• Joins forces with Dialog Axiata to empower organizations to speed up on digitilisation
• Announces Virtual Cloud Network to deliver an end-to-end software-defined network architecture

VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW), a leading innovator in enterprise software made two significant announcements to invest in Sri Lanka’s rapidly growing cloud economy and further the ‘Digital Inclusive Sri Lanka’ vision.

Enabling Cloud Adoption in Sri Lanka

VMware announced its partnership with Sri Lanka’s leading telecommunications service provider, Dialog Axiata PLC, to strengthen Sri Lanka’s enterprise cloud market. Dialog Axiata will become the country’s first cloud service provider to offer VMware-based cloud services to organizations - enabling businesses to leverage the best of cloud technologies and accelerate innovation.

In the first of its two pronged approach, VMware further strengthened its partnership with Cumulus, the cloud solutions arm of Sri Lanka’s premier connectivity provider, Dialog Axiata PLC. The collaboration makes Dialog Axiata, Sri Lanka’s first cloud service provider to offer premium cloud services to its customers using a fully automated, advanced next generation premium cloud services platform powered by VMware vCloud Director.

The expansion is in tandem with the country’s rapidly growing cloud industry with 85% of businesses planning investments in Digital Infrastructure, contributing to a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 14.2% for the IT market spend between 2014 -2019.

“In the face of rapid digital disruption, companies in Sri Lanka are looking to reinvent themselves by capitalising on the cloud to sharpen their competitive edge and offer enhanced customer experiences. Our collaboration with VMware furthers strengthens our position as a leading transformation partner and digitalisation enabler for enterprises who are embarking on this journey. It further strengthens our commitment to continue delivering an unmatched combination of cloud and broadband connectivity services,” said Navin Pieris, Head of Broadband and Fixed Telecommunications, Dialog Axiata PLC.

The software defined environment empowering Dialog Axiata will enable businesses with a unified, fully automated self-service platform that is easily configurable, flexible. The provision of Infrastructure as a service (IaaS), Disaster Recovery as a service (DRaaS), Cloud migration solutions and Data Backup solutions in a VMware NSX-enabled more secure environment will enable businesses to be more agile, elastic and responsive.

Introducing : Virtual Cloud Network to enable digital transformation in Sri Lanka
With applications and data now residing everywhere, companies can no longer rely solely on a hardware-based network deployed inside their data center to run their business.

“Everything of value is connected to the network, and this is accelerated through the increasing use of IoT, 5G, AI, and other emerging technologies as users connect not only through their desktop and laptop computers, but also via mobile devices. To be future-ready and leverage this opportunity, businesses in Sri Lanka need to be equipped with the right network foundation,” said Sanjay Deshmukh, vice president and general manager, SEAK, VMware.

“A digital foundation built on VMware enables organizations to flex and harness new technology at the speed at which it evolves without disrupting business operations. Today, I’m very excited to announce the software-defined Virtual Cloud Network, a new network approach that will provide organizations with robust and more secure connectivity,” said Deshmukh.

With a Virtual Cloud Network, businesses will be able to create an end-to-end software-based network architecture that delivers services to applications and data, wherever they are located.

The Virtual Cloud Network will operate at global scale from edge to edge and deliver consistent, pervasive connectivity and intrinsic security for apps and data, independent of underlying physical infrastructure or location.

VMware Advances Business Transformation with Networking and Greater Security in Software

In order to support a secure network intrinsicly, VMware announced the VMware NSX networking and security portfolio which provides a common operating environment for customers to connect, better secure and operate a Virtual Cloud Network. The portfolio enables consistent, pervasive connectivity and intrinsic security for apps and data across software-defined data center, branch, cloud, and telco environments. Customers will be able to manage consistent networking and intrinsic security across private data centers, AWS, Azure, and IBM Cloud.

The VMware NSX networking and security portfolio includes:
• VMware NSX Data Center, one of the industry’s most widely deployed network virtualization platform for the enterprise data center, adopted by more than 4,500 customers globally.
• VMware NSX SD-WAN by VeloCloud, the industry-leading Software-Defined Wide Area Networking solution that combines the economics and flexibility of the best real-time network overlay with the deployment speed, scale and automation of cloud-delivered services.
• VMware NSX Cloud provides consistent networking and intrinsic security for applications running in both private VMware-based data centers and natively in public clouds.
• VMware NSX Hybrid Connect enables customers to solve one of the biggest challenges with hybrid cloud– consistent networking.

“Powerful applications are now critical in sharpening a business’ competitive edge or boosting the quality of public sector services. As the Sri Lanka government embarks on the Digital Economy Development Strategy, we are committed to equipping organizations in Sri Lanka with the right tools to better innovate and deliver, manage, secure, and connect apps to users and data, wherever they may be,” said Daniel Choo, Country Manager, Nascent Markets, VMware.

About Dialog Axiata PLC: Dialog Axiata Group, a subsidiary of Axiata Group Berhad (Axiata), operates Sri Lanka’s Leading Quad-Play Connectivity Provider. Dialog Axiata PLC, listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange, supplements its market leading position in the Mobile Telecommunications sector with a robust footprint and market presence in Sri Lanka’s Fixed Telecommunications and Digital Television markets through its fully owned subsidiaries Dialog Broadband Networks (Private) Ltd (DBN) and Dialog Television (Private) Ltd., (DTV). Dialog Axiata Group is Sri Lanka's largest Foreign Direct Investor (FDI) with investments totaling USD 2.3 Billion.

The winner of six Global Mobile Awards, Dialog has the distinction of being voted by Sri Lankan Consumers as the Telecom Service Provider of the Year for seven years in succession at the SLIM-Nielsen People's Choice Awards. Dialog was also voted by Sri Lankan consumers as the Internet Service Provider of the Year for six years consecutively, and has topped Sri Lanka’s Corporate Accountability rankings for the past eight years in succession, and is an ISO 9001 certified company. The Company has received numerous local and international awards including the National Quality Award and Sri Lanka Business Excellence Award.

Dialog has been at the forefront of innovation in the mobile industry in Sri Lanka since the late 90’s, propelling the nation’s mobile telephony infrastructure to a level of advancement on par with the developed world. The company delivers advanced mobile telephony and high speed mobile broadband services to a subscriber base in excess of 12.7 Million Sri Lankans, via 2.5G and 3G/3.5G and 4G/4.5G networks.

About VMware: VMware software powers the world’s complex digital infrastructure. The company’s compute, cloud, mobility, networking and security offerings provide a dynamic and efficient digital foundation to over 500,000 customers globally, aided by an ecosystem of 75,000 partners. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, this year VMware celebrates twenty years of breakthrough innovation benefiting business and society. For more information, please visit https://www.vmware.com/company.html.

Photo caption: (From left) Suresh Nanthagopal (Territory Manager – Sri Lanka & Maldives Nascent Markets, VMware Southeast Asia), Navin Pieris (Head of Broadband and Fixed Telecommunications, Dialog Axiata PLC), Sanjay Deshmukh (Vice President & Managing Director, SEAK) and Daniel Choo (Country Manager Nascent and Vietnam, VMware)