Wavecom Solutions News
Wavecom Solutions in Pacific Business News
Local telecom company plans to grow by offering its clients `cloud services`
Pacific Business News - by Sophie Cocke, Pacific Business News
Date: Friday, April 22, 2011, 12:00am HST
Storing their company`s data in an off-site location - in a cloud, no less - may not sound like an attractive proposition for executives concerned about the security of information critical to running their businesses.
But that`s the future of information technology, according to many of the sector`s leading thinkers. Executives at Honolulu-based Wavecom Solutions see it as the major component of their changing business model. "For a number of years in Hawaii, people thought of us as a telecom company," said Jeremy Amen, CEO of Wavecom Solutions, one of Hawaii`s five network-based companies. "In 12 to 24 months, the first thing you will think is that we`re a cloud company."
Formerly Pacific LightNet, the company that traditionally has provided Internet and phone services recently launched cloud services for its business customers. The industry term for accessing data remotely, "cloud services" is touted as a way for businesses to cut the time and cost involved in managing cumbersome in-house servers. Not only can it free up office space dedicated to rooms full of blinking boxes and entwined wires, it also can enable employees to focus on their company`s core mission without the distraction of updating and managing technology.
Earlier this month, Wavecom Solutions began offering private, dedicated networks for business customers that store their information in two locations for added security - in downtown Honolulu and in Kawaehai on the Big Island. Within six to eight months, the company also plans to roll out its "public cloud," in which data can be accessed over the Internet. (Customers using private networks also have the option of accessing their information over the Internet.)
The move marks a sharp departure from Wavecom`s established focus on phone and Internet services, which it will continue to offer. "Traditionally, we tried to take market share away from the incumbents," said Ken Hensarling, headof business development. "Now we`re trying to provide services that are not being offered and that are needed by the market. It`s a big difference. Before, we just competed - it was about cost and who can come in at the lowest price. It wasn`t good for anyone." Wavecom Solutions is one of a handful of companies that owns fiber-optic cable connecting the Islands. Other companies include Hawaiian Telcom, Oceanic Time Warner, tw telecom and Sandwich Isles Communications.
As a smaller company, with an average of 9,000 customers and annual revenues of $16 million, competing against giants such as Hawaiian Telcom - with more than 500,000 customers and revenues of $401 million last year - was not proving to be a winning strategy. "Larger companies could always provide lower prices," Amen said. "It required change." The launch of the company`s cloud services places Wavecom ahead of what is expected to be a growing trend, and executives say that owning its own fiber-optic network gives the company an advantage.
The fiber-optic network enables Wavecom to connect customers directly into their data centers and through a private network and also allows for data storage replication across both their centers in Honolulu and on the Big Island at no extra cost. James Kerr, founder of Honolulu-based SuperGeeks, which provides a range of computer services, described the private network services that Wavecom was offering as a "white glove approach to computing." While these services are expected to cost more than the public cloud that Wavecom is planning to launch, it`s more tailored to the individual needs of the business and provides added security.
"A lot of providers actually resell networks," Kerr said. "So, what`s nice about Wavecom is they actually own and manage the network, which gives them more autonomy over the quality of the network. It`s an added advantage."
While cloud computing has been the subject of much recent hype, with major companies such as Amazon, Rackspace, AT&T and Verizon entering the competition, insiders point out that consumers have been using such services for a number of years. Applications such as Gmail, Facebook and Flickr all rely on cloud computing, or storing and accessing information remotely over the Internet. But businesses utilizing these services for the bulk of their company data have been slower to enter the virtual environment.
Dale Aiello, a Hawaii representative for the Gartner Group, a global technology research company, said it was difficult to gauge how many businesses were taking advantage of the services or how many companies were currently offering cloud services in Hawaii. "Everything is pretty much in its infancy," he said. The expectation is that the number of businesses using the services will grow. As pioneers in the cloud services market in Hawaii, executives at Wavecom Solutions expect that most of their revenues will come from their cloud services in the coming years. And they are looking to expand their services to the Mainland, Asia, Australia, Latin America and the Caribbean, hoping to capitalize on their private and dedicated services. "Ten years from now, I see us as being a regional company, if not trending towards the global," Amen said.
