Interview with Vignesa Moorthy, CEO, Viewqwest (Singapore) Part 2
by Wasim Khan, 24 July 2007


Which vendors have you been working with?

All our gateways are from Cisco. The call switching platform is from Tekelec. For the end user devices we use Cisco phones.

What made you choose Tekelec and Cisco?

With most other hosted solutions you have a call switching platform and then there is the voice firewall to be sourced from SBC vendors. With Tekelec both the voice firewalls and the call switching platform are made by the same company. That reduces the finger pointing when there are technical issues. And we essentially like the feature set that was available from Tekelec and the price point was right. (iLocus note: The products that are mentioned here are now owned by GENBAND).

Cisco is more of an industry standard as far as voice gateways go. We have been using them for a long time for voice and data, although most of our data network today is being migrated to Juniper. But from the voice side Cisco is still there. As far as Cisco phones are concerned, we like them the most but they also are the most expensive. We are therefore actively looking for small comparative products.

What particular measures have you taken to mitigate security risk of VoIP?

We basically enforce a concept of users having to change passwords every three months and we don’t allow the use of weak passwords so the password length that is being enforced is six digits. While I feel this is not good enough, unfortunately there is not much we can do as a provider. But we are working with the vendors to see how that can be further addressed.

We also tied the user accounts to the mac-address of the end point so once end point has been registered with a user name and password another end point using the same user name and password will not be able to register with the system. However it doesn’t prevent people from accessing things like the web portal with the username and password. Now we can restrict access to the portal to users on our network only but the whole value proposition of VoIP is to keep the service going when user is traveling.

How do you sum up the regulation on VoIP in Singapore?

I think from a regulatory standpoint there is really no issue. We are really allowed to do anything that we wish to do in Singapore. Traditionally for anybody offering any form of prepaid VoIP service there was a requirement to put a 100,000 dollar security bond with the government. This has since been lifted. As long as your company has a paid up capital of around 100,000 dollars you are allowed to do this. The only restriction which is a bit unique to Singapore is fixed line services in Singapore begin with a digit 6. All mobile based numbers start either with a digit 9 or a digit 8 and the government initially issued a regulation saying all VoIP calls delivered out of Singapore should begin with a digit 3 which was then issued to VoIP operators so we today we issue a combination of digit starting with 6 and 3 depending on where the customer is starting up from. This is basically for the regulator to keep track of how the number is being used. That would be probably the only marginal issue.

Do you pay any termination fee to the local incumbents?

As a VoIP operator when we connect to the incumbent operators for termination of local calls we pay the same rate as any enterprise would so we have no room for any margins on local call termination.

Also, there seems to be the number portability issue in Singapore?

Yes, the lack of number portability is a really big issue for us because when you go to the enterprise market - especially the more established companies - the number is very important to them. If they subscribe to new VoIP services, they are unable to retain their phone numbers. Number portability is extremely important in all markets where VoIP is to succeed.

What do you see the prospects of VoIP in Asia Pacific in the coming years?

Most of the countries in Asia Pacific are still very tightly regulated. Only Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia and now Thailand are sort of liberalizing the markets. Apart from Singapore and Hong Kong, the other countries that I mentioned actually require you to have a license to offer VoIP service. In other Asiapac countries like Burma, Combodia, Vietnam, China, VoIP type services are very tightly regulated.

Once these countries start issuing licenses or adopt more deregulation we will see another phase of VoIP deployments in the region. And I guess IDD will again be the main focus of new VoIP service providers because in Asia Pacific we have a lot of IDD traffic with the region.

Do you have any competition coming from Singtel in the area of hosted centrex?

In the business segment we compete with the incumbent operator Singtel and their offering called iPhoneNet which is a hosted centrex model based on the Broadsoft platform. We view them as a strong competitor. Apart from that Starhub has a service which is mainly for the residential segement. They don’t really have an enterprise Centrex offering. Most of the other operators are not offering PABX replacement services. They are doing supplementation for IDD services using much smaller systems like a Cisco call manager or an Asterisk PABX or some open source SIP solution. Then there are small players like a company called Skypehole, another one is Super Internet and some other as well but we have been fortunate enough to see we are dominating this segment of Singapore.

What is your unique selling point selling to the enterprise segment?

Our USP essentially is that apart from the incumbent operator we are the only operator to own infrastructure. When we engage the customer we engage them on a total solution including voice and data.

On the residential side who do you see succeeding with VoIP services in Singapore?

Singtel doesn’t seem to be too keen on the residential segment. Starhub is probably more active in the residential segment they have a product called Digital Voice. Starhub is a cable TV operator and they basically have cable going to every home in Singapore.

How many business customers do you have at present?

We have about 180 customers on the enterprise voice and 300 on the data side.

How much VoIP traffic are you handling per month?

In total including our wholesale services I would say 10 to 12 million minutes a month.

What are your targets for the year end?

We have a growth target of 5000 new extensions by end 2007. Our service offering is also currently available in Malaysia. We are looking to expand into Thailand, potentially Indonesia and there are some exploratory ideas now to look at expanding the service into Europe. We are in the process of establishing a POP in UK to do this.

The original press release can be found here.

Interview with Vignesa Moorthy, CEO, Viewqwest (Singapore) Part 1
by Wasim Khan, 23 July 2007


Could we start with a brief background to Viewqwest?

ViewQwest was founded in 2001. It was originally an ISP focused on data connectivity in the central business district of Singapore. From there on the company started adding value added services such as managed VPN services, back up services, disaster recovery etc. Viewqwest made a niche market for itself in the financial services industry where we provide a lot of outsourced IP management services to merchant banks.

Tell us about your VoIP service.

Over the last two years we have been testing various VoIP platforms. In February last year a service called One Voice was launched. The One Voice service which is essentially targeted at the corporate market with people who have offices in Singapore as well as globally, the primary motivation is to replace existing PABX systems. We are using a hosted Centrex model.

What has been your experience offering VoIP based services?

There is essentially is a much longer sales cycle selling this type of services in comparison to data services because there is a significant lack of understanding or familiarity with what benefits a solution like this can offer. Another is that customers have invested in traditional phone systems and lack of inertia to change. They have invested in PABX systems which does the job for them. There are other people out there that offer them cheaper IDD services so why switch over. Issues like that.

There is another group of customers obviously who are more enterprising and realize the benefits of being able to communicate more freely. Then there is another segment of customers who are either relocating or establishing new businesses and these companies readily take up the services. They do so because we offer them hosted service and they don’t have to invest in the infrastructure.

Apart from that what are the weaknesses that you see in VoIP?

Essentially the system is highly dependent on the quality of the network and we have had situations where the customer is not connected to our network or the voice services so they may be using data pipe from another provider and in situations where there is a lack of QoS then the end user experience can be quite inconsistent. Obviously this also has an impact with overseas offices where the data pipe is not from us.

Also there is this perception of security risks where people are able to hijack your account.

So what are the main trends you see in the VoIP service market in Singapore?

Most of the VoIP operators in Singapore are not doing a replacement of existing infrastructure. They are actually doing a supplementation of existing infrastructure where they are putting in additional phone on the customers’ desk which would then allow them to make cheaper calls. Now the problem with that is not necessarily the technology but the operators who are entering the space. These operators are typically chasing the IDD piece of the business.

Your VoIP offerings are for enterprise segment. Do you have any plans to offer these services in the residential segment also?

We are exploring a consumer offering. We haven’t come up with one yet. The primary reason is essentially the fact that ARPU is a lot lower and obviously the support requirements are a lot bigger. As such we haven’t addressed that market but we do have traditional consumer products like the calling cards and call back services.

The uptake of VoIP in the residential segment has slowed down world wide. What reasons do you see here?

I think it goes back to the original issue of lack of familiarity or lack of knowledge of what VoIP can offer. Also in the residential space Skype does a very good job. It is free. Most end users who are technologically savvy would quite happily use it but for the users who are less technical you need to educate this segment of users about what is possible with VoIP.

The other issue also is that in many places the rental rates for residential subscription line is relatively low. In Singapore for example I think it is 13 Singapore dollars per quarter for subscription to a residential line. So the value proposition for a VoIP operator is almost none in that segment. But in other countries it makes sense. For example in Australia the monthly line subscription may be 40 dollars a month.

The original press release can be found here.

OneVoice - Viewqwest's Hosted VoIP Service Takes Communication To New Heights

SINGAPORE, NOVEMBER 1, 2006. – OneVoice - Viewqwest’s Hosted VoIP Service to the business world had taken the telecommunications industry by storm. OneVoice services have been a perfect solution for ‘voice’ connectivity between offices. No matter which country you were in, OneVoice will definitely locate you. None of your calls will ever be missed and your communication costs will always be surprisingly low.

In an effort to cross boundaries and change paradigms, Viewqwest has developed an infrastructure which enables OneVoice to be used in the seas and with no compromise in its features or benefits.

With this, OneVoice has literally crossed all geographical boundaries. Land or water, you can always use this service to your advantage.

You can now have conference calls, basking in the sun in the middle of the blue ocean or while enjoying a barbeque with your family on a boat. There is no compromise on the voice quality. You will be heard as clearly from the boat as you would have been, from your office or home.

Voice communications from within the waters have conventionally been through the International Maritime Satellite (INMARSAT) or using your mobile phones and have therefore been very expensive. OneVoice, using IP technology, brings down communication costs to a fraction. This extended service is indeed another revolution in the communications industry.

The technology infrastructure required to set up this service on any boat is neither capital intensive nor complicating. Viewqwest will take care of setting it up and maintaining it. You will just need an IP phone or your notebook (i.e if you want to use a softphone) to get hooked from the middle of the waters to the outside world through voice.

During the launch of this service, Viewqwest’s CEO, Vignesa Moorthy said – "We have been exploring ways and means to enhance the applications of OneVoice. Being able to use our VoIP service in the waters is indeed a unique proposition and we are proud to be the pioneers in Singapore. With the number of leisure mariners growing and with the business environment getting more competitive each passing day, this service makes OneVoice the perfect solution for people on the move. It is a unique service that takes Viewqwest further ahead in this competitive market. Our efforts to enhance business communications continue and we hope to deliver more value to our customers."

Viewqwest Is Now A Licensed ASP In Malaysia

SINGAPORE, AUGUST 28, 2006 – Viewqwest, has been recently accredited as a Licensed Application Service Provider (Class) for IP Telephony and Internet Access Services, by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) – the regulatory authority of the communications and multimedia industry in Malaysia. This license entitles Viewqwest to serve its Malaysian customers with high speed internet access and offer cost-effective yet high quality VOIP services.

The ASP(C) license is a big step forward, in Viewqwest’s strategic plans of expanding into the Asia and the Asia-Pacific region. Malaysia has exhibited phenomenal economic growth in the last couple of years. With its government focusing on infrastructural developments and promoting IT and telecommunications industry, Viewqwest’s entry has been at an opportune time – both for the country and for the company.

Viewqwest hopes to penetrate Malaysia with its innovative product – OneVoice – a Hosted PBX System, based on state-of-art IP Telephony technology. With the product’s astounding success in its flagship country – Singapore - the company hopes to receive high levels of user-acceptance and popularity, in Malaysia as well. In spite of its minimal efforts in marketing, the company has already begun receiving enquiries about the product.

With features that can outsmart any other phone today, OneVoice is based on the Internet Protocol (IP) technology. It is a unique combination of IP and PBX, with performance levels much beyond the conventional VOIP. OneVoice is very different from the usual ‘Skype’ or any similar VOIP services.

This service can manage multi-party conference-calls without human intervention. Once programmed through a friendly interface, this service can inform and call the participants, irrespective of their geographical location, at any given time and place. Voice messages need not be accessed by dialing codes anymore. All such messages can be directed to and accessed from a single platform – your everyday mail inbox. No calls will ever be missed again, because OneVoice locates the person to whom the call is made through its ‘Find-me’ feature. OneVoice is highly scalable and is not constrained by the number of users.

These and many more similar spectacular features can be made available through OneVoice. Low costs in setting-up and maintenance, makes OneVoice a perfect choice for SMEs. It’s just amazing how this phone works.
‘Convergence’ is the buzz word in the industry today. Complimenting OneVoice with other services like Connectivity Solutions and Managed Services, Viewqwest hopes to create and grow a niche market for itself. The one and only single provider of all business communication solutions and services – that’s what Viewqwest is all about. The company is aggressively moving ahead in its efforts to make business operations easier, more flexible, more convenient and more economical for all its Malaysian customers.

The company’s COO, Hock Koon Lim, on this joyous occasion said, “We thank MCMC for accrediting us as a licensed ASP(C). Malaysia is a growing economy and an increasing number of companies are opening offices there. Demand for IT and telecommunications services are on the increase. Viewqwest’s license to operate in Malaysia as an ASP couldn’t come at a better time than this.”

With the ASP(C) license, Viewqwest has entered a market where there already exists a galaxy of players – big and established companies that have existed since times immemorial and those that have opened offices recently. With competition increasing everyday, companies can no longer compete on price alone. Quality of Customer Service is the key to success. In order to stay close to their customers and serve them better, Viewqwest has already opened offices in Kuala Lumpur and Penang. Viewqwest’s Director of its Malaysian operations, Janette Lim said, “We are glad to be able to serve our Malaysian customers with some of the best-of-breed and technologically advanced communications services and products. We look forward to providing premium quality service in business communications and becoming their trusted partners in growth. With Viewqwest, it’s always a win-win partnership.”

Singapore Operator Viewqwest Selects Tekelec for Hosted VoIP Services

First deployment of Tekelec 6000 VoIP Application Server in Singapore delivers cost-effective, business class IP voice, video, data service

Singapore and Morrisville, N.C. (Tuesday, June 20, 2006): Tekelec (NASDAQ: TKLC), a leading developer of high-performance network applications for next-generation fixed, mobile and packet networks, today announced Viewqwest has selected the Tekelec 6000 VoIP Application Server to provision its OneVoice hosted business-class voice, video and data services. It is the first deployment of the Tekelec 6000 in Singapore. Tekelec has sold more than 190 Tekelec 6000 systems worldwide.

Viewqwest’s OneVoice provides reliable, full-featured communication services that can scale from small businesses to large enterprise customers and deliver tailored secure configurations and customized feature sets based on the Tekelec 6000 VoIP Application Server.

The Tekelec 6000 is an Internet protocol multimedia subsystems (IMS)-ready solution that delivers a complete range of next-generation services such as unified messaging, softphone with multimedia capabilities, conferencing, find-me, and intelligent Web portal and voice mail capabilities. The services can be implemented individually or in combination to meet the specific needs of Viewqwest’s customers.

“Tekelec’s VoIP application server is a highly efficient, cost-effective solution that offers us a range of business-class, next-generation services and the scalability to customize feature sets for a virtually unlimited number of subscribers while maintaining our competitive rates,” said Vignesa Moorthy, CEO, Viewqwest.

Rick Brownfield, Tekelec’s managing director in Asia, added, “With Viewqwest, we are extending the benefits of our hosted VoIP applications to businesses across Singapore. The Tekelec 6000 provides an ‘IMS-ready’ solution to deliver a variety of revenue-generating, SIP [session initiation protocol]-based applications today while positioning operators for a seamless transition to the all-IP future.”

The original press release can be found here.

Lippo Centre Goes The Metro-Ethernet Way

SINGAPORE, APRIL 20, 2006 – The Lippo Group, one of the largest conglomerates in Indonesia, has its business activities spanning the entire Pacific Rim. Over the years, the Group has established offices throughout the region, servicing its interests in commercial banking, corporate finance, property development and investment, financial services, insurance, manufacturing, infrastructure development and investment, fund management and trust services and venture capital investments among others. Its office in Singapore is located at Lippo Centre on Shenton Way.

Lippo Centre explored various options to enhance the connectivity performance for itself and its clients within the building. It wanted to increase cost efficiency of its network capacity. Its challenge was, how to migrate contemporary infrastructure into the emerging networking architecture. It wanted, not just to be ahead of its competition today, but sustain the lead tomorrow as well.

The project commenced in early March this year. Viewqwest enabled the fiber optic network of the building, using its state-of-art wireless technology. It combined the standard Ethernet technology with this brick-and-mortar network infrastructure to deliver bandwidth speeds of more than 1 Gbit. Once activated, the Metro Ethernet network provided a seamless, fast and dynamic access to the information superhighway for all clients within the building. Lippo and its clients can now increase their bandwidth anytime without any changes or constraints of capacity and can enjoy speeds up to 20 times the speed of DSL. The project was completed within the same month.

Lippo can now avoid bandwidth bottlenecks that were a perennial problem when innumerous corporate networks were connected to one metropolitan area network. Viewqwest’s Metro Ethernet also eliminates a layer of complexity from WAN access, thus reducing configuration requirements. Its plug-and-play feature also enables a simple migration path from low to high speeds. Therefore, making it relatively easy to integrate and interface end-customer IT systems.

A Metro Ethernet is a computer network based on the Ethernet standard covering a metropolitan area. It connects subscribers and businesses to a Wide Area Network, through the Internet. Large businesses can also use Metro Ethernet to connect branch offices to their Intranets. Ethernet has been a well known technology for decades.

Metro Ethernet networks are increasingly used across the globe, but have become more popular in Asia and Europe, where the compact, densely-populated nature of many cities makes them the ideal means for providing large numbers of high-speed broadband and VPN connections at low cost. Such is the appeal of metro Ethernet in various countries in Europe and Asia, that it is increasingly seen by governments and companies as the best way forward for delivering private and public sector services and boosting regional competitiveness.

Viewqwest’s Metro Ethernet transforms tomorrow’s wishful thinking into current business paradigms and into current realities. With Lippo Centre, adopting Metro Ethernet, Viewqwest adds another prestigious client to its ever expanding list of customers.

Viewqwest Accredited As Microsoft Gold Certified Partner

SINGAPORE, MARCH 10, 2006 – Viewqwest, a pioneer in business communication solutions and services, has been recently accredited as a ‘GOLD CERTIFIED PARTNER’ by Microsoft.

Gold Certified Partners represent the highest level of competence and expertise with Microsoft technologies, and have the closest working relationship with Microsoft. It is a status that confers the highest level of recognition of quality.

Attaining this certificate, enables Viewqwest to have access to the resources and support it needs to stand out in the marketplace, including a Technical Services Coordinator, access to the Partner Knowledge Base, priority listing in Microsoft Directories, and other top-level and value adding benefits.

Microsoft’s certification lends credibility to Viewqwest’s competencies in Advanced Infrastructure Solutions, Information Worker Solutions and Network Infrastructure Solutions. Viewqwest has set benchmarks in the industry in its expertise in Hosting Solutions, Exchange Migration and Deployment and Messaging and Collaboration. The company’s growth, reputation and acceptance within the small and medium business community, bear testimony to its superior competency in crafting infrastructure solutions – connecting Windows-based servers, PC locations and internet; installing a server farm; or building a Windows Small Business Server stand-alone solutions for SMEs.

Viewqwest has always been a knowledge-based organization and has continually focused in training and development, since its inception in 2001. Microsoft’s Gold Certificate has been another feather in the cap - an achievement and a milestone in the company’s journey moving forward.

Viewqwest’s CEO Vignesa Moorthy, on this joyous occasion, said: “We have been developing competencies in Microsoft’s products since a number of years now. It gives a feeling of great satisfaction and confidence that Microsoft has acknowledged our efforts and values us as a partner. This accreditation will help us in our strategic efforts to tie-up with the best-of-breed technology vendors, both in Singapore and globally. Being Gold Certified by Microsoft, is an additional endorsement of our quality and credibility, for the work we do in providing customized communication solutions to enhance our customers’ businesses.”

Viewqwest Launches New IP Telephony Service - OneVoice

SINGAPORE, FEBRUARY 08, 2006 – Viewqwest, a pioneer in business communication solutions and services, launched one of its most innovative products – OneVoice – in a recently held company event at Sentosa.

The company, a telecommunications company and an Internet Service Provider in Singapore, has exhibited promising growth in areas of Internet Connectivity and IT Managed Services, over the last couple of years. Always at the forefront of cutting-edge technology and with a dedicated team of engineers in R&D continually trying to improve and enhance IT services for customers, Viewqwest has recently introduced a new product in the market - OneVoice – a product or more appropriately a ‘service’ that will revolutionise business communications.

With features that can outsmart any other phone available today, this ‘telephony service’ is based on the Internet Protocol (IP) technology and is developed with the business-customer in mind. It is a unique combination of IP and PABX, with performance levels much beyond the conventional VOIP. Viewqwest hosts this state-of-the-art PABX and then provides the functionality and connectivity of the PABX to businesses using high speed Internet-protocol (IP) connections.

OneVoice is very different from the usual ‘Skype’ or any similar VOIP services. To know more about the differences, please visit the company’s website at www.viewqwest.com.

OneVoice can manage multi-party conference-calls without human intervention. Once programmed through a friendly interface, this service can inform and call the participants, irrespective of their geographical location, at any given time and place. Local calls are free, while overseas calls are cheaper than other service providers.

Voice messages need not be accessed by dialing codes anymore. All such messages can be directed to and accessed from a single platform – your everyday mail inbox.

No calls will ever be missed again, because OneVoice has this uncanny ability (Find-Me feature) to locate the person to whom the call is made.

It doesn’t matter how many and how frequently, new staffs join your company. There is no limit to the number of users to whom this service can be extended to. These and many more such spectacular features can be made available through OneVoice. You might think it’s going to be expensive. Well, here’s the icing on the cake – the OneVoice service is cheaper than your usual legacy telephony service. Low setting-up as well as maintenance costs makes OneVoice a perfect choice for SMEs. It’s just amazing how this phone works.

Increasing enterprise productivity, reducing business costs and enhancing business performance have been the primary objectives of developing OneVoice.

Worldwide IP telephony spending reached US$806m in 2003, crossed US$1.7b in 2004 and US$2.6b in 2005. The SMB Global Model, a biannual SME IT and telecoms opportunity-sizing study shows that IP telephony spending among SMEs worldwide is expected to cross US$3.62b by the end of this year. SMEs in Singapore and across Asia-Pacific will be all the more interested in making OneVoice calls because of the need to communicate across vast distances in Asia.

Viewqwest is one of the pioneers in Singapore, to introduce such a service and hopes to enjoy the first-movers advantage. The company’s CEO, Vignesa Moorthy, on the launch of this service said: “At Viewqwest, it’s always about innovation. Our objective has always been to help businesses run their operations in the most cost-effective and efficient manner by adopting and applying the latest technology available. We believe OneVoice, with its numerous rich and user-friendly features, will transform business communications. It will change the ways in which business is run today. We believe that our valued customers will appreciate this new service and we hope that with their regular feedback, we can constantly improve and deliver better services to help them grow.”