PHOTO - Partnership for Azure Power Program (from left) Datuk Badlisham Ghazali, CEO, MDeC; and Ananth Lazarus, MD, Microsoft Malaysia.



A partnership between Malaysian ICT government agency Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) and software giant Microsoft will boost the cloud ecosystem for Malaysian small and medium enterprises [SMEs] using Microsoft's Azure Power programme.

Under the partnership, RM1.1 million (US$362,000) will be injected into this initiative, called the MSC [Multimedia Supercorridor] Malaysia Cloud On-Boarding programme, said MDeC chief executive officer Dato' Badlisham Ghazali.

"As Malaysian companies prepare to engage and compete on a global level, they are also flocking to the cloud for its advantages to scale on demand and achieve greater productivity," said Badlisham. "Research done by Forrester Consulting has found that 64 percent of Malaysian companies are either currently using or actively planning cloud initiatives."

"It is against this backdrop that MDeC welcomes Microsoft's Azure Programme as one of the key infrastructure partners into the MSC Malaysia Cloud Onboarding Programme (COP)," he said. "The core aim of the MSC Malaysia Cloud Onboarding Programme is to prepare the Malaysian Cloud ecosystem by supporting the local software economy through enabling local independent software vendors (ISVs) with the skills, mindset and technology they need to provide world-class cloud-powered software and services."

Microsoft Malaysia managing director Ananth Lazarus said the Microsoft Azure Programme will be a key industry partner in the MSC Malaysia Cloud Onboarding Programme as it will provide end-to-end assistance for Malaysian ISVs to develop and produce cloud-based software and services.

"Today, we take one more step forward in transforming Malaysia together," said Lazarus. "A thriving local software economy with flourishing Malaysian ISVs is another major component towards a technologically advanced, globally competitive, developed Malaysia by the year 2020. Microsoft is pleased to be able to contribute such best-in-class expertise, insight and technology to Malaysian ISVs and businesses to harness the power of the cloud."

Three steps to the cloud

Lazarus said the programme has three steps. "The Cloud Onboarding phase, which helps ISVs accelerate their transition to the cloud-based business models along with comprehensive technical training and assistance.

"This first step is particularly important because most ISVs assume that providing cloud services merely means putting applications and solutions on the Web," he said. "However, there is more to that as ISVs need to undergo a fundamental paradigm shift towards a software-as-a-service (SaaS) business model, which has its own considerations for pricing, cost of ownership and value propositions. That is why this programme goes beyond providing the technological infrastructure to also include business content training."

"The next step, called the SaaS Acceleration Phase, is designed to reduce initial operation costs and risks," Lazarus said. "Here, ISVs can receive up to RM27,000 (US$8,879) worth of subscription funding for Microsoft's Windows Azure platform to develop their application and solution products. ISVs completing this second step will also receive product certification to help them establish credibility in preparation of going to market."

"With products ready to market, ISVs would then be taken through the third step, called the Cloud to Market Phase, which seeks to assist ISVs in bringing their products to market," he said. "Here, ISVs will receive the necessary commercialisation support to create visibility and to market their products on a local and global level."

Business potential of cloud services

Lazarus said that Malaysian ISVs are quickly catching on to the business potential of cloud-related services, which global market intelligence firm IDC expects to be an RM138 billion (US$45 billion) industry by 2013. "Gartner, another global industry analyst, predicts that by 2012, 80 percent of Fortune 1000 enterprises will be using some cloud computing services while 20 percent of businesses will own no IT assets of their own."

For example, Malaysian ISV Netster Consulting Group executive director, Kelvin Leow, said: "The company offers a loud-based Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Solution called Claritas CRM. The Azure Power Programme will provide vital assistance towards preparing the local software economy for global competition. When it comes to the cloud, there are no real borders for competition - it's the World Wide Web."

The Azure Power Programme is open to MSC Malaysia status companies of all stages from start-ups to established ISVs.

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