The Cloud Migration of Governments and Enterprises in the Emerging Asia-Pacific Region Is Accelerating, Showing Cloud Ecology Prosperity and Gradual Diversification of Users

The demand for cloud in the emerging Asia-Pacific region is growing day by day. Governments and enterprises in the region require AI, big data, and other services to support business and application innovation. Compared with the rapid update of public cloud capacities, the private cloud is asset-heavy with slow capability updates, making it difficult to meet the needs of new businesses. Especially during the pandemic, the digitalization process has accelerated, calling for the adoption of new technologies. Therefore, hybrid clouds that can synchronize high-level capabilities such as databases, big data, and AI in public clouds have attracted more attention from customers. In addition, to ensure the security of core business data and sensitive user data, the hybrid cloud can provide governments and enterprises with more diverse, more convenient, and more flexible cloud resources and services, accelerating the digital transformation of the emerging Asia-Pacific region.

Looking at the current adaptation status from a national level, various countries and governments in the emerging Asia-Pacific region support digital transformation. For example, the Malaysian government has upgraded public sector data centers to special cloud computing services for all government agencies. The Malaysian government actively promotes cooperation between national cloud vendors and local telecommunications operators to provide the government with more convenient and easier-to-use hybrid cloud services and improve the overall operational efficiency of different government offices. In addition, the Thai government had proposed the Thailand 4.0 plan as early as 2016 to transform a traditional agricultural and manufacturing country into a high-tech and innovation-driven digital economy. International cloud service providers have built data centers in Thailand to provide local companies with a full set of cloud solutions and cooperate with the government to promote digital transformation. For example, Tencent Cloud is building a large data center in Thailand, and Huawei Cloud is the first international cloud vendor to establish three availability zones (AZs) in Thailand, providing comprehensive hybrid cloud solutions for local companies and strengthening cooperation with local companies.

From the perspective of industry applications, various industries in the emerging Asia-Pacific region are accelerating their migration to hybrid cloud. For example, the financial industry and government agencies have the same data security needs for hybrid cloud but will differ in data processing and seasonal cloud resource demand fluctuations. As an international financial center, Singapore focuses on data security and technological innovation. Its Personal Data Protection Act 2012 protects the collection and use of personal data. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and SNDGG, an artificial intelligence organization affiliated with the Prime Minister's Office of Singapore, launched Singapore's financial data Infrastructure SGFinDex (Singapore Financial Data Exchange) to accelerate digital transformation. As financial institutions introduce advanced technologies and deploy their businesses to run in cloud environments, the Multi-layer Cloud Computing Security Specification (MTCS) formulated by the Singapore Information Technology Standards Committee requires cloud service providers to adopt sound risk management and security practices to assist customers in achieving business objectives while reducing risk and meeting regulatory requirements.

In addition, Singapore’s digital banks are also quite representative in the global banking industry. Huawei Cloud provides financial cloud services for Singapore's first enterprise-oriented digital bank, Green Alliance International Bank (GLDB). It usually takes three years to build the core system when a bank is established, and Green Alliance International Bank is based on Huawei Cloud to develop applications that enable the banking system and business applications to go online in less than a year. Compliance, reliability, scalability, and other aspects are better guaranteed, and a wealth of digital financial services have been provided to its customers.

In the emerging Asia-Pacific region, the status of the Thai market cannot be ignored: According to the "Global Digital Report 2021" (Digital 2021), Thailand has ranked first in the world in terms of the popularity of online banking services for three consecutive years, and among those aged 16-64 using the Internet reached 68.1% usage rate. Many fintech companies in Thailand are developing various financial services, such as digital payment platforms, as the COVID-19 pandemic reduced people's need for cash and turned to digital transactions.

In addition, with the popularization of 5G technology, telecommunication companies in the emerging Asia-Pacific region are following the financial and government clients as the third main application group of hybrid cloud. Their demand for hybrid cloud is mainly concentrated in the following aspects: First, data processing and analysis: Telecommunication companies generate a large amount of user data, network data, and business data every day. They require powerful data processing and analysis capabilities to extract useful information, optimize network performance, and improve services. Second, network management and optimization: Operators need to monitor network equipment and traffic in real-time, predict network congestion and failures, and perform network optimization to ensure network stability and efficient operation. Third, elastic expansion: Telecommunication companies need to cope with sudden increases in network traffic and changes in business needs. They need the flexibility to scale computing and storage resources to meet changing requirements. Fourth, service provision and deployment: Telecommunication companies provide various services, such as cloud services, network services, and application services. They need to deploy and deliver these services quickly while maintaining reliability and high performance. Fifth, data security and compliance: Telecommunication companies handle large amounts of user data and sensitive information. They need to ensure data security and comply with relevant regulations and industry compliance standards. Taking Macau, China as an example, Companhia de Telecomunicações de Macau (CTM) is the leading telecommunications operator in Macau, China. CTM is committed to promoting innovative communication technologies to all fields and corners of Macau, China, and contributing to the construction of a smart city blueprinted by Digital Macau. CTM uses Huawei Cloud Stack to provide it with industry-leading public cloud services. The interconnection between network and storage resources, disaster recovery and backup, and cross-cloud application scheduling provide it with a convenient user experience. At the same time, physical isolation makes CTM easier to meet security compliance requirements. Huawei Cloud Stack provides remote operation and maintenance specialist support, allowing CTM to implement subsequent operation and maintenance at a lower cost.

Emerging application industries also include energy and transportation sectors. For example, Singapore's Land Transport Authority (LTA) teamed up with Google Cloud to publish online travel surveys through Google Kubernetes Engine to better connect and interact with urban commuters. It also uses Looker Studio to quickly and easily issue visual reports, and through Cloud IAM and Cloud Armor ensures data security and reduces vulnerability, detects threats through platform-based cloud monitoring, and identifies false traffic to improve data quality. As a new aviation force in the emerging Asia-Pacific region, Lanmei Airway faced the circumstance of building a complete and highly reliable IT system when it was first founded. Huawei Cloud provided it with one-stop cloud services and built fast and agile service systems and capabilities which reduced the overall OPEX cost.

Overall, Frost & Sullivan believes that in the emerging Asia-Pacific region, the hybrid cloud service market is showing a great growth trajectory. According to industrial characteristics and the status of government and enterprises, each country has shown different characteristics in deploying hybrid cloud, laying the foundation for greater prosperity and growth of the ecology for hybrid cloud’s application.