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https://www.nationthailand.com/business/corporate/40021144

Amazon plans $5-billion investment to boost cloud ecosystem in Thailand

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2022

Nongluck Ajanapanya

Amazon Web Services (AWS), the world’s largest cloud services provider, has announced an ambitious plan to invest more than $5 billion (roughly 190 billion baht) in Thailand over the next 15 years.

Conor McNamara, AWS managing director for ASEAN, stated at a press conference on Tuesday that the investment would cover all aspects of the cloud ecosystem, from local infrastructure to reskilling and upskilling people.

AWS is currently building a data centre in Thailand called Region, according to McNamara. The new AWS Asia Pacific (Bangkok) Region will have three availability zones, joining the existing 87 availability zones spread across 27 geographic regions.

Globally, AWS has announced plans for 24 additional availability zones across eight additional AWS Regions in Australia, Canada, India, Israel, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland, and Thailand.

“The upcoming AWS Region in Thailand will allow developers, startups, and enterprises, as well as government, education, and nonprofit organisations, to run their applications and serve end users from AWS data centres in Thailand, ensuring that customers who want to keep their data in Thailand can do so,” McNamara pointed out.

AWS Asia Pacific (Bangkok) Region will enable organisations to build with AWS technologies such as AI and machine learning, data analytics, and the Internet of Things (IoT), he said.

“With these new tools, AWS is empowering governments to better engage citizens, enterprises to innovate for their next stage of growth, and entrepreneurs to build businesses and compete on a global scale,” McNamara noted.

Eric Conrad, AWS’ regional managing director for the public sector in ASEAN, explained that now is the time to invest in Thailand’s cloud industry. It is due to the government’s supportive policy and businesses’ strong desire to transition to digital after witnessing cloud’s effectiveness during the pandemic.

“We want to be the first comprehensive cloud service provider in this country and a reliable long-term partner for Thai agencies and entrepreneurs as well as multinational companies interested in conducting business in Thailand and the Asean region,” Conrad said.

 “Thailand’s demand is growing exponentially, and AWS saw this potential.”

AWS intends to introduce AWS Local Zone in Bangkok in addition to Region. This type of AWS infrastructure deployment enables customers to deliver applications that need single-digit millisecond latency to end-users by moving compute, storage, databases, and other select services closer to major population centres, industries, and IT hubs.

Meanwhile, AWS continues to invest in Thailand’s developers, students, and the next generation of IT leaders through programmes such as AWS re/Start, AWS Academy, and AWS Educate. These AWS education programmes prepare students from a variety of backgrounds and experiences for careers in the cloud.

McNamara stated that the training course is part of AWA’s goal of creating 30 million skilled workers worldwide. AWS has already trained 700,000 people in the Asean region.

He also promised to expand its AWS Partner Network, which already includes over 100,000 independent software vendors and systems integrators worldwide. This collaboration will assist AWS clients in serving their customers or finding the best solution for small and medium-sized businesses.

Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Energy Minister Supattanapong Punmeechow lauded the AWS investment plan.

He described it as a significant milestone that would bring advanced cloud computing services to more organisations and assist the government in achieving the Thailand 4.0 ambition of creating a digitised, value-based economy.

Narit Therdsteerasukdi, secretary-general of Thailand’s Board of Investment (BOI), said that the BOI is one of AWS’ partners to facilitate the company’s investment in Thailand. He is confident that this latest initiative will help boost Thailand’s global competitiveness while also driving innovation and economic productivity across all industries.

AWS now has more than 200 fully featured services for compute, storage, databases, networking, analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence, IoT, mobile, security, hybrid, virtual and augmented reality, media, and application development, deployment, and management from 87 availability zones within 27 geographic regions.

Nongluck Ajanapanya

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https://www.nationthailand.com/business/corporate/40021124

Nation Group to purchase Nation News for THB293 million

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2022

Nation Group Thailand Plc (NATION) on Monday notified the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) that its October 17 board meeting approved a move to purchase 189,997 ordinary shares of Nation News Co Ltd (NN), or 99.99 per cent of the company’s shares, from its parent company, Nation Broadcasting Corporation Plc (NBC).

The total purchase price for the shares is 293.77 million baht.

Nation TV Co Ltd (NTV), a subsidiary of NN, is included in the acquisition.

NBC is in the process of changing its name to King Gen Public Co Ltd.

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https://www.nationthailand.com/business/corporate/40021102

Lawyer targets TCC chief, ex-NBTC member over ‘leaks’ on Thailand’s True-Dtac merger

MONDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2022

The secretary-general of the Thailand Consumers Council (TCC) and a former member of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) have recently been accused of allegedly leaking confidential information.

Lawyer Trairong Tanthasuk said on Monday that he had filed police complaints against TCC secretary-general Saree Ongsomwang and ex-NBTC member Prawit Leesathapornwongsa early this month.

His allegation is that the two had leaked confidential NBTC information by exposing the “14 conditions” set for the merger between True Corporation and Total Access Communication (Dtac).

In his complaint with Huai Khwang Police Station, Trairong also named some news agencies that had published interviews with Saree and Prawit over the 14 conditions.

He said the NBTC had not announced the conditions it will set to mitigate the impact the merger would have on consumers, but the duo had managed to obtain the information and leaked it to the public. He also accused them of distorting confidential information.

TCC and Prawit have openly expressed opposition to the merger, saying it would hurt consumers as it will leave only two key players in the market – the merged company and Advanced Info Service (AIS).

Trairong is also threatening to file another complaint against Saree for publishing a report from a foreign NBTC adviser on the negative impact the merger would have on consumers.

The lawyer said NBTC had last week deferred its decision on the merger to October 20, pending a report from the foreign adviser, SCF Associates Ltd.

However, he claimed, Saree had got her hands on the classified report and published it on her Facebook page.

He said the NBTC chief later told reporters he did not know how Saree had obtained the document.

Trairong also mentioned that Dr Pirongrong Ramasoota was part of the NBTC public relations team, but stopped short of making allegations.

“Both the 14 conditions and SCF Associates’ study are confidential and still pending deliberation by the NBTC,” he said.

Trairong advised NBTC to guard all secret documents and prevent them from being leaked ahead of official announcements. He added that leaking confidential government information violates the Criminal Code’s Articles 83, 86 and 164, while distorting information violates Article 14 of the Computer Crimes Act.

“I don’t know how the two got the confidential information, but they have done it repeatedly,” he said.

Early last month, Trairong also filed a complaint of malfeasance and nonfeasance with the National Anti-Corruption Commission against Napat Winitchaikul, a member of the panel monitoring NBTC.

He alleged that Napat’s behaviour had caused damage to the state because he acted beyond his authority as a member and former chair of the NBTC monitoring panel.

The complaint cited an incident in which Napat wore a shirt with the panel’s logo while submitting a letter to the NBTC to oppose the merger.

Trairong said this action caused the public to believe that the monitoring panel was opposed to the merger when the panel had made no decisions on the issue.

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https://www.nationthailand.com/pr-news/business/corporate/40020913

Illumina launches faster and cheaper genomic sequencing platform in Thailand

MONDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2022

Tippawan Limsamarnphun

Illumina, a US-based manufacturer of equipment used to analyse genetic variations and biological functions, has unveiled a new genome sequencing platform – the NovaSeqX series.

Illumina, a US-based manufacturer of equipment used to analyse genetic variations and biological functions, has unveiled a new genome sequencing platform – the NovaSeqX series.

The new platform is a significant improvement on the previous models in terms of speed, cost and protection of the environment, Illumina’s top executive for Thai and Asia-Pacific markets said.

Robert McBride, senior director of sales for Asia Pacific and Japan, said in an interview that the new platform will better serve cancer patients, reproductive healthcare patients and screening of premature babies. This is because the new platform reduces the turnaround time of DNA sequencing from 48 hours to just 24 hours, making diagnostics faster.

The NovaSeqX series will also reduce the cost of genome sequencing to just US$200-$300 per person, down from $600. This does not include processing, interpretation and counselling costs.

The new platform delivers more than 20,000 whole genomes of high-resolution optics and ultra-high density flow cells per year, which is 2.5 times greater throughput than the previous model.

According to McBride, innovations over the several decades have driven down the cost of sequencing exponentially, from $3 billion in the original Human Genome Project in 1990 to $100 million in 2001.

With technology becoming even cheaper, healthcare services are becoming more widely accessible, he said. Besides, he said, the new platform is more environmentally friendly as it cuts down packaging waste by 90 per cent, plastic usage by 50 per cent, and a 500-tonne saving in dry ice per year.

McBride said Illumina’s mission is to improve human health by unlocking the power of genomic technology in identifying genetic diseases and disorders, drug development, personalised medicines, precision therapy and pandemic preparedness.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Illumina partnered with more than 120 labs worldwide to sequence 75 to 80 per cent of coronavirus genomes in 2020.

Illumina established a presence in Thailand more than 18 years ago, especially in the reproductive health industry for DNA and next-generation sequencing. Next Generation Genomic Co Ltd (NGG Thailand) is one of the companies that rely on Illumina for invitro fertilisation testing, pre-implantation genetic screening (PGS) and testing the foetus for genetic diseases. McBride said testing for genetic diseases among babies is critical because they can be treated in time. Genomics has also proved to be effective in the diagnostics and treatment of cancer.

He said genomic technology can also help find diseases in agriculture and livestock to help improve yields.

McBride said the key challenge now is finding genome sequencing data analysts and scientists, as well as safeguarding public health information. He said in the Asia-Pacific region, Australia has 400,000 scientists and genetic councillors, while Japan only has 160,000. Figures of scientists in Thailand are still unavailable.

He added that there are just three or four large companies that specialise in DNA sequencing, with Illumina holding an 80-per-cent share of the global market.

According to Brandessence Market Research, the global genome sequencing market was valued at $13.58 billion last year and is expected to hit $46.43 billion marking a 19.2 per cent growth by 2028.

Illumina’s annual revenue last year came in at $4.5 billion. Its newest NovaSeq X series provides extraordinary sequencing power through a single platform to fuel data-intensive applications like whole-genome sequencing, single-cell sequencing and multi-omics. With numerous technical innovations, it enables maximum throughput and accuracy for genomics scientists.

The technology also accelerates genomic discovery and clinical insights to understand disease, its impacts on human lives and ultimately provide effective treatment.

The highlights of the NovaSeq X series include:

• A fundamentally new sequencing by synthesis (SBS) chemistry, engineered for 2x higher speed and accuracy.

• Highest resolution optics and ultra-high density flow cells, delivering 2.5x greater throughput while driving down sequencing costs.

• Integration of onboard Bio-IT with ORA compression, enabling highly accurate and fully automated secondary analysis with 5x loss-less data compression.

• 15 new thermostable reagents, supporting ambient-temperature shipping, eliminating the need for dry ice and reducing waste.

To achieve peak performance and minimise interruptions, Illumina also has a support team on standby comprising scientists and experts. Technical support is available via phone five days a week or online support 24/7.

Tippawan Limsamarnphun