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In a media session with APAC journalist, Sanjay Poonen, VMware COO shared some of the announcements made at VMworld 2020 and how it will have an impact on their business in Southeast Asia. From the partnership with Nvidia to the introduction of the telco cloud, each of these announcements has its own unique approach to the Southeast Asian market.

VMware and Telco in Southeast Asia

There are numerous telco companies in Southeast Asia with diversity being a big challenge to address. According to Sanjay K.Deshmukh, Vice President and Managing Director, Southeast Asia and Korea, VMware, all the major telco providers in the region are now actively transforming themselves to enable 5G. VMware has previously partnered with them in data centres and cloud transformation and is also now partnering them in 5G transformation.

“Our role in the 5G transformation is to help them offer the telco cloud platform. With the telco cloud platform, they will have a very efficient infrastructure which they can scale. More importantly, they can also drive some very specific 5G use cases with enterprises”, said Deshmukh.

Over in Malaysia, Devan Parinpanayagam, VMware Country Manager Malaysia said everyone is anticipating 5G and how they can leverage its services. Be it enterprises or government, VMware customers are developing applications that can leverage the network. Devan hopes that there will be announcements soon on the 5G rollout as customers are eager to make the most of the technology.

Meanwhile, Santoso Suwignyo, Senior Director, Technical Services of VMware in South East Asia and Korea explained that while both consumers and businesses will use 5G, most of the use cases of the tech will come from B2B. Looking at all the telco providers they are working with, telco will be the enabler that will look into the actual use cases. For example, in manufacturing, there will be plenty of potential use cases on how the telco cloud can eliminate the need for Wi-Fi and make use of the 5G private network.

Improving Remote Working Cybersecurity and Applications

There is no doubt that remote working requires additional cybersecurity measures. Both Deshmukh and Parinpanayagam pointed out that businesses in the region are moving towards the intrinsic approach.

“Security is no longer an afterthought. Businesses understand the value of security and our solutions have security built-in. Carbon Black’s presence in Malaysia is actually quite advanced. What started as a reactive approach is now quickly becoming proactive. Today, most of our conversations with our customers involve cybersecurity”.

At the same time, Parinpanayagam also mentioned that there are certain VMware customers in Malaysia who are more advanced and are already looking to Project Monterey. Depending on the industry they’re in, these customers are way more advanced in their applications and are eager to embrace the technology.

VMware and Post-COVID-19

For Sanjay Poonen, VMware COO, there have been lots of positives and negatives that have come out since the pandemic brought nations into lockdown. For him, being able to be productive at home by attending virtual meetings compared to spending time travelling is something he values a lot. Simply because, it not only allows him to spend more time with his family but also be able to reach out to a lot more customers around the globe virtually, in a shorter period of time. Sanjay however did point out some negatives from this.

“Firstly, humans are not made to be at home staring at a screen on a virtual call the whole day. Society wasn’t made for this. We were made for classrooms, be outdoors and not in a social distancing place where it can also affect our mental health. We have got to find a way to be able to get the best elements of technology we have and work faster without ruining our lives. We want the best aspect of tech to improve our lives but not damage it at the same time”, explained Poonen.

Echoing him was Deshmukh. He explained that technology is enabling companies to be able to get talents from wherever they want. Businesses are no longer limited to their physical location. In terms of cloud transformation, technology is helping businesses enhance the experience of customers by making them agile and enabling them to respond to customers faster. For example, banks are able to serve customers a lot faster virtually instead of having them physically come to the bank.

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