- Unified Communications-as-a-Service (UCaaS) provides an integrated cloud communications solution to enterprises

- Solution available on a monthly 'per-employee' subscription basis

- Option to implement UCaaS alongside existing communications infrastructure

Singapore, 19 March 2014 - Singapore Telecommunications Limited (SingTel) today launched Unified Communications-as-a-Service (UCaaS), an integrated cloud communications service for enterprises in Asia Pacific. It comprises a hosted suite of products that include voice, video, messaging and presence.

Bill Chang, Chief Executive Officer of SingTel Group Enterprise said: "UCaaS epitomises 'everything-as-a-service'. It combines SingTel's expertise in the areas of cloud, mobility, voice and fixed data network services to create a single service offering that will change the face of business collaboration for enterprises.

"By taking UCaaS to cloud, we relieve enterprises of the burden of managing their own communications infrastructure and offer them a scalable and flexible solution Asia-wide."

UCaaS librates employees of enterprises from the confines of their office. With this solution, they can use collaboration tools such as telephony, instant messaging, presence, conferencing and mobility seamlessly through their fixed lines in the office or on the move through their mobile devices. This is done simply through a single interface.

This service is offered with a unique "per-employee" monthly subscription scheme and has the flexibility to cater for the differing needs of desk-bound employees or employees on the move.

"The phenomenal growth in the smartphone and mobile device adoption in many Asian markets has resulted in the blurring of lines between work and play," Mr Chang said, "By leveraging SingTel UCaaS, enterprises across Asia can empower their workforce to be more productive by facilitating the ease of contacting and collaborating with their colleagues or external stakeholders anytime, anywhere and on any device."

UCaaS is hosted in SingTel's world-class data centres across Asia Pacific. Built into SingTel ConnectPlus, Asia's leading Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) network, it eliminates the integration complexity for enterprises which require seamless voice, data and video services.

Irving Tan, Vice President for Cisco in ASEAN, said: "As the global leader in IT, we are changing the way businesses communicate and collaborate and are proud to have provided the foundation for SingTel to launch their UCaaS in the Asia Pacific region. Our collaboration with SingTel further demonstrates Cisco's commitment to helping them monetize their cloud offerings while promoting seamless, global reliability and agility. Using Cisco collaboration technologies, SingTel and Optus can roll-out their UCaaS to customers across the region and also help businesses that are expanding into Asia Pacific, providing increased speed to market and reduced operational complexities while ultimately achieving efficiency and productivity."

Flexibility to accommodate changing communications needs

Designed to deliver productivity, cost and efficiency benefits to organisations, UCaaS is ideal for enterprises looking to shift from traditional PABX systems to a consumptionbased communications model. As it is hosted in the cloud, it can be deployed quickly, avoiding the long provisioning lead times associated with traditional infrastructure implementations.

UCaaS integrates well with enterprises' existing communications infrastructure, allowing them to augment their existing infrastructure with new and enhanced UCaaS features.

SingTel's team of certified IT professionals provides consultancy and systems integration services to ensure that the deployment of a full or hybrid UCaaS solution is in line with the enterprise's business strategies.

The option of adopting a hybrid UCaaS gives enterprises the flexibility of expanding regionally to remote offices without having to invest in on-premise communications infrastructure.

UCaaS is the latest addition to SingTel's suite of cloud services for enterprises which includes Infrastructure-as-a-Service, Platform-as-a-Service, Software-as-a-Service, Connectivity-as-a-Service and Security-as-a-Service among others. The services are designed to help enterprises be leaner and more efficient while staying at the forefront of technology.

distributed by