2009 saw considerable growth in the demand for Asia Pacific connectivity and – with emerging markets such as South East Asia expected to lead the global recovery in 2010* – this trend is set to continue, particularly for international connectivity services. This has led to considerable expansion by the telco industry across Asia Pacific, both by domestic and foreign carriers. So why choose Telstra as your service provider?
Gartner has recently released a December 2009 study, ‘How to Select the Best Asia/Pacific IP VPN Network Infrastructure’. It assesses the role of key criteria, including:
- Geographic coverage – specifically the need for access to at least 14 major countries to provide strong international coverage whilst partnering with local providers to deepen domestic coverage.
- Type of node, differentiating between wholly-owned POP and bilateral NNI connection with a local service provider's network.
- Redundancy level of each POP, indicating whether it is redundant or non-redundant, based on whether it has diverse routing
The report’s conclusion is encouraging, commending the high levels of investment which have been made by the telco industry to improve IP VPN connectivity:
“The rollout of the MPLS network in Asia/Pacific is fairly mature… NSPs can now offer extended domestic coverage in China and are now extending their reach into India. Reliability and performance have also improved.”
And although the report does little to differentiate between the different carriers, it does make three recommendations:
- Enterprises should give preference to providers with their own-network infrastructure as they can provide a higher assurance of service quality.
- Enterprises with extensive domestic connectivity needs in major developing markets should consider NNIs as an acceptable and necessary alternative to their own PoPs.
- Enterprises must put more emphasis on network resilience as it can improve reliability and performance significantly.
Meeting growing demand for data connectivity in Asia
Telstra’s connectivity and network coverage in Asia have been further expanded following a series of initiatives in key growth markets in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia and Indonesia, along with reinforcement of our dual-PoP strategy.
This expansion includes:
- Establishing Vietnam IP VPN PoPs through a partnership with Viettel, one of Vietnam’s largest full-service telecommunications providers
- Establishing on-net PoPs in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City
- Establishing a direct presence in Indonesia and Malaysia via new PoP infrastructure
- Expanding dual-PoP connectivity to seven major countries in Asia
- Expanding IP VPN footprint into Malaysia and the Middle East through a partnership with Telekom Malaysia.
Telstra’s continued investment in infrastructure and strategic partnerships will ensure that international clients can access the standard of connectivity required to support their own business expansion strategies now and in the coming years.
Partnerships with leading suppliers expand Telstra’s global footprint
The new PoPs in Asia complement Telstra International’s recent expansion in South Africa, Europe and the Middle East. Partnerships with COLT in Europe and South Africa’s Internet Solutions (IS) follow Telstra’s partnership with UAE supplier du, announced late in 2008, to provide connectivity between Dubai and Europe.
By partnering with the best carriers in each region, Telstra is able to ensure fast, resilient, secure access and managed services for our multinational customers in some of the most strategically important markets in the world. The reciprocal agreements with COLT and IS will also enable customers based in these regions to access Telstra’s industry-leading Next-IP™ network to connect into Asia.
The partnership with COLT will provide advanced connectivity into the major business centres of Western Europe, including France, Germany and Italy. These business hubs also act as a gateway to the growing economies of Eastern Europe, offering new strategic opportunities for business growth.