Network infrastructure core to cloud and AI deployment

For Eric Wong, President for Asia Pacific at Expereo, the increasing number of data centers in the region as well as the increasing demand for cloud services is contributing heavily to the increasing need to have a strong network infrastructure.

As a specialized global internet service provider tailored for enterprises and government entities operating across regions, Expereo offers full-stack managed connectivity solutions that ranges from last‑mile access and SD‑WAN to network security and cloud acceleration which is supported by a vast partner ecosystem.

While Expereo’s network capabilities and global coverage remain core strengths, the Amsterdam headquartered company believes the Asia Pacific region has a lot more opportunities for them. In fact, the company believes that the increasingly digitally savvy generation and rapid technological advancements in the APAC region will see an unprecedented surge in digital infrastructure investments. This will be in response to the widespread adoption of 5G, IoT, and AI across the region that is pushing the boundaries of traditional infrastructure.

As such, it is critical for organizations in the region to invest in next-generation network technologies, such as 5G and WiFi 7 to support high-speed data transfer, low latency, and increased capacity for connected devices. And at the core of this would be need to invest in comprehensive cybersecurity frameworks that protect sensitive data and ensure compliance with international data protection regulations.

According to Eric Wong, President for Asia Pacific at Expereo, the increasing number of data centers in the region as well as the increasing demand for cloud services is contributing heavily to the increasing need to have a strong network infrastructure, which is where Expereo comes in.

“Initially, we provided all the services that's really challenging for a lot of MNCs. This includes connecting to the building, up the riser, and all the nitty gritty details. That was kind of our core business. Now, with a lot of customers now going into the cloud, they are also asking us to connect to Azure, AWS, Google Cloud and such. So we know where all those regional instances are, and then all the cloud connect and on-ramp into the cloud connect. We connect those as well. So, there's a lot of providers that we also work with to get those point-to-point networks,” explained Wong.

For example, Wong said a lot of customers want to connect into Singapore because that’s where the AWS Instances are. Now, if the customer is based in Indonesia, Wong said Expereo will provide connectivity from their site in Jakarta into the port or point of presence and then route that into Singapore. This is either through a dedicated network or over an IP.

“On top of that we provide the equipment. So, we monitor the VeloCloud SD-WAN services. We do monitor and help clients manage all the flow of traffic for SD-WAN. And now there's SASE, because it's a security element. So, we do work with VeloCloud on the SASE as well. We also work with Cato, which is another SASE single stack provider. They'll do the middle mile, and we'll do what we call the last mile. At the same time, within our POPs, we serve over 190 countries around the world. We also have about 30 POPs, which are our own on-net equipment in certain countries. And within that, we deploy our own software, which we are able to route local traffic up international and pick the most optimized path,” said Wong.

Wong also explained that as more services become more based, there will also be the demand for AI which will need the core network to be intelligent and have capabilities to route to the most optimized path.

Modernizing network infrastructure

In an IDC InfoBrief commissioned by Expereo, over a quarter of businesses (28%) report revenue losses of up to US$5 million due to network outages or poor performance. Alarmingly, an additional 23% have experienced losses exceeding US$5 million. These failures have resulted in nearly half (49%) of global businesses compelled to re-evaluate their technology infrastructure, and 40% of global tech leaders say it’s caused networking and connectivity to rise higher up the C-suite agenda.

The study also revealed that while cybersecurity is on the top of the mind when it comes to AI investments, one of the challenges organizations are facing is AI deployment because of the network connectivity. Wong pointed out that a lot of companies have an underinvested network because of the old architecture or maybe not everything is off prem and is still on prem in the past.

“They've gone through digital transformation and through the cloud. So, they've put some investments into the network but when you're literally transforming your business into AI, you're changing your business processes, and your entire company is going to run on a lot of it based on AI. Suddenly the AI becomes your heartbeat of the business, but you realize you do not have the best designed network to connect to those AIs. That's where the challenge has been.”

Wong also mentioned that organizations are challenged on how to connect the network with a provider that not only has the right design but is also a safe provider. For example, what happens if a network gets cut? Can the organization afford the downtime to the business?

Network and security

According to Wong, one of Expereo’s strengths is that when a company uses an ISP network, they have control of their own cybersecurity.

“It's their protocols and it's their security. So we don't touch the infrastructure. But what we do obviously when we onboard every supplier is we do a strict and very stringent supply assessment so that it is fully certified. We do all the checks as well because we do carry data from an external platform. We have our own internal CISO who are based in Singapore and also an SOC. We do have certifications in all those in place to make sure that it's fully certified as well,” said Wong.

In terms of the partners they work with, one of Expereo’s biggest partner is Cisco. What Expereo does is that it gets the routers and network products from Cisco and provide the installation services, turnkey, the equipment, installed pre-stage and then post-stage, and then turnkey.

“And then after that, when we hand the keys over to them, they go through acceptance tests to make sure everything works very well according to the standards in the routing. So, make sure that, for example, all the websites are accessible, all the ones that they don't want as well, especially with SD-WAN, we put them on a certain list, a sort of whitelist, blacklist. And also at the same time, acceleration. These are preferred, so they'll have a higher rating. So, for example, email might be a lower rating, email service might be a lower rating, but video is a higher rating. So, we do all of that turnkey. And then for the installation, day two, we also run it for them. It's a managed network service,” said Wong.

Interestingly, the managed network service business for Expereo has also been on the rise primarily because of the lack of talent. Wong explained that as organizations focus more on hiring more skills in AI, the task of managing the network is moving towards a managed service.

“Even telcos are also coming to us because they struggle as well, because we're such a specialist in this arena. They struggle to scale because they have other services that they want to sell, right? So, they also don't have engineers that are 100% able to understand Internet connectivity. And Internet connectivity, you need to have specialized knowledge and understanding of how Internet networks work, the different ASNs, technology, and also different lingos, as well as work with partners around the physical element. So now, the telcos feel we do it better than them are looking at us as a trusted partner in this offering. So, they continue to offer, but they will pass it to us to run it,” said Wong.

Looking forward, Wong believes that the demand for network infrastructure will only grow with the growth of data centers and AI. At the same time, he believes that IT is now becoming a decision maker to educate the local offices, especially when it comes to investing in the network infrastructure.

“This is not a lingo that the local office managers understand. In some cases, even the budgets are not centralized. So, we're seeing that as the IT departments evolve, they see the need to control this. It used to be a collaborative effort. But as the branch becomes a core part, especially since the branch is being connected into platforms or into the cloud platform, they have to manage the branch. So, this is becoming a very big change in Asia. As the IT teams are responsible for the delivery of the application and the quality of the application, they have to manage the last mile. They'll have to manage the branch. And that also means that there's more need for players like us to manage this,” concluded Wong.