Article republished from APAC Outlook
In a technologically evolving age, digital connectivity keeps the world turning. We take a look at Epsilon Telecommunications and speak to Warren Aw, Managing Director of APAC, about the company’s critical mission to link the globe.
Interconnecting Your World
“As we grow, we have consistently delivered and evolved pragmatic solutions. That makes us the only few next-generation telco provider that can provide a wide spectrum of solutions from data to colocation to voice services.”
This year is the 20th anniversary of Epsilon Telecommunications (Epsilon), a company that evolved from a start-up launched in a coal shed in London, to what is now a global connectivity provider with offices in the UK, Bulgaria, and its headquarters in Singapore, encompassing over 200 employees.
In a time where digital tools and connectivity are necessities for domestic households and businesses, Epsilon is one of the few global providers offering secure connectivity to a large ecosystem of cloud service providers and internet exchanges. To date, Epsilon has the largest pool of cloud providers, including well-known names such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Azure, IBM and Oracle, to niche providers such as KT Cloud, NHN Cloud and Naver Cloud. This also comprises leading internet exchanges (IX) such as Deutsche Commercial Internet Exchange (DE-CIX), the Amsterdam Internet Exchange (AMS-IX), the London Internet Exchange (LINX), the Singapore Internet Exchange (SGIX), the Korea Internet Neutral Exchange (KINX) and more. Few companies in the market can offer their customers the option to connect to as many cloud providers and internet exchanges as Epsilon.
“We offer customers the flexibility to purchase, order and provision the Cloud Connect and IX peering services on-demand via our Infiny network as a service (NaaS) platform, quickly and easily, all from a single point of contact,” says Warren Aw, Managing Director of APAC at Epsilon.
“Infiny is the centrepiece of our business with on-demand connectivity capability. It is an award-winning NaaS platform that enables customers to instantly buy and deploy dedicated connectivity for digital and cloud-enabled services around the world, cutting out the need to invest in or manage the physical infrastructure.”
Compared to other NaaS platforms, Epsilon’s Infiny offers greater flexibility and customer control features that come with self-service network orchestration and API (application programming interface) integration to the existing systems.
Perpetual Evolution
According to Aw, telecom will play a pivotal role in empowering businesses with digital transformation and improving customer experiences.
The first of these trends is a surge in multi-cloud deployment. Cloud technology is entering the era of the multi-cloud with businesses becoming progressively cloud-centric in their operations. Many of them are exploring hosting with various cloud providers to reap the best features of each and enhance workload performance.
“We are seeing a growing number of cloud providers rolling out more availability zones across the region and telco providers providing more secure cloud connectivity services and inter-cloud networking solutions that come with total operational visibilities and control,” Aw informs us. “We believe 2023 and the coming years will shape up to be one of the most transformative periods for the telecom industry.”
On top of this, the past decade has seen an immense transformation in the ‘as a service’ business model, from software as a service (SaaS) to infrastructure as a service (IaaS), to platform as a service (PaaS), and now anything as a service (XaaS). This evolution has also extended to the telecom network, prompting the emergence of NaaS. NaaS essentially allows firms to rapidly adjust their network infrastructure according to changing requirements and optimise their user experience via an on-demand subscription. Infiny, Epsilon’s NaaS platform, was introduced in 2015 to address this growing demand.
“As the world becomes increasingly connected, more and more devices will connect to the Internet of Things (IoT). These include autonomous drones, vehicles and wearables, all offering numerous benefits for factories, hospitals, cars, homes and cities,” Aw elaborates. “However, this also means that these entities are exposed to greater cyber threats. Traditional perimeter-based security can no longer provide the required protection against these dangers. To facilitate remote access working scenarios and secure business data, applications, and networks, organisations need to revisit their security strategy.
“With this, we believe that telco can play an important role in working with security vendors to offer telco-managed zero trust networks and secure access service edge (SASE).”
To keep pace with trends and changes, the company foresees that more subsea cables, satellites, cell towers and various forms of data centres will be deployed. Indeed, adaptation and evolution are in Epsilon’s DNA.
Moving with the Times
Over the years, Epsilon has been committed to delivering agile, cloud-based and application-driven network services, offering a wide range of fully managed connectivity and communication services such as cloud connectivity, peering, software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN), SASE, colocation, satellite, voice and many more to businesses around the world. Epsilon enables businesses to interconnect their digital world easily to the cloud, internet exchanges, office buildings and remote users.
“As the market evolves, we’ve adapted our business and explored new ways to deliver innovative solutions to meet our customer’s needs,” explains Aw. “The first service Epsilon delivered was four E1s (European digital line services) from Telehouse East to Madrid in 2003. To further disrupt the market, we launched optical cross connects in London in the mid-2000s, enabling service providers to access the services they needed with a cost-efficient model.”
Epsilon further expanded its offerings by launching the first colocation facility in 2008 to serve its growing international customer base through deploying a smart international voice and data network. Then, in 2009 and 2010, Epsilon moved to Singapore and established a state of the art interconnection colocation facility and metro network locally. According to Aw, 2015 was an incredible year for the business as Epsilon took a big step into the future with the introduction of the CloudLX Platform, which eventually evolved into its NaaS platform, Infiny.
“Over the years, we have built a foundation for accelerating growth and innovation at Epsilon, and we’re more than ready to push our business to new places,” Aw tells us proudly. “In 2021, Epsilon was successfully acquired by KT Corp (KT), a world-leading telecommunications company. We now have a board and team with deep telecom experience and massive opportunities to serve even more customers across the globe.”
In addition to the milestone achieved, Epsilon has undertaken a tremendous amount of work in terms of customer experience. The company’s net promoter score (NPS) grew to 57 in 2022, greatly surpassing the industry average.
“This is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our team and our continual commitment to pushing our business forward.”
Stronger Together
Since KT’s successful acquisition of Epsilon in September 2021, the companies have collaborated to deliver new services to accelerate digital transformation for customers both locally and internationally, and there have been many successful initiatives accomplished over the course of 2022.
Epsilon launched three points of presence (PoPs) in South Korea. The launch has provided customers with direct access to South Korea’s digital infrastructure and ecosystems spanning data centres, cloud providers and internet service providers. The PoPs are located in MokDong IDC 2, KINX Gasan IDC and KT Hyehwa, all based in the Seoul region. Epsilon customers can now connect on-demand to South Korea’s network, via the Infiny platform, and access ethernet, IP transit, cloud and direct internet access (DIA) services across the country.
“Through the acquisition, we have also added more cloud partners to our ecosystem,” Aw explains. “Epsilon is one of the few global providers offering connectivity to a variety of local clouds.
“We also offer colocation services at a carrier-neutral facility in Seoul operated by our partner, KT Cloud. This will join our existing portfolio of Epsilon global hubs in London, New York, and Singapore.”
The acquisition has allowed Epsilon to integrate KT Satellite into its offerings, giving customers access to Asia’s largest satellite teleport and five operational satellites, covering 60 percent of the world’s population. Satellite services add to Epsilon’s connectivity mix and provide customers with a single solution provider for their end-to-end networking needs.
From the sky to the oceans, the company leverages KT’s established infrastructure and added subsea cables to its portfolio of services that enables customers to enjoy secure point-to-point connectivity for their mission-critical applications.
People at Heart
It is imperative for Epsilon to move forward with people at the forefront of the company’s focus. To ensure that customers have the support they need throughout every step of their journey with Epsilon, the company has developed dedicated customer service teams and is integrating its support capabilities with KT’s customer service teams.
“Our people make Epsilon what it is. We value everyone’s ideas and will continue to focus on their development to drive both employee and customer satisfaction,” Aw concludes. “Team collaboration is strongly encouraged to make Epsilon even greater, and we will be providing more opportunities for training, personal development, and progression throughout the year.
“Our commercial teams in APAC and EMEA/US are dedicated to staying close to our customers to meet their needs. On top of this, we will continue to closely align our customer experience, product and sales teams, and ensure that our offerings remain compelling, relevant, and always meet our customer’s changing requirements.”
Original source: APAC Outlook
In 2023, we’re celebrating Epsilon’s 20th Anniversary and looking ahead at the next 20 years of our business. Together with our customers, partners, and peers in the industry, we have been on an incredible journey that has seen Epsilon evolve from a start-up launched in a coal shed in London, to a global connectivity provider with the backing of KT, a world-leading telecommunications company.
As the market evolves, we’ve adapted our business to remain laser-focused on our customers’ needs. We’ve continued to innovate and deliver solutions that simplify networking across an ecosystem of applications, users, and locations. It is part of our DNA.
The first service Epsilon delivered was four E1s from Telehouse East to Madrid. Since then, we’ve been exploring new ways to connect and optimise our customers’ businesses with efficient and trusted solutions. In the mid-2000s, we launched optical cross connects in London which not only disrupted the market, but enabled more service providers to access the services they needed with a cost-efficient model. We further expanded our offerings, launching our first colocation facility in 2008 and building and deploying a smart international voice and data network to serve our growing international customer base.
Over the years, Epsilon has consistently delivered and evolved pragmatic solutions. After adding Ethernet to our offering in 2006, we developed the service further with automation and orchestration. Our CloudLX platform was introduced in 2015, providing customers with on-demand connectivity and direct access to cloud service providers like Amazon Web Services (AWS). That eventually evolved into our award-winning Network as a Service (NaaS) platform Infiny, which we are continuing to enhance and develop today.
More than just the milestones, this shows our mindset of innovation and forms our foundation as a business. We never stop learning, listening, adapting, and growing – there is always momentum and something new happening at Epsilon. This is rooted in our business culture. Everyone can influence our product development, internal workflows, or other aspects of our business. We are always open to receiving feedback from our customers and employees. This keeps us exploring and evolving.
Delivering New Milestones in 2022
Over the last 12 months, we’ve worked closely with KT to integrate and expand our offerings. We’re already serving international requirements for many of KT’s enterprise customers. Key relationships across public sectors, transportation, financial services and hyperscalers show the value that Epsilon can bring to KT’s customers.
We now have a nationwide footprint across KT’s network infrastructure with seamless access to connectivity and colocation services in South Korea via our three Points of Presence (PoPs) across Seoul. We can provide our customers with access to local digital infrastructure, where they can connect on-demand to South Korea’s only neutral Internet Exchange (IX) operator, KINX, via our Infiny platform, and access Ethernet and Direct Internet Access (DIA) services across South Korea.
We’ve also integrated KT Satellite into our offering. This gives customers access to Asia’s largest satellite teleport and five operational satellites, covering 60% of the world’s population. Satellite services add to our connectivity mix and provides customers with a single solution provider for their end-to-end networking needs.
Epsilon is going beyond the basics in multi-cloud – we are one of the few international providers offering connectivity to such a large ecosystem of cloud service providers. In addition to leading global cloud service providers including Alibaba Cloud, AWS, Google Cloud, IBM Cloud, Microsoft Azure and Oracle Cloud, we’ve added niche providers to our ecosystem including KT Cloud, KINX IXcloud, NHN Cloud, Naver Cloud, and Tencent Cloud.
We’ve also expanded our data centre footprint to Seoul, and now offer colocation services at a carrier-neutral facility in Seoul operated by our partner, KT Cloud. This will join our existing portfolio of Epsilon Global Hubs in London, New York, and Singapore.
There’s been a tremendous amount of work in terms of customer experience. Our Net Promoter Score (NPS) grew to 57 in 2022, greatly surpassing the industry average. This is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our team and our continual commitment to pushing our business forward.
As we look ahead to the new year, we will be focusing on five key priorities.
Five Priorities for 2023
1. Stay Close to Customers
To ensure that customers have the support they need throughout every step of their journey with Epsilon, we’ve developed dedicated customer service teams and are integrating our support capabilities with KT’s customer service teams. Our commercial teams in APAC and EMEA/US are dedicated to staying close to our customers to meet their needs. On top of this, we will continue to closely align our Customer Experience, Product and Sales teams, and ensure that our offerings remain compelling, relevant, and always meet our customers’ changing requirements.
2. Expand Our Solutions Set
In 2023, we will be providing higher bandwidth data centre interconnect services to cater to increasing customer demands for capacity. Our ecosystem of clouds, Software as a Service (SaaS) providers and Internet Exchanges will also continue to grow. Network connectivity will be extended to SaaS platforms including Salesforce, ServiceNow, Webex and Oracle. Customers can also expect to see enhanced security services added to our portfolio to complement our SD-WAN offerings, plus the development of SMS and Microsoft Teams-related voice networking services.
3. Collaborate with KT
We will continue working closely with our parent company KT to grow the business and position Epsilon as the gateway into the South Korean market through our services. We will also be supporting the KT Enterprise sales teams with their international requirements using Infiny and our expansive global network.
4. Optimise Infiny
A key priority for us is to evolve and improve Infiny into the platform that our customers and partners require. With KT utilising Infiny for their own customers’ international requirements, we will be shaping the platform to meet the needs of our combined customer footprint globally. We will develop the platform to present the full Epsilon portfolio to our customers and prospects, so that everything will be readily available in one single portal.
5. Invest in Our People
Our people make Epsilon, Epsilon. We value everyone’s ideas and will continue to focus on their development to drive both employee and customer satisfaction. Team collaboration is strongly encouraged to make Epsilon even greater, and we will be providing more opportunities for training, personal development, and progression throughout the year.
The Next 20 Years
There has never been more potential in our business than today. We have the Team, DNA, and resources to adapt and grow our business in the long-term. As technology and the market moves, we’ve built a solid foundation for the continual transformation of our business. Customers can rest assured that they will benefit from the same trusted solutions, seamless experience, and support as we grow together.
The greatest opportunity lies in unlocking new potential through our relationship with KT, which has been evidenced in the past 12 months. In a relatively short space of time, we’ve integrated and expanded our offerings – this demonstrates how the two companies can work together to deliver for customers. As we plan and look at how we can take the relationship to another level, it’s exciting that there really are no limits on the solutions and experiences we can deliver for customers.
Here’s to the next 20 years of building a bigger and better Epsilon together to interconnect your world. A big thank you to our customers, partners and colleagues – onward and upward!
