said Re-Vision B.V. chief executive officer, Michael Haagmans.

“So far, we have seen our European retailers embracing the technology as their customers have shown a keen interest and acceptance in using it while recognising the immense benefits from the solution.”

Haagmans said customers would be able to self-scan the items they want to buy with the integrated bar code scanner in the portable mobile device then place these into a shopping bag as they walk through the store’s aisles.

He said the Sam’s Self Scan will then allow shoppers to head to the nearest dedicated self-checkout counter and quickly pay for their purchases without having to wait in long queues or to unload shopping carts and re-bag items.

SAM’s shoppers can also be part of its loyalty programme, the SAM’s Family Card, which will be integrated with the latest technology to further enhance their shopping experience.

By doing so, SAM’s shoppers can look forward to the store’s exclusive offers and seasonal products.

In the near future, SAM’s Groceria has plans to introduce an online shopping service to offer a more convenient shopping experience, which will include a delivery service option.

MOL Launches in the Americas Malaysian PM witnesses MOL’s announcement with its Silicon Valley-based subsidiary Rixty in a move that opens up online payment platform in North America and Latin America.

By AvantiKumar

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alaysia-headquartered e-payment services firm MOL AccessPortal (MOL) has launched its MOLPoints online game and digital goods payment platform in the US and Brazil in collaboration with its Silicon Valley subsidiary Rixty, Inc. During the launch in San Francisco, which was witnessed by the Malaysian Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib Bin Tun Abdul Razak, MOL Global chief executive

officer Ganesh Kumar Bangah said its subsidiary MOL AccessPortal’ s micropayment system MOLPoints is to be distributed across Rixty’s distribution channels of more than 140,000 stores in the US and Brazil.

Digital Goods Market This move will allow MOL to expand into the American markets while benefiting from the talent in Silicon Valley, said Bangah. MOLPoints in the US & Brazil also consolidates Rixty into MOL’s global operations and will enable MOL’s suite of games

to be distributed through Rixty’s distribution channels.

This will allow local Malaysian content to tap into the huge Rixty Inc’s CEO Ted Sorom (left) and MOL Global’s Group CEO Ganesh digital goods market Kumar Bangah holding the plaque together with the Prime Minister of that is estimated to be Malaysia Y.A.B. Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib Bin Tun Abdul Razak (centre). worth US$19.2 billion worldwide, he added. which is promoting breakout The launch was part of the Malaysian companies into the global Malaysian Prime Minister’s visit market. Asia-based MOL handles to Silicon Valley organised by the more than 60 million transactions Malaysian ICT agency Multimedia with an annual payment volume of Development Corporation [MDeC], more than US$500 million.

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News

John Henderson, Director, APAC, Regus.

Computerworld Malaysia November–December 2013 www.computerworld.com.my

‘Ahead of the Curve’ in Remote Working Regus APAC director John Henderson says 53 percent of Malaysian executives now work flexibly for half of the week.

By AvantiKumar

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ccording to a new survey by global workspace firm Regus, Malaysian executives are in the vanguard of remote working with 53 percent working flexibly for half the week.

Regus APAC director John Henderson said its Global Economic Indicator, which canvassed more than 26,000 business managers across 90 countries, shows that professionals “who are chained to the office desk will soon be the minority.”

Globally, 48 percent now work remotely for at least half their working week, said Henderson.

“In Malaysia, just over half of executives work flexibly for at least half the week while 46 percent of respondents believe remote management also builds a more professional relationship.”

He said some chief executives may worry about motivating and managing staff at a distance. “But in the Regus survey, 63 percent of Malaysian respondents (55 percent globally) said they believed effective

management of remote workers was perfectly achievable, and a significant portion of businesses are bringing increasing rigour to managing their remote staff.”

Henderson said the survey showed that 61 percent of companies in Malaysia (higher than the 37 percent global figure) use specific efficiency-monitoring reporting systems, while 65 percent of remote managers use video calls to communicate with their teams (43 percent globally).

For example, US health insurer Aetna, a thought leader in the field, has added training courses to the mix so remote workers and their managers can be brought up to speed on effective flexible working methods.

Of Aetna’s 35,000 employees, 14,500 do not have a desk.

Impact of Mobile Tech The flexible work experience can have a particular value for younger workers, he said. “Thirty-nine percent of respondents in Malaysia believe that junior employees become more responsible through remote

working. Working from home is convenient and family-friendly.

But even with a nearperfect home working set-up, I still want other locations to work from,” said Henderson.

“The impact of portable technology and widespread connectivity hasn’t been home working, it has been flexibility.

Multi-location working is becoming the norm.”

Key findings in Malaysia:  53% work remotely for half the week or more  63% say that seamless remote management is an achievable goal, but only if managers undergo special training  63% consider trust an important issue  61% of companies use reporting systems to monitor mobile employee efficiency  65% use video communication between managers and employees

 46% believe remote management helps maintain a more professional relationship Regus CEO Mark Dixon said: “Flexible working is a winner for all concerned when the management team takes the lead.

The business people we speak with tell us that trust and freedom play a key role in remote management and, once these are in place, the benefits are clear for all to see: greater productivity, improved staff retention and lower operating costs.”

First Online Car Care Service Launches According to Castrol, the launch of its ‘Carama’ portal simplifies car care, maintenance and workshop guidelines for Malaysian car owners.

By AvantiKumar

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ccording to automotive lubricant specialist Castrol, its new web and mobile portal called ‘Carama’ is the Malaysia’s first online service for car care, which also includes maintenance and workshop guides for Malaysian car owners.

Castrol InnoVentures (Castrol’s strategic innovation arm) general manager Sumeet Wadhwa said the one-stop solution is one result of a recent survey in the Klang Valley (Malaysia) pointed to the need for more transparency and trust between car owners and workshops.

More than 400 respondents said independent workshops must give grater assurance of quality of workmanship, skills, equipment and pricing, said Wadhwa, adding that Carama Certified Shop was another result of the survey. “The rating of workshops on a 40-point screening by an independent third party panel of experts checks that the shops meet the highest standards

of quality, skills, transparency, customer service, health and safety compliance.”

‘Go to’ Site “Carama is envisioned to be the ‘go to’ site for car cares in Malaysia, although we are still in the early stages of the portal’s development,” he said.

“Car owners have a high level of concern and uncertainty Two Carama brand regarding ambassadors maintenance costs, show the pilot launch portal. price and quality of repair for their vehicles. Carama will streamline the selection process and provide car owners peace-of-mind and confidence that they have made the right decision in their choice of the workshop.”

“Carama will also benefit independent workshops and mechanics by generating valuable

business leads for those who lack the capability to market their workshops, especially online,” said Wadhwa, as the portal provides features such as accredited repair shop locator, spare parts calculator, my car logbook and Carama rewards.

“Car owners will also be able to share consumer reviews based on actual experiences of Carama

Certified and Listed Shops,” he said. “As Malaysia’s first social graph car care portal, Carama connects car owners to share their experiences and car maintenance tips with friends, family and the general public.”

Castrol InnoVentures managing director, Roy Williamson, said: “Carama’s vision is to become the number one player in aftermarket car care and service space by connecting consumers, workshops and affiliates, through a one stop web and mobile enabled platform, leveraging Castrol’s heritage of trust and customer relationships.

We are confident that Carama [CaramadotCom] will change the aftermarket car care experience for all car owners, simplifying the maintenance of their car.”

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Datuk Badlisham Ghazali, Chief Executive Officer, MDeC

Computerworld Malaysia November–December 2013 www.computerworld.com.my

First Year Pulse Check for Digital Malaysia MDeC CEO Datuk Badlisham Ghazali says Digital Malaysia has made good progress in the first 12 months.

By AvantiKumar

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nnounced in July 2012, Malaysia’s recent national ICT push called Digital Malaysia has made good progress despite a soft global economy, according to the national ICT agency Multimedia Development Corporation, MDeC. MDeC chief executive officer Datuk Badlisham Ghazali said since its launch last year, the initial eight projects under Digital Malaysia have cumulatively contributed RM288 million (US$90.96 million) in Gross National Income (GNI) and saw the creation of 3,335 high value jobs.

Badlisham said that in its first year, four key initiatives were identified as Digital Malaysia’s priority areas: digital entrepreneurs, the bottom 40 percent of household income or the B40 group, youth (aged 15-24 years) and small and medium enterprises (SMEs). These four Digital Malaysia initiatives would:  Tap global demand for digital products and services  Increase citizen income and unlock entrepreneurship potential for the B40 group  Empower the next generation workforce with digital skillsets and the productive use of digital tools  Drive technology adoption amongst Malaysian SMEs to enhance productivity He said that these four initiatives are the Digital Malaysia projects: Growing the Embedded Systems Industry, Microsourcing to Generate Income for the B40, Facilitating Societal Upliftment, Develop On-Demand Customised Online Education (CELEX), Asian e-Fulfillment Hub, Enabling e-Payment Services for SMEs and Micro Enterprises, Shared Cloud Enterprise Services, Develop On-Demand Customised Online Education, and Establish a Trusted Mobile Digital Wallet Platform.

“It is undeniable that the next wave of economic growth will come from the knowledge-based economy, with digital technologies as a key driver of progress,” said Badlisham.

“What we needed was a solid push and a clear framework to build a digital economy and Digital Malaysia is the right programme to foster an ecosystem driven by ICT that serves as an additional enabler for the country’s transformation by 2020.

“We are pleased with the first year results and we believe that we are on

track to achieve our 2020 targets of increasing GNI contribution of digital technologies to 17 percent and create 160,000 high value jobs,” he said.

Some Details Badlisham detailed the first year progress of the Digital Malaysia projects, starting with: 1. Growing the Embedded Systems industry The Growing the Embedded Systems Industry project has seen strong growth with two notable private sector leads at the helm: Intel and National Instruments, injecting private investments totalling RM254.78 million (US$80.47 million).

2012 saw the project generating RM264 million (US$83.38 million) in GNI and the creation of 2,945 jobs.

In addition, the project also gave the embedded systems industry a funding boost made available as reimbursable grant to five embedded systems projects:  Syntronic Malaysia—electric vehicle infrastructure charging solution  Select-TV Solutions—digital settop-box  MDT Innovations—embedded wireless sensor system for ubiquitous monitoring for the retail sector  Archtron R&D—digital smart home and security system  3ntity—digital signage kiosk 2. Microsourcing to generate income for the B40 Badlisham said community-level changes were to be delivered by the Microsourcing to Generate Income project in collaboration with the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development.

Since its implementation, the project has trained 1,200 locals, out of which 300 are already successfully earning additional income through microsourcing work. The long term aim of the project is to mobilise the latent workforce which currently exists in Malaysia by offering them digital access that will help them generate income.

Moving forward, plans are underway to tap into over 338,000 unemployed citizens, 34 percent of which possess a diploma or higher qualifications. This will be done by using more than 2,400 broadband community centres available nationwide that can be used as potential work locations.

3. Facilitating societal upliftment Designed for the lower income B40

group, the Facilitating Societal Uplift (FSU) project, which was rolled out as a pilot project in Pahang last year, also gained considerable traction, he said.

To date, about 40,000 B40 community profiles, from more than 480 ‘kampungs’, have been verified and channeled to various programmes under the project.

Additionally, about 500 community members have been successfully trained and mobilised as microworkers. The full implementation of the FSU project is aimed at garnering the participation of one million people in the B40 category, and generate a minimum of RM150 million (US$47.38 million) in contributions from the private sector for societal and developmental programmes by 2020.

4. Develop on-demand customised online education (CELEX) CELEX, the on-demand customised education system project designed to act as a foundation for growth to support a larger educational ecosystem also reported positive growth. Fuelled by private investments of RM6.1 million (US$1.93 million), the project has generated a GNI of RM4 million (US$1.26 million), and created 25 jobs. In addition, CELEX has also increased the number of digital books by local publishers. As of December 2012, 520 local books have been digitised from local publishers, such as literature from the National Library and Pelangi Publisher.

The long-term goal of the CELEX project is to impact over five million youth, who will represent 53 percent of the workforce by 2020. CELEX will eventually serve as online classrooms for degree and nondegree programmes, education and career counseling service providers as well as meeting points for employers and students.

5. Enabling e-payment services for SMEs and micro enterprises SMEs were given a leg up in 2012 by the enabling e-payment services for SMEs and micro enterprises project driven in collaboration with SME Corp as the Public Sector lead. The project successfully activated 30,000 merchant outlet points, resulting in RM420,000 (US$130,000) in GNI contribution and created about 120 jobs. Moving forward, the project will focus on accelerating transactions by supporting the activated merchant points.

6. Shared cloud enterprise services Meanwhile, the Shared Cloud Enterprise Project focused on SMEs has resulted in RM18.83 million (US$5.95 million) in GNI and created 125 jobs. This project aims to secure more participation from technology providers and partners. By participating, the service providers will be able to deliver competitive cloud services, culminating in the availability of a range of affordable cloud solutions, for the benefit of SMEs. 7. Trusted mobile digital wallet platform Lastly, 2012 saw the trusted mobile digital wallet system project spearhead the development of the National Near Field Communication (NFC) Framework and the identification of priority industry verticals. In addition, the development and closed-loop trial of an NFC mobile money payment platform was also conducted with a major mobile network operator (MNO). The trials were held at two sites, targeting different types of users. The project will see further updates by the end of 2013.

“Building a vibrant Malaysian digital economy means adopting new ideas faster than ever before to meet market demands,” said Badlisham.

“More important than the numerical targets of high value job creation and GNI contributions, a strong digital economy will improve the quality of life of people irrespective of where they are.”

“It will also help and encourage more Malaysians to innovate and ensure that businesses big and small will have the right ecosystem and platforms at their disposal to improve business efficiency and increase market share in both the local and international fronts,” he said.

Moving forward, MDeC aims to unlock the Malaysian digital economy value chain by working with partners and industries, to help the nation grow new businesses and stimulate substantial digital economic growth, added Badlisham.

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Cloud, Security, Virtualisation Special

Computerworld Malaysia November–December 2013 www.computerworld.com.my

Virtualisation Could

Save More Than US$1B

VMware kicks off Virtualisation 2020 initiative by unveiling new IDC study, which shows virtualisation has already helped Malaysian businesses avoid almost US$266M in spending and this figure is expected to reach US$1.05B by 2020.

By AvantiKumar

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ccording to cloud infrastructure provider VMware’s sponsored new IDC study, the use of virtualisation has already helped Malaysian businesses avoid spending about RM860 million (US$266.62 million) to date and this figure is expected to increase with an additional RM2.54 billion (US$790 million) by 2020.

VMware Malaysia country manager Laurence Si said Malaysian businesses will avoid a total of RM3.4 billion (US$1.05 billion) by 2020, according to IDC’s Server Economies Index.

Si said that the unveiling of this study marks the launch of VMware’s Virtualisation 2020 campaign to help businesses “move from the client server era to the mobile cloud era of computing.”

Laurence Si, Country Manager of VMware Malaysia, explains survey findings to media.

He said the IDC white paper— Vision 2020: Virtualization’s Potential US$98 Billion Impact (August 2013, IDC#AP77008W)—offers an analysis on virtualisation during the past 10 years and looks forward through 2020.

A hypothetical model was built to measure the impact of virtualisation in the x86 server world by estimating the additional x86 server spending that would have taken place if no virtualisation solution was offered, said Si.

Four Key Areas Si said that in Malaysia, the expected economic impact using the IDC model shows that Malaysian businesses would avoid RM3.4 billion (US$1.05 billion) costs in four main areas:  RM2.1 billion (US$0.65 billion) in server spending costs avoided due to servers avoided—more than half of the costs avoided in total. Server spending

Hussein Mohd Ali, Territory Manager, Malaysia & Brunei, VMware.

refers to the customer revenue generated from the sale of physical servers.

This amount was roughly equivalent to 7.5 years of RM100 (US$31) education aid that could be handed out to each of the 2.8 million primary school students annually.  RM420 million (US$130.2 million) in power and cooling costs avoided due to servers avoided. This refers to cost of energy to power and cool a physical server in the data centre.  RM30 million (US$9.30 million) in floor space costs avoided due to real estate avoided. This refers to the land or construction cost associated in housing a physical server.  RM817 million (US$253.29 million) in server admin costs avoided. This refers to server admin costs avoided and includes IDC’s estimate of the cost of people and overheads needed to manage each physical server.

Regional Hub Vision Si said that the survey findings also show that cost savings could almost quadr uple from RM860 million (US$266.62 million) to RM3.4 billion (US$1.05 billion) (comparing the period of 2003-12 against 2013-20) if more businesses adopt virtualisation in the future.

“As Malaysia pursues becoming a world-class data centre hub, it is increasingly important for data centre operators and large enterprises to consider virtualisation technologies as a way to reduce operational and management costs and also fuel the drive towards cloud computing,” he said.

“Malaysian companies appear to be embracing the concept of and adopting virtualisation as they realise the benefits, which can include better business agility and flexibility, a reduction in operational expenses,

and greater environmental sustainability,” said Si. He added that some industry commenters believe that data centres of the future will be software-defined architectures. “A software-defined data centre can bring benefits to the modern data centre, including reduced total cost of ownership and the ability to repurpose or rescale in a matter of moments.”

“As more enterprises adopt virtualisation in the other areas of a software-defined data centre, they are also exploring new opportunities in saving costs, such as networking, security and storage,” said Si. “As we move toward the software-defined data centre, there is the potential for an even bigger increase in cost efficiency. Every ringgit in cost savings allows for companies to re-invest in other key areas, to innovate and increase their productivity and competitiveness in the local landscape to realise the synthesis of technology and IT infrastructure,” he said.

VMware commissioned IDC to create a hypothetical view of a world where x86 server virtualisation never existed, and then to forecast the impact that server virtualisation is likely to have made by the year 2020.

IDC put together a select team of IDC worldwide, Japan and Asia Pacific analysts to build a server-centric model that shows the impact of virtualisation, which models data for eight countries across APJ (Australia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, PRC, Singapore, Thailand & Japan).

The IDC Server Economies Index indicates server virtualisation’s positive economic impact across two time periods, 2003-2012 (historical) and 2013-2020 (forecast), in four areas: Server Spending, Power & Cooling, Server Admin, and Floor Space.

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Cloud, Security, Virtualisation Special

Computerworld Malaysia November–December 2013 www.computerworld.com.my

By AvantiKumar

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illiam Ho, who is enterprise solution architect, regional infrastructure integration services, for ICT solutions provider Fujitsu Asia, spoke to Computerworld Malaysia and outlined some of the issues faced by CIOs in transitioning their organisation to cloud computing.

Could you outline what you see as key challenges and constraints that Malaysian organisations are facing with their adoption of virtualisation and cloud computing?

Like any new technology, the adoption of cloud computing is not free from issues.

The main challenges that Malaysian organisations face while adopting cloud continue to be on the security and privacy concerns of business assets. The fact that the valuable enterprise data will reside outside the corporate firewall raises the alarm.

The many security breaches happening around the world has certainly impacted the “trust” element for a cloud service provider. Furthermore, inadequate regulations, laws, legislations related to cloud computing is also another data privacy concern that has further challenged the adoption of cloud computing, particularly under the public cloud environment.

Secondly, there are many IT departments, not only in Malaysia but also in APAC that are adopting the “wait and see” attitude and delaying the cloud deployments within their organisations; they do not see the urgency of leveraging cloud computing for business advantages. Amongst the reasons given is the standards, specifications and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) associated with cloud computing that is unclear to IT leaders.

Thirdly, the lack of transparency from cloud providers has elevated interoperability and por tability concerns to their cloud consumers.

Cloud computing services should have the capability to integrate smoothly with on-premise IT, as businesses can migrate in and out of the cloud, not constrained by long lock-in periods and be able to switch providers if necessary.

Another reality on cloud is the new types of knowledge and skills required to successfully deploy and manage today’s cloud environments.

For instance, organisations that subscribe to ‘X’aaS from cloud providers, such as SaaS services, there will be a need for people who know what type of services to pick, negotiate service level agreements and integrate offsite offerings with on-site data and operations.

William Ho, Enterprise Solution Architect, Regional Infrastructure Integration Services, Fujitsu Asia.

Catching Up With Clouds

Fujitsu’s regional enterprise solution architect William Ho takes a look at how far Malaysia, which is the second largest cloud computing market in Asean, has moved along the cloud adoption road.

Lastly, we see slow alignment of local industry compliance requirements with cloud computing deployment in the country; and lack of independent authoritative sources that businesses can turn to for help and advice on cloud related matters.

How far behind is Malaysia when it comes to cloud adoption?

Which industry sectors are showing the most progress?

Malaysia is the second largest cloud computing market in the Asean region, with major enterprises beginning to move their services to the cloud. However, cloud computing is still relatively new in this region and slowness in adopting cloud is attributed to the reasons/factors as discussed.

To date, adoption of cloud computing predominantly at this juncture seems to be initiated from services providers (i.e. Data Centre services providers and Independent Services Providers) and government. As for commercial entities, the investment put into virtualisation has started to see substantial returns whereas moving to cloud computing raised many concerns. And, it did not appear to have massive appeal within these industries.

Besides the government sectors, there are three other major sectors in Malaysia that have shown increasing interest on cloud solutions, namely manufacturing/hi-tech industrial, healthcare and retail, and small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

Has there been a shift in the CIO role with how they relate to the board when it comes to bidding for cloud projects?

In recent times, the Board of Directors have started looking at CIOs as advisors to this new concept of computing and getting the latter’s advice on how to minimise IT investments while aligning it to the organisation’s business directions. According to IDC’s latest survey in July 2013, reducing total cost of IT remains the top priority of businesses’ IT investments and transformation.

The CIO role is likely to evolve into one that actively participates in strategic business discussions and is looking at where and how to best collaborate with the rest of the C-level, a go-to person to seek out potential cloud services that benefits the company overall value chain, someone able to bridge conceptualisation of cloud computing to realisation, map out the transformation for better business revenue.

In essence, continue building IT’s value and credibility to the business, and the most trusted role to the board has got to be the CIO. How has Fujitsu helped organisations in Malaysia smooth their cloud migration: through potential downtimes, risks of consolidation and so on?

Companies will need some handholding when transitioning to a cloud environment. Within Fujitsu’s global cloud strategy, we have developed a comprehensive approach to help smooth

customers’ transition to the cloud.

Fujitsu’s approach is distinct because we focus on customers’ business value by understanding their demands, and aligning the business needs with IT capabilities. We recognise that cloud is not a one-size fits-all solution.

By leveraging on global collaboration, we are able to increase the use of the ‘right’ technology to balance innovation, cost, and future readiness.

Then, we identify an appropriate cloud solution to address customers’ challenges while minimising risks during cloud migration and consolidation.

What steps do you highlight to organisations in their cloud project management plans?

Gradually, we are seeing Malaysian organisations moving to the cloud especially CIOs who need to handle a variety of applications. Within Malaysia, CIOs have started to trust the cloud for their critical and dataintensive business functions. As they look towards the future, they should consider the following suggestions to reduce and prevent any possible hiccups with the cloud project.

Firstly, understand where the IT investments stand in your business transformation journey and ensure you understand the existing IT costs, the actual cost of migration, and build a strong argument for switching to cloud. This should incorporate cost savings as well as wider business benefits, such as faster time to market, improved productivity, and richer management information.

Secondly, be sure that you are educated with the right information on cloud and its implications for business; ensuring the selected cloud solutions adhere to industry-accepted standards and certification for data privacy, protection and security.

Thirdly, recognise that the CIO and CTO are bridges to senior management. At the same time, they are also one of the key decision-makers in their own capacity. This means orienting the cloud message towards non-technical, board-level executives, with a focus on solutions that recognise the motivations of the various stakeholders and take into account the gradual homogenisation of the cloud environment.

Lastly, do take into consideration the need to address concerns over the potential reorganisation of the IT department and the potential loss of control over IT. Staff will need to be trained and retrained with strategic consulting responsibilities in managing the on-demand applications, cloud environment and its related services.

New roles and responsibilities may surface due to the cloud implementation and be ready to leverage these opportunities to position your staff.

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Cloud, Security, Virtualisation Special

Sophisticated Attacks ‘Earn’ 50% More The borderless nature of the Internet combined with sophisticated attacks such as ransomware and spear-phishing is yielding more money per attack than ever before, says Symantec’s Alex Ong.

By AvantiKumar

D

espite a reduction in the number of online adults who have fallen victim to cyber crime (from 46 percent in 2012 to 41 percent in 2013), the average cost per victim has increased by 50 percent (from US$197 in 2012 to US$298 in 2013), according to security solutions provider Symantec’s 2013 Norton Report.

During the unveiling of the findings in Kuala Lumpur, Symantec Malaysia country director, Alex Ong, said: “With the borderless nature of the Internet, cyber crime threats are not confined to any specific country and Malaysia is not immune to

it. Today’s cyber criminals are using more sophisticated attacks such as ransomware and spear-phishing, which yield them more money per attack than ever before.”

Ong said that with 49 percent consumers globally using their personal mobile device for both work and play, “this creates entirely new security risks for enterprises as cyber criminals have the potential to access even more valuable information.”

He said this year’s report further showed that as consumers become more mobile and connected, these conveniences often included a security cost.

“Despite the fact that 63 percent

Computerworld Malaysia November–December 2013 www.computerworld.com.my

of those surveyed own smartphones and 30 percent own tablets, nearly one-in-two don’t take basic precautions such as using passwords, having security software or backing up files on their mobile device.”

“Consumers can no longer be careless in protecting their valuable information, whether it is their personal identity, credit card or financial details,” said Ong. “With an increasing number of Malaysians connecting to the Internet using their mobile devices, they need to take proactive steps to protect their information from security risks, especially threats that come through mobile devices.”

Digital IDs at Risk Symantec Malaysia senior technical consultant David Rajoo said: “Unfortunately while consumers are protecting their computers, there is a general lack of awareness to safeguard their smartphones and tablets. It’s as if they have alarm systems for their homes, but they’re leaving their cars unlocked with the windows wide open. This carelessness places them, and their digital identities, at risk.”

Rajoo said that the latest report also noted that many consumers were trusting to luck when it came to protecting private information.

“Survey results show that this isn’t entirely due to lack of awareness,” he said. “In fact, one-third (34 percent) of consumers surveyed admitted that the convenience of being constantly connected outweighed any potential security risks. Even when 62 percent

BYOD Inspires Partnership

Barracuda’s end-to-end security solutions through MSC Malaysia status firm ECS.

By AvantiKumar

M

SC (Multimedia Supercorridor) Malaysia status ICT distributor ECS ICT Berhad (ECSB) has partnered with security and storage provider Barracuda Networks to enhance its end-to-end security solutions portfolio.

“As more and more businesses embrace the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) culture and focus on the protection of web server or website, it is essential for us to partner with a company that can provide the versatility and security solutions for the business users,” said ECSB managing director Foo Sen Chin.

“Our new partnership with Barracuda is set to strengthen our security portfolio in Malaysia as well as to provide our resellers with a comprehensive range of security solutions to

meet their customers’ diverse business needs,” said Foo. “Over the years, we have distributed hundreds of infrastructure and solutions for both the private and government sectors and we believe our partnership with Barracuda further solidifies our position as one of the most prominent ICT distribution hubs in Malaysia,” he said.

Foo said ECSB will be distributing the full range of Barracuda’s suite of security and storage solutions such as WAF, Load Balancer, Message Archiver, web filters, Spam and Virus Firewall for customers in Malaysia.

unnoticed for more than a week,” said Barracuda Networks Southeast Asia director, Benny Lim. “This is a serious issue and underpins the importance of providing pur-

Alex Ong, Country Director, Symantec Malaysia.

said that there is no such thing as ‘online privacy’ in today’s world and 61 percent assume that “everything they put online will / can be seen by any and everyone.”

The Norton Report (formerly the Norton Cybercrime Report) is based on self-reported experiences of more than 13,000 adults across 24 countries, aimed at understanding how cyber crime affects consumers, and how the adoption and evolution of new technologies impacts consumers’ security.

Between 4 July 2013 and 1 August, 2013, Edelman Berland conducted online interviews with 13,022 adults, aged 18 to 64 from 24 countries (Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and United States of America).

pose-built solutions that are easy to install and manage,” said Lim. “ECSB has a strong presence in Malaysia, with an extensive reach into the SME and large enterprise markets,” he added. “Most importantly they share our vision to provide powerful yet easy-to-use security and storage solutions for organisations of all sizes, and we are excited to be partnering with them on these efforts.”

Security Gaps “In a recent survey we conducted, 55 percent of companies surveyed conveyed that they had a security gap due to a misconfigured firewall rule, and one in four of those security gaps went

(From left) Thiban Darmalingam, Regional Manager, Malaysia, Barracuda Networks; Benny Lim, Director Southeast Asia, Barracuda Networks; Foo Sen Chin, Managing Director of ECS ICT Bhd (ECSB); and Soong Jan Hsung, Executive Director of ECS ICT Berhad (ECSB).

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Cloud, Security, Virtualisation Special

Computerworld Malaysia November–December 2013 www.computerworld.com.my

‘AWS Activate’ Eyes Startups

Adam Selipsky of Amazon Web Services says the new package is ideally structured to help startups across all sectors grow their businesses through the cloud.

By AvantiKumar

A

WS Activate is now available for startups in all sectors in Malaysia and has been specially structured with benefits such as AWS credits, training, developer support, a special startup community forum and special offers from third parties to help them successfully build on AWS’s cloud platform, said Amazon Web Services.

Amazon Web Services vice president Adam Selipsky said it was important for startups to have easy access to technology resources that would help them quickly and efficiently get started and scale up as their business grows.

Cloud computing allows startups to go beyond the often restricted resources they have and use ondemand, pay-as-you-go services that can be adjusted as needed, while allowing these startups to focus on

what really matters—serving their customers and innovating, said Selipsky.

“Many of the world’s most successful startups already build their businesses on the AWS cloud,” he said.

“Based on feedback from VCs [venture capitalists], startups and entrepreneurs, we developed AWS Activate to help even more startup organisations get going quickly by leveraging AWS to help build their business. We’re happy to offer this to startups of all kinds from around the world today.”

Two Packages Selipsky said AWS Activate comes in two packages: a Self-Starter package, which any startup can apply for, and a Portfolio package, which can be applied for by startups in select accelerator, incubator, venture capital seed funds or entrepreneur organisations.

He said each package included varied levels of resources to help fit

customers’ needs. Startups receiving either package get access to the Startup Forum, where AWS experts and other startup customers can share best practices.

In addition, the Startup Forum offers startups a way to learn from and interact with a community of peers building world-changing apps on AWS. Startups accepted into AWS Activate may also have access to special offers, such as product discounts, from select third-party companies in the AWS ecosystem, providing startups with additional valuable technologies and tools.

Easier Journey “Amazon Web Services has been helping many startups in Malaysia, including says.com,” said says.com managing director and chief technology officer, Arzumy. “They have made our journey

easier with low cost of development, technical help and training, support when we need it, as well as a vibrant community of startups to learn and share AWS best practices.

“AWS Activate makes it even easier for startups to gain access to these resources and leverage the benefits of AWS.” AWS’s Selipsky said with the SelfStarter package, startups receive:  Access to the AWS Free Usage Tier, giving one year of free access to a variety of services, allowing developers to launch new applications, broaden their AWS knowledge or simply gain hands-on familiarity with the services;  One month of Developer-level AWS Support;  Web-based training and one selfpaced lab;  AWS Startup Forum;  and access to offers on products from select third-party companies.

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Cloud, Security, Virtualisation Special

Computerworld Malaysia November–December 2013 www.computerworld.com.my

Dani Michaux, Executive Director, IT Advisory Services, KPMG Malaysia

Cloud as a Transformation Driver

The challenges and opportunities of adopting cloud and virtualisation technologies were discussed at Computerworld Malaysia’s Cloud, Security and Virtualisation forum.

By Rosalind See

T

hemed ‘Moving Beyond the Cloud,’ this year’s CSV forum held by Computerworld Malaysia at GTower Hotel, Kuala Lumpur on 23 October 2013 gathered together invited IT professionals across many industry sectors to discuss the challenges and opportunities presented by adopting cloud and virtualisation technologies and the need for organisations to review their strategic approaches and implementation considerations.

“Some industry commentators have downplayed cloud computing as just a simple technology development, and not a transformative wave that can dynamically impact how entire organisations operate. This is an underestimation of cloud’s potential,” said Computerworld Malaysia editor AvantiKumar in his welcome address.

“In the past, cloud was predominantly seen as a pure technology initiative with discussions focused on cost-effectiveness. There was little deliberation on its impact as a business enabler,” said keynote speaker KPMG Malaysia, IT Advisory Services executive director Dani Michaux.

“This has definitely changed. Organisations are now considering cloud’s strategic value.”

Organisations are questioning how they can capitalise on cloud’s transformational potential while

reducing the impact of change in a positive and meaningful way. “To reap cloud’s benefit, organisations have to take a strategic approach in realigning and re-designing their business processes,” said Michaux.

“This includes facilitating appropriate change processes and business model improvements as well as moving more core functions to the cloud.”

Key Objectives The 2013 KPMG global cloud survey revealed that security challenges, while still a concern, now ranked below issues such as integration challenges and implementation costs. “One third of all respondents said they had found costs related to implementation were higher than expected, while thirty-one percent indicated that the process of integrating existing information technology (IT) architecture with new cloud services was creating challenges,” said Michaux. “Issues such as the lack of standards between cloud providers and interoperability are increasingly seen as areas of concern.”

While cost reduction and speed to adoption were still key objectives behind organisations’ approach to cloud adoption, the survey showed that the business opportunities cloud offered were fast becoming compelling reasons for adoption. “New market entry, business process transformation and improved alignment

and interaction with customers were cited as reasons for adoption,” she said. “These non-IT reasons are indicative of cloud’s benefits in driving new business avenues and increasing market share.”

Cloud’s benefits are especially useful for small and medium enterprise (SME) growth. “Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) has initiated programmes such as the SME Cloud Computing Adoption Programme to accelerate the adoption of cloud,” said keynote speaker MDeC director of the Entrepreneur Cluster, Hasannudin Saidin. “This programme is designed to provide SMEs with rapid entry to the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform which should elevate the competitiveness and efficiencies of SMEs.” Similarly, the Independent Service Vendor (ISV) programme guides ISVs in transitioning to SaaS with training and hands-on assistance. “The ISV programme is designed to reduce initial operation costs with limited capital outlays,” said Hasannudin.

“A new Digital Malaysia initiative is the Cloud Special Interest Group (SIG) which will to help ease the adoption of cloud while promoting its acceptance and confidence,” added Hasannudin. “Though Cloud SIG, we hope to develop standards, share best practices and advocate policies on cloud.”

“Cloud has enhanced mobility, and mobility is changing the way we work,”

said Samsung Malaysia Electronics, Enterprise Business Unit solutions architect, Andrew Lim. “The challenge for chief information officers (CIOs) is to set up a strategic mobility plan.”

This includes deciding on the devices, applications and operating system acceptable to the organisation. Whilst Android commands a large share of the enterprise mobility market, it does poorly in the enterprise smartphone market. Lim points to security concerns and limited control features as reasons for enterprise concerns with the basic Android platform.

In contrast, Samsung’s enterpriseready Android platform was equipped to meet enterprise needs. “Unlike the Android basic platform, Samsung has in-built security features such as mobile device management (MDM), vir tual private network (VPN), Exchange ActiveSync and On-Device Encryption. Samsung Knox adds further protection by segregating corporate information into a separate container within a personal phone which is controlled by the enterprise.”

Get What You Want “Cloud is super-big and super-complex. It comes with different solutions for different problems. Your security concerns will depend on what you want to do and how you want to do it,” stated keynote speaker International Multilateral Partnership Against Cyber Threats (IMPACT), Centre for Policy

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Cloud, Security, Virtualisation Special

Computerworld Malaysia November–December 2013 www.computerworld.com.my

Rob Cayzer, Director, Frost & Sullivan

Victor Chu, Senior IT Security Consultant, IBM

Irma Diana Md Ali, Country Manager, Websense Malaysia

Andrew Lim, Solutions Architect, Enterprise Business Unit, Samsung Malaysia Electronics

Erik Silfversten, Executive, Centre for Policy and International Cooperation, International Multilateral Partnership Against Cyber Threats (IMPACT)

Hasannudin Saidin, Director, Entrepreneur Cluster, MDeC

Kenneth Low, DCIM Solutions Consultant, Emerson Network Power Malaysia

Desmond Chan, Managing Director, Infrastructure Consulting & Managed Services (ICMS)

and International Cooperation executive, Erik Silfversten.

Silfversten pointed out that cloud security concerns had not changed much over the years. “Cloud security has improved with better-than-average security available, but cloud has also become more attractive targets of attack. As an organisation, you have to understand the risks you face,” he said.

“Most importantly, you have to know what you have on the cloud as you can’t secure what you do not know.”

Active engagement is crucial to the success of cloud projects. “Engage with cloud service providers. Explain what you want, your security concerns and negotiate the legalities,” said Silfversten. “Equally important are internal discussions with all relevant parties in your organisation. This includes people in charge of security, management, IT and users as not everyone has the same understanding of what cloud provides and what their role is.”

“Social media is such a key part of customer experience that ignoring this channel is no longer an option for enterprises,” said Frost & Sullivan director Rob Cayzer in discussing trends in IT security. “Customers sharing their experiences online have a significant impact for businesses, which themselves have the ability to create an impression on social media.”

Social media is also fast becoming the preferred platform for malware.

“Spam and phishing are shifting to social media platforms. Young people are often less cautious in sharing personal information and are thus more susceptible to scams,” continued

Cayzer. “Thus, security has to be one of the first considerations when moving to cloud, not an afterthought.”

Cayzer pointed to the human nature as an area of conflict. “Consider the differences in what the individual wants and what the enterprise wants in relation to devices,” he said.

“The individual is concerned with persona integration, possesses single device mentality and wants freedom of choice. The enterprise prefers persona differentiation, visibility into user behaviour and the power of control.

These differences create conflict which cannot be easily resolved.”

Virtualisation Challenges “As the first step into the cloud, virtualisation provides cost savings and increased operational efficiency,” said Emerson Network Power Malaysia, DCIM solutions consultant Kenneth Low. “To be truly effective, it must also overcome system management challenges. The ability to access physical and virtual servers from a single management application which provides a consolidated view of server events and alarms, regardless of their source, is a must for simplified control and security.”

Another virtualisation challenge lies in meeting security requirements.

“Virtual endpoints have same security challenges as their physical counterparts. More components mean more exposure. The addition of a new operating system or hypervisor increases the attack surface,” said IBM Senior IT security consultant Victor Chu. “In addition to attacking the operating

systems and applications, traditional and new threats can now attack virtual machines (VMs), hardware as well as management systems.”

He continued: “The virtualisation application itself becomes the operating system on the server where it resides. Like any other operating system, virtualisation software needs to be patched and updated regularly to ward off security threats.”

Infrastructure Consulting & Managed Services (ICMS) managing director Desmond Chan indicated that the impact of cloud computing can be seen in terms of economic and productivity benefits. “The shift from capital expenditure (capex) to operational expenditure (opex) and the pay-for-what-you-use model have changed IT budgeting practices. Faster deployment of the latest software for users, anywhere access and instant self-provisioning are other examples of how cloud is aligning IT to business requirements,” he said.

The threat landscape has evolved with infiltration or thefts occurring without your knowledge. Therefore, the methods employed by organisations to defend themselves against threats must also change. “Current defences fail as they are primarily based on signature and reputation.

However, history is not a reliable indicator of future behaviour. Nor can signature creation keep up with the dynamic nature of threats,” said Websense Malaysia country manager Irma Diana Md Ali. “The more-of-the-same deployment options no longer work.”

“What are needed are defence

strategies which are content-aware, data-aware and context-aware with real-time threat analysis, data loss prevention capabilities as well as forensic and behavioural reporting capabilities,” she continued. “There has to be a mix of technology deployed to address threats.”

Participants in the panel discussion session at the end of the day stressed on the important role business units played in cloud adoption.

“Organisations have to look at cloud from the business perspective. Successful cloud projects are led by businesses which state clearly what they want and how they want to do it. Only then can they find the technology to achieve that goal. Business models will drive cloud usage,” said IBM Software Group, Cloud and Smarter Infrastructure consultant Lewis Troke.

“Successful projects are also the result of a collaborative team effort.

You need lawyers, business leaders, management, the board of directors and technology people with different skill sets from different areas of IT to work together with external parties such as cloud service and telecommunication providers,” he continued.

Concurring with that view, Silfversten added: “Moving into cloud is no different from other business decisions. The business unit has to come up with ideas and goals. IT has to figure out how to make it happen, and IT security has to work out the protection aspects. It is important that IT security is not left to work it out on its own without oversight or support.”

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Computerworld Malaysia

Readers Choice Awards 2013

12 Computerworld Malaysia Readers Choice Awards TH

Even though organisations in the public and private sectors have had to operate in an environment constrained with tight budgets and staff reductions, many ICT companies seem to have defied any limitations in delivering the best technology services and products in the most effective way to their customers.

Contents

15 Overview 16 Honour Roll 18 Top Technology Tools and Services 30 Honouring the Winners!

42 The Computerworld Malaysia team (and friend) salutes the RCA 2013 Winners!

Overview

www.computerworld.com.my/rca_2013

Crème de la Crème The winning companies this year have demonstrated solidly reliable and often innovative levels of skill to bring top techology tools and services to their customers. These and other qualities make these winning companies the “Best of the Best” or in French—the “Crème de la Crème.”

Innovation is sometimes not about being glamorous; sometimes innovation is about finding deceptively quiet and creative new ways to help businesses survive and thrive more efficiently: all the winners here have done that.

In the eyes of the Computerworld Malaysia readers, the following winners of the 12th Computerworld Malaysia Readers Choice Awards are indeed at the very top layer of high performance companies in the ICT space.

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Computerworld Malaysia

Readers Choice Awards 2013

www.computerworld.com.my/rca_2013

PLATFORM & TOOLS System Management Software Cisco Systems Malaysia Cisco Prime LAN Management Solution (LMS)/Ciscoworks LMS Application Servers Software Microsoft Malaysia Microsoft Windows Server (including .Net and IIS) Database Management System Microsoft Malaysia Microsoft SQL Server IT Asset Management System Microsoft Malaysia Microsoft System Center

Security Information Security Suite Symantec Corporation Symantec Endpoint Protection

Honour Roll

Computerworld Malaysia congratulates the winners of the Readers Choice Awards 2013.

COMMUNICATIONS Enterprise Mobile Communication Devices Samsung Malaysia Electronics Samsung GALAXY Note and GALAXY Tab

Enterprise Firewall and VPN Fortinet FortiGate Series

Enterprise Mobility Management Suite Sophos Sophos Mobile Control

Intrusion Detection/ Prevention System Fortinet FortiGate Series

Unified Communications Software Suite Microsoft Malaysia Microsoft Exchange Server

Unified Threat Management Blue Coat Systems Blue Coat ProxySG

Unified Communications Hardware Provider Cisco Systems Malaysia

ENTERPRISE APPLICATIONS Customer Relationship Management Oracle Corporation Oracle Siebel CRM Business Intelligence IBM Malaysia IBM Cognos

WAN Optimisation Blue Coat Systems Blue Coat MACH5

STORAGE Enterprise Disk Systems Hewlett-Packard Malaysia HP Storage

Data Analytics SAS Institute SAS Analytics Suite

Storage Management Software Acronis Acronis Backup & Recovery

Collaboration Platform Microsoft Malaysia Microsoft Exchange Server

Backup System Symantec Corporation Symantec Backup Exec

Enterprise Content Management Microsoft Malaysia Microsoft SharePoint Server Enterprise Resource Planning SAP Malaysia SAP Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Performance Management Red Hat Red Hat CloudForms Supply Chain Management SAP Malaysia SAP Supply Chain Management (SCM)

Hardware Mobile Computers Lenovo Malaysia ThinkPad series Entry-Level Servers Hewlett-Packard Malaysia HP ProLiant Mid-Range Servers Hewlett-Packard Malaysia HP ProLiant High-End Enterprise Servers Hewlett-Packard Malaysia HP ProLiant Power Management APC by Schneider Electric Smart-UPS Enterprise Routers and Switches Cisco Systems Malaysia Cisco Catalyst 3K switches (Catalyst 3560/3560-E/3560-X and 3570/3570-E/3750-X Series Switches) Physical Infrastructure –Networks CommScope

Services Consulting and Integration IBM Malaysia IBM Services Support and Maintenance Hewlett-Packard Malaysia HP Technology Services Data Centre and Hosting Hewlett-Packard Malaysia HP Enterprise Services Managed Connectivity Telekom Malaysia Managed Print Services Fuji Xerox Malaysia

Virtualisation Desktop Virtualisation Provider Citrix Server Virtualisation Provider VMware Storage Virtualisation Provider EMC Corporation

Cloud Cloud Services Provider EMC Corporation

Best in Physical Infrastructure – Networks Computerworld Malaysia Readers Choice Awards 2013

Thank you

For the fourth year running, Computerworld Malaysia readers have chosen CommScope as the winner in the Physical Infrastructure – Networks for the Computerworld Malaysia Readers Choice Awards 2013. Your selection affirms our continued efforts to provide cutting-edge solutions that address and resolve the needs of our customers.

As a vital industry contributor, CommScope plays a distinctive role in virtually all the world’s best communication networks. We create the infrastructure that connects people and technologies through every evolution. CommScope solutions position us at the forefront of high-performance cabling infrastructure.

Our innovative solutions are designed to address the most demanding infrastructure challenges in healthcare, education, telecommunications and finance. As technology evolves, our goal remains the same: to help our customers create, innovate, design and deploy — faster and better. We accept this distinguished award with gratitude and will remain committed to providing the trusted, strategic advice that enables our customers to connect and communicate in today’s global marketplace. Thank you for your vote of confidence!

www.commscope.com © 2013 CommScope, Inc. All rights reserved. AD-107277-EN.SG

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Computerworld Malaysia

Readers Choice Awards 2013

Top Technology Tools and Services On the following pages, we show some of the products and services from winners of the Computerworld Malaysia Readers Choice Awards 2013.

Platform & Tools

Platform & Tools

Platform & Tools

Platform & Tools

System Management Software Cisco Systems Malaysia Cisco Prime LAN Management Solution (LMS)/Ciscoworks LMS The Cisco Prime for IT strategy is built on a network services management foundation and a set of common attributes.

It delivers an intuitive workflow-oriented user experience across Cisco architectures, technologies and networks.

The Cisco Prime for IT portfolio of products simplifies network management, improves operations efficiency, reduces errors, and makes the delivery of network services more predictable. With CiscoWorks LMS, network operators manage the network through a browser-based interface that can be accessed anytime from anywhere within the network.

A get-started guided workflow simplifies the initial setup, reducing the time required to operate the product.

Auto-monitoring features provide real-time dashboards to isolate and troubleshoot network and device-related problems immediately after the product is installed. As a result, enterprises can reduce operating expenses.

CiscoWorks simplifies deployment of new technologies through Work Centers which provide a single consolidated user experience for the deployment and complete lifecycle management of new Cisco technologies.

Application Servers Software Microsoft Malaysia Microsoft Windows Server (including .Net and IIS) Windows Server lies at the heart of the Microsoft Cloud operating system, opening the door to every application on any cloud. It is a broad, scalable, and elastic server platform that gives organisations the flexibility to build and deploy applications and websites on-premises, in the cloud, and in a hybrid environment, using a consistent set of tools and frameworks. Automation and an easy-to-manage multi-server platform make it easy to manage many servers across multiple sites. Assets can be utilised more effectively and IT management tasks improved significantly. Windows Server supports a mobile workforce by providing users with flexible and controlled access to their data from different computers and devices. Its Unified Remote Access allows employees to access corporate network resources from remote locations, while IT administrators manage the security, control, and compliance of corporate computers located outside the internal network.

Database Management System Microsoft Malaysia Microsoft SQL Server Microsoft SQL database management server is designed to protect, unlock and scale the power of their data across the desktop, device, data centre, and private or public cloud. SQL Server AlwaysOn, its new integrated high availability and disaster recovery solution, helps reduce planned and unplanned downtime. It comes with options to configure active, multiple secondaries and the ability to quickly failover and recover applications. With Microsoft SQL, users of all levels can access and analyse data from virtually any source, create reports and analytical applications, and easily collaborate and share insights using the familiar Microsoft Office tool. Self-service analytics tools such as Power View and Power Pivot can offload IT tasks and reduce support requests freeing up resources. With Microsoft SQL, enterprises gain operational advantage and can scale beyond the constraints of any one deployment environment by taking advantage of hybrid IT opportunities with a common architecture that spans traditional servers, appliances and the cloud.

IT Asset Management System Microsoft Malaysia Microsoft System Center Microsoft System Center optimises resources across public, hosted and private clouds. It is cost-effective as it utilises infrastructure an enterprise already owns. Enterprises are able to integrate a wide range of technologies and pool their existing data centre resources (such as network and storage) into a private cloud, which can then be seamlessly integrated with hosted and public cloud services. For easier management, automated workflows can be built for standard processes. Users are allowed self-service access to the infrastructure whilst administrators retain control of IT assets. With the help of easy-to-use dashboards and reports, development and operations teams can effectively track and address what is happening to applications inside the servers and virtual machines more quickly. Applications are easily deployed in the cloud through Server Application Virtualisation (SAV) which removes application dependencies on specific infrastructure. Application owners gain single-pane-of-glass visibility regardless of whether the application workloads are placed in the private cloud, hosted cloud or Windows Azure.

Winning Products

www.computerworld.com.my/rca_2013

Information Security Suite Symantec Corporation Symantec Endpoint Protection

Security

Symantec Endpoint Protection offers comprehensive defence against complex attacks for both physical and virtual environments. It integrates nine essential security technologies in a single, high performance agent with a single management console. The product integrates with VMware vShield Endpoint and provides leading protection without slowing down the users. Symantec Endpoint Protection is powered by the Insight technology which provides network, file, reputation, behaviour, and repair layers of defence to create the fastest, most effective solution available.

The Insight technology also improves performance by only scanning at-risk files, which reduce scan overhead by as much as 70 percent. In addition, the SONAR technology in Symantec Endpoint Protection leverages artificial intelligence to offer protection from zero-day vulnerabilities. It examines nearly 1,400 behaviours, identifies malicious behaviour, and then effectively stops threats that are new and previously unknown.

Enterprise Firewall and VPN Fortinet FortiGate Series

Security

While firewalls offer protection, it must not hinder network speed. The world’s fastest data centre firewall appliance, the FortiGate-3700D is capable of achieving up to 160 Gbps firewall throughput. Using the new custom NP6 ASIC, the appliance is able to deliver best-in-class performance, low latency and IPv4 to IPv6 performance parity.

Fortinet’s high-performance firewall technology is available across the FortiGate family portfolio along with an arsenal of integrated application security engines to quickly identify and block complex threats. FortiGate high performance firewalls integrate with virtual private network (VPN) technology, enabling organisations to establish secure communications and data privacy between multiple networks and hosts using IPSec and secure sockets layer (SSL) VPN protocols. Both VPN services leverage custom FortiASIC Network Processors to accelerate encryption and decryption of network traffic. FortiGate firewall protection also integrates with other key security features such as anti-virus, intrusion prevention system, web filtering and anti-spam to deliver multi-layered security.

Intrusion Detection/Prevention System Fortinet FortiGate Series

Security

Identifying known and unknown threats is the first step towards protecting your system. An enterprise network supporting many different applications, protocols and operating systems at the same time is vulnerable to diverse threats. Fortinet Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) offers a wide range of features that can be used to monitor and block malicious network activity. These include predefined and custom signatures, protocol decoders, packet logging and IPS sensors, which provide a convenient, centralised location to configure and deploy an arsenal of IPS tools.

FortiGate IPS technology leverages a database of thousands of unique attack signatures to stop attacks that might evade conventional firewall defences. It is also equipped with anomaly-based detection which enables the system to recognise threats for which no signature has yet been developed. Fortinet Intrusion Prevention Technology can be installed at the edge of your network or within the network core to protect critical business applications from both external and internal attacks.

Unified Threat Management Blue Coat Systems Blue Coat ProxySG

Security

ProxySG provides comprehensive protection and control over web traffic. Strong user authentication, web filtering and deep inspection of content for data loss or threats are its main features. In addition, it has the ability to inspect and validate SSL-encrypted traffic, content caching, bandwidth management and traffic optimisation functions.

ProxySG’s new Web Application Policy Engine provides granular visibility and control over web applications with the ability to filter, strip or replace web content. It also has the unique ability to deliver web security and acceleration in one solution to a branch office. This enables branch users to have direct access to the internet, with the same security coverage as those users in the main office. Enterprises can build a layered defence security framework by deploying ProxySG with other solutions. For example, its deployment with WebPulse creates a hybrid design which provides the best on-premise controls with the collective intelligence of cloud service.

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Enterprise Applications

Enterprise Applications

Enterprise Applications

Enterprise Applications

Customer Relationship Management Oracle Corporation Oracle Siebel CRM Today’s Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solutions must help organisations become truly customer-centric by giving them the technological tools to recognise the unique and individual needs of each customer. Oracle’s Siebel CRM is the only CRM offering that provides the rich and intelligent, real-time insight that helps your business acquire new customers and sell more to existing customers, while delivering unsurpassed customer service. As an integral part of Siebel Marketing solutions, Oracle Marketing Analytics gives your Marketing team access to a complete history of every customer interaction. With up-to-the-minute data on the buying behaviour and profitability of individual customers, you can develop closer relationships to sales prospects and maximise the return on your marketing investment.

Extensive use of Web 2.0 and social networking tools enable sales representatives to move quickly and easily in leveraging internal and external knowledge bases to put together targeted product and service bundles for their customers.

Business Intelligence and analytics IBM Malaysia IBM Cognos IBM Cognos equips users with the information they need to make fact-based decisions. IBM business intelligence software includes capabilities for authoring, viewing and modifying reports and interactive visualisations.

While users are able to access these reports on or off-premises, the reports are created in a single secured environment.

Mobile applications allow users to access information from smart phones, tablets and notebook when and where it is needed. Current data, data in motion and predictive analytics can be placed on a single dashboard enabling a quick snapshot of useful information. These dashboards are constructive collaborative tools with users able to share their comments and annotations. IBM Business Analytics software analysis capabilities include analytical reporting, trend analysis, ‘what-if’ scenario models and advanced analysis which uncover business patterns and apply algorithms to business intelligence data to predict outcomes. With these analytics capabilities, users are able to generate analysis from multiple angles and perspectives to make informed decisions.

Data Analytics SAS Institute SAS Analytics Suite Turning vast accumulated data into useful insights, then making use of such insights for better decision-making is a challenge. SAS solutions enable enterprises to meet that challenge. The Data Mining solution helps enterprises discover new patterns with speed and flexibility. Using Enterprise Miner, the data mining methodology can be streamlined to create highly accurate, descriptive and predictive analytic models. Data mining software also detects fraud, thus minimising risk. With Visual Analytics, enterprises can visually explore data sets of any size to spot trends, patterns and hidden insights that can be used to design a strategy, confirm a hypothesis or identify a new idea. Forecasting and Econometrics solutions identify previously unseen trends and anticipate fluctuations to facilitate future planning.

SAS Model Manager ensures that analytical models are up-to-date and accurate. As a result, enterprises can expedite its deployment into production.

Collaboration Platform Microsoft Malaysia Microsoft Exchange Server Microsoft Exchange Server helps users work together more effectively as teams. Site mailboxes let users collaborate on projects, get up to speed quickly on teams they join, and share information easily. SharePoint allows for co-authoring, document storage and versioning. Users are able to pull, manage and share information from different devices, be it laptops or mobiles. Users can share calendars and schedule meetings, regardless of whether their mailbox is in a physical, hybrid or cloud environment. Important data and emails can be retained in a large primary mailbox or moved to an In-Place Archive. Easy plug-in access to web-based applications within Outlook and Outlook Web App makes it simpler and more productive for users to switch between applications using a single sign-on. Users can work in a secure environment knowing that there are regulatory compliance functionalities in place which prevents them from mistakenly sending sensitive information to unauthorised parties.

Winning Products

Enterprise Applications

Enterprise Applications

Enterprise Applications

Enterprise Applications

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Enterprise Content Management Microsoft Malaysia Microsoft SharePoint Server A comprehensive enterprise content management (ECM) system, Microsoft SharePoint Server is shaped around five functions: share, organise, discover, build and manage. SharePoint encourages engagement and real-time collaboration between groups and communities through multiple channels including social feed and applications. It helps create order by placing shared content at one fixed location which is easily accessible. The SkyDrive Pro function keeps documents in sync and available. Personal and team tasks can be managed within SharePoint and integrated with familiar tools like Outlook and Project. This includes the creation of electronic forms and workflow for streamlined work processes With SharePoint, it is easy to conduct searches and connect with experts in your organisation. PowerPivot allows users to explore, analyse and combine data from multiple sources. Users can install, extend and manage their SharePoint sites via applications or build websites using familiar tools and internet standards.

Enterprise Resource Planning SAP Malaysia SAP Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Nearly 50,000 organisations trust SAP’s market-leading Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software. This is reflected in yet another win for ERP in this category. SAP ERP helps large organisations to small and mid-sized companies in 25 industries achieve business efficiency with tools that consolidates data and streamline business processes with consistent, reliable information and real-time transparency. Maximise return on investment with ERP on the SAP HANA platform. ERP Foundation Extension complements core ERP capabilities with analytics, cloud, mobile and in-memory functionality. The extensions can be deployed on-premise, in the cloud or in a hybrid environment.

With ERP Procurement and Logistics Execution, organisations increase visibility on purchase orders, contract management and invoice handling. It optimises basic business processes from requisitioning to invoicing for simple procurement. ERP mobile applications boosts efficiency by extending business processes to mobile sales, service and maintenance employees allowing them to accomplish daily tasks from their smartphones or tablets.

Performance Management Red Hat Red Hat CloudForms Red Hat CloudForms is a different Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) solution. It gives users self-service so they can deploy resources—and thereby respond to business needs—faster. It breaks down segregated capacity, eliminating complexity, and it does so with advanced capabilities, from high-performance scheduling and messaging to a robust security framework. By automating compute resource management, CloudForms allows IT infrastructure teams to build and manage open hybrid clouds that reduce the complexity resulting from virtualisation and diverse business requirements.

However, IaaS is about more than just resource management. In addition to providing self-service consumption of applications, IaaS can ensure that consumption is secured and governed. As customer needs change, CloudForms evolves, protecting investment and providing a continuum of capabilities as organisations progress toward IaaS models.

Red Hat gives customers choice and flexibility along the way so that they don’t get locked in to proprietary solutions, while letting them use existing virtualisation and cloud investments.

Supply Chain Management SAP Malaysia SAP Supply Chain Management (SCM) SAP Supply Chain Management (SCM) solutions give enterprises the flexibility they need to adapt to changing markets quickly and affordably. It strengthens the supply chain with responsive planning, improved collaboration, and seamless execution. Integrated Sales and Operations Planning solutions help synchronise supply and demand plans to financial and strategic goals. This increases transactional speed while enabling better data measurement and risk monitoring. The Manufacturing and Supply Planning module integrates purchasing, manufacturing, distribution and transportation plans into a one picture, thus improving visibility over the supply chain. The Demand Management module helps enterprises adjust business strategies by forecasting customer reactions to pricing changes. Forecasting models allows enterprises to prepare detailed network, production and schedule planning to meet anticipated demand levels. Transportation and logistics can be improved with SAP’s Transportation Management application which monitors pricing, streamlines processes, and track deliveries. The result: maximised returns on transportation costs and better inventory management.

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Enterprise Mobile Communication Devices Samsung Malaysia Electronics Samsung GALAXY Note and GALAXY Tab

Communications

Fun to play with yet safe for work, GALAXY Note and GALAXY Tab are popular phone and tablet choices amongst a new generation of employees. Thin, light yet durable, users can work on Microsoft Office documents, spreadsheets and presentations directly from the GALAXY Note 8.0. For those more creatively inclined, personalised notes and jottings can be made with the S Pen, synced and shared across all their GALAXY devices. Samsung Enterprise solutions keeps company data secure with enhanced security, accessibility and connectivity features. Built on the Android Jelly Bean 4.2.2 operating system with the 1.5GHz Dual Core Processor and generous 1.5GB RAM, the GALAXY Tab 3 8.0’s Dual View capabilities encourage users to multi-task and enable viewing on two screens at the same time without having to switch back and forth. The tablet’s enterprise features include corporate email, calendar and contact functionalities, while security is enhanced with mobile device management (MDM), encryption, virtual private network (VPN) and Samsung’s SAFE solution.

Enterprise Mobility Management Suite Sophos Sophos Mobile Control

Communications

Concern over control and security has long been a stumbling block in the adopting the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) trend. Sophos Mobile Control eases that concern with a self-service portal which makes mobile management easy.

Enterprises are able to secure confidential data on phones and tablets by configuring devices to their own policies.

Access to corporate emails can be managed using a secure proxy to Exchange ActiveSync. Mobile Control checks the phone state against a set of company rules like jailbreak detection, password configuration or blacklisted apps.

If a device is not compliant, the administrator can be notified, a new configuration applied or access to company email automatically blocked. If a device is lost or stolen, administrators can remotely lock these devices and wipe data off them in seconds. Corporate data can similarly be removed from employees’ devices on their leaving the organisation.

With Mobile Control, enterprises maintain control over security whilst letting users work on the latest and most popular platforms.

Unified Communications Software Suite Microsoft Malaysia Microsoft Exchange Server

Communications

Microsoft Exchange Server can be deployed across workstations, phones and browsers. It comes with custom instructions for installation or upgrading, and is easily deployed. A built-in monitoring and managed availability solution provides self-healing features to automatically recover from failures, while simplified load-balancing options improve flexibility and scale while reducing cost. System capabilities are managed using the Exchange Administration Center, a web-based administration interface. Role-based access control can be delegated to helpdesk and specialist users to perform specific tasks without requiring full administrative permissions. eDiscovery for compliance officers is an example. Exchange actively protects communications with built-in defences against viruses, spam, and phishing attacks.

Its Data Loss Prevention features identify, monitor, and protect sensitive data through deep content analysis, and PolicyTips in Outlook inform users about policy violations before sensitive data is sent. Exchange enables mobile device policies to create approved mobile device lists, enforce PIN lock, and remove confidential data from lost phones.

Unified Communications Hardware Provider Cisco Systems Malaysia

Communications

More powerful collaboration tools are called for in an age of mobile, widely dispersed workforces, multiple devices and increased use of social software for business purposes. Video communications demand continue to grow as it evolves into a medium in engaging employees, partners and customers more closely. Today’s users expect instantaneous voice, data and video connection wherever they are. With over 100,000 unified communications customers worldwide, Cisco has long been recognised as a leading innovator in Internet protocol (IP) communications. Its IP communications products can help businesses run voice, data, and video communications over a single, converged network.

Cisco’s comprehensive portfolio of industry-leading endpoint solutions supports a wide range of communication needs, from low to moderate to the most active environments. Cisco endpoint supports new modes of collaboration such as integrated HD voice, video and conferencing, instant messaging and presence services between IP endpoints, media-processing devices, voice-over-IP (VoIP) gateways, mobile devices, and multimedia applications.

Winning Products

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WAN Optimisation Blue Coat Systems Blue Coat MACH5

Communications

MACH5 goes beyond traditional wide area network (WAN) optimisation solutions which focus exclusively on data applications. It dramatically improves the performance of virtually all applications and workflows—from file transfers to backups, email, databases, video, and cloud applications. MACH5 combines optimisation features such as protocol acceleration, compression, and object and byte caching to deliver high performance across IPv4 or IPv6 environments.

This helps to accelerate key applications such as file access, email, web, storage replication and backup. Protocol optimisation is achieved by mitigating the penalties that latency imposes on inefficient protocols or applications originally architected for the local area network (LAN) and running on the WAN. By delivering remote content locally in the branch, web application and workflows that depend on centrally-stored files is speeded-up. For advanced applications, MACH5 integrates specialised live and on-demand video optimization for Adobe Flash, Windows Media, Silverlight, HTML5 and all video.

Enterprise Disk System Hewlett-Packard Malaysia HP Storage

Storage

Economics, performance and scale are primary features of HP’s agile storage infrastructure. With social media and big data growth placing higher demands on storage, reliability and adaptability are vital for any business. HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage uses a single architecture to deliver primary storage platforms for mid-range, Tier-1 enterprise, and optimised all-flash arrays. The HP MSA 2040 Storage arrays provide shared storage for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

These arrays reduces total cost of ownership while dramatically increasing performance using technologies such as SSDs, Snap and Volume copy and Replication. Another key benefit is its easy-to-manage, easy-to-setup feature and flexible architecture. Meanwhile, the HP P2000 G3 MSA storage comes with 64 snapshots and HP P2000 Volume Copy softwareenabled for increased data protection. It allows snap replication with optional Remote Snap software, an advantage to fast-growing departments and SMEs as they can expand capacity, as needed, up to 149 drives.

Storage Management Software Acronis Acronis Backup and Recovery

Storage

Growing storage virtualisation and cloud adoption has led to increased demands on disaster recovery.

Organisations operating across different environments face the challenge of responding quickly to demands for data and system availability. Acronis Backup and Recovery enables backup and disaster recovery in physical, virtual and cloud environments in one solution. Fast to install and easy to use, it lets organisations manage the protection of their IT environment from a single centralised management console. With Acronis Backup and Recovery, critical data can be safely migrated across physical, virtual and cloud platforms. State-of-the-art imaging technology creates image-based backups, or snapshots, of entire systems on disks. That image can be recovered to dissimilar hardware or virtual machines with just a few clicks. With increased adoption of cloud infrastructure for storage optimisation, Acronis has introduced disk-to-disk-to-cloud staging into this platform. Automated disk-to-disk to-cloud backup shortens the backup window for live physical and virtual machines and simplifies management of both destinations.

Backup System Symantec Corporation Symantec Backup Exec

Storage

Symantec Backup Exec is one integrated product that protects virtual and physical environments, simplifies both backup and disaster recovery, and recovers data or systems at any scale, from an individual item to an entire server.

Powered by Symantec V-Ray technology, Backup Exec reduces business downtime with unparalleled recovery that restores entire servers, critical Microsoft applications, and VMware or Microsoft Hyper-V virtual guests. The product also meet recovery point and recovery time objectives with integrated bare metal, hardware-independent disaster recovery, ‘no-hardware disaster recovery’ in a virtual environment, application recovery, and efficient granular restore of individual emails, files, and folders. It simultaneously reduces storage costs and increase backup speed with deduplication and archiving. Backup Exec delivers centralised management through a streamlined administration console to easily extend the backup infrastructure across distributed environments and remote offices so physical or virtual server protection is easily managed as a business grows.

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Mobile Computers Lenovo Malaysia ThinkPad series

Hardware

Noted for its performance and durability, the T-series Premium laptops are Lenovo’s flagship series. Its award-winning spill-resistant keyboards are an example of the T-series’ exceptional robustness. Many of the ThinkPad series laptops are designed to pass rugged military-spec tests. Shock-mounted hard-drives, roll-cage technology and exceptional security features add to the ThinkPad series’ reliability. Despite its inward toughness, the outward design of ThinkPad series laptops conveys its business-on-the-go attitude. ThinkPad laptops are light and slim, with tons of storage, utilising the most powerful processors and has a long battery life. The T430u 14-inch Ultrabook caters to the needs of small and medium businesses (SMB) with vivid graphics and SMB software. The ThinkPad Edge series features the security and productivity of Lenovo Solutions for Small Business. The Twist series adds versatility to the mix. Twist transforms into a laptop for typing and a tablet when on the move. Other convenient modes let users share presentations and get up close for browsing.

Entry-Level Servers Hewlett-Packard Malaysia HP ProLiant

Hardware

HP’s top-selling ProLiant servers support a wide range of IT demands from cloud-based applications to social media, big data, and mobility in a virtualised environment. Affordable yet powerful, HP ProLiant 100 series entry-level servers meet the needs of small and medium-sized enterprises, workgroups, remote sites and high-performance computing environments. HP ProLiant servers are most suitable for enterprises seeking affordable, easy-to-manage data, printers, e-mail, and applications management solutions. A centralised management system with I/O flexibility simplifies system and security management, thereby minimising the threat of attacks. The MicroServer, running on AMD Turion processors, is equipped with essential features for small businesses. HP ProLiant ML Servers are expandable tower servers which suits remote branch offices and data centres. Its flexibility allows for expansion as enterprises grow and requirements increase. The ML110G7 is ideal as a first server for growing businesses.

Mid-Range Servers Hewlett-Packard Malaysia HP ProLiant

Hardware

HP ProLiant Gen8 optimises the effectiveness of data centres with accelerated performance in a virtualised environment.

ProLiant Gen8 mid-range servers such as ML350p Gen8, DL360p Gen8 and DL380p Gen8 continuously analyse thousands of system parameters to enhance application performance and proactively improve uptime. HP Power Discovery Services with the HP Intelligent Power Distribution Unit (iPDU) automatically track power usage and document configurations to increase system uptime and reduce the risk of outages. An enhanced server maintenance process maximises space whilst reducing energy consumption and cooling costs. Its smart management features and tools minimise manual processes.

Powered by HP ProActive Insight architecture and Intel Xeon E5-2600 processor, servers are equipped with HP Active Health technology, a 24x7 mission control for automated monitoring, diagnostics, and alerting. Gen8 servers include built-in intelligence, analytics and a 3D Sea of Sensors embedded across the infrastructure which monitors and securely logs more than 1,600 system parameters.

High-End Enterprise Servers Hewlett-Packard Malaysia HP ProLiant

Hardware

HP fulfils diverse top-end server needs. High-end blade, rack and tower servers help customers consolidate businesscritical application environments while reducing complexity and cost. The HP ProLiant BL6XX and DL5XX Gen8 series of high-end servers are designed to drive better performance for complex, virtualised environments. The HP ProLiant BL660c, in particular, offers four-socket density in half the size of the previous generation and reduces the total cost of ownership by up to 30%. Meanwhile, HP ProLiant DL560 Gen8 servers provide a space-minimising four-socket server in a 2U form factor without compromising performance, scalability or expansion requirements. At the hyperscale end, HP ProLiant SL servers are purpose-built for demanding workloads. The SL6500 features include fourteen data rate (FDR) InfiniBand and integrated graphics processing unit (GPUs), within an innovative shared infrastructure which increased power efficiency and reduces cost. It is ideal for web, hosting and cloud service providers, as well as high performance computing environments.

Winning Products

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Power Management APC by Schneider Electric Smart-UPS

Hardware

Reliability and manageability are hallmarks of APC by Schneider Electric’s uninterruptible power supply (UPS) flagship model. Smart-UPS, the most popular UPS in the world for servers, storage and network power protection, is entrusted to protect critical data and equipment from power problems by supplying clean and reliable network-grade power.

Smart-UPS is extremely efficient at all load levels, making them ideal for today’s servers with varying load consumption.

Intelligent battery management with precision charging maximises performance and battery life. To further prolong battery life, Smart-UPS regulates the charge voltage according to battery temperature. Different models of Smart-UPS cater to customer application and budgetary requirements. These range from the extended run Smart-UPS XL typically needed for converged voice and data network power protection, to the entry level Smart-UPS SC, which is the economical choice for small and medium businesses looking to protect small switches, networking devices and point-of-sale (POS) equipment.

Enterprise Routers and Switches Cisco Systems Malaysia Cisco Catalyst 3K switches (Catalyst 3560/3560-E/3560-X and 3570/3570-E/3750-X Series Switches)

Hardware

Switches are the building blocks of an integrated network that delivers scalable and intelligent services protecting, optimising, and growing your network as your business needs evolve. The Cisco Catalyst 3560 v2 Series are nextgeneration, energy-efficient, Layer 3 Fast Ethernet switches. These new switches support Cisco EnergyWise technology, which helps companies manage the power consumption of the network infrastructure and network-attached devices, thereby reducing their energy costs and their carbon footprint. At speeds of 1000 Mbps, Gigabit Ethernet provides the bandwidth to meet new and evolving network demands, alleviate bottlenecks, and boost performance while increasing the return on existing and new infrastructure investments. These switches help businesses maximise productivity and provide investment protection by enabling a unified network for data, voice, and video. Outstanding security is a feature of Cisco Catalyst 3750-X Series Switches, which are designed to protect data confidentiality with MACsec Layer 2 encryption and provide identity-based access control with TrustSec.

Physical Infrastructure – Networks CommScope

Hardware

For the fourth year in a row, CommScope has been voted the winner in this category. This is testament to the company’s expertise in providing the essential infrastructure that makes communication possible. CommScope’s portfolio of end-to-end solutions includes the critical infrastructure used in building high-performing wired and wireless networks.

The industry leader in copper connectivity solutions, CommScope’s high-bandwidth cables are the foundation of networks delivering flawless performance for business enterprises that rely on voice, data, video and building management applications. From coaxial and twisted pair to hybrid and automotive cable, these copper cabling solutions are engineered to meet or exceed the toughest mechanical and electrical standards and are backed by the company’s famous 20-Year Extended Product Warranty and Application Assurance. CommScope’s multimode and revolutionary zero water peak single-mode fibre solutions provide end-to-end channel performance for all fibre-related applications. In addition to cables, CommScope products include copper panels and components as well as fibre connectors and adapters.

Consulting and Integration IBM Malaysia IBM Services

Services

As organisations grow and merge, the accompanying IT growth often results in a mishmash of technologies and platforms that is difficult and costly to manage. This complexity makes is difficult for IT to support business requirements and adapt to changes in strategy and business direction. IBM’s portfolio of assessment modules helps IT define changes to be made while driving rapid cost savings. The IT Strategy and Performance Assessment module utilises best practices and IBM’s unique, proprietary tools and methods in helping IT align its strategy, resources and investment to changes in business direction and corporate strategy. The Application Portfolio Assessment enables organisations to quickly identify areas for process improvement and to develop a roadmap that includes priorities which better align the overall enterprise portfolio with business processes and models requirements. With the Enterprise Architecture Assessment module, IBM’s expertise with enterprise architecture best practices and analytical tools will speed analysis of your enterprise architecture strategy.

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Winning Products

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Support and Maintenance Hewlett-Packard Malaysia HP Technology Services

Services

HP Technology Services is one of the largest IT customer support and technology consulting organisations in the world.

HP’s consulting expertise spans business and IT strategy, helping transform IT to deliver real-time services and provide IT-enabled business growth. As an industry pioneer in converged infrastructure, HP helps customers build a technology environment that can quickly anticipate and rapidly adjust to meet the changing business priorities. Such flexibility is vital as enterprises utilise technology in expanding beyond local markets to regional and global markets. HP Insight Remote Support software easily identifies your system’s status on warranties and support entitlements thus speeding up the time needed to resolve issues. HP Always On Support Services is designed to personalise, simplify and be proactive in delivering support with service experts on hand to improve utilisation with faster delivery and simplified management.

Drawing on its global and decades-long experience, HP helps enterprises reduce complexities whilst keeping customers abreast on the latest available technology.

Data Centre and Hosting Hewlett-Packard Malaysia HP Enterprise Services

Services

The challenge of analytics lies in making massive quantities of information more meaningful, actionable, and aligned to the business in real time. As data become more important, so too does data centre strategy. HP Enterprise Services work with customers to optimise the potential of data centres and maximise its capabilities in meeting business and productivity goals. Data centres have evolved into multi-faceted operations which extend across many locations, including server and mainframe management, hosting, storage, network, and performance management. An increasing number of enterprises are looking to hybrid cloud data centre environments with robust, seamless, integrated, and pervasive security which will provide the best value. Amongst HP’s data centre services are its data centre modernisation services which help customers improve their data centre infrastructure environment and lay the foundation for cloud computing, and enterprise virtual private cloud services which securely delivers cloud computing for core business applications with bundles of infrastructure resources that are consumed as a service.

Managed Connectivity Telekom Malaysia

Services

A repeat winner in this category, Telekom Malaysia continues to be the trusted managed connectivity choice. As the leading integrated telecommunications company in Malaysia with vast network infrastructure, Telekom Malaysia provides local and global connectivity. It supports a range of enterprises from start-ups and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to large corporate enterprises and government. Its customised business solutions include Internet UniFi and multi-line voice packages. In addition to voice, data and Internet services, Telekom Malaysia offers audio and video conferencing facilities as well as broadcast facilities which include closed-circuit television (CCTV). Its integrated services digital network (ISDN) services provide integrated communications with high-speed connections of better quality compared to conventional analogue lines. This service facilitates multi-tasking such as the simultaneous use Internet, phone calls and fax.

Managed Print Services Fuji Xerox Malaysia

Services

There are two main challenges facing document output management: firstly, the lack of visibility over usage due to the fragmented ownership of document output across departments; secondly, the management of multiple service providers with different Service Level Agreements (SLAs). To overcome these challenges, Fuji Xerox Office Services assesses the existing environment and spending patterns, then controls against that baseline. Acting as a single point of contact and accountability, Fuji Xerox manages all document output devices, regardless of vendors. This results not only in substantial cost savings, but in leveraging an organisation’s document output devices, infrastructure and processes for increased productivity. Understanding how devices are utilised (or underutilised) enables optimal placement and configuration. In today’s highly regulated industry environments, the cost of non-compliance can be severe.

Fuji Xerox helps guard against potential information loss by continually monitoring your devices, network ports and protocols, and deploying resources to maximise your information security.

Computerworld Malaysia

Readers Choice Awards 2013

Defending Against Advanced Threats

Profile

Fortinet

Fortinet stands vigilant against today’s sophisticated online threats with broad, integrated and high-performance protection.

S

etting its sights firmly on providing comprehensive protection

against evolving network threats has stood Fortinet in good stead as a security provider. The FortiGate® Series has won the Computerworld Readers Choice Awards for the Enterprise Firewall and VPN, and Intrusion Detection/Prevention System categories for 2013, and for the past several years.

The key, according to Dato’ Seri George Chang, Fortinet’s VP for Southeast Asia and Hong Kong, is to keep up with the evolution of security threats. These threats have transformed from being connection-based to content-based in recent years.

“Traditional security technologies have not kept up with this evolution and cannot tell the difference between malicious and legitimate content,” said Chang.

Chang explained that Fortinet delivers network security platforms and specialised security solutions that block today’s sophisticated threats.

“Our consolidated architecture enables enterprises to deploy fully integrated security technologies in a single device, delivering unmatched protection and lowering ownership costs. Purpose-built hardware and software provide the high performance and complete content protection that today’s enterprises need,” he said.

“These two award wins show that security functions integrated on a single platform does not mean lower performance. In fact, our FortiGate appliances’ performance have been confirmed by independent testing agencies like NSS Labs and BreakingPoint to be higher than many point products. The FortiGate security platform is a true enterprise class offering.”

Fortinet’s holistic approach has allowed the vendor to grow its market share in the security appliance space, from 5.8 percent in Q2 2012 to 6.2 percent in Q2 2013, according to IDC’s latest worldwide security appliance tracker. This increase also elevates Fortinet to become the 3rd largest security appliance vendor globally by factory revenue. IDC also named Fortinet the no. 1 vendor for Unified Threat Management (UTM) in Asia Pacific, with a market share of 19.6 percent in the first half of 2013.

To date, Fortinet has shipped more than 1.25 million appliances to over 160,000 customers worldwide—a list that includes more than half of the 2012 Fortune Global 100. These achievements have not gone unnoticed. This year, Fortinet won the Asia Pacific Network Security Vendor of the Year award from Frost & Sullivan, as well as the Computerworld Malaysia and Singapore Customer Care Awards, and Best UTM Award from Computerworld Hong Kong.

Africa (EMEA) regions in July 2013.

Fortinet now has over 10,000 Reseller Partners across these two key regions, with over 300 signed every quarter.

Besides working with partners, Fortinet engages its customers through newsletters, one-on-one meetings, as well as its annual Security 361° series of end-user conferences that run in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong—on issues like Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), data centre security, managed services and cloud.

“We have increased our efforts to directly connect with resellers Dato’ Seri George Chang, Fortinet’s VP for Southeast Asia and Hong Kong and end customers. By getting closer to resellers and end customers, we understand their challenges and needs better, and are able to communicate with them and support them more effectively. Internally, we have also restructured our account servicing teams by verticals, and beefed up our channel management team,” said Chang.

Security Trends

Moving forward, Fortinet expects the adoption of network security platforms to increase globally. The other trend is the shift towards delivering security as a managed service. “Service providers are using Fortinet’s solutions as the platform to deliver cloud and customer-based security services. We are proud to count many world-leading telecommunication companies—including VADS, the managed ICT services arm of Telekom Malaysia, and SingTel—as our customers,” said Chang.

A top priority for Fortinet in the coming months will be to drive the adoption of Web application firewalls—which protect enterprises’ Web-based applications and internet-facing data from attack and data loss.

“With so many consumers’ today adopting mobile devices and social networking tools, Web assets have become a critical revenue channel for many businesses. Our advanced FortiWeb Fortinet had launched the following solutions in the last 12 months: • FortiOS 5.0, Fortinet’s proprietary security-hardened, platforms help firms prevent identity purpose-built operating system that is the foundation for all theft, financial fraud and denial of service, Fortinet FortiGate integrated security platforms, has been updated keeping their businesses online 24/7,” with over 150 features and enhancements. said Chang.

• FortiWeb 5 OS, Fortinet’s newest version of its Web application To ensure that its customers firewall operating system. Security advancements include the networks continue to be safeguarded ability to accurately identify the origin of Web application traffic to against any new security threats, proactively distinguish between legitimate and malicious sources, Fortinet is not resting on its laurels. and to spot and track bot traffic trends.

The vendor will continue to increase the • FortiGate-3700D is the world’s fastest data centre firewall appliance, speed and performance of its products, capable of achieving up to 160 Gbps firewall throughput. This is extend its end-to-end security portfolio, made possible by Fortinet’s custom NP6 ASIC, which will also go and recruit R&D, sales and marketing into our new generation of network security platforms. talent to drive its penetration into • New cloud-based sandboxing and IP reputation services that are enterprises worldwide. designed to help protect against advanced persistent threats (APTs).

Said Chang: “I am proud that end• The FortiADC-300E is a high-performance Application Delivery users recognise Fortinet as the industry Controller (ADC) for mid-sized enterprises that combines traditional leader but am even more heartened that Load Balancing with advanced features that route traffic at the enterprises see the value of security, are application level and offload secure HTTPS transactions from servers. adopting risk management best practices, and are continuing to invest even during challenging times.”

New Products in 2013

Strong Technology Core At the core of Fortinet’s continued success is technological innovation. The company has been awarded more than 100 patents, with 115 patents pending, and has more product certifications than any other security appliance company. In addition, Fortinet’s FortiGuard Labs’ global team of over 175 threat researchers constantly keep their pulse on the evolving threat landscape. Fortinet’s regional tech support and R&D team based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, provides important post-sales support to customers.

Not forgetting its partners, Fortinet has announced a series of channel initiatives in April 2012, and expanded on its Partner Program for the Asia-Pacific (APAC) and Europe, Middle East and

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Winning Products

www.computerworld.com.my/rca_2013

Desktop Virtualisation Provider Citrix

Virtualisation

There is no one-size-fits-all virtualisation technology for desktop virtualisation. To meet different user performance and mobile requirements, Citrix XenDesktop empowers IT to deliver Windows desktops and applications as mobile services. Users can self-select applications from an easy-to-use ‘store’ that is securely accessible from their devices.

Letting users choose what they need to get the job done effectively increases their productivity while optimising the cost of deployment and ongoing management. Citrix XenDesktop leverages Citrix Receiver, a universal client built for virtually any device. Receiver is designed to leverage the features of native devices to enrich user experience and device performance. Citrix StoreFront is the intelligence behind Receiver. StoreFront not only keeps track of what users have subscribed to; it also maintains connections with running applications so that users may move from device to device and immediately get back to the same state to continue right where they left off—another user-friendly Citrix feature.

Server Virtualisation Provider VMware

Virtualisation

As more workloads are virtualised, it becomes critically important that the virtualisation layer is both reliable and secure.

VMware vSphere forms the rock-solid platform on which all other solutions are built. Recognised as the industry’s most robust and production-proven hypervisor, vSphere is designed for the sole purpose of virtualisation. Being purpose-built, any dependence on a general-purpose operating system or management console is eliminated, resulting in the smallest code size by far of any virtualisation product. This smaller hypervisor disk footprint reduces the attack surface for external threats and can drastically lower the number of patches required, providing a more reliable product and a more stable data centre. VMware works closely with a large ecosystem of partners to ensure that its technology works across a broad array of IT environments. This approach enables its solutions to integrate well with customers’ existing technology investments, while providing customers with the flexibility in selecting hardware and application components that best suit their needs.

Storage Virtualisation Provider EMC Corporation

Virtualisation

Server virtualisation and the growth of multiple sites within a user’s network have placed new demands on how storage is managed and how information is accessed. To keep pace with new requirements, storage must evolve to deliver new methods of freeing data from a physical device. Storage must be able to connect to virtual environments while still providing automation, integration with existing infrastructure, consumption on demand, security, cost efficiency, availability and security. EMC VPLEX is a next-generation solution for data mobility and access within, across and between data centres. When deployed with virtualisation, resources can be federated—pooled and made to co-operate through the stack—to dynamically move applications and data across geographies and service providers. Built on a foundation of scalable and highly available processor engines, VPLEX’s scale-out clustering hardware lets enterprises start small and grow larger with predictable service levels.

Cloud Services Provider EMC Corporation

Cloud

IT-as-a-service (ITaaS) is the culmination of a progression that has been underway for a decade. Instead of being merely aligned with the business, IT is embedded in it through the processes of service consumption, information provisioning, business innovation and business enablement. The business-IT conversation no longer centres on application specifications and available technology, but on business decisions, processes, and performance levels. For users, there is greater agility, better cost-utility alignment with a pay-for-use utility model and the flexibility to change quickly.

For IT organisations, the advantages lie in efficiency through automation, greater visibility into cost and control over service levels for better responsiveness, and the elasticity to acquire, deploy, change, or release on demand. IT providers are now more of a partner than a supplier. EMC draws on its own journey to the cloud in meeting customer needs with a range of cloud services which includes Infrastructure-as-a-Services (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS).

Computerworld Malaysia

Readers Choice Awards 2013

Reducing backup and recovery complexities from a single unified platform Profile

Acronis

I

n a world that never rests, protection against unexpected

interruptions and data loss is a must.

“Backup and recovery is under the spotlight as enterprises adopt virtualisation, cloud and mobility,” said Jason Lau, Acronis Country Sales Manager, Malaysia. “Moving systems and data between multiple platforms without extended disruption is a mandatory requirement today.”

The winner of the Storage Management Software category of Computerworld Malaysia’s Readers Choice Awards 2013, Acronis has seen an increasing number of small and medium enterprises and government agencies migrate from the physical to virtualised environment as storage demand intensifies.

“Moving from physical to virtual servers is a challenge, and ensuring that there are no data losses or system hiccups is a real concern,” said Lau. “Speed, simplicity and reliability are key drivers.”

Traditionally, backup has been done using file level backup in the server.

Most organisations copy to tape, which is then sent to a remote location.

“Tape is expensive and its maintenance cost is high,” said Lau. “Copying to disk is more reliable, faster and more affordable.”

Acronis, a leading provider of disaster recovery and data protection solutions for physical, virtual and cloud environments, is a strong proponent of disk backup.

It’s award-winning Acronis Backup and Recovery (ABR) platform uses disk image backup which creates snapshots of the entire system, including operating systems, databases, applications and settings. Such images are used in recovery, be it to the same hardware or dissimilar hardware.

Unlike tape, data can be restored without delay and can be replicated to a remote location immediately. Acronis Backup and Recovery provides comprehensive backup, disaster recovery and data protection across physical, virtual and cloud environments. Its data restoration feature, Universal Restore, automatically ensures that systems are properly configured with all the necessary drivers to boot on physical and virtual hardware. Integrated data-centric functions allow users to search for individual files, regardless of where they are located in the backup file archive.

“Restoration from tape is very slow, typically twice the time it takes for backup.

Acronis Backup and Recovery recovers an image with just a few clicks,” said Lau. “For example, we have a customer—a government agency in Johore—which had twelve servers running on Windows and Linux. In the past, it took them a whole day to complete backup, and longer to restore. With ABR, the amount of backup time has been reduced to 2-3 hours for full backup, and 15-20 minutes for incremental backup.”

As organisations increasingly adopt cloud infrastructure, Acronis has introduced disk-to-disk-to-cloud staging into the Acronis Backup and Recovery platform. Automated disk-to-disk to-cloud backup shortens the backup window for live physical and virtual machines and simplifies management of both destinations. The unique disaster recovery module within the Acronis Jason Lau, Acronis Country Sales Manager, Backup and Recovery platform is tuned Malaysia to helping organisations meet their Recovery Point Objective (RPO) and Recovery Time Objective (RTO) targets. RPO is the maximum duration in which an organisation can sustain data loss without major impact to the business, whilst RTO measures the maximum time allowed to get back up and running after loss of service.

“Acronis Backup and Recovery’s snapshots can bring your operations and infrastructure back to life within minutes,” explained Lau. “All settings are automated and disaster recovery documents can be generated with each backup.

These documents include easy-to-use instructions which can be combined with other business continuity procedures.”

Scalability is another feature. The flexible platform gives enterprises the ability to purchase licenses for only the agents and application support they need today, with an option to access further functionality ‘on demand’ as their environment changes. Such options reduce the enterprise’s total cost of ownership (TCO) and management overhead while anticipating future needs.

Acronis Backup and Recovery’s unified platform centralises the management of all components across physical servers, virtual machines and workstations.

“ABR’s strength lies in its simplicity,” said Lau. “The software is uncomplicated.

It is easy for users to learn and use. A single unified console controls backup and recovery throughout the entire system.”

A unified interface for managing physical and virtual machine (VM) environments enables smooth backup and recovery when it comes to server consolidation and migration. “Acronis Backup and Recovery supports the conversion of physical server to virtual machine (P2V), virtual server to virtual server (V2V) migration, and virtual server to physical server (V2P) restoration,” said Lau. In addition to backup solutions for desktop, server, virtual and cloud environments, Acronis provides leading file sharing and synchronisation solutions for mobile devices. Acronis mobilEcho, its market-leading mobile file management (MFM) solution, complements mobile device management (MDM) solutions in managing risks. While MDM allows the enterprise to centrally secure the mobile device, mobilEcho enables the enterprise to centrally control corporate information on those devices.

Tape is expensive and its maintenance cost is high, Copying to disk is more reliable, faster and more affordable.

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Computerworld Malaysia

Readers Choice Awards 2013

r u o Hon

At Le Meridien Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, we at Computerworld Malaysia honoured the ‘crème de la crème’ of the ICT community, the victors of this year’s Readers Choice Awards (RCA). The technology solutions providers here have once again demonstrated their stamina with helping Malaysian companies move ahead.

www.computerworld.com.my/rca_2013

g n i r ! s r e n n i e thW

Long-considered to be the ‘Oscars of the IT industry’, the Awards go to vendors that score well in the areas of price, performance, functionality and ease of use.

Turn the page to see the recipients who officially accepted this year’s honours on behalf of their companies.

Computerworld Malaysia

Readers Choice Awards 2013

Giving out the Honours on behalf Pl

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System Management Software Cisco Systems Malaysia Cisco Prime LAN Management Solution (LMS)/ Ciscoworks LMS Trophy Recipient: Rajvinder Singh, Technical Director, receiving the trophy from Executive Networks Media’s CEO Mark Hobson

Application Servers Software Microsoft Malaysia Microsoft Windows Server (including .Net and IIS)

Database Management System Microsoft Malaysia Microsoft SQL Server

IT Asset Management System Microsoft Malaysia Microsoft System Center

Honouring the winners!

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Information Security Suite Symantec Corporation Symantec Endpoint Protection Trophy Recipient: Yu Wui Wui, Senior Manager, Corporate Communications, Asia South Region

Enterprise Firewall and VPN Fortinet FortiGate Series Trophy Recipient: Michelle Ong, Channel Account Manager

Intrusion Detection/Prevention System Fortinet FortiGate Series Trophy Recipient: Michelle Ong, Channel Account Manager

Unified Threat Management Blue Coat Systems Blue Coat ProxySG Trophy Recipient: Lee Mei Peng, Territory Sales Manager

Computerworld Malaysia

Readers Choice Awards 2013

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ns Customer Relationship Management Oracle Corporation Oracle Siebel CRM Trophy Recipient: Nik Feizal Haidi Hanafi, Country Manager,

Applications

Business Intelligence IBM Malaysia IBM Cognos Trophy Recipient: Lai Kiat Sing, Solutions Architect, Smarter Commerce, EMM, B2B & Commerce, IBM Industry Solutions

Data Analytics SAS Institute SAS Analytics Suite Trophy Recipient: Andrew Tan, Managing Director, Malaysia, Indonesia

Collaboration Platform Microsoft Malaysia Microsoft Exchange Server

Honouring the winners!

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ns Enterprise Content Management Microsoft Malaysia Microsoft SharePoint Server

Enterprise Resource Planning SAP Malaysia SAP Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Trophy Recipient:Yew Mei San, Head of Marketing

Performance Management Red Hat Red Hat CloudForms Trophy Recipient: David Yap, Country Manager

Supply Chain Management SAP Malaysia SAP Supply Chain Management (SCM) Trophy Recipient: Yew Mei San, Head of Marketing

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Computerworld Malaysia

Readers Choice Awards 2013

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Enterprise Mobile Communication Devices Samsung Malaysia Electronics Samsung GALAXY Note and GALAXY Tab Trophy Recipient: David Rohan, Head of Enterprise Strategy, Enterprise Business

Enterprise Mobility Management Suite Sophos Sophos Mobile Control Trophy Recipient: Sumit Bansal, Director, Sales, ASEAN

Unified Communications Software Suite Microsoft Malaysia Microsoft Exchange Server

Unified Communications Hardware Provider Cisco Systems Malaysia Trophy Recipient: Yeo Swee Key, Director, Commercial Segment

Honouring the winners!

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WAN Optimisation Blue Coat Systems Blue Coat MACH5 Trophy Recipient: Lee Mei Peng, Territory Sales Manager

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Enterprise Disk System Hewlett-Packard Malaysia HP Storage Trophy Recipient: Kelvin Khaw, Director, South East Asia, Business Critical Systems, Enterprise Group

Storage Management Software Acronis Acronis Backup and Recovery Trophy Recipient: Jason Lau, Country Sales Manager, Malaysia

Backup System Symantec Corporation Symantec Backup Exec Trophy Recipient: Yu Wui Wui, Senior Manager, Corporate Communications, Asia South Region

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Computerworld Malaysia

Readers Choice Awards 2013

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Mobile Computers Lenovo Malaysia ThinkPad series

Entry-Level Servers Hewlett-Packard Malaysia HP ProLiant Trophy Recipient: David Lam, Business Manager, Proliant-Industry Standard Servers, Enterprise Group, receiving the trophy from Computerworld Malaysia Editor AvantiKumar

Mid-Range Servers Hewlett-Packard Malaysia HP ProLiant Trophy Recipient: Kenny Lee, Business Manager, Proliant-Industry Standard Servers, Enterprise Servers, Storage & Networking

High-End Enterprise Servers Hewlett-Packard Malaysia HP ProLiant Trophy Recipient: Kelvin Khaw, Director, South East Asia, Business Critical Systems, Enterprise Group

Honouring the winners!

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Power Management APC by Schneider Electric Smart-UPS

Enterprise Routers and Switches Cisco Systems Malaysia Cisco Catalyst 3K switches (Catalyst 3560/3560-E/3560-X and 3570/3570-E/3750-X Series Switches) Trophy Recipient: Yeo Swee Key, Director, Commercial Segment

Physical Infrastructure – Networks CommScope Trophy Recipient: Angie Ng, Territory Manager, Malaysia

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Consulting and Integration IBM Malaysia IBM Services Trophy Recipient: Mohd Arif Ibrahim, Country Leader, Global Business Services

Computerworld Malaysia

Readers Choice Awards 2013

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Support and Maintenance Hewlett-Packard Malaysia HP Technology Services Trophy Recipient: Kow Yan Choy, Delivery Director, Global Support Delivery, HP Technology Services

Data Centre and Hosting Hewlett-Packard Malaysia HP Enterprise Services Trophy Recipient: John Hew, ITO Head Malaysia, Infrastructure Technology Outsourcing, HP Enterprise Services

Managed Connectivity Telekom Malaysia Trophy Recipient: Rohanah Jusin, Assistant General Manager, Group Business & Customer Management

Managed Print Services Fuji Xerox Malaysia Trophy Recipient: Thevendran S., General Manager, Strategy Planning & Marketing

Honouring the winners!

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www.computerworld.com.my/rca_2013

lisation

Desktop Virtualisation Provider Citrix Trophy Recipient: Mark Micallef, Area Vice President, ASEAN

Server Virtualisation Provider VMware Trophy Recipient: Chew Sze Lun, Senior Manager, Systems Engineering ASEAN, Malaysia

Storage Virtualisation Provider EMC Corporation Trophy Recipient: Dickson Woo, Director, Enterprise Sales

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Cloud Services Provider EMC Corporation Trophy Recipient: Dickson Woo, Director, Enterprise Sales

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Computerworld Malaysia

Readers Choice Awards 2013

Logging Off

www.computerworld.com.my/rca_2013

The Computerworld Malaysia team (and friend) salutes the RCA 2013 Winners!

From left: Wong

Yee Ha (Reception), Mark Hobson (CEO), Mei Sze (Emcee), Mimi Zafidah (Reception), Suraini Sarip (Events Executive), Catherine Loh (Senior Account Manager), AvantiKumar (Editor), James Tan (Photographer) and Mark Lim (Reception)

Editorial Editor Sub-editor Online Editor Contributor Art Director

AvantiKumar Subatra Suppiah Zafar Hasan Anjum Rosalind See Benedict Koh

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Doris Jacob

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