Wing Kin Leung, chief technology officer in the marketing and solution sales department of Huawei Enterprise Business Group, announced the release of the products – FusionServer V5 platform, CloudCampus, and the FusionPower5000-S uninterruptible power supply for large data centres in Southeast Asia – at the Huawei Asia Pacific ISP Summit 2018.

“Our main aim is to help customers address management issues, especially for industries related to public services in developed and developing markets. We tend to apply them to all industries but some will enjoy more benefits,” he said.

Leung said the tangible benefits could first be seen in industries such as retail, hotels and education thanks to the rising demand by government offices and enterprises. He foresees growth in demand in Southeast Asia, as many countries in the region are embarking on digital transformation.

“These solutions come out on the basis that ISPs need to address ongoing challenges. We aim to help improve ISPs’ efficiency for management and maintenance. Benefits to end users will largely depend on ISPs in their respective countries,” he said.

According to Leung, no one nation in the region is more important than the others, but he believes timing is key to the growth prospects for Asean countries.

“All the markets are important but timing will differ,” he said.

“If a country’s infrastructure is more advanced, they will enjoy the benefits at an earlier time. For example, in Southeast Asia, Singapore has a quite advanced infrastructure in place so they are more likely to enjoy tangible benefits at an earlier time,” he said.

Leung believes Thailand can be among the earliest movers in terms of digital transformation, as ISPs are doing a great job in the country.

“Thailand is an important market for us in Southeast Asia. We believe it can enjoy a pretty advanced situation because it has a good foundation of infrastructure in place,” he said.

“Data centre services are also enjoying large growth in the Thai market. So it is a market that is improving on a yearly basis. We hope Thailand will grow very rapidly because it has a very good infrastructure.”

Leung said the firm, as a provider and innovator of cloud services and infrastructure, would strive to help ISPs quickly transform by building cloud data centres with unified cloud management, application acceleration, agile provisioning, and energy conservation.

The firm provides solutions for more than 1,000 ISPs in over 50 countries. Leung, however, admitted that only 10 per cent of its global customer base comes from the rest of Asia, excluding Japan, Korea, and mainland China.

He said the countries that have the highest demand for cloud computing will enjoy more benefits than others.

“If you look at Southeast Asia, some countries like Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand have high requirements for computing,” he said.

Qiu Lei, vice president of marketing and product solution sales department of Huawei Enterprise Business Group, said the firm would enable ISPs to achieve digital transformation and remain competitive in the digital era by adhering to its “platform + ecosystem” strategy.

“We work with partners to meet customers’ requirements on fast service deployment, elastic resource release, Big Data analytics, ultra-broadband data centre interconnection, and VR and HD service access,” he said.

Lei said that empowering ISPs would include providing innovative one-stop ICT hardware and software infrastructure featuring cloud-pipe-device synergy to build an open and secure digital platform.

The “Fly and Meet Double Bonus” promotion for Myanmar was launched by Bangkok Airway’s sales chief, Varong Israsena Na Ayudhya, and TCEB’s director, Puripan Bunnag, at the Chatrium Hotel in Yangon.

Varong said: “With Bangkok Airways’ strong presence as a full service carrier in CMLV, as well as its flexible flight connectivity within domestic Thailand, linking the MICE cities [Bangkok, Phuket, Khon Kaen, Pattaya and Chiang Mai], we strongly believe this partnership will attract a growing number of CLMV business travellers into the country.”

The campaign offers a series of benefits and incentives for travel groups. For VIPs arriving at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport, TCEB will provide a special MICE lane with a fast-track service through immigration. It will also offer a financial subsidy up to Bt300,000 per group. Options for cultural visits, meet-and-greet services or Thai craft demonstrations of equivalent value to their financial subsidies will also be available.

Bangkok Airways says it will provide one complimentary ticket for every group of 50 passengers, FlyerBonus double points, an additional 10kg of baggage allowance, pre-assigned group seating, a special check-in counter, pre-check-in service, priority tagging and souvenirs.

To qualify, the inbound group must comprise at least 50 delegates, enter Thailand on a Bangkok Airways flight and stay at least two nights at a registered hotel or hold an activity at a venue certified by the Thailand MICE Venue Standard. The promotion campaign is applicable in all the four CLMV countries until September 2019.

Under the partnership, KBank will offer financial help, while Wellness will screen customers with growth potential and a positive business background.

KBank forecasts that there will be more than 100 participants in the loan programme which is expected to offer around Bt1 billion in loans this year.

KBank is going to grant loans for hotels, featuring long-term and overdraft loans (OD) with repayment periods of up to 10 years offered to registered hotel operators, and loans for spa business which includes long-term loans, OD and promissory notes for up to 10 years.

Moreover, loan packages are also offered to applicants requesting loans before March 31, 2019, who are entitled to a 0 per cent interest rate plus a special installment plan for a period of six months for loans of up to Bt3 million.

Pipavat Bhadranavik, KBank vice president, said Thai spas had potential for further growth, in line with the worldwide health-consciousness trend that was thriving.

Aesthetics, anti-ageing, spa and wellness tourism in Thailand reported a market value of Bt136.5 billion in 2017.

Moree holds an MBA in finance from Chulalongkorn University and a bachelor of business administration in marketing from Assumption University.

She formerly worked as assistant vice managing director of Regal Jewelry Manufacture.

Prior to joining EXIM Thailand, she was first vice president and team head of relationship management, corporate banking segment, at TMB Bank.

OurCrowd will give BBL clients deeper exposure to Israeli and global technologies.

Chief executive Jon Medved said Thailand is the second-largest economy in Southeast Asia and the partnership gives both BBL and OurCrowd an opportunity to expand in the region’s rapidly growing ecosystem.

BBL customers will have direct access to the portfolio of one of the world’s largest equity crowdfunding platforms, which has raised US$700 million among 25,000 investors in 150 countries for 150 early-stage companies.

OurCrowd entered the Asian market in 2015 as a provider of global alternative-business development and investment opportunities. Its other partners in the region include United Overseas Bank in Singapore, Shanghai Commercial Savings Bank in Taiwan, Citic Pacific in Hong Kong, Reliance Private Client in India, and National Australia Bank.

“Our Q1 delivery volume grew 121 per cent year-on-year,” said deputy general manager Warawut Natpradith, “and we continue to have a strong demand in new, practical and economical delivery vehicles. Kerry Express has one of Thailand’s biggest fleets.”

This investment will allow part of the old fleet to be replaced and for more than 5,000 new delivery routes to be added to the company’s national network.