ASL’s Associate Company i-Sprint Establishes New Center of Excellence in Zhuhai — To Foster the Market Leadership in Asia Pacific
News Release – August 1, 2014
Hong Kong, 1 August 2014 — Automated Systems Holdings Limited (‘ASL’ or ‘the Company’) (SEHK stock code: 771), a leading IT services provider in the region, today announced that its associate company, i-Sprint Innovations Pte Ltd (‘i-Sprint’), has established a new Center of Excellence in Zhuhai, expanding its business in mainland China. The new center enables i-Sprint to address the need for IT security solutions from clients in Asia Pacific.
According to Gartner’s1 forecast on strategic technology trends in 2014, the Internet of Things (IoT) is among the top 10 technology trends in China with expectation to generate over US$300 billion in revenue from related IoT product and service suppliers by 2020. This trend is rapidly becoming a key driver behind the development of “smart cities” in China. While Chinese companies have started to migrate their applications and services online, to mobile and the cloud, information security concerns have also increased, resulting in them seeking effective solutions for a safe information society.
As a regional leader in Identity, Credential and Access Management (ICAM) Solution services for global financial institutions and enterprises, i-Sprint, an associate company of ASL, has been cited in Gartner’s reports for the last eight years and kept ranking up. i-Sprint is seizing market opportunities brought by the wide adoption of “cloud computing” and the “smart cities” program in mainland China to deliver the security services and products companies are demanding. ASL has been providing support to i-Sprint to develop the Zhuhai Center of Excellence (at a cost of multi-millions RMB). Located at the Zhuhai Southern Software Park with a total area of around 2,000 square meters, the Center of Excellence has the capacity to house around 200 engineers. With the Center of Excellence in place, i-Sprint will focus on research and development of Identity Protection, Cloud Protection, Mobile Protection and Data Protection. Furthermore, the Center of Excellence will benefit from the mainland’s upcoming Network Security Law and Network Security Review system initiated by the newly founded Network Security and Information Committee, which underlines the Chinese Government’s support for locally developed security solutions. i-Sprint will ride on such opportunity to provide its leading security solutions and services to customers in the region.
In recent years, the Company and i-Sprint have been actively collaborating to bring enterprise-class security solutions to leading multinational companies in the region, specifically for financial clients that have stringent requirements for their network environments. These clients include Bank of China and Cathy United Bank. Currently, i-Sprint provides security solutions to more than 100 banks, government organizations and large corporations around the world to protect their valuable assets which amount to a total asset value of more than US$ 10 trillion. In Mainland China, i-Sprint serves large enterprises, including Bank of China Insurance, Bank of Lanzhou, China Unicom and Beijing Network TV, reinforcing the Company’s leading position in providing reliable and quality security solutions with for its clients in the region.
Simon Leung, the newly appointed Chief Executive Officer of Automated Systems Holdings Limited said, “Investing in i-Sprint has proven to be an important and successful initiative for ASL in last few years. We are pleased to see i-Sprint’s value has quadrupled since we bought it in 2011. The market has also gradually recognized our investment value. As the largest shareholder of i-Sprint, the Company not only supports the opening of Center of Excellence, but we also seek close collaboration with i-Sprint to develop the best-of-breed solutions based on our respective industry leading solutions in hardware, software, one-stop professional services and security solutions technology. By doing so, the Company and i-Sprint would secure a better position in the information technology market in the region. Meanwhile, the Company will continue to partner with global security solutions providers to provide best services to our customers and gain higher revenue growth.”
“Following the recent expansion of our Beijing and Hong Kong offices, the establishment of the new Center of Excellence marks as a milestone in i-Sprint’s development in China. As a leading provider of Identity, Credential and Access Management Solution provider in the region, we hope the new Center of Excellence can help enterprises to grow their businesses without concerns over information security in the “cloud era”. Through close cooperation with ASL, we can provide best-in-class security and enterprise IT solutions by complementing with each other strength, to help foster our leadership in China and Asia Pacific,” said Albert Ching, Chief Executive Officer of i-Sprint.
On 1st August 2014, following the opening of the Center of Excellence and office in Zhuhai, i-Sprint will host an industry conference named “2014 Authentication Technology and information Security Summit”. During the summit, i-Sprint will showcase its self-developed and patented product – YESsafe mobile App. Also, i-Sprint will announce the collaboration with Zhuhai Southern Software Park, who will use i-Sprint’s intelligent and industry-recognized solutions such as the Gate Control Management and Octopus Services management. Meanwhile, participants can also experience the industry-leading identity authorization App for event registration. The Summit will showcase i-Sprint competitiveness in Asia Pacific and further demonstrate ASL’s successful investments in the company. It is believed through its strong alliance, ASL and i-Sprint will further strengthen its competitiveness in China and safeguard customers from any security threats.
“Looking forward, ASL will continue to explore other business opportunities and enhance the Company’s portfolio in Asia Pacific. It is believed through the leading position of i-Sprint in security market and the synergy between both companies, the Company will further accelerate its expansion in China and Asia Pacific, achieving a higher market share and greater business opportunities,” concluded Mr. Leung.
1 Gartner press releases: Gartner Identifies China’s Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends in 2014 (http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2764217)
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