BANGKOK
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November
11,
2014 — Microsoft (Thailand) Limited today urged technology startups in Thailand to take full advantage of the support and features available through Microsoft Azure to enable themselves for the Digital Economy and advent of ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in 2015. Microsoft Azure is the preferred cloud service for startups and the only major cloud platform ranked by Gartner as an industry leader for both infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) and platform-as-a-service (PaaS). According to the IMC Institute’s Cloud Computing in Thailand Readiness Survey 2014, Microsoft Azure is top ranked as considered IaaS and PaaS choices by respondents in Thailand
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Noonswoon November 10, 2014 Microsoft Azure empowers Thai startups for the Digital Economy and ASEAN Economic Community: (From left to right) Kavin Asavanant, CEO and Co-Founder, Noonswoon Co., Ltd.; Suchaluck Sarananusorn, Cloud & Enterprise Business Group Lead, Microsoft (Thailand) Limited; Theeranit Pongtongmuang, VP of Engineering, Noonswoon Co., Ltd.; and Ekaraj Kongswangwongsa, Software Industry Development Manager, Microsoft (Thailand) Limited. |
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Suchaluck Sarananusorn, Cloud & Enterprise Business Group Lead, Microsoft Thailand said, “With the integration of AEC, the growth of IT-driven business is expected to drive greater competitiveness in the industry. According to an IDC report, the cloud services market in Thailand is estimated to exceed $700 million next year. As such it is imperative that Microsoft, as a Productivity and Platform company, is able to lend a full range of support towards growing the number of tech startups to promote the digital economy.
With a variety of initiatives and programs ranging from the Imagine Cup and DreamSpark for students and youth, to BizSpark and BizSpark Plus for aspiring and young startups, Microsoft provides a holistic approach to its support towards the growth of the startup ecosystem in Thailand.”
Since its release in 2010, Microsoft Azure has grown at least three times faster than the market growth rate for IaaS and PaaS cloud services in Asia Pacific. For Thailand, Microsoft Azure has doubled in its growth from 1,200 subscriptions in December 2013 to 2,600 subscriptions to date, empowering users and allowing them to compete with larger companies already existing in the market.
Key benefits features of Microsoft Azure for startups include:
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Scalability for domestic and international markets
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Cost-effectiveness
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High system privacy and security
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Reliability with an uptime rate of 99.95% at minimum
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Manageability
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Flexibility: Microsoft Azure supports all technology, be it OpenSource or Microsoft. Startups and developers can choose their development technology, therefore allowing them to build, deploy, and manage applications in their preferred ways
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The new Azure Marketplace is a convenient feature for startups and developers to connect with enterprises and Azure customers everywhere so their innovative solutions can be marketed and deployed easily
Here in Thailand, local companies which have adopted Microsoft Azure include:
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Ookbee: A software company that created a digital publishing platform hosted on Microsoft Azure Cloud
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BUILK: Cloud solution built on Azure to improve construction project management in areas of time, cost and quality
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Buzzebees: Thailand’s leading social privilege platform and now expanding their business globally
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Ecartstudio: Thailand’s leading location-based information systems developer
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Semantic Touch: A software company that creates online marketing platforms for SMEs. In 2012, the company started developing a ready-to-deploy e-commerce solution called BentoWeb that enables SMEs to set up web storefronts online and on Facebook
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Noonswoon: A young and promising Thai matchmaking for meeting new people application and technology startup. The app introduces singles to at least one match a day, at precisely noon. The app currently has over 100,000 registered users across Asia.
“Thailand enjoys a relatively high smartphone penetration rate at 49%. This represents boundless opportunities available here in Thailand for mobile application development startups,” said Kavin Asavanant, Co-Founder & CEO of Noonswoon Co., Ltd. “That said, while the technology startup landscape is very diverse here in Thailand, fundamental challenges that keep local startups from successfully taking flight is the lack of funding and reliable cloud infrastructure.
After having won the AIS The StartUP in 2013, we received a year’s subscription of Microsoft Azure and funding support through the Microsoft BizSpark Plus program – which helped us develop our app quickly and cost-effectively – one of the reasons which contributed to Noonswoon’s commercial success today. The reliability and scalability features of Microsoft Azure kept our app stable and we were able to deploy the app successfully to our preferred platforms thereafter. The ability to manage smooth customer experience during peak hours is one of the key factors lending to our business success and Microsoft Azure has helped us manage that,” said Kavin.
To aid startups get a head start with the support they need in the early stages, Microsoft has introduced BizSpark, a global program that provides free software, support and visibility to help startups succeed. Over 100,000 startups from more than 165 countries have joined BizSpark. In Thailand more than 300 startups have joined BizSpark. The three-year program is free of charge and gives startups access to software and support, as well as generates market visibility.
Startups will have access to free Microsoft Azure cloud platform with 300,000 THB worth of annual Azure credit through the Microsoft BizSpark program and 2 million THB through Microsoft BizSpark Plus. Microsoft Azure provides enterprise-grade technologies and cloud services that can empower startups to compete and innovate at a higher standard than ever before. In addition to reduced capital requirements, Azure presents the choice IaaS and PaaS offerings with unprecedented flexibility, world-class stability, and best-in-class security and privacy – as the only cloud service provider to receive endorsements from all 28 national data protection authorities in Europe and the only cloud provider with a data center in China.
“With Microsoft Azure, we’ve delivered an open, broad, and flexible cloud: developers can start with skills they already possess and software that they are already familiar with. Developers will enjoy great experiences and support for Microsoft workloads, but at the same time we have embraced other open technologies so developers can have a cloud experience that works for their heterogeneous environment. For instance, in enterprises, Java and .NET are still widely used, but developers are also increasingly using PHP, Python and other languages. Microsoft Azure supports all these languages and more. The latest Microsoft loves Linux announcement by our CEO demonstrates our open platform commitment with a support for CoreOS Linux distribution, making it the fifth officially supported flavor of Linux on Azure along with CentOS, Oracle Linux, Suse, and Ubuntu. Currently, around 20 percent of the workloads running on Azure are based on Linux,” concluded Suchaluck.
Interested users can sign up for a free one-month trial of Microsoft Azure and get $200 to spend on all Azure services here: http://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/free-trial/. Startups in Thailand that are interested to find out more about the Microsoft BizSpark and BizSpark Plus programs can contact Ekaraj Kongswangwongsa, Software Industry Development Manager, Microsoft Thailand at [email protected].
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For more information, press only:
Pornravee Suramool or Wichayakorn Jarubundit
Hill+Knowlton Strategies Thailand
Tel: 0-2627-3501 ext. 110, 105 or 081-735-9213, 086-505-9010
E-mail: [email protected], [email protected]