Dimension Data Moves up the Value Chain with Enterprise-Grade Hybrid Cloud Platform Launch

(Caption for pic above L-R:  Jonathan Brock (CFO & COO of NTTC-CIS), Henrick Choo (MD, Dimension Data Malaysia), Datuk Zainal Amanshah (CEO, InvestKL), Png Kim-Meng (ASEAN CEO, Dimension Data Asia Pacific) and Manish Pratap (Director, Cloud and Managed Services, Dimension Data Asia Pacific) fielding questions from the media).

Dimension Data, a USD8 billion system integrator, headquartered in Johannesburg and a managed services provider for hybrid IT, is increasing its investments with the introduction of a new generation of enterprise-grade Managed Cloud Platform (MCP) in Malaysia. This platform brings together the combined strengths of the NTT Group of companies including NTT Communications and NTT Security.

Png Kim-Meng, ASEAN CEO of Dimension Data Asia Pacific reveals that the group is very excited to expand its footprint in Malaysia and its investment here parlays its long term commitment in the country. Ringing all the right bells, Png also shares that, “Dimension Data is looking to introduce more jobs into Malaysia with specialist skills such as security, automation, analytics and software so that we can help our Malaysian clients adopt these technologies and platform”.

In explaining its venture into the ASEAN region, Png continues, “After Malaysia, Dimension Data will likewise imprint this new platform across Asia Pacific, in Thailand, Vietnam and possibly Philippines at a later juncture. In addition, current existing capacities in Hong Kong, Singapore and Indonesia will be expanded. It doesn’t stop there as we have also set our sights on foraying into the areas of Artificial Intelligence (A.I), Internet of Things and Robotics, in time to come.”

Certainly, building upon the success of Dimension Data’s global and regional MCPs todate, the company’s launch of a MCP in Malaysia will allow clients to securely deploy their enterprise-class applications and workloads into the cloud, whilst ensuring data sovereignty. The platform also comes with built-in automation that enables clients to capitalise on the benefits of multi-cloud environments.

“Gone are the days where companies could depend on a single cloud provider to meet most of their business needs. The nature of doing business in today’s digital economy has changed substantially. This is consistent with the feedback from our clients and their need for in-country platform, that is why we are making this significant investment into Malaysia. This cloud platform coupled with Dimension Data Malaysia’s proven managed services capability makes us a more strategic partner to address our client’s business needs. We are also confident that our MCP will effectively address current enterprise data sovereignty concerns,” says Henrick Choo, Managing Director of Dimension Data Malaysia.

Dimension Data’s MCPs support enterprise applications such as SAP S/4HANA and business productivity suite, to deliver stringent performance requirements, including application level SLAs which are key to the business.

Duncan Williamson, Managing Director of SAP Malaysia, says, “As a SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud Premium Partner, Dimension Data is a strategic global collaborator for us across our cloud managed services. When operational, the MCP would play a vital role in delivering digital innovations from SAP to Malaysian enterprises and empower them to accelerate their business velocity.”

Combined with robust backup, data centre modernisation, business continuity and disaster recovery, Dimension Data is providing end-to-end solutions which will help enterprises create a hybrid environment that is scaled and responsive to their business needs. To ensure compliance, data governance rules are set up once and executed automatically thereafter. Dimension Data provides comprehensive Managed Services that can be easily extended to other hyperscale providers. The MCP also includes Dimension Data’s CloudControl, a cloud management system that provides operational control and automation of cloud resource provisioning, orchestration, administration and billing.

Datuk Zainal Amanshah, Chief Executive Officer of InvestKL says, “ASEAN is a market worth USD2.5 trillion with a huge population. A leader in system integration and managed services such as Dimension Data brings a lot into our ecosystem especially seeing that the services that they are providing are the right solutions needed by enterprises and MNCs alike here.”

“When we look at anything in the areas of A.I, analytics, blockchain, cloud and data, this is very much aligned to the Malaysian government blueprint, albeit the new government of the day. The digital economy is currently valued at 18% of GDP and we expect it to grow to beyond 20% in the coming year, so, this places it at the top of our agenda. InvestKL is especially delighted to work with such a high-value MNC and welcome Dimension Data to have its regional hub in Malaysia,” Datuk Zainal concludes.