Singapore’s StarHub is going head-on with rival SingTel in the enterprise cloud via a syndication partnership with Microsoft.
The agreement will see StarHub, the nation's second-largest operator, go-to-market with Microsoft’s Office 365 cloud productivity suite in Singapore. A public beta for the service was announced earlier this week.
The partnership is the second of its kind in Asia – a similar agreement was forged between Telstra and Microsoft in Australia.
Microsoft has laid down capital expenditure for its own data center in Singapore, while StarHub will provide connectivity between Microsoft’s data center and its business broadband customers signed up to the service.
Both firms are working to ensure Microsoft’s existing 230 cloud customers in Singapore migrate to Office 365 when the service goes commercial later this year. The service is expected to cost customers between $6 - $27 per user, per month, dependent on configuration.
“Having the telco as a single point of contact gives customers peace of mind,” said Tan Tong Hai, StarHub’s chief operating officer, adding customers could pick cable broadband or fiber as choice of connectivity.
Tan told Telecom Asia that the service’s advantage over SingTel’s ONEOffice suite, launched in collaboration in Google, lay in customers’ familiarity with Microsoft’s products. “It’s easier to continue with something you’re familiar with than switch to something they’ve never used before.”
Trial SME customer Sindicatum Carbon Capital was offered a 99.99% financially-backed SLA; both StarHub and Microsoft have guaranteed enterprise-class SLAs for SME customers.
StarHub’s partnership with Microsoft in Singapore is not exclusive, said Jessica Tan, managing director of Microsoft Singapore, in the first hint that Microsoft may in future engage other partners to market its cloud productivity suite.
Ovum senior analyst Claudio Castelli feels StarHub will face significant challenges in its bid to gain a more prominent foothold in the enterprise cloud space. “Singtel’s early entry into the cloud market is starting to pay off. It already has a significant number of customers, most of which are local Singaporean enterprises and SMEs.” said Castelli.
“As the former incumbent in a geographically small but very concentrated business environment, SingTel has big competitive advantages here. It has a strong relationship with the majority of small businesses which extends beyond billing.”