The Content Delivery industry is undergoing a transformative shift with the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to revolutionise various aspects, from network management to customer service and fraud detection. However, realising the full potential of AI in the Content Delivery industry heavily relies on reducing latency. Latency, the delay in data transfer, poses a challenge, especially in traditional cloud computing models centralised in remote data centres. The impact on profits is substantial: In fact, even a slight delay of 100 milliseconds in loading times can reduce conversion rates by 1%. This is where edge facilities can play a role in alleviating the issue.

In this landscape, the synergy between AI and edge computing becomes crucial. By leveraging edge computing, content service provider can further enhance content delivery optimisation by enabling real-time analysis and decision-making with AI, thus improving customer experiences and fraud detection. This investment paves the way for industry advancements, delivering innovative services and experiences in the digital era.

The Edge Advantage: Overcoming Latency Challenges

Edge facilities are strategically located closer to the network's edge, where data is generated. By processing, storing, and analysing data locally, edge facilities significantly reduce latency, enabling real-time AI workloads. This translates to faster decision-making and a wide range of benefits for telco businesses, including:

• Enhanced Network Performance: AI algorithms running on edge can analyse network traffic in real-time, identifying congestion and potential bottlenecks. This allows for proactive network management, optimising resource allocation and ensuring smooth network operation.
• Improved Customer Experience: With edge computing, AI can personalise customer service experiences in real-time. Chatbots can provide faster and more accurate support, while AI-powered recommendation engines can offer tailored service packages and promotions.
• Real-Time Fraud Detection: Fraudulent activity can be costly for any businesses. Edge computing empowers AI to analyse customer transactions at the network edge, enabling immediate fraud detection and prevention, safeguarding revenue and protecting customers.

The Synergy Between AI, Edge Computing, and Digital Infra Provider

Digital Infra Provider possess a unique advantage in this evolving landscape. The existing infrastructure, extensive network reach, and expertise in data management makes Digital Infra Provider ideally suited to leverage the power of edge computing and AI. Here's how this synergy unfolds:

• Edge Powered Network: Digital Infra Provider already have a vast network of cellular towers and base stations across their regions. These locations can be harnessed to strategically deploy edge facilities, bringing processing power closer to the source of data generated by mobile devices and network equipment.
• Security and Data Privacy: Digital Infra Provider have established expertise in data security and management. This knowledge plays a crucial role in ensuring the safe, compliant storage and processing of data used for AI applications, addressing critical privacy concerns.
• Low-Latency Connectivity: The rollout of 5G networks, with their exceptional speed and reliability, provides the Content Service Provider with the high-bandwidth and low-latency connectivity have revolutionise seamless data flow between devices, edge facilities, and the cloud, further optimising AI applications.

Content Service Provider must choose the right Digital Infra partner to thrive and optimise the opportunities ahead. As a trusted and established global partner, TM Global offer uninterrupted global connectivity with a strong ASEAN presence. Our award winning TM Edge Facilities offers 5G regional POI, TMiX, edge computing, and connectivity solutions. #RunsOnTMGlobal today and take your business to the next level with TM Edge Facilities! Check out TM Edge Facilities features and offerings here: https://info.tm.com.my/TM_Edge/Edge-facilities-Solution-brief

TM Global, the wholesale business arm of TM - Malaysia’s telecommunications leader - bagged the Best Operator in the Emerging Market award category at the prestigious Carrier Community Global Awards (CCGA) 2024. This accolade acknowledges TM Global’s dedication to delivering services in developing regions, emphasising its positive contributions to connectivity and economic growth.

Khairul Liza Ibrahim, Executive Vice President of TM Global, said, “This award reinforces our commitment to advancing network infrastructure development and catalysing greater innovation. We have made significant endeavours, including strategic investments in regional subsea cable systems such as Sea-Me-We 6 and the Asia Link Cable System, which enhances global connectivity between ASEAN, Europe and North Asia.

“In Malaysia, we are the largest 5G backhaul network infrastructure provider, significantly contributing to the country’s 5G network coverage. We have also established the most extensive Edge Network Facilities throughout Malaysia, bringing content closer to local communities and businesses. These efforts align with TM’s aspiration to become a Digital Powerhouse by 2030 while positioning Malaysia as a digital hub for the region,” she explained.

TM Global serves as the strategic gateway for global carriers, enterprises, hyperscalers, OTTs, and next-generation AI application providers into Malaysia and the ASEAN region. Utilising its expansive network infrastructure, TM Global delivers services such as Multi-Edge Computing and Content Delivery, strengthening its position as a key enabler of digital transformation and global connectivity.

The CCGA is a distinguished event that recognises the achievements and innovations of telecom wholesale operators and ecosystem partners worldwide and are independently judged by a panel of telecom analysts and experts from the industry.

TM is partnering Nxera, the regional data centre arm of Singtel’s Digital InfraCo unit, in a joint venture to develop data centres in Malaysia starting with a sustainable, hyper-connected AI-ready data centre campus in Johor. This strategic partnership aims to serve the needs of hyperscalers, next-generation AI application providers and enterprises pursuing accelerated digitalisation and cloud in the region. The joint venture is a unique proposition, bolstered by the extensive subsea cable networks of TM and Singtel’s Digital InfraCo which provide global connectivity and enhanced network performance with lower latency and improved reliability. 

Amar Huzaimi Md Deris, TM’s Group Chief Executive Officer, said, "Establishing a hyper-connected AI-ready data centre marks the next phase in our long-standing partnership with Singtel, leveraging our strengths and commitment to elevate ASEAN as the preferred digital hub destination. TM brings the largest domestic network infrastructure, extensive international subsea cable systems and the largest interconnected DC in Malaysia, a solid backbone for this project. This will serve as a catalyst for high performance computing and lay a solid foundation for the future advancement of cloud and AI applications. This collaboration of two main telcos in the region is unique and has positive impact to the development of digital ecosystem that not only benefit the businesses but also nurturing future talent. Through this partnership, TM continues to demonstrate its dedication to delivering innovative and sustainable solutions, marking a pivotal step in our aspiration to becoming a Digital Powerhouse by 2030.” 

Bill Chang, CEO of Nxera and Singtel's Digital InfraCo unit, said, "We are excited to enter the Malaysian market with TM as our strategic partner. This collaboration advances our vision to be the region’s leading sustainable, hyperconnected AI-ready data centre platform, supporting businesses with the digital infrastructure needed for the growing demand for cloud, digitalisation and AI. The development of this first data centre campus in Johor, which can be expanded in phases, demonstrates our ability to scale quickly in markets that are important to our customers. With our joint industry expertise and strong track record, we will build and operate one of the most efficient, sustainable and connectivity-rich data centres in Malaysia. In addition to data centres, we will be expanding the submarine cable connectivity between Singapore and Johor to enhance digital connectivity. Our joint venture will also partner institutes of higher learning in Malaysia to nurture talent for our projects and the industry. Our strategy of developing data centre sites with close proximity to our operations in Singapore allow us to capture spill-over demand from our customers and help them scale their business with confidence.”   

Located in Iskandar Puteri, just 16 km from Singapore, the data centre campus will be the largest to date for both TM and Nxera. It will be built to the latest standards for reliability, security and sustainability while offering the best local and international connectivity. With its close proximity to subsea cable links between Singapore and Malaysia, the data centre will be well-placed to support the increasing demand from both countries’ digitalisation and development initiatives. 

The initial phase of the data centre is planned for 64MW and can be scaled up to 200MW in response to market demand. This high-power density campus will be able to host large computing and AI capabilities such as requirements by cloud hyperscalers, GPU-as-a-Service providers and features advanced technologies such as liquid cooling to support high-power density workloads and operations efficiently. The data centre will be a LEED-certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) green building, emphasising its commitment to greater energy efficiency and sustainable practices.

As Malaysia’s integrated telco and technology leader, TM will contribute its expertise in the region’s network infrastructure deployment to deliver customised range of wholesale data, connectivity, data centre and platform solutions catering to both local and international needs. Additionally, TM also provides Cloud services via its sovereign Cloud Alpha Edge solution.

TM currently operates seven data centres across Malaysia with 2 core data centres located in Klang Valley and Johor. Its entry into the Asia Link Cable Systems (ALC) partnership facilitates the laying of a submarine cable system spanning approximately 7,200km, with an initial design capacity of 24 Terabits/sec. Coupled with the establishment of an international Cable Landing Station at TM Exchange Kuala Sedili, Johor, these serve as vital infrastructure enhancements to accelerate the growth of the data centre industry in the state.

Nxera is a rapidly growing regional platform backed by Singtel and leading global investment firm KKR, leveraging its data centre operations in Singapore to expand overseas. Customers can also tap into a host of services such as Singtel’s Paragon cloud orchestration platform and upcoming GPU-as-a-Service. They will be able to orchestrate their AI workloads in a multi-network and multi-cloud environment, serving as a catalyst for greater innovation, entrepreneurship and business excellence.

Nxera is developing three new AI-ready data centres in the region in addition to 62MW of existing capacity in Singapore. This includes a new 58MW data centre in Tuas, Singapore and data centres with partners in Indonesia and Thailand. Nxera’s total pipeline capacity is set to increase from its current operational capacity of 62MW in Singapore to more than 200MW in the region in the next three years. The data centres will be served by Digital InfraCo's comprehensive network of subsea fibre-optic cables which provide customers with the best country-to-country connectivity in the Asia Pacific region.
 

We are excited to announce that our Klang Valley Data Centre (KVDC) has achieved the Tier III Certification of Constructed Facility (TCCF) from the Uptime Institute. This significant milestone marks our commitment to unparalleled reliability and excellence in data centre services. With the completion of Block 1 fit out, KVDC, which is now a part of TM Global, is designed with  state of the art critical infrastructure redundancies, ensuring that businesses' critical data remains protected and accessible 24/7. We are proud to celebrate this achievement as our General Manager of Data Centre Strategy and Product, Mohd Radzy Ab Rahim, received the prestigious plaque from Patrick Chan, Vice President of Uptime Institute's Asia region. 

Discover more about TM Data Centre's cutting-edge solutions: https://tmglobal.com.my/products-and-solutions/hosting/data-centre

TM Global participated in the Datacentre and Cloud Infra Summit, 2024 held in Kuala Lumpur from 14 – 15 May 2024. The event, which gathered more than 500 data centre and cloud professionals as well as public and private organisations provided an excellent opportunity for TM Global to cultivate relationships with prospective clients and existing partners.

During the event, TM Global promoted key products such as Data Centre, Edge Facilities and Edge Solutions to potential customers. One of the highlights was the Head of the Data Centre, Mahathir Said's participation in a panel discussion on 14 May 2024. He contributed his expertise to the topic "Roadmap for Transforming Malaysia into an Emerging Digital Infrastructure Hub", offering valuable insights into TM Global's initiatives to position Malaysia as ASEAN's digital hub and our commitment to bridging the digital divide.

Commenting on TM Global's participation, Khairul Liza Ibrahim, Executive Vice President of TM Global, said, "Our presence at the DCCI Summit is geared towards sharing insights on market trends and case studies, showcasing our robust digital infrastructure capabilities, which includes the most interconnected Data Centres that can enable future-proof AI-related deployment in both domestic and international landscape. This initiative underscores our commitment to bolstering Malaysia's position as the Digital Hub for the ASEAN region, an aspiration that TM as a Group is committed to as it strives to become a Digital Powerhouse by 2030."

TM Global participation in this summit, strengthened its position as the leading digital enabler and trusted infrastructure provider in the region.

As Malaysia's leading integrated telco and digital technology company, Telekom Malaysia (TM) excels at delivering carrier solutions via TM Global, its wholesale domestic and international business arm, which has access to a vast fibre cable network, submarine cable systems, international gateways, content delivery networks, data hosting services, and regional offices around the world.

TM Global reported a remarkable 5% revenue increase to RM808.6m in Q3 of 2023, compared to the previous year.

Several notable collaborations in 2023 further strengthened its position as a catalyst of digital adoption across industries and the 5G ecosystem, such as the extension of a decade-long partnership High-Speed Broadband access collaboration with Malaysian access seekers, as well as the deployment of two additional International Internet Gateways in East Malaysia, which not only closes the digital divide but also drives digital opportunities for education, jobs, and entrepreneurship.

Despite the domestic market challenge on wholesale infrastructure, TM Global mitigated the risks through ongoing collaborations with industry players in promoting innovative new value-add broadband solutions to enhance the overall internet experience for the nation.

TM Global is also firmly established internationally as the gateway for businesses seeking to expand into ASEAN and vice versa, utilising its capabilities encompassing the 32 submarine cable system networks that it owns or leases, which spans over 340,000 kilometres worldwide and have over 80 Tbps capacity.

In this regard, the company has expanded its extensive inventory by participating in the Asia Link Cable consortium to build the new subsea cable to significantly increase data-transfer capacity of TM's existing submarine cable systems, meeting the region's escalating bandwidth demands across ASEAN and North Asia.

TM Global also remains committed to facilitating content distribution into Southeast Asia and beyond through TM Edge, and it has continued to broaden its business into platform services in 2023 to connect service providers worldwide with the growing ASEAN market.
Going into the future, TM Global wishes to elevate its position with innovative solutions and aspires to become a leading regional digital platform provider, whilst consistently exploring state-of-the-art applications to drive digital expansion locally and across the regions.
 
In recognition of its stellar performance in 2023, TM Global has been acknowledged by the Asian Telecom Awards 2024 as the recipient of the Telecom Company of the Year - Malaysia and the Wholesale Company Initiative of the Year - Malaysia category wins.

“With a string of distinguished awards under its belt, TM Global has solidified its position as the preeminent regional wholesale telco for its core connectivity capabilities as well as those that go beyond connectivity. Looking ahead, TM Global will continue to maintain its position as the leading wholesale telecom company aiming to revolutionise the region,” it said.

The prestigious awards programme honours businesses and initiatives that have not only driven progress in the telecom industry, but have also ignited transformative shifts that have reshaped the digital landscape.

This article was first published on Asian Telecom https://asiantelecom.com/event-news/telekom-malaysia-pioneers-future-adaptive-solutions-technological-innovations
 

We recently wrapped up our participation in Capacity Middle East 2024, an event that brought together key players from the ICT sector across the Middle East and beyond.

Our delegation had the privilege of engaging with representatives from a diverse array of industries, including carriers, cloud service providers, peering networks, hyperscale companies, and content providers alike, paving the way for insightful discussions on cutting-edge solutions and the formation of significant partnerships.

With representatives from TM headquarters, TM Dubai, and TMUK, our team was able to cover a wide spectrum of topics, including updates within the carrier community and innovative solutions aimed at #KeepingTheWorldConnected.

We are delighted to share that we have been honoured with Zero Outage Supplier certification for the fifth year in a row. This recognition from Deutsche Telekom Technik GmbH demonstrates our commitment to maintaining the highest service performance quality, exceeding industry standards, and prioritising customer experience excellence. We feel honoured to be acknowledged as a reliable partner in ensuring zero outages for our customers.

The ASEAN region holds tremendous digital business potential for global service providers, hyperscalers, content providers and OTT players. TM Global is empowering them with comprehensive digital infrastructure solutions to provide a seamless gateway into the region.

Today, the ten countries in ASEAN are collectively equivalent to the fifth largest economy in the world. They are expected to grow by over 5% year-on-year over the next 10 years, a growth rate that is above the global average, according to a study¹ by Asialink Business.

With a population of 600 million and 460 million internet users in Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, ASEAN is increasingly becoming a lucrative digital market.

In the coming years, ASEAN is poised to hold tremendous business potential, considering its determined effort to create the ASEAN Digital Masterplan 2025² that aims at improving the connectivity and telecom infrastructure in its member countries.

The plan states: “There is high quality and ubiquitous connectivity throughout ASEAN, delivered through the underlying telecommunications infrastructure. Excellent, ubiquitous and high-speed connectivity is clearly essential to enable digital services. This means both improving infrastructure in those areas that are already connected and bringing connectivity to unconnected and underserved areas.”

TM Global, the global and wholesale business arm of Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) recognised this immense potential and has laid the groundwork for global and domestic service providers, content providers, hyperscalers and OTT players across the globe to penetrate the ASEAN region. It has established an ecosystem that provides value-driven connectivity and customised solutions to help them grow their business.

Six regional offices was set up in Australia, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States of America, which allow TM Global to respond swiftly to enquiries and personally advise service providers from these areas on the best solutions to penetrate ASEAN.

Malaysia, strategically located at the heart of ASEAN, has enabled TM Global to own and lease 30 submarine cable systems for domestic and international connectivity. The submarine cable systems span more than 320,000km which provide reliable, diversified and uninterrupted connectivity solutions.

TM is also a consortium member for the SEA-ME-WE 6 submarine cable that will land at its new cable landing station in Morib, the latest addition to TM’s existing international cable landing stations in Malaysia. Its strategic proximity to Klang Valley, which is close to most hyperscalers’ data centres, positions it as a key cable landing site for Malaysia.

In addition to submarine cable systems, TM carries internet traffic to Thailand and Singapore via terrestrial links. TM has also established 29 Points of Presence (PoP) worldwide that function as international gateways, five of which are located in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Singapore and Indonesia.

The rapid digital transformation in ASEAN has led to an increasing demand for scalable data centres that provide adequate data storage, reliable disaster recovery and efficient data management. TM operates six data centres in Malaysia, three of which are Tier III certified and directly connected to the international gateway that hosts major hyperscalers and OTT players from the United States and Asia. These data centres provide options for bundling with other services to create a total end-to-end solution that combines co-location, capacity, connectivity and IP. The combination of data centres and extensive connectivity enables TM Global customers to enjoy seamless, secure and uninterrupted internet connectivity.

In addition to data centres, TM Global is also offering Edge Facilities, an integrated digital infrastructure to support 5G roll out, Edge Compute Platform (ECP) requirements and TM’s Internet Exchange (TMiX).

The Edge Facilities serve as neutral locations to host TM Global partner’s 5G regional Point of Interconnect (POI) for interconnection with Mobile Network Operators (MNOs). Since the facilities are connected to the partner’s 5G Core Network, MNOs can integrate their networks at the regional POIs before launching their 5G services. Edge Facilities can also serve to facilitate content delivery network requirements, bringing content closer to end users.

In order to help content creators combat the challenges of network infrastructure, coverage and footprint, insufficient capacity and quality degradation, limited network capacity, high cost, and longer lead time, TM Global has introduced TM Edge.

TM Edge provides holistic content and digital ecosystems to facilitate network operators, video streaming providers and content providers in delivering their content to ASEAN. Among the services provided under TM Edge are Content Delivery Service (CDS), Last Mile Delivery (LMD), Edge Compute Platform (ECP) and Edge Gaming (e-Sport and cloud gaming).

With more than 90 in-deep country cache node presence, TM Global is able to provide faster content delivery into ASEAN and the rest of the world via its cloud-based content delivery platform. TM Edge brings computation and data storage closer to the location where it is needed, reducing the distance between the end-users and servers, and, as a result, improving the latency. Live video streaming and online gaming providers are among the digital players that can benefit from TM Edge, as it will reduce the round-trip time lag between game devices and servers and improve the quality of images and video.

With rapid 5G development in the future, TM Edge is essential for next-generation content play. Digital providers may develop more applications that provide a 3D virtual space for people to work, shop and have fun. Such applications require a much-needed high-power bandwidth that can be achieved through the combination of 5G and TM Edge.

Domestic and International service providers can also leverage TMiX, TM’s wholly owned IP peering network that ensures optimised connection to the internet for peak performance, resilience and efficient exchange of local and regional traffic. With TMiX, specific traffic is localised within Malaysia and ASEAN, reducing the dependency on costly international links without affecting internet experience.

TM has deployed 62 TMiX nodes nationwide to serve as a regional IX, with options for users to interconnect at convenient locations. TM is a gateway for service providers, content providers, hyperscalers and OTTs across the globe to enter the ASEAN region to deliver exceptional customer experience, cost-effectiveness and profitability.

Get started on your journey to ASEAN with TM Global.

Source
1 https://asialinkbusiness.com.au/news-media/southeast-asias-digital-boom
2 https://asean.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/ASEAN-Digital-Masterplan-2025.pdf

This article was first published in The Edge Malaysia

Through its global infrastructure, TM Global’s edge services not only help online providers transform the way they cater to their audience but also optimise cost efficiency and profitability.

In today's rapidly evolving technological landscape, the surge in Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled devices has ushered in a new era of connectivity. This shift is generating massive amounts of data that require real-time processing and analysis. Industries, such as retail, are striving to meet customer demands by providing robust and user-friendly e-commerce platforms that offer convenient, personalised experiences, and secure transactions. Additionally, the swift rise in entertainment demands, like AR gaming and video streaming, has led to a marked increase in bandwidth requirements and heightened quality expectations from end-users.

Consumers nowadays rightly demand the highest quality experiences that top providers strive to offer. With the increased number of converged services, customers will quickly switch to alternative service providers if their expectations are not met.

Delivering high-quality user experiences

To address these mounting demands, service providers are turning to edge services. These services allow them to process data closer to its source, resulting in enhanced performance, heightened security, and real-time insights across various applications and industries. By harnessing edge computing, service providers can offer superior user experiences, characterised by reduced latency, increased responsiveness, and optimised network resources.

To optimise performance, service providers are moving towards co-locating their content closer to the network's edge. Co-locating data ensures high-performance delivery of content and services to end-users, whilst leveraging a data centre or Edge facility's reliable infrastructure and connectivity.

This strategy presents a cost-effective and scalable solution for service providers to roll out and manage their edge services. Recognising this need, TM Global, the wholesale business arm of Telekom Malaysia (TM), has set up edge facilities and strategically positioned nodes throughout Malaysia and the Asean region. This move effectively addresses the requirements of service providers seeking high-performance content delivery.

Moreover, TM Global’s Edge suite of solutions is designed to boost service providers’ ability to deliver an enhanced user experience. This is achieved by reducing latency, speeding up load times and ensuring high-quality streaming. With the backing of over 90 Content Delivery Network nodes, 32 subsea cable systems spanning more than 340,000 km worldwide with over 80 Tbps of capacity, and 29 points-of-presence globally, TM Edge Content Delivery services offer reliable, diverse, and continuous connectivity not just in the Asean region, but worldwide.

Furthermore, TM Global’s Edge Compute Platform (ECP) enables the rollout of distributed edge infrastructure that brings computation and data storage closer to end-users’ locations. This closer proximity drastically reduces latency, resulting in an overall better user experience.

For instance, the field of AR gaming, which is rapidly gaining traction, is emerging as one of the industries poised to benefit immensely from edge solutions. TM Global is primed to support developers and service providers in this fast expanding industry via its Edge Gaming service. This offering particularly caters to the demand for placing game data closer to players, ensuring low-latency experiences and setting up a complete and integrated edge gaming ecosystem. By leveraging TM Global's Edge Facility and 5G technology, developers and providers are empowered to provide the much-coveted high-quality digital gaming experience with minimal latency.

A strategic partner for the Asean region and global market

TM Global serves a central role in rolling out a carrier-neutral edge ecosystem, propelling the next wave of technologies and applications. TM Global's expansive network and on-ground expertise stand ready to help businesses unlock the vast potential of edge computing, capturing new growth avenues.

Khairul Liza Ibrahim, TM Global's vice president of product and marketing, says: “As a trusted wholesale partner to both local and global technology leaders, we not only provide a strategic gateway into the Asean region but also consistently strive to elevate customer experiences, enhance cost-effectiveness, and boost profitability for service providers, content creators, hyperscalers, and OTTs worldwide.”

This article was first published on StraitsTimes.com.