14 DAY TRIAL // A strategic alliance inked by Microsoft and Chunghwa Telecom Co. Ltd. (CHT) is designed to enable the latter to deliver services that span across the PC, mobile devices, and TV, both to businesses and to end users in Taiwan. According to the Redmond company, Simon Leung, corporate vice president, chairman and CEO of Microsoft Greater China Region, and Shyue-Ching Lu, chairman and CEO of CHT, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) defining the future collaboration focused not only on Cloud services but also on software applications. The agreement involves SaaS (software as a service), PaaS (platform as a service) and IaaS (information as a service) cloud app, Microsoft explained.
Present at the MOU signing, Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer commented that the two companies shared the same vision when it came down to delivering products and services set up to enhance user experience associated with mobile technologies. “We’re expanding the scope of our collaboration because CHT is a great partner in these efforts and because we are committed to working closely with companies in Taiwan to help strengthen the Taiwanese IT industry,” Ballmer revealed.
When it comes down to SaaS, the software giant revealed that CHT would be the local partner which would serve Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) online services to customers. In addition, by joining Microsoft in the Cloud, CHT also embraces the company’s upcoming Cloud platform. The PaaS aspect of the strategic alliance involves a CHT and Microsoft collaboration for the Windows Azure Platform Metro Early Adoption Program. Essentially, CHT will leverage Windows Azure for its own Cloud services.
“Through this agreement, Microsoft and CHT will work together to deliver a new generation of seamless, connected experiences that bring the power of cloud computing to consumers and to business of all sizes here in Taiwan,” Ballmer added. “These efforts will include everything from the implementation of an optimized, dynamic datacenter to hosted services for businesses and new cloud-based services for consumers that span PCs, mobile phones and the television.”
As a part of the IaaS deal between the two, CHT will be able to take advantage of the Microsoft Global Foundation Services and Dynamic Data Center Toolkit. Microsoft noted that, in this regard, CHT would offer optimized dynamic datacenter cloud services. On top of this, CHT will also make sure that custom versions of Internet Explorer and Silverlight will be installed on its netbooks, in addition to Windows Gadgets for Windows 7.
“We hope that our strategic alliance with Microsoft will result in a more convenient mobile experience for consumers,” Shyue-Ching revealed. “CHT has continuously enhanced our software applications and service scopes, and devoted ourselves to digital services including audio, video, information security and entertainment services. The combination of Microsoft’s innovative technologies and CHT’s resources is intended to accelerate the application of cloud technologies on actual services, bringing consumers convenient services and fresh user experiences."