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This document details the current cloud computing scenario in Singapore
Citation preview
ISBN: 978-981-07-5158-6
Contents
Foreword
The Singapore Landscape
Cloud Organisations
Case Studies
Directory Listing
Acknowledgements
2
4
28
39
70
176
Copyright 2013 Info-Communications Development Authority of Singapore. All rights reserved.
This publication may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, in whole or
in part, without prior written permission.
Cloud Service Providers
SaaS Independent Software Vendors
Cloud Technology Companies
Cloud Training Providers
Foreword
CLOUD COMPUTING IN SINGAPORE2
Singapore has been making substantial progress in creating a
conducive environment for cloud computing.
According to the 2013 BSA Global Cloud Computing Scorecard,
a report to track year-over-year change in the international
policy landscape for cloud computing, Singapore has jumped
from tenth to fth position in this year's ranking. One of the
contributing factors is the introduction of a data protection
law. The ranking also scored Singapore the highest in the
component that compares the infrastructure available in each
country to support the digital economy and cloud computing.
For Singapore to become a global cloud computing hub, there is a need to ensure
high speed and seamless broadband connectivity domestically, as well as between
Singapore and the rest of the world. To this end, the development of major
infocomm infrastructures such as the Next Generation Nationwide Broadband
Network, Singapore Internet Exchange and Data Centre Park, provides a conducive
environment to nurture a vibrant cloud computing ecosystem.
As we continue to enhance our underlying infrastructure, IDA will also increase our
efforts to develop data related services and applications to encourage cloud adoption
and further develop Singapore's cloud ecosystem. For example, the Data-as-a-
Service programme will be launched in the second half of 2013 to catalyse the
development of a nationwide platform that allows the efcient delivery of data, on
demand, to interested data buyers to develop applications for in-house or business
consumption.
IDA will also continue to enhance and build on current cloud computing initiatives
and programmes. One of these is the attraction of agship users of cloud users to
Singapore to enhance Singapore's capability in this space. We have launched six
Calls for Cloud Computing Proposals since 2010 for selected projects to receive
support in terms of compute and storage resources and quantum of cloud services.
To-date, these Calls have awarded 75 projects with cloud resources to undertake
test-bedding, proofs-of-concept and research.
One such proof-of-concept project is the porting of the COnstruction and Real Estate
NETwork (CORENET) e-Submission System Disaster Recovery onto the cloud
environment. Owned by the Building & Construction Authority, CORENET provides
for electronic production, submission, checking and approval of building plans in
Singapore. This project aims to explore the overall feasibility, technical challenges
and cost-benets in cloud enablement of CORENET.
We have also launched the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) Enablement Programme
(SEP) to support the industry's efforts to enhance their software applications into
SaaS offerings for various industry verticals. For example, in the construction sector
as of July 2012, IDA provided SEP grants to two independent software vendors
(ISVs) to SaaS-enable their software used in construction design and facilities
management.
3CLOUD COMPUTING IN SINGAPORE
For the manufacturing sector, IDA provided SEP grants to four ISVs to SaaS-
enable their Precision Engineering software.
Similarly, IDA will continue to encourage cloud adoption within the Government.
Both the Cloud Services Bulk Tender and EnVision Bulk Tender simplify and facilitate
purchasing of cloud based services by Government ministries/departments,
statutory boards, organs of state, and qualied participating entities. The Cloud
Services Bulk Tender allows Government users to procure cloud services from a pre-
qualied panel of public cloud service providers while the EnVision Bulk Tender
provides for the supply of cloud-based video hosting and streaming services using
the utility pricing model.
As part of the efforts in forging R&D relationships and building knowledge capital
assets, Singapore will continue to harness its existing knowledge capital resources
in tertiary institutions and research institutes.
To this end, IDA has partnered with the Institute for Infocomm Research on a
Technology Evaluation Programme where infocomm companies, through the
programme's short-term, no-fee evaluation licence grant, are encouraged to use the
technologies developed by the research institute to develop cloud computing
solutions. These companies are also encouraged to take on a commercial licence if
their trial deployment proves to be successful and of commercial value. We have
also signed MOUs on technology evaluation partnership with the National University
of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University in October 2012, as well as the
Institute of High Performance Computing in March 2013, while six local companies
have signed eight evaluation licenses.
In this 2013 edition of the Cloud Computing in Singapore booklet, we have
included details of IDA's initiatives and efforts to encourage and seed cloud
adoption, as well as case studies of how some companies have embraced cloud
computing. We hope that these will encourage greater interest and sharing among
potential cloud users and cloud-related companies so as to develop a more vibrant
cloud computing ecosystem. We hope that readers will continue to draw inspiration
and knowledge from this latest publication.
Ronnie Tay
Chief Executive
Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore
The Singapore Landscape
5 Genesis of Cloud Computing in Singapore
6 Developing the Cloud Ecosystem
8 Promoting Cloud Adoption
19 Attracting Cloud Players
20 Developing Competency for Industry
22 Forging R&D Relationships and Building
Knowledge Capital Assets
25 Providing Enabling Infrastructure
26 Building a Trusted Environment Through Policy
and Legislation
Genesis of Cloud Computing in Singapore
5CLOUD COMPUTING IN SINGAPORE
The National Grid Ofce (or NGO) was
established in 2003 under the Agency for
Science, Technology and Research
(A*STAR), to promote the adoption of grid
computing in Singapore. NGO was then
led by the National Grid Steering
Committee (NGSC) chaired by Mr Peter
Ho, former Permanent Secretary for
Defence and Head of Civil Service. The
NGSC oversaw and provided directions for
the National Grid effort. The National
Grid's vision is to facilitate the seamless
use of an integrated cyber infrastructure
in a secure, effective and efcient manner
to advance scientic, engineering and
biomedical R&D, with the longer term goal
of transforming the Singapore economy
using grid.
Grid Services originated from the scientic
community, where there was a need for
high performance computing, increasingly
achieved by harnessing commodity
hardware through aggregation and
virtualisation of infocomm resources. Over
time, concepts of utility business models,
Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and advance-
ment in virtualisation resulted in the
popularity of grid services to a larger
community beyond the scientic users, to
industry and business users, in what we
now refer to as cloud computing.
NGSC saw the po ten t i a l o f how
industries and enterprises could reap
cost savings in IT and the benets that
grid computing promises. Under the
chairmanship of Mr Richard Lim, then
Chief Executive of Defence Science &
Technology Agency, the use of grid
services for animation rendering was
promoted among the digital media
industry. To achieve this fully, the NGO
was transferred to IDA in April 2007. This
allowed IDA to facilitate enterprises to
adopt grid computing, while A*STAR
continues to champion research efforts
to advance grid technologies. The NGSC,
in turn, became the National Grid
Advisory Council (NGAC).
Reecting the objective to promote cloud
computing adoption among users in
industry, businesses and enterprises, NGO
took on its new name as the National
Cloud Computing Ofce (NCCO) with
effect from 1 April 2013. Accordingly,
NGAC became known as the National
Cloud Computing Advisory Council
(NCCAC).
The Council, currently chaired by Mr Noel
Hon, Chairman of e-Cop Pte Ltd, com-
prises key stakeholders such as cloud
users, providers and researchers, con-
tribute their ideas towards Singapore's
cloud vision, and ensure that our strategi-
es are in step with our economy's needs.
Developing the Cloud Ecosystem
CLOUD COMPUTING IN SINGAPORE6
With the paradigm shift in computing
where businesses and end-users can
access infocomm services via cloud
computing, IDA has increased its focus
on seeding cloud computing efforts.
Our cloud vision now is to sharpen
Singapore's overall economic com-
petitiveness through adoption of cloud
computing and to enhance the vibrancy
and growth of Singapore's infocomm
sector through the development of a
cloud ecosystem.
To achieve these objectives, IDA has
identied six key thrusts.
Thrust 1 Support Flagship Users of
Cloud Services
The attraction of agship cloud users into
Singapore would lend global credibility of
Singapore's capability in this space.
Thrust 2 - Attract Cloud Players
Clouds require signicant investment in
the underlying infrastructure, such as
data centres, broadband connectivity
and servers, as well as in manpower
resources for research and operations.
Such investments are long-term and well
considered business decisions.
7CLOUD COMPUTING IN SINGAPORE
Thrust 3 Develop Manpower &
Competency for Industry
A pre-requisite to a vibrant cloud
computing ecosystem is the capability of
the local infocomm companies and
workers to exploit the new paradigm shift
in order to develop innovative cloud-based
services. There is a role for IDA to put in
place the necessary framework and
incentives for companies and workers to
upgrade their competencies in this new
space.
Thrust 4 Forge R&D Relationships
and Build Knowledge Capital Assets
Singapore seeks to harness its existing
knowledge capital resources in institutes
of higher learning and research institutes
to attract major corporate cloud research
and development (R&D) to set up in
Singapore. Investing in cloud R&D is not
enough where there is a need to bridge
the gap and provide a conducive environ-
ment for the translation of R&D results
into industry practice and product/services
deployment.
Thrust 5 Provide Enabling
Infrastructure
For Singapore to be a cloud computing hub
to the rest of the world and region, there
would be a need for world-class high speed
and seamless broadband connectivity within
Singapore, as well as connecting Singapore
with other major cities. Development of
major infocomm infrastructures such as the
Next Generation Nationwide Broadband
Network (Next Gen NBN), Singapore
Internet Exchange and Data Centre Park,
provide a competitive environment in
nurturing a vibrant cloud computing
ecosystem. In the past year, IDA has also
taken a multi-pronged approach to facilitate
the development of the infrastructure such
as technicality, standards, and cloud
security.
Thrust 6 Build a Trusted Environment
through Policy and Legislations
Cloud computing investments would
gravitate towards jurisdictions with stable,
trusted business environment, especially
when larger enterprises with mission-critical
or data sensitive requirements move into
the cloud.
Promoting Cloud Adoption
CLOUD COMPUTING IN SINGAPORE8
A cloud adoption study commissioned by
IDA in April 2012 found that Singapore
continues to maintain its leading market
position in the ASEAN region in terms of
cloud adoption and maturity.
Utility pricing model is perceived
as having a positive impact on
business growth with an average
10% savings in operating costs.
By 2015, it is likely the world leaders
would have surged ahead at the high 40-
50% levels in cloud adoption. As a highly
developed infocomm hub, Singapore
should aspire to similar levels of adoption
to strive for greater competitiveness of
our industries in Singapore.
Our framework for cloud adoption can be
divided into programmes that target users
directly and those that provide enablers,
as depicted in the gure below. These
programmes can be categorised as (1)
Flagship Projects, (2) Awareness Creation,
(3) Industry Outreach, and (4) Support
Programmes.
In the Asia-Pacic region, Singapore is
ahead of Korea and Hong Kong SAR
but behind Australia and Japan in
terms of cloud adoption level, using
the number of businesses with
Internet connection as the base.
Singapore's cloud adoption is forecast
to be at 33% by 2015 but will still lag
the world leading cloud adopters (such
as USA, Germany and UK).
Medium-sized businesses mainly use
SaaS for new applications as compared
to enterprises that employ SaaS for
existing solution enhancements.
Promoting Cloud Adoption
- Flagship Projects
9CLOUD COMPUTING IN SINGAPORE
Construction & Manufacturing Sectors
The National Productivity and Continuing
Education Council has identied Con-
struction and Precision Engineering (PE) as
two of the priority sectors that have the
greatest potential for productivity
enhancements. These sectors contribute a
signicant share to GDP and employ a
large number of workers. IDA has since
embarked on cloud computing initiatives
to enhance the IT offerings in these
sectors.
Building Information Modeling (BIM)
BIM is a 3D modeling process that allows
the building construction professionals to
explore building projects digitally, before it
is built. The Building and Construction
Authority (BCA) has mandated BIM e-
submissions for building works for
regulatory approval by 2015, in a phas-
ed manner starting from the year 2013.
A $5.7M BIM Adoption Fund is made
available to spur BIM software adoption.
However, a conservative estimate of the
BIM software and hardware costs for all
the 3,000 construction rms in Singapore
is $100M per year. IDA is working with
BCA to develop a more sustainable
adoption model for BIM software by
ensuring its availability on pay-per-use
basis and thereby distributing BIM
software and hardware costs over longer
term. This model would make the BIM
software adoption nancially attractive to
the construction SMEs. IDA plans to
provide support to those BIM independent
software vendors that port their BIM
software to cloud and provide it on pay-
per-use basis to users. In collaboration
with BCA, IDA would conduct technical
and user trials of cloud-enabled BIM
software to ensure their technical
readiness for deployment and roll-out.
IDA has also launched the Software-as-a-
Service (SaaS) Enablement Programme to
provide funding support for SaaS
enablement projects in specic industry
verticals in Singapore. As of end July
2012, IDA has provided grant support to
two companies to SaaS-enable their
construction sector software. The rst
project seeks to SaaS-enable a facility
management software that uses BIM as its
input, while the second aims to reduce the
BIM design cycle time through cataloguing
of multiple common purpose plug-and-play
BIM designs.
Proof-of-Concept (POC) in Cloud
Enablement of CORENET
CORENET (COnstruction and Real Estate
NETwork) prov ides for e lec t ron ic
production, submission, checking and
approval of building plans in Singapore.
Owned by BCA, and currently hosted at
the Government Data Centre, CORENET is
utilized by 15 Government agencies,
departments and statutory boards under
eight ministries.
Due to its highly irregular load and usage
patterns, CORENET lends itself well to
leverage on the scalable nature of cloud
computing. In 2012, BCA completed a POC
to explore the overall feasibility, technical
challenges and cost-benets of porting
CORENET to the cloud environment. The
experience garnered and data gathered
from this POC will prepare BCA for the
possible future migration of CORENET's
production system to the cloud environ-
ment.
Besides evaluating the benets cloud
could bring for our users, we hope to
take the opportunity to familiarise
ourselves with this new computing
paradigm.
- Ms Doris Lim, Project Manager,
Building and Construction Authority
Compute-Intensive Design & Analysis
Software for Precision Engineering
The PE industry forms the backbone of
Singapore's complex manufacturing
activities and is a core enabler for
industries such as electronics, marine,
aerospace, oil & gas and medical devices.
This industry plays a crucial role in
attracting and retaining Singapore's key
manufacturing clusters by providing high
quality components, sub-assemblies and
nished products. According to the
statistics provided by SPRING Singapore,
there are 2,973 PE companies, of which 91
per cent are SMEs.
The highly complex manufacturing process
in PE industry requires compute-intensive
design and analysis software. The high cost
of software licenses is a major impediment
to IT/Software adoption by PE rms,
especially SMEs that seek to move up the
value chain from core manufacturing to
design and analysis activities. In the
absence of software automation, PE rms
face productivity issues because of the
inefciencies involved with the manual
processes.
In order to ensure the viability of design
and analysis software for PE industry, IDA
plans to make it available on a pay-per-
use basis to the users. By doing so, the
upfront license costs for PE software could
be spread across a longer term, an
CLOUD COMPUTING IN SINGAPORE10
expense model which is more sustainable
for PE rms. In this regard, IDA has
partnered with SPRING Singapore to
develop a program for cloud enablement
of PE software and its adoption by PE
rms.
Youth Olympic Games
Use of public cloud services by Government
agencies has been steadily on the rise in
recent years. Cloud computing played a
key supporting role for the infocomm needs
of the inaugural Youth Olympic Games
(YOG) hosted by Singapore in 2010.
Key applications such as the Games
Management System and Results Manage-
ment System, management of location
passes, re lated Internet appl ica-
tions, email services, and web hosting
leveraged public cloud resources provided
by Alatum.
A cloud-based platform was deemed the
most cost effective solution to support
technical infrastructure for the Games: it
had a low setup cost and provided fast,
cost-effective, robust and highly scalable
infrastructure needed by the Games.
Another key consideration was that the
Games would be a one-time event, and
therefore a cloud-based infrastructure
would signicantly reduce the need for
post-Games wasteful disposal of hardware
inventory.
11CLOUD COMPUTING IN SINGAPORE
Government Cloud
The Government Cloud aims to provide a
cloud infrastructure for Whole-of-Govern-
ment. The Singapore Government acknow-
ledges that each cloud computing model
provides its own level of assurance and
benets. As such, the strategy is to
leverage the appropriate cloud for the
appropriate needs by adopting a multi-
prong approach to cloud computing as
follows:
Leverage commercially-available public
cloud offerings for appropriate needs
so as to benet from lower cost of
computing resources. For instance, the
Ministry of Education's iCONnect
system is a collaboration and email
system for teachers built on a public
cloud
Implement a private Government cloud
(G-Cloud) for Whole-of-Government
use where security and governance
requirements cannot be fullled by
public cloud
G-Cloud will provide efcient, scalable and
resilient cloud computing resources and
High Assurance Zone a physically
dedicated computing resource pool
which will only be used by Government
to serve its high assurance needs
Medium Assurance Zone a computing
resource pool which will be shared with
non Government cloud users to lower
cost of computing resources for the
Government
Basic Assurance Zone whichp rovides
public cloud resources
To further aggregate Whole-of-Government
demand to maximise cost savings, the
Government will identify and provide
common services such as customer
relationship management and web
content management as SaaS offerings
on G-Cloud.
G-Cloud enables standardisation, and
sharing of computing resources and
applications at the Whole-of-Government
level, thereby generating cost savings.
will be designed to provide three zones to
address different level of security and
governance requirements:
CLOUD COMPUTING IN SINGAPORE12
Providing Ease of Procurement
IDA facilitates public sector's procurement
of public cloud services through a number
of bulk tenders. To date, these bulk
tenders have catalysed demand of cloud
services with over 110 procurements of
close to $4M in cumulative value. This is
comparable to UK's publ ic sector
procurement of public cloud services of
over 200 procurements with cumulative
value of 6M.
Grid Services Bulk Tender
Government agencies, such as National
Library Board (NLB), are early adopters
of public cloud services in Singapore.
For Government users, public cloud
services can be procured under the
two-year Grid Services bulk tender,
which had four Grid Service Providers
(Alatum, NCS, nGrid and PTC). Examples
of users included IDA, Ministry of Law,
Ministry of Health, National Environment
Agency (NEA), NLB, Nanyang Techonolo-
gical University and Urban Redevelop-
ment Authority.
Cloud Services Bulk Tender
The Grid Services bulk tender has
been refreshed in April 2012 by a new
panel of six public Cloud Service
Providers or CSPs (Alatum, nGrid, PTC,
aZaaS, StarHub and Crimsonlogic) for
two years. Examples of users are
IDA, MCI, NEA, NLB, Singapore Land
Authority, Singapore Power and URA.
EnVision Bulk Tender
Another period bulk tender, known as
EnVision, was established for the
supply of video hosting and streaming
services using the utility pricing model
to Government ministries/departments,
statutory boards, organs of state
and participating entities. Such a
service is made possible by EnVision
contractors partnering with the local
CSPs.
Video portal using EnVision by Ministry of
Transport
Public agencies have been using EnVision
for hosting and streaming videos for
corporate events, public education and
information. As at end 2012, there are a
total of 23 Government agencies using
EnVision. Examples of public sector users
are the Central Provident Fund Board,
Civil Service College, Elections Dept, IDA,
IE Singapore, IPOS, MAS, MCI, MDA,
MICA, MINDEF - DSTA, MinLaw, MND,
MOF, MOM, MOT, NCCS, NEA, NSCS, PA,
PMO, PSD and SPRING Singapore.
Video portal using EnVision by Ministry of
Finance
13CLOUD COMPUTING IN SINGAPORE
St. Nicholas Girls' School video portal using EnVision
six-month support scheme under Envision
for the provision of cloud resources for
schools to develop and host their own
video sites. Students can use the video
sites as a platform to showcase their
creativity and efforts, as well as generate
publicity for their schools. In addition, IDA
launched the Cloud based school video
site competition in January 2013. Winners
were announced during CloudAsia 2013.
Several pioneering schools that have
adopted EnVision include Rafes Girls
Secondary School, St. Joseph's Institution,
St. Nicholas Girls' School, Rafes
Institution, Singapore Polytechnic, Nanyang
Polytechnic and Millennia Institute. The
schools use EnVision to host and stream
videos on e-learning and schools'
events and activities (such as schools
achievements, performances and overseas
trips). In May 2012, IDA announced a new
St. Joseph's Institution video portal using EnVision
Promoting Cloud Adoption
- Creating Awareness & Industry Outreach
CLOUD COMPUTING IN SINGAPORE14
IDA-NLB Talk Series
The series of ten public talks on cloud
computing, co-organised by IDA, NLB,
Singapore Computer Society, and Imperial
College Alumni Association (Singapore),
was launched in March 2011 and suc-
cessfully concluded in January 2012.
Targeted at an audience apart from
infocomm professionals, the series aimed
to facilitate quality sharing on cloud
computing, promote awareness, education
and discussion on cloud computing related
issues. The intent was to increase
condence in adoption and to share on
various cloud applications.
Public Talk & Industry Sharing Series
2013
Building upon the success of the IDA-NLB
talk series, IDA will launch a new public
talk and industry sharing series in 2013 to
further enhance awareness of cloud
computing. The public talk series will
feature prominent cloud professionals
delivering talks on various aspects of cloud
computing, while the industry sharing
series provide avenues for cloud adopters
in the industry to share their experiences.
These sessions will commence in July 2013
and will be held at IDA's Infocomm
Experience Centre (iExperience) located at
the Esplanade Xchange.
Cloud Computing in Singapore Booklet
This 2013 edition of the Cloud Computing
in Singapore booklet provides an overview
of Singapore's cloud computing ecosystem
and consists a variety of cloud case studies
as well as a directory of cloud-related
companies and institutions.
Industry Outreach
Recent activities such as sharing on IDA's
Cloud Computing initiatives at SPETA
Networking Reception 2012 and AAIS Aero
Productivity Conference 2012 have been
under-taken with the Singapore Precision
Engineering & Tools Association (SPETA)
and the Association of Aerospace
Industries (Singapore) respectively.
IDA had inked a Memorandum of Intent
(MOI) with Informa Telecoms & Media
Asia in February 2011 to co-organise
CloudAsia for three years. The four-day
event is held annually to promote cloud
computing and adoption. This partner-
ship builds upon the brand name that
has been established over the last six
years, initially through 'GridAsia' and
subsequently 'CloudAsia'.
The inaugural CloudAsia was rst held in
May 2010. CloudAsia 2012 was attended
by more than 300 delegates from 146
organisations across 17 countries.
Mr Ronnie Tay (CEO, IDA) at CloudAsia
2012
CloudAsia 2012 session in progress
CloudAsia 2012
15CLOUD COMPUTING IN SINGAPORE
Cloud Adoption Benchmark
IDA commissions a cloud adoption survey
on a regular basis to gather pertinent
statistics on cloud computing adoption in
Singapore. This survey seeks to under-
stand the adoption status, drivers and
inhibitors of cloud computing in Singapore
across various industry verticals. The
results of this survey enable IDA to better
plan industry outreach activities and
support programmes to target industry
verticals that benet the most from cloud
adoption.
Business Continuity Management &
Cloud Conference
On 31 October 2012, the Singapore
Computer Society (SCS) organised a
Business Continuity Management (BCM) &
Cloud Conference: Innovative Practices in
BCM & Cloud. The conference provided
insights on the Government's roadmap in
business continuity, disaster recovery,
virtualisation and cloud. Also highlighted
were the innovation and best practices
that companies were adopting in these
areas.
Application Packaging Standard (APS)
On 28 September 2012, a seminar entitled
Driving SaaS Adoption through APS
Standard was held at IDA. The seminar
provided industry partners with the know-
how on delivering SaaS offerings using APS
for compatibility on different platform .
Conference on BCM and Cloud by the
Singapore Computer Society
(L-R) Mr Martin Yates (SIG Chairman, SCS),
Mr Raju Chellam (BCG President, SCS), Mr
Chak Kong Soon (President, SCS) and Mr
Khoong Hock Yun (Assistant Chief Executive,
IDA)
Presentation by APS Founding Member,
Parallels
Cloud Security Alliance signing ceremony of
corporate and afliate members
CLOUD COMPUTING IN SINGAPORE16
Call for Cloud Computing Proposals
IDA has launched six Calls for Cloud
Computing Proposals since 2010 as part of
its efforts to promote the adoption of cloud
computing. Depending on the impact and
scope, selected projects (from industry,
Government and R&D) receive support in
terms of compute and storage resources
based on the approved duration (of up to
six months) and quantum of cloud services
(compute core-hours and storage GB-
months) from one of the participating
CSPs which sponsors cloud resources.
In all, the six calls saw 75 projects
awarded cloud resources worth nearly $5M
to undertake test-bedding, proofs-of-
concept and research. Participating CSPs
have included Alatum, Amazon Web
Services, Chunghwa, IBM, nGrid, PTC/
ClearManage, Readyspace, Savvis,
StarHub, and Tata Communications.
Public brieng for Call 6
to nd the right balance of key features
and services for selected segments of
users.
- Mr Peter Rajnak, General Manager,
Guardtime Pte Ltd
The Calls provides an excellent platform
for Government agencies to gain practical
usage experience in cloud computing.
With the support, we conducted a
proof-of-concept to implement WDA's
SkillsConnect System on the cloud
platform. This had allowed us to perform
a feasibility study and ready ourselves to
migrate the system to the G-Cloud when
it is ready.
- Ms Jasmine Lim, Assistant Director,
Workforce Development Agency
With the help of cloud computing
resources made available by IDA, my
group has performed large-scale molecular
dynamics simulation studies on the
aggregation behaviour of A proteins.
Such protein has important functions in
the development of Alzheimer disease.
Our results have been published in
international scientic journals, such as
J.Phys. Chem. B and PLoS ONE.
- Assoc. Prof. Mu Yuguang, School of
Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technolo-
gical University
Using the cloud platform for our research
p r o j e c t h a s m a d e f e a s i b l e t h e
manipulation of large amounts of data,
which would otherwise have been
impossible to accomplish. With the
unprecedented availability of data from
data generation centres around the world,
I envision that cloud computing will
become the essential backbone for
healthcare and biomedical research.
- Prof. Greg Tucker-Kellogg, Department
of Biological Sciences, Faculty of
Science, National University of
Singapore
Promoting Cloud Adoption
- Support Programmes
Quotes from past awardees
The Calls was an ideal platform to test
some of offerings for the market. It has
helped move our solution closer to
becoming an integral part in over-
coming the security and audibility
chasms related to data authenticity in
the cloud. In addition, it has enabled us
17CLOUD COMPUTING IN SINGAPORE
SaaS Solutions CFC
IDA launched a call-for-collaboration
(CFC) to solicit SaaS solutions for
potential SME target sectors such as:
private education institutions, pre-
schools, real estate agencies, security
agencies, cleaning companies, tourist
attractions, shipping agents and bunker
traders. Some examples of potential
enterprise user target sectors are oil
and gas, hospitality, nancial services
institutions and logistics.
The CFC sought to (a) spur the demand
for impactful SaaS solutions that will
address sector-specic requirements,
bring about mass adoption among SMEs
Q&A at public brieng Presentation at Call 6 brieng
Crowd at Call 6 brieng Call 6 Q & A session
and deliver productivity gains to various
sectors; (b) encourage ICT vendors to
develop innovative, high-growth SaaS
solutions with export potential by
leveraging the lead demand generated
from this CFC; and (c) promote user
condence in SaaS by inculcat ing
industry best practices in the areas of
data security, integrity, privacy, recovery
and portability.
The proposals submitted would enable
SMEs and enterprise users to achieve
increased productivity, increase customers
customers or improve customer engage-
ment, and develop new lines of busi-
nesses or alternative business models.
CLOUD COMPUTING IN SINGAPORE18
Increase SME Productivity with
Infocomm Adoption &
Transformation (iSPRINT)
The iSPRINT scheme addresses the
different areas of infocomm adoption for
SMEs, enabling these enterprises to seek
assistance to facilitate their infocomm
adoption journey for rst time adopters.
The scheme supports both packaged
solutions pre-qualied by IDA and
customised solutions, so long as the
project involves the use of infocomm
technology to improve company's
bus iness operat ions, resul t ing in
efciency/productivity and increased
revenue or value-add for the business. In
addition to pre-qualied packaged
solutions for basic business functions
such as Finance & Accounting, Payroll and
Point-of-Sales, SaaS also qualies under
iSPRINT with support for up to maximum
of 12 months of subscription, capped at
$20,000.
Productivity and Innovation Credit
for Cloud Computing (PIC)
Cloud computing is now allowed under
the PIC Scheme. The rst $400,000 in
costs incurred to acquire cloud computing
resources would qualify for a 400 per cent
tax deduction. Businesses are strongly
encouraged to make full use of the PIC
Scheme to invest in productivity and
innovation. To take advantage of this, no
application is required; businesses can
claim the tax benets as part of their tax
ling.
SaaS Enablement Programme (SEP)
On 25 October 2011, IDA launched SEP
to provide funding support for SaaS
enablement projects in specic industry
verticals in Singapore. SEP was launched
to (a) lower the barriers for traditional
model ISVs for SaaS enablement; (b)
expedite the SaaS enablement process;
and (c) upgrade the capability of ISVs in
SaaS enablement. Successful applicants
qualify for co-payment funding support
for the Qualifying Costs (QC), capped
at 30 per cent of total of all QC and up
to S$50,000. Hitherto, six awards have
been made for SaaS-enablement of
software in the construction and pre-
cision engineering sectors.
Attracting Cloud Players
19CLOUD COMPUTING IN SINGAPORE
Cloud computing requires signicant
investment in the underlying infrastructure
such as data centres, broadband con-
nectivity and servers, as well as in
manpower resources for research and
operations. Towards this end, IDA works
closely with other Government agencies to
attract cloud players into Singapore.
CSPs that have established cloud data
centres in Singapore include Amazon Web
Services, Fujitsu, IBM, Microsoft Azure,
Savvis, and Tata Communications. Local
CSPs include Alatum (SingTel), Iconz-
Webvisions, M1, nGrid, PTC, ClearManage,
ReadySpace, and StarHub. Besides
catalysing and attracting CSPs to
Singapore, IDA has also been working
with cloud technology providers, telcos
and c loud enablement centres to
participate in the cloud ecosystem.
Apart from attracting cloud players into
Singapore, IDA has also init iated
programmes to attract and develop cloud
players from within the city-state, as part
of its multi-pronged approach to enhance
the vibrancy and variety of the cloud
landscape. One such programme is the
$46 million ve-year Infocomm Industry
Productivity Roadmap, approved by the
National Productivity and Continuing
Education Council.
The roadmap aims to facilitate local
infocomm enterprises transition towards a
cloud or product-based model, allowing
them to scale quickly and serve global
customers more efciently without the
need for manpower increase. In addition,
a longer term plan to develop necessary
skill set for local infocomm professionals
will also be put in place in anticipation of
the shift in job proles resulting from the
transformation.
Cloud Adoption Case Studies
Several examples of cloud adoption in Singapore have been documented as
case studies. They can be found in the previous and current edition of this
publication, and also at http://gsp.ngp.org.sg/users/
Cloud adoption is also boosted by other concurrent IDAs eorts described under
Providing Enabling Infrastructure.
Developing Competency for Industry
CLOUD COMPUTING IN SINGAPORE20
An important pre-requisite to a vibrant
cloud computing ecosystem is the
capab i l i ty o f the loca l in focomm
companies to develop innovative cloud
services. It is therefore vital to provide
tra in ing and courses to inculcate
infocomm professionals and students
with necessary knowledge and skills.
In March 2011, IDA launched The
Infocomm Manpower Development
Roadmap, Version Two Point Zero (or
MDEV 2.0). This four-year roadmap is
focused on developing high-end info-
comm experts and leaders with the aim
to achieve three outcomes; rst, to
develop talent with infocomm skills and
experience; second, to acquire a greater
share of infocomm talent and third, to
ensure that Singapore's manpower
prole is aligned to Singapore's role as a
global hub.
The important strategic thrust of MDEV
2.0 is to build professional capability and
enhance skills. Under this thrust, initia-
tives are in place enabling professionals
and students to acquire skills and
knowledge on emerging technologies
such as cloud computing. Specically,
IDA will launch four initiatives for
manpower development in collaboration
with key industry players, training
providers as well as various institutes of
higher learning. The initiatives are:
Developing Competency
Standards;
Enabling Professional Conversion;
Creating and Delivering Training
Capacities; and
Building Talent Pipeline.
Developing Competency Standards
An important rst step in professional
training is to develop the competency
standards governing job roles with
focus on cloud computing. In 2010, IDA
in collaboration with the Workforce
Development Agency (WDA) established
a technical committee comprising
representatives from leading cloud
computing industry companies under
the National Infocomm Competency
Framework (NICF). The cloud computing
technical committee developed a total of
22 new competency standards for 14
cloud computing job roles across four job
families, namely cloud architecture, cloud
engineering, cloud operations and cloud
services. The new cloud computing
competency standards were released to
the industry for adoption in July 2011.
Enabling Professional Conversion
Under this initiative, IDA will enable IT
professionals who are not familiar with
cloud computing technologies to acquire
essential skills and knowledge through
various platforms such as workshops and
practical, on-the-job training (OJT).
IDA had conducted two workshops for IT
professionals in July 2012 as part of the
programme for Infocomm Professional
Development Forum 2012. These work-
shops were delivered by industry leaders
EMC and Microsoft and provided in-depth
knowledge on a spectrum of cloud com-
puting topics, including data centre
transformation, big data storage process-
ing.
IDA encourages leading companies to
provide on the job training opportunities
for IT fresh graduates and young
professionals to acquire cloud computing
skills through hands-on, practical projects.
This programme is known as Company
Led Training (or CLT) programme. In
2012, IDA partnered with Dimension Data
and IBM to create OJT opportunities in
cloud computing for fresh graduates.
21CLOUD COMPUTING IN SINGAPORE
In 2012, IDA launched two Centres of
Attachments (COAs) with leading cloud
computing technology providers EMC and
Microsoft. These COAs will enable
infocomm professionals to acquire in-
depth cloud computing skills with use of
leading-edge EMC and Microsoft products.
In addition, IDA also partnered companies
embarking on cloud computing projects to
provide OJT for professionals with at least
three years of working experiences under
the Infocomm Leadership Development
Programme (or iLEAD). IDA has to-date
partnered with companies such as NCS,
SingTel, GigaSpaces Technologies,
JustLogin, and Inspire-Tech to enable
professionals to acquire skills at an
expert or management level.
Creating and Delivering Training
Capacities
Under this initiative, IDA has collaborated
with training providers to provide short
training courses for IT professionals to
acquire specic cloud computing skills. This
resulted in the courses delivered by
training providers in 2012: Microsoft; EMC;
Singapore Management University School
of Information Systems; Rapidstart;
Platform Computing; and Intalio.
To support professionals in taking up
these courses, IDA expanded its Critical
Infocomm Technology Resource Programme
(CITREP) to cover training in new and
emerging areas such as cloud computing.
The expanded CITREP programme
provides funding support for training
courses and certications with competency
units aligned with cloud computing
competency standards. Details of such
courses can be found at https://www.
nicf.sg.
Fostering Skills in Cloud Computing
IDA also collaborates with IT schools to
launch programmes enabling diploma and
undergraduate students to acquire cloud
computing skills.
In 2011, Microsoft Singapore and Nanyang
Polytechnic (NYP) signed a memorandum
of understanding to deploy c loud
curriculum on a large scale. The Poly-
technic also became the rst cloud-ready
institution in Singapore where students
will be trained beginning in the rst year
of enrolment. The program will train 4,000
students and 100 faculty members over
three years.
Building on this momentum, IDA facilitat-
ed for NYP and Temasek Polytechnic to
design and launch the Specialist Diploma
in Cloud Computing for professionals. Both
Specialist Diplomas will be available for
enrolment from April 2013.
Infocomm Professional Development Forum
(IPDF) 2012
Cloud Computing Workshop at IPDF 2012
CLOUD COMPUTING IN SINGAPORE22
Forging R&D Relationships and Building
Knowledge Capital Assets
Technology Evaluation Programme
(TEP)
IDA is partnering with the Agency for
Science, Technology and Research
(A*STAR), Nanyang Technolog ica l
University (NTU), and National University
of Singapore (NUS) on a technology
evaluation programme where companies
can enhance their business competitive
edge and further develop cloud computing
solutions based on technologies made
available by the Institute for High
Performance Computing (IHPC), Institute 2
for Infocomm Research (I R), NTU and
NUS. Companies can tap the intellectual
property and innovations from these
institutions through a short-term no-fee
evaluation license grant under the TEP, to
assess its business value through trial
deployment before exercising the option
for commercial license. In essence, this
scheme mitigates the risks in new
technology adoption, and helps companies
to deploy technologies on the cloud
environment.
Reacheld IT Solution Pte Ltd is one of the
companies which leveraged on TEP to
enhance its existing business and develop
new opportunities. Reacheld requested 2
an evaluation license for I R's Scalable
Multimedia Platform technology, and
applied for cloud resources in Call 4 to
develop a video-on-demand prototype
which enables the input video to be
encoded once and subsequently deliver to
heterogeneous devices in an on-demand
basis. Reacheld successfully engaged
NUS High School of Mathematics and
Science as its rst customer by using the
prototype as a proof-of-concept, to
illustrate the enablement of students in
accessing the online lectures through their
tablet, smart phone or PC, instead of the
deskbound platform previously. Currently
the solution is commercially available as
Net Video Cloud, a cloud-based video
repository and transcoding platform that
is powered by Starhub's Argonar cloud
infrastructure. Reacheld now adds digital
video online delivery to its existing
portfolio of digital assets management.
Quotes from TEP Participants
This programme reduced the nancial
risk and simplied the process in
a d o p t i n g l o c a l I C T t e c h n o l o g y .
Reacheld has successfully sourced
several technologies through this
programme and commercially licensed
one subsequently and able to generate
new business opportunities.
- Mr Winson Wee Hock Soon, VP of
Client Engagement and Projects,
Reacheld IT Solutions Pte Ltd
The Technology Evaluation Programme
allows Magicsoft to tap on NUS techno-
logy at no-cost, for prototyping new
services and explore new business
opportunity. This means a lot to us at
Magicsoft.
- Mr Kenny Tew, Managing Director,
Magicsoft Asia Pte Ltd
The programme reduced the nancial
risk in evaluating new technology and
b r i dged the gap i n t r ans fe r r i ng
technologies to a ready market space.
Through this programme, KAI Square
has successfully identied several
useful technologies needed by the
market. IDA's initiatives, such as this
programme, are very benecial to the
eco-system of our local ICT industry.
- Mr Victor Goh, Chief Technology
Director, KAI Square Pte Ltd
The initiatives had enable STELCOMMS
to leverage on the tertiary institutions
to nd and evaluate leading-edge
technologies that can be incorporated
into our new products and services.
- Mr Sam Chen, General Manager,
STELCOMMS Pte Ltd
Presentation of Technology Evaluation Program
Presentation of NUS technology Presentation by NTU
Technology Evalution Process
23CLOUD COMPUTING IN SINGAPORE
2
The partnership between I R and IDA
w i l l fu r ther ampl i fy S ingapore 's
competitiveness globally in the cloud
ecosystem by empowering companies
to develop a myriad of cutting edge and
innovative ICT solutions.
- Mr Steven Loh, Deputy Director,
Industry Development, Institute for
Infocomm Research, A*STAR
IBM Cloud Lab Singapore
This collaboration between IDA and IBM
seeks to promote and accelerate the
adopt ion of c loud computing and
associated business models through
conduct ing appl ied R&D to so lve
challenges and issues identied by users
from Government and industry. IBM Cloud
Lab provides an integrative capability that
creates and prototypes innovative and
useful real world repeatable innovative
solutions required by the industry,
hastening the harnessing of research
results and deployment, and shortening
the timeframe to adoption.
The IBM Cloud Lab in Singapore was
ofcially launched on 4 May 2010. The
Cloud Lab is hosted at IBM Changi
Business Park Building with required
hardware, software and resources. The
rst result of the IBM Cloud Lab is the
High Performance Computing (or HPC)
cloud platform at NTU a rst-of-its-
kind in the world which will offer a
combination of the best of high performance
computing from HPC infrastructure, and the
exibility, self-services, scalability and
virtualisation from cloud computing. This
is currently being developed as a production
pilot for use by NTU researchers. One of the
rst set of users to benet is from NTU's
School of Art, Design and Media which will
use the new HPC cloud platform for
rendering digital animation media to
create rich content for their media and
entertainment projects. After initial use cases
have been validated, this HPC cloud
environment will be opened up to the wider
pool of researchers and students at NTU,
and potentially to commercial users
as well.
Other projects undertaken include SaaS-
enablement of a Building Information
Modelling (BIM) design library for MEP
(mechanical, electrical & plumbing) with
HausLab D&B and Pandora Business Suite
for precision engineering SMEs with PBA
Solutions.
Singapore Centre of Excellence for
Open Cirrus Cloud Computing
On 30 July 2008, IDA joined hands with
three technology giants (HP, Intel and
Yahoo!) to set up a research initiative to
study cloud computing. As a Centre of
Excellence (COE) in this joint initiative,
IDA creates opportunities for research and
development in the area of cloud
computing, enhances local capabilities and
also lets users here have easy access to
this next generation service.
Researchers from HP Labs, Intel, Yahoo
Research and Singapore jointly identied
the research and development focus for
the testbed.
However, the main aim is to build up a
core group of people who have the skill set
to undertake and develop cloud computing
innovations. The objectives for the
Singapore COE are (a) promoting research
and development, and (b) building
competency.
Progress was made in promoting cloud
computing and Internet-scale data
intensive research and applications among
the local research and developer com-
munities. This has heightened interest
among the academic research community
in undertaking cloud R&D, a vast contrast
to earlier sentiments that cloud computing
addressed no new research areas and was
purely an implementation approach that
was the purview of the ICT industry.
IDA's participation in Open Cirrus was
made possible by tapping on the cloud
resources made available by Alatum.
The three-year MOU expired in July
2011, with over 23 projects completed
by universities, research institutes and
industry.
CLOUD COMPUTING IN SINGAPORE24
Providing Enabling Infrastructure
25CLOUD COMPUTING IN SINGAPORE
Grid Services Provisioning CFC
IDA launched a CFC in November 2007,
with the purpose of seeding the
development of necessary infrastructure
and to provide infocomm resources on a
pay-per-use basis. This is so that more
rms can leverage on cloud services to
develop new, innovative business models
and infocomm services. In November
2008, three providers (Alatum, nGrid and
PTC) started offering commercial cloud
services. Since then, more public CSPs
including Amazon Web Services, Fujitsu,
Savvis, Tata Communications, Microsoft,
and IBM, started to offer cloud services in
Singapore. To date, Singapore is home to
a vibrant community of approximately 25
CSPs.
Data-as-a-Service (DaaS)
Companies increasingly see that having
access to useful data can play a signicant
economic role. The DaaS programme
seeks to catalyse the development of a
nationwide platform by taking advantage
of availability of data. Such a platform
seeks to allow efcient discovery of data
via a federated namespace registry
mechanism, together with data quality
metrics to help interested buyers make
better-informed purchases. This is
DaaS API Working Group
expected to give rise to new uses that
are data intensive in nature, enabling
applications which are previously difcult to
implement. The Government has made
public sector data available to the public
(e.g.,data.gov.sg). Outside the public
sector, datasets are available from data
owners in disparate and non-uniform
manners. The programme, to be launched
in 2013, will complement the Government's
effort by focusing on datasets from the
private and people sectors.
DaaS API Standards Development
The development of DaaS API Standards
aims to streamline the data access by
application developers and end-users, in
order to reduce complexities in multiple
protocols and access mechanism across
multiple DaaS operators. The IT Standards
Committee, in recognition of such needs,
formed a Data Access Working Group
comprising infocomm professionals with
extensive knowledge and experience in
using these technologies to look at
establishing a Technical Reference with
well dened set of guidelines and best
practices in the implementation of
data access APIs.
Building a Trusted Environment through
Policy and Legislation
CLOUD COMPUTING IN SINGAPORE26
Data Protection Legislation
The Ministry of Communications and
Information's framework for data protection
is a signicant move in strengthening the
soft enablers to establish a trusted
environment for cloud computing in
Singapore. Until then, the lack of an
overarching law on data protection has
often invited queries from potential cloud
users from Asia Pacic on whether
Singapore-based cloud data centres are
able to provide adequate protection for
them. CSPs will denitely welcome the
removal of ambiguity when servicing cloud
users from within and outside Singapore.
The legislation was passed by the
Singapore Parliament in October 2012 and
became law in 2013.
Development of Cloud Security
Guidelines & Standards
According to all the surveys on cloud
adoption conducted in recent years, cloud
security has been the topmost concern
cited by IT managers when they consider
cloud deployments. To foster a trusted
environment, IDA has worked with
Singapore's IT Standards Committee (ITSC)
to set up a cloud computing standards
coordinating task force in February 2011.
The task force, which comprises repre-
sentatives from IDA, ITSC, Singapore
Computer Society, Singapore Infocomm
Technology Federation, Information
Technology Management Association as well
as industry verticals, work on guidelines for
issues with inputs from the industry.
Best Practices for Virtualization
Security (TR 30)
The objective of this Technical Reference
(TR) is to identify potential security risks in
virtualisation of servers which is widely
used by CSPs to offer cloud services and by
enterprise infocomm personnel when
consolidating servers in their data centres.
It comprises a checklist of security controls,
processes and governance that can be
referenced during design, implementation
and maintenance of virtualised computing
resources. The TR does not cover desktop,
network or storage virtualization.
End users or cloud service buyers can also
refer to the TR when assessing a
CSP's ability to maintain information
condentiality, integrity and availability of
their data. Ten risks grouped into four
categories are identied, namely, Risks
and controls on using virtual machine;
Risks and controls on using hypervisor;
Risks and control due to changes in
operation procedures and Other
considerations. For each risk, the
associated security impact and mitigating
controls are described. For example, in
embarking upon server virtualisation,
infocomm personnel can undertake risk
assessment to consider:
- what applications and systems should
be migrated to the new virtualised
environment;
- how applications and systems with
different risk proles should be
segregated;
- what changes to current development,
deployment and backup processes
including commissioning and decom-
missioning of servers are needed
under the new virtualized environment
to ensure current established controls
IT governance are not breached;
- how computing resources requests
should be handled; and
- who should be given the access to
hypervisors and how access should be
appropriately controlled.
Guidelines for Cloud Security and
Service Level Agreement for End
Users (TR 31)
This TR provides security guidance on the
usage of public cloud services. It covers
the service level guidelines that public
cloud users should consider when seeking
public computing services. Public CSPs
can also use the TR to demonstrate their
27CLOUD COMPUTING IN SINGAPORE
security best practices. The document
explains security threats and risks
associated as well as mitigation measures
with the use of SaaS and IaaS offered by
public CSPs.
Multi-Tier Cloud Security
This initiative aims to develop the
Standards and Guidelines for Cloud
Security for certication of CSPs in
order to provide transparency for their
security provisions to the cloud users. As
security needs of different cloud users
vary across industries and sectors, the
Standards and Guidelines cater for such
varying needs. The multi-tier cloud
security model covers a wide range of
security requirements, from users
(including SMEs) with basic requirements
to those that require high condentiality,
integrity and availability such as the
nancia l serv ices industry. These
Standards and Guidelines will highlight the
key security areas and associated controls
to be addressed by CSPs in providing
public cloud services. Mr Robert Chew (far right), Chairman of
Cloud Computing Standards Coordi-
nating Task Force, with members
Mr Khoong Hock Yun, Assistant Chief Executive, IDA giving the keynote address
at CSA CISO Asia Pacic Summit 2012
Cloud Organisations
AkSaaS Incubation Centre
Cloud Security Alliance (APAC)
Cloud Security Alliance,
Singapore Chapter
HP Labs Singapore
IBM Cloud Lab Singapore
ITSC Coordinating Task Force for
Cloud Computing Standards
SCS Enterprise Cloud Computing
and Virtualisation SIG
Singapore Cloud Forum
SiTF Cloud Computing Chapter &
SiTF-NYP Cloud Enablement Centre
29
30
31
33
34
35
36
37
32
29
AkSaaS Incubation
Centre
CLOUD COMPUTING IN SINGAPORE
The Cloud represents a shift in traditional
application development from a client
server approach to a multi-homed, multi-
tenanted paradigm. To ensure that
aspiring independent software vendors
(ISVs) have access to help in offering their
solutions through the Software-as-a-
Service (SaaS) model, SaaS incubation
centres (SICs) are needed to render
business and technical consultancy
services to these ISVs.
In doing so, SICs equip industry and
consumers with on-demand and pay-per-
use access to grid/cloud services to deliver
new and innovative business models as
well as Go-To-Market opportunities on a
case by case basis.
The SICs provide training and hand-
holding in SaaS-enablement. Software
that has been successfully ported is
hosted by cloud service providers.
At each SIC, a staging platform is
available for aspiring SaaS ISVs for:
The AkSaaS Incubation Centre was
appointed by IDA as a SIC in September
2008 and developed the Cloud Enablement
Program. This SIC is operated by AkSaaS
Pte Ltd, which successfully graduated as
an incubatee of Exploit Pte Ltd. By the end
of 2011, more than 50 ISVs have been
SaaS-enabled at this SIC. These SaaS
offerings include:
For more details, please visit http://www.
aksaas.com or contact us at
Tel: +65 6100 6227
Evvo Labs Group of Companies
Testing & initial commercialisa-
tion for new SaaS providers
Integration with SaaS provisioning
portal & billing system
Technology augmentation
Enterprise Resource Planning
Supply Chain
Business Intelligence
Document Management
Property Management
Finance
Workow
Performance Management
Inventory
Marketing
Medical Diagnosis
Maps and Helpdesk
Implementing proof-of-concepts
Demonstration to end users
Channels to deploy SaaS applica-
tions with various Cloud Service
Providers
CLOUD COMPUTING IN SINGAPORE30
Khoong Hock Yun (Assistant Chief Executive, IDA)
giving the welcome keynote address at CSA CISO
APAC Summit
The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) took
a major step forward in building a global
trusted cloud eco-system with the
selection of Singapore as the site of the
organization's corporate headquarters
(HQ) on 20 July 2012. This is in line with
CSA's global expansion plans to operate
in 3 major regions/time-zones to diversify
out of a US-centric focus to become a
truly worldwide presence in inuencing
cloud security research, bringing trust to
cloud computing and thus accelerating
adoption of the cloud. Singapore beat off
challenges from competitors in the region
to bring the CSA Asia Pacic (APAC) HQ
which also doubles up as the Alliance's
corporate headquarters.
The private-public partnership between
CSA and the Singapore government
represented by IDA and Economic
Development Board of Singapore (EDB)
was rat ied with a publ ic s ign ing
ceremony on 15 August 2012 at the
CLOUDSEC conference witnessed by over
700 attendees, an event organized by
CSA corporate HQ founding sponsor,
Trend Micro. Singapore will be the site to
host CSA's global research centre,
standards secretariat as well as the global
centre of excellence for CCSK training and
education.
The new APAC headquarters is under the
leadership of Aloysius Cheang, Managing
Director of CSA APAC. Cheang also serves
as the Standards Secretariat for the
Alliance overseeing all standardization
efforts within CSA and owning the
relationships with other standards develop-
ing organizations.
Partnership signing (L-R): Aloysius Cheang
(Managing Director, CSA APAC), Gian Yi-Hsen
(Director, Safety & Security Industry Programme
Ofce, EDB), Jim Reavis (Executive Director, CSA),
Andrew Khaw (Sen io r D i rec to r , Indus t ry
Development Group, IDA), Mahendra Negi (COO &
CFO, Trend Micro) & Ken Low (Director Enterprise
Security APAC, Trend Micro & Chair, CSA APAC
Executive Council)
Following the August announcement, CSA
signed a Memorandum of Understanding
with the Hong Kong Applied Science and
Technology Research Institute on 5
September to set up another APAC hub
focusing on CloudCERT operational
activities in an effort to advance cloud
computing security and build capabilities
that will accelerate the development of
the cloud ecosystem in Hong Kong.
CSA also organized the rst CSA CISO
APAC Summit on 1 2 November 2012
with the objective to build awareness of
cloud security among the senior IT
leadership in APAC. As a prelude to
forming sector specic working groups
and a CISO roundtable, the summit
featured Khoong Hock Yun, Assistant Chief
Executive (Infrastructure and Services
Development Group), IDA providing the
welcome keynote to an audience of 120
CIO/CISO, who came from as far as Abu
Dhabi and from neighbouring countries
such as Philippines, Hong Kong and
Malaysia, with many of which having a
regional remit.
31
Singapore Chapter
CLOUD COMPUTING IN SINGAPORE
The CSA Singapore chapter had a
relatively quiet year in 2012. Efforts were
spent supporting Singapore's competitive
bid to host the CSA's APAC headquarters
in Singapore in competition from other
Asian countries.
Nonetheless, the chapter managed to
host the annual CSA Singapore Summit in
conjunction with CloudSEC Singapore
Conference 2012 on 15 August 2012 with
the Singapore chapter contributing an
afternoon track to CloudSEC. The
Singapore chapter elded a stellar cast
comprising both local and international
CSA leaders such as Aloysius Cheang
(Managing Director, CSA APAC), Ken Low
(Chair of CSA Asia Pacic Executive
Council), Philip Sy (Vice-Chair of CSA
Singapore chapter) and Dr. Said Tabet
(Co-Chair, CSA SME Council).
Ken Low (Chair, CSA APAC Executive Council)
Aloysius Cheang (Managing Director, CSA
APAC)
about by the establishment of CSA's
corporate HQ in Singapore, the chapter
had to step up and lead by example.
Hence, before Christmas of 2012, the
leadership of the Singapore chapter
decided to re-elect a new board and
adopt the CSA APAC enab lement
programme, a new initiative that sees
the chapter given greater autonomy to
grow and expand. Under this pro-
gramme, chapters are given focus where
more localized activities that lead CSA to
build feelers into the ground and
accelerate localized adoption of CSA best
practices and guidelines that will lead to
a trusted cloud eco-system in APAC.
To provide guidance to the edging
chapter leadership in APAC, Freddy Tan
(outgoing chapter chair), graciously
accepted a volunteer leadership position to
lend his expertise as the APAC Strategy
Advisor. The new chapter board is headed
by Wong Onn Chee.In response to the challenges brought
HP Labs Singapore
CLOUD COMPUTING IN SINGAPORE32
HP Labs Singapore was established in
February 2010 as HP Labs' third research
site in the Asia Pacic region and seventh
worldwide. Representing a signicant
milestone in the company's innovation
strategy, the opening of the facility at
Fusionopolis Singapore expands HP's
overall global footprint and reach in APAC.
It serves as a hub for open innovation in
the region, foster ing col laborat ion
amongst HP's customer and partner
communities to introduce advancements
that tackle complex challenges facing
customers and society. The research
agenda at HP Labs is thus deeply
connected to Singapore and other
economies in APAC, seeking to contribute
relevant and applicable innovations to
specically address local issues while
i n t r oduc i ng cu l t u ra l i n s i gh t s and
technology applications from a global
perspective.
HP Labs Singapore is strategically located
in a regional hub for business and
innovation. With the support of a govern-
ment keen to build up its knowledge
capability, Singapore has emerged as a
living lab with a vibrant research and
development capability, attracting top
engineering talents from around the
world. Singapore is also the regional
headquarters for Fortune 500 companies,
including many of HP's biggest customers.
Leverag ing the advantages of the
location, HP Labs Singapore adopts a
co l laborat ive approach to deve lop
relevant and applicable innovations that
address today's complex challenges. In
exploratory research, the team benets
f rom the ava i lab i l i ty o f numerous
research and academic institutions to
push the frontiers of computer science
and engineering. It is also well-placed to
co l laborate wi th HP customer and
partners for applied research to innovate
further and transform research projects
into viable commercial solutions.
HP Labs Singapore carries out exploratory
and applied research in the areas of cloud
computing. Its research pushes the
frontiers of computer science and
engineering by creating game-changing
disruptive innovations in areas intersecting
mob i l i ty, soc ia l med ia and c loud
computing.
Monsoon, one of the projects developed
by HP Labs Singapore, is to provide
the capability to manage various cloud
resources across multiple providers em-
powered by a multi-tenanted infrastruc-
ture management portal with featured tools
to meet the requirements of enterprise
operations. Monsoon debuted in Singapore
Government Cloud (G-Cloud) following the
award of a tender by IDA to HP and Singtel
in 2012. When completed, G-Cloud will be
one of the rst government-wide cloud
systems in the world, used by government
agencies in Singapore. HP Lab Singapore,
which undertook research work on
Monsoon, will translate the innovation into
a multi-tenanted user-facing system that
takes orders from the user and provides a
complete interface for agencies to
provision, manage and monitor their cloud
resources and services.
Having garnered several key achievements
in terms of research and technology
transfer impact, the team continues to
build on its initial success and collaborative
partnerships to develop more outstanding
innovations that address today's complex
challenges.
For more details, please visit http://www.
hpl.hp.com/singapore/ or contact us at
+65-6419 1236/1384 in Singapore.
33
IBM Cloud Lab Singapore
CLOUD COMPUTING IN SINGAPORE
The IBM Cloud Lab in Singapore was
established as a collaborative effort
between IDA and IBM to help businesses,
government, and research institutions/
institutes of higher learning design, adopt
and reap benets of cloud technologies; for
newer, faster, more efcient ways to
compete and grow. The lab aims to nurture
a vibrant cloud computing ecosystem and
position Singapore as a center for cloud
computing services in the region and
beyond.
As part of IBM's investment of billions of
US dollars globally and housing concept
proofs, cloud development projects and
custom pilots, the lab focuses on creating
innovative prototypes and useful real-
world repeatable solutions required by the
industry, thereby hastening the adoption of
cloud technology and quicker harnessing of
research results.
An extension of IBM's globally-integrated
cloud delivery network that includes cloud
computing data centers in Singapore,
Germany, Canada and the United States;
and 13 cloud labs, of which 7 are based in
APAC, the lab provides access to key cloud
technologies, deep process knowledge,
and a broad portfolio of cloud solutions
that IBM is unique in bringing together. It
also makes available state-of-the-art IBM
hardware and software infrastructure to
familiarise clients and early adopters with
cloud technologies and, in partnership with
the lab, create technology demonstrations
and build proofs of concepts/technologies.
Through br iengs and technology
development partnerships, the lab also
supports cloud adopters who are looking
to deploy cloud technologies for new
workloads and business scenarios. In the
early stages of their cloud adoption
roadmap, the lab can play the role of a
subject matter expert, and provide the
required guidance in taking their cloud
mission forward. The lab also partners
with external research institutes on
conducting translational research in key
cloud computing areas with a view to
bridge gaps between existing technologies
and new requirements from the industry.
Areas of focus
Promote the adoption of cloud in
Singapore with focus on secured cloud
computing as the enabler of Business
Agility, Big Data analytics, Social Network
and Systems of Engagement for the next
gen Data Centers.
For more details, please visit http://
www.ibm.com.sg or contact Quek Khor
Ping at [email protected]
ITSC Cloud Computing Standards
Coordinating Task Force
CLOUD COMPUTING IN SINGAPORE34
The IT Standards Committee (ITSC) Cloud
Computing Standards Coordinating Task
Force was setup in February 2011 to
address the industry demands for cloud
computing standard and to lead as well as
coordinate the cloud computing standard-
isation efforts across the Technical Com-
mittees in ITSC.
The Task Force comprises industry
partners, ITSC members, tertiary institutes
and cloud user organisations. The Task
Force works closely with the industry to
develop relevant Singapore or international
standards for cloud computing to facilitate
Singapore companies' adoption of cloud
computing services. In April 2012, the
Task Force coordinated and developed two
technical references (TR) on virtualisation
security for servers and security and
service level guidelines for usage of public
cloud computing services.
The Task Force continues to look into the
needs of the local industry for cloud
computing and is overseeing the develop-
ment of the following in 2013:
a) TR for Data as a Service (DaaS) API
Design and Implementation
b) Singapore Standard for Multi-Tiered
Cloud Security
The TR for DaaS API Design and
Implementation denes a set of best
practices in the design and implementation
of APIs to enable DaaS operators to
effectively share, monetise, commoditise
data as on-demand services.
The Singapore Standard for Multi-Tiered
Cloud Security aims at providing visibility
and clarity of security requirements so
that the public cloud service providers
(CSPs) can be certied against. As
security needs of different cloud users are
different, especially across different
industries and sectors, the standard must
be able to cater for such varying needs.
The standard will highlight the key
security areas and associated controls to
be addressed arising from the new cloud
computing environment.
For more details, please visit http://www.
itsc.org.sg or contact Kong Pei Wee at
35
SCS Enterprise Cloud Computing
and Virtualisation SIG
CLOUD COMPUTING IN SINGAPORE
Established in 1967 with membership
of over 26,000
The largest IT professional body in
Singapore
Provides a wide range of events such
as seminars & conferences, publica-
tions and access to an invaluable
network of specialists
Administers the National IT Skills
Certication Programme that offers
individuals the avenue to gain
recognition and career development
Alastair Welsh and
Daniel Mar (SIG exco
members) at Cloud
Computing Seminar
by SCS and InfoPier
Dr. Hing-Yan Lee (SIG deputy chair) and Martin
Yates (SIG chair) at SCS SIG Cloud Information
Sharing event
The many Special Interest Groups (SIGs)
are a vital part of the SCS organization
focusing on critical industry and techno-
logy topics. Within SIG's like-minded
individuals are drawn together by a
common interest in technology or skills
development activity where sharing
experiences and ideas is common practice.
Cloud computing services and virtualisa-
tion technologies underpin the un-
precedented changes in business IT
delivery, social networks and in the
workplace environment. Business organisa-
tions are increasingly turning to
advanced virtual isat ion and cloud
computing as they realize the value to
create more exible IT services with
greater cost efciencies.
The SIG invite specialists from ICT
industries and end users to join us, share
knowledge and build their personal
professional network. Our SIG group
supports important ICT agencies to
promote Singapore's development within
cloud computing such as the WDA-IDA
NICF program and ITSC Cloud Computing
Standards Coordinating Task Force. In
addition members also support Singapore
economic interests in professional
development and education forums.
The Executive Committee comprises:
For more details, please visit http:
//www.scs.org.sg/SIG.php or contact
Camilla Khaw at [email protected].
sg
Martin Yates (Chairman)
Dr. Hing-Yan Lee (Deputy Chairman)
Alastair Welsh (Cloud Evangelist)
Daniel Mar (Group Secretary &
Technology Specialist)
About Singapore Computer Society
(SCS)
Singapore Cloud Forum
CLOUD COMPUTING IN SINGAPORE36
The Singapore Grid Forum was ofcially
launched on 8 June 2007 at the GridAsia
2007 event. SGF was formed to promote
the growth and development of grid
computing in Singapore and to foster
closer ties with other Grid associations
around the world.
We renamed Singapore Grid Forum to
Singapore Cloud Forum (SCF) in 2011 to
reect the new cloud economy and to
ensure we continue to stay relevant to
the Singapore IT industry.
The SCF objectives are:
To address the immediate concerns of
the cloud computing industry, we will
select major themes each year to focus
on, and thereby provide our members
and the Singapore IT industry with
relevant and timely information for
decisions to be made.
For the work year 2013, the theme will
be Big Data Analytics in the Cloud.
SCF will engage the community of cloud
computing including enterprise users,
vendors, the scientic and research
community as well as regulators. This
is reected in the leadership team which
hopes to represent as many interests
and diverse talents.
The Executive Committee comprises:
Laurence Liew as President (Re-
volution Analytics)
John Berns as Vice President (NCS
and Bigdata.SG)
Ahbishek Parolkar as Hon. Secret-
ary (Bigdata.SG)
Julian Lee as Hon. Treasurer (Re-
volut ion Analyt ics and R User
Group Singapore)
Ahbishek Sinha as Council Member
(Amazon AWS)
Dr. Terence Hung as Council Mem-
ber (Institute of High Performance
Computing, A*STAR)
Lau Shih Hor as Council Member
(Elixir Technologies)
To promote the growth and develop-
ment of cloud computing and its
related subjects through partnerships
with the industry, the scientic
and research community, and pro-
fessionals;
To organize training workshops for
users, ISVs and start-ups on how to
leverage on cloud computing to lower
their operating costs; and
To foster close links with other
bodies with similar aims.
1.
2.
3.
Professionals and members of the
industry interested in jo in ing or
sponsoring the activities of SCF may
contact any of the above Exco members
or visit www.cloud.org.sg
37
Singapore Infocomm
Technology Federation (SiTF)
CLOUD COMPUTING IN SINGAPORE
SiTF comprises corporate members
ranging from local start-ups to established
MNCs. It works with various stakeholders
in the ICT industry to promote emerging
technologies and ICT-related issues. There
are ve chapters: Digital Media & Wireless,
Cloud Computing, GreenIT, Singapore
Enterprise and Security & Governance.
SiTF Cloud Computing Chapter
The Cloud Computing Chapter aims to
address the key issues in moving Cloud
Computing to the next level of adoption by
the industry and businesses; and serve as
the voice of industry for this dynamic area.
The chapter achieves this through the
SiTF-NYP Cloud Enablement Centre and its
regular awareness and networking events.
These initiatives bring together like-
minded enterprises, solution providers and
government agencies to share their
experiences in cloud computing imple-
mentation; and serves as a business
development platform for SiTF members.
The chapter also organises events such as
Vertical's Day and Cloud Practitioner's Day
to educate the industry.
SiTF-NYP Cloud Enablement Centre
The S i TF -NYP C l oud Enab l ement
Centre was established with the aim to
foster adoption of Cloud Computing in the
enterprise, especially among Small and
Medium-sized Enterprises for improved
productivity, increased revenue and value-
add to the business. It achieves this by
showcasing Cloud Computing solutions and
organising regular topical workshops in
the foll