AIMS combines state-of-the-art technology with innovative solutions and decades of experience to provide the best possible service for our customers. Businesses have the opportunity to connect with their partners, users and employees via our interconnected ecosystem of data centres across Southeast Asia. We’ve talked with Chiew Kok Hin, CEO of AIMS Data Centre about the history, the services and solutions of the company.
Can you tell us about the story of AIMS? What were the important milestones for you?
As one of the data center pioneers of Southeast Asia, AIMS boasts nearly 30 years of experience in designing, building and operating premier data centers in the Southeast Asia region. Our headquarter in Malaysia forms the anchor site of the Malaysia Internet Exchange (MyIX), hosting all domestic and over 80% of foreign telecommunication companies in the country.
AIMS’ unrivaled connectivity stems from our dynamic, robust ecosystem that facilitates widespread connectivity options and cost-effective business cross-connections. Direct access to three major global cloud service providers and a comprehensive suite of premier data center solutions reinforces AIMS’ commitment towards supporting digitalization among businesses.
AIMS has interlinked data centers in major international cities in Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia to provide international businesses with local access to end customers in Southeast Asia. Our data centers also leverage off an international sub-sea and terrestrial network, to connect our customers to wherever they need to be.
AIMS Data Center won Frost & Sullivan 2019 Company of the Year Award for Cloud Infrastructure Service Industry. Could you please tell us about the story of this award?
It was the first year Frost & Sullivan created the award category as an acknowledgment of the importance of cloud and its infrastructure in light of digital transformation. AIMS was the first winner of this category to be recognized for seamless cloud infrastructure services, seamless data centre services, and managed services, as well as its cloud exchange proposition by being able to offer direct access to three major cloud service providers – AWS, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure.
Here is an excerpt from the Frost & Sullivan analyst:
AIMS provides carrier-neutral services for its cloud infrastructure service offerings in Malaysia. The company has developed a strong value proposition for enterprises by delivering end-to-end cloud infrastructure services. It has achieved significant financial growth due to several strategic initiatives and projects. Frost & Sullivan is impressed that the company has built its own Cloud Exchange that offers direct and secured connectivity to hyper-scale cloud providers by using local Internet traffic.
Overall, the company has evolved significantly and strives to become the leading provider of premium carrier-neutral data centers and managed services across Southeast Asia. For its strong overall performance, AIMS Data Centre Sdn Bhd has earned 2019 Malaysia Cloud Infrastructure Services Provider of the Year Award.
What services and solutions does AIMS provide?
Co-location: Advanced co-location facilities to keep data secure and ensure IT operations stay reliable. Configurable cage, suite and rack options cater specifically to customer’s budget, and direct cross-connectivity to other customers in our ecosystem helps minimize operational time and costs.
Professional Services:
a) Interconnection: Connects customers to AIMS’ robust ecosystem for seamless inter-connectivity to their clients and partners, helping them save time and reduce cost.
b) Managed Services: Expert management services for a comprehensive portfolio of IT services, ranging from connectivity and infrastructure to security and backup, giving customers the peace of mind to focus on core business priorities.
c) Support Services: A team of IT experts always ready to lend their expertise in provisioning, support, management and more to ensure that customer’s systems are operating optimally.
Solutions:
a) Hybrid IT infrastructure: Scalable and resilient interconnected platform comprising of co-location services, on-premise data centres, and private and public cloud, that keeps mission-critical data intact in the face of any challenge. Direct access to major cloud service providers also enables multiple redundancies and helps businesses scale as they grow.
b) Disaster Recovery: End-to-end solutions that span everything from the planning process to the actual recovery, ensuring businesses stay on track, come what may.
c) Content Delivery Network (CDN): Next-gen CDN that utilizes the latest hardware, web server technology and network routing to fast-track delivery of content, applications and rich media to customers for a better end-user engagement and sturdier online presence.
Which industries can have the benefits of AIMS solutions? Who is your target audience?
AIMS’ interconnected and dynamic ecosystem means that cloud service providers, content providers, network service providers, financial service providers, hyperscalers and enterprises would greatly benefit from the comprehensive solutions that we provide. They can save resources, time and money when they connect to their partners in AIMS’ extensive and carrier-neutral ecosystem. Furthermore, hosting in an infrastructure that’s certified with industry standards ensures data and assets are always secure.
As data consumption on content moves toward cloud, AIMS is expecting growth in the OTT segment – content service providers and cloud service providers. Its interlinked data centers can provide them with local access to end customers in the Southeast Asia region, resulting in lower latency to deploy their hybrid IT or multi-cloud strategy for an enhanced customer experience.
Businesses that are not equipped with the latest technology for the move towards digital transformation may find themselves vulnerable to cyber threats. In Malaysia, for example, enterprise and FSIs can rest assured as AIMS is compliant to Bank Negara Malaysia’s Risk Management in Technology (RMiT) regulation that ensures its IT infrastructure is secure and stringent to protect them from financial fraud, losses and cyberattacks.
We know that you have Points of Presence in Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia. Are there any plans to build new solutions, especially in other regions?
Our focus remains within Southeast Asia and we are open to opportunities to expand further in this region. There is a population of approximately 650 million in the ASEAN region and most of them are underserved due to a lack of IT infrastructure. Our goal is to connect these countries in the region for better user experience and easier IT deployment equipped with our data center presence and connectivity.
Could you please tell us about Cross-Connect Services? What do you offer to your customers?
Currently, in our AIMS digital ecosystem, we have approximately 500 companies hosting with us and this consists of Internet Exchanges, network service providers, cloud services providers, financial service providers and enterprises.
With our cross-connection to local Internet Exchanges (MyIX and BKNIX), businesses can easily achieve local routing by peering with them. By leveraging off our position as Cloud Exchange, businesses can directly access their public cloud via cross-connect for secure connections, lower latency and optimized connectivity costs.
What strategy should organizations follow in data management?
In today’s IT world, moving to the cloud is inevitable and has become essential in terms of product and service offerings to customers, internal and external communication, business operations, etc.
For any organisation looking to adopt or expand their cloud platforms, they would have to consider not only the computing cost, but also the bandwidth needed to support it.
In this context, applications such as customer-facing or real-time data analytics should be running on the public cloud while database and critical data should still be hosted in a secured and certified data center. These resources and applications that are running on different platforms should be connected seamlessly via API integration and with ample bandwidth to support it.
And with multi-cloud being adopted as part of an organisation’s cloud ecosystem, IT professionals should also consider IT topology optimization, especially when it comes to interconnecting with different cloud service providers. In this case, AIMS can add value by consolidating these connections to different cloud service providers as well as deploying private clouds from its cloud infrastructure.
What kind of managed services does AIMS provide? Tell us about the benefits of managed services?
AIMS provides a comprehensive portfolio of IT services such as connectivity, infrastructure, security, backup, cloud, monitoring and content delivery network that’s managed by a team of qualified experts.
One of the most important benefits of outsourcing certain aspects of IT operations to AIMS is that it helps businesses budget more effectively and save cost as they only pay for the services they need. Businesses can focus on strategic growth as we assist them to increase operational efficiency by helping with workflow redesign, task automation and equipment upgrade.
With nearly three decades’ worth of industry experience and highly trained engineers, AIMS provides quick and efficient solutions to IT problems and ensures compliance with industry regulations, while businesses can focus on their core operations.
Cybersecurity and disaster recovery is very important today. How does AIMS protect the customer data?
As part of the TIME group of companies, AIMS leverages on TIME’s comprehensive security solutions that feature intelligent systems and professional expertise to protect businesses from malicious attacks and unforeseen incidents.
Its dedicated security operation centre monitors and analyses organisations’ device and network security around the clock via a sophisticated threat intelligence database to detect the latest incoming threats in real-time, giving customers in-depth cybersecurity defense.
TIME’s managed virtual firewall serves as the first line of defense for basic network security requirement that’s quick to deploy and configure. This is complemented with a proactive network protection and up to Layer 7 protection (application layer) to prevent and mitigate Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks.
With the unpredictability of a disaster or disruption, AIMS Disaster Recovery services ensure businesses have the resilience to continue operations with its comprehensive solutions that cover:
- Planning – A comprehensive plan that accounts for the needs of multiple stakeholders and the entire lifecycle of data for greater disaster recovery success.
- Recovery – Resilient, scalable and secure orchestration solutions that streamline operations and ensure disaster recovery works as intended.
- Access – A secure alternative workspace for employees in the event of a disruption to ensure employee productivity and continued business operations.
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