Telekom Malaysia: COINS iOffice Portal Expands Product Offerings and Captures New Customers

Situation Analysis

Business Environment
The introduction of the Communications and Multimedia Act (CMA) in 1998 heralded a new regulatory environment for the telecommunica-tions industry in Malaysia, providing a modern, flexible structure for tapping into new market opportunities.

The creation of the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) was the brain-child of Malaysia's Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad. The MSC has been a catalyst for the growth of a new information age in Malaysia. Telekom Malaysia, the national communications and multimedia provider and largest telecommunications company in Malaysia, is now in its second year as provider of telecommunications services for the MSC. With its broadband data network infrastructure (COINS), which forms the telecommunications foundation of the MSC and provides managed virtual private network (VPN) services to corporate customers, Telekom Malaysia is expanding the use of its own Internet-based and broadband communications with business users.

Telekom Malaysia delivers voice, broadcast, data, and a host of multimedia services to consumers and businesses. For its widely diverging client base, the company provides services ranging from fixed line and cellular telephony to Internet-delivered products. The latter includes urban broadband multimedia and radio in local loop for rural communities. Of all of Telekom Malaysia's products and services, basic telephony still contributes the majority of revenue. However, the company is aggressively expanding its reach into new business areas, such as Internet-delivered services. With a customer base of more than 4.4 million, Telekom Malaysia remains committed to increasing market penetration of the telephone, while recognizing that its advanced, Internet-based functions are key to future growth.

Telekom Malaysia is also dedicated to meeting the changing needs of differentiated market segments, ranging from government and major international business to small enterprises and the domestic consumer. Recently, Telekom Malaysia broadened its market base by investing in new businesses in Malaysia and abroad.

eBusiness Challenges
Like telecommunications across the world, the telecommunications industry in Malaysia is undergoing tremendous change: deregulation, new competition, and changing customers. According to Mohamed Roslan Sallehuddin, Head of iCOMMS Division at Telekom Malaysia, "Because of the Internet, we are already beginning to reshape the way we work, relax, communicate, and creatively grow businesses."

In 1999, traditional telecommunications services revenue began to flat-ten.Customers in Asia Pacific were requesting Internet-based business. They were seeking access to not only networked Internet-based services but also wireless Internet services - a market that IDC expects to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 95% over the next five years. The increased demand for networked and wireless Internet services, along with the threat of losing market share to interna-tional competitors providing mobile services or voice over IP, led Telekom Malaysia to begin developing new service offerings. These included Internet services based on wireless application protocol (WAP) and a VPN service to major enterprises, such as banks and manufactur-ing companies, which provide networking services allowing these com-panies to exchange communications and conduct business online.

While the VPN service allowed enterprise corporations to move quickly into a networked ebusiness environment, Telekom Malaysia realized it was missing a huge, untapped market: small and medium-sized enter-prises (SMEs). SMEs were the very companies that wanted to join the world of ebusiness but were restricted by a lack of access to applications and networks as well as by their own IT and financial resources.

Telekom Malaysia decided to tackle this rapidly expanding market. However, instead of offering pure network services and connectivity, Telekom Malaysia chose to target SMEs with a comprehensive package of communications services - services that could supplement and even-tually replace telephone services, including Internet access and afford-able, easy-to-use small-business services such as email, fax, and directory services. Although the company did not have all of the details defined, Telekom Malaysia knew it had to develop a new way of doing things, or it would lose this fast-growing market to competitors. The result is COINS iOffice, an Internet portal from which users can subscribe to business services from Telekom Malaysia.

The Idea Behind COINS iOffice
In 1998, Telekom Malaysia initiated a project - iOffice - with the charter of developing a product called COINS iOffice. The objective of COINS iOffice was to provide an integrated, user-friendly, and afford-able one-stop communications portal, primarily targeted at the SMEs in Malaysia. According to Saiful Bahri Jusoh, Telekom Malaysia's Project Manager for Core Services, iCOMMS Division, "Instead of offering pure network services connectivity, we have to provide SMEs with total communication services. We are integrating telephone services, together with the Internet, to make it a total solution. Key requirements include ease of use and affordability. Our efforts in this area are a means to replace our telephone services." This was Telekom Malaysia's vision to reach the SME market. Now they had to execute on this vision. "We had to look for a vendor who could help us realize the vision through the use of technology," Jusoh adds.

Action Plan and Decision Process
In 1999, Telekom Malaysia evaluated several technology vendors to design the architecture and implement the infrastructure to support COINS iOffice, including Sun Professional Services, IBM Global Services, and Hewlett-Packard Global Services. During the interview process, Telekom Malaysia looked for each vendor's understanding of its business case and a presentation of how each planned to implement technologies to execute that vision. According to Telekom Malaysia, many of the vendors interviewed were unclear as to how to use technology to make the COINS iOffice business concept a reality.

After a careful evaluation process, Telekom Malaysia iCOMMS selected Sun Professional Services as the primary project manager, citing that Sun's consultants had the best understanding of Telekom Malaysia's busi-ness case for COINS iOffice and possessed the technical skills and knowledge to translate that business case into an actual product using technology. An additional factor that played a role in the selection of Sun was that Telekom Malaysia had an existing hardware relationship with Sun and had worked previously with Sun Professional Services on a project to implement IP services for Malaysia Telekom - a project called TMNet. For the TMNet project, Sun was the principal vendor for designing and building Telekom Malaysia's Internet service provider (ISP) infrastructure and application architecture. Mohamed Roslan Sallehuddin, Head of iCOMMS Division for Telekom Malaysia, explains, "Because of our prior working relationship, Sun certainly understood our IP-based services better than the other vendors. We were familiar with Sun's methodological approach, and the Sun ONE strategy mapped very closely with our key objectives." Some of the other reasons for electing to work with Sun included:

• Sun's ability to help plan, design, and implement an architecture to support a wide range of Internet-based consulting solutions
• Sun's ability to use an initial architecture assessment to identify an infrastructure and application framework that would support and scale with service-level requirements
• Proven methodology of the SunTone Architecture Methodology, encompassing the Unified Process approach and services-driven architecture
• Sun's relationship with and expertise in implementing iPlanet E-Commerce Solutions, the result of a Sun-Netscape Alliance
• Sun's breadth of experience architecting scalable, highly available platform infrastructures
• Sun's ability to reduce time to market using best practices and identifying J2EE patterns, including use of the J2EE Patterns Catalog

Solution Profile and Implementation Strategy
COINS iOffice is designed to facilitate business communications; end users simply need a multimedia PC to access the online communication services portal. The offering is an industry first in the Asia Pacific mar-ket, integrating all communications services into a single subscription package. COINS iOffice allows Telekom Malaysia to deliver the IP-based network as the communication foundation for basic business services. COINS iOffice is unlike any other service available to SMEs in Malaysia. According to Teh Ing Di, Project Advisor for Telekom Malaysia, "This is a very new product to the Malaysian market. There is nothing else like it, so it does require some level of customer education."

A key requirement in the development of COINS iOffice was the ability to scale to serve a large population of SME users. In order to encourage customers to use the portal, Telekom Malaysia developed a service that would reflect functionality requirements of end users, yet be easy to use and affordable. For ease of use, COINS iOffice integrates these services on the same platform - all in the same service, all on the same server, and all accessible from the same log-in and password ID. SMEs can register online for one or all of the COINS iOffice services. When customers log on, the COINS iOffice service identifies them by password and provides access to those services to which they subscribe as well as personalized, customized services based on preferences and subscription access. For customers who subscribe to all of the services, it is seamless - as if it is one product. Essentially, COINS iOffice can provide an SME with the same functionality as its large counterparts.

Architectural Design and Implementation Plan
The business requirements for COINS iOffice dictated the develop-ment of a robust, high-performance platform infrastructure, including an application framework that would deliver wide-ranging functionali-ty. Among these requirements was integration with proprietary applica-tions and back-end systems. Over a period of two months in late 1999, Sun Professional Services - working with the Telekom Malaysia iCOMMS technical team- conducted an architectural assessment that identified various technical requirements, which included:

• An open, extensible platform infrastructure that would allow the use of multivendor software and speed application development by facilitating the reuse of business logic and components of the infrastructure
• An application framework based on the iPlanet E-Commerce Solutions platform that could power COINS iOffice services with reliability and scalability
• An underlying server and storage infrastructure that would rapidly scale with a burgeoning subscriber base of more than 500,000 users, initially supporting more than 2,000 concurrent users
• Identification of critical elements of architecture and data center operations to help ensure a highly secure environment, including firewall detection, authentication, and SSL encryption, as well as privacy and security processes
• Meet service levels for availability of at least 99.99%, with the expectation of meeting service levels of 99.999% - the same as telephone service

The design and implementation of COINS iOffice is a classic example of the Sun ONE framework in practice. Sun ONE involves the use of an open, extensible framework that includes the best-of-breed Sun and iPlanet products and services. Key benefits of Sun ONE are that it is:

• Open. Sun ONE is based on an open architecture.
• Integratable. The Sun ONE product portfolio is designed for easy integration, helping to enable businesses to configure an optimal platform. And because it is based on open standards, the Sun ONE framework also allows integration of existing systems and third-party software.
• Reliable. Sun ONE is a complete product offering to support Web services on demand with growing service-level requirements.

Implementation Process and Timetable
With recommendations from Sun Professional Services, Telekom Malaysia iCOMMS decided to base the architecture for COINS iOffice on J2EE technology to achieve optimal quality of service in terms of functionality, reliability, scalability, and availability. It was further deter-mined that J2EE components would allow for faster time to market, flexibility, and extensibility. Sun also recommended to Telekom Malaysia iCOMMS that it power its J2EE-technology-based platform infrastruc-ture on software from iPlanet E-Commerce Solutions. Telekom Malaysia iCOMMS ultimately selected the iPlanet platform on the basis of it providing a reliable foundation with integrated transaction management, load balancing, and failover capabilities for the delivery of J2EE-technology-based applications. As noted by Saiful Bahri Jusoh, Telekom Malaysia's Project Manager for Core Services, iCOMMS Division, "Sun Professional Services helped us implement the architec-ture, including building the core engine on iPlanet software, that powers all of our various application needs."

Following architectural solidification in late 1999, Sun consultants began to work with Telekom Malaysia iCOMMS on designing and developing a beta prototype. Because the iPlanet platform easily speaks to the other applications, Telekom Malaysia iCOMMS was able to quickly implement the products, thus deploying the beta prototype in less than five months - by May 2000.

With a tested prototype in place, Sun consultants worked with Telekom Malaysia to design a full-scale architecture that would meet service-level requirements, including scalability, functionality, security, and availability. Following several months of testing, the prototype - running on a Sun Enterprise 4500 server - was launched in October 2000. The Internet portal was then deployed on dynamically configured domains on a Sun Enterprise 10000 server in January 2001. Telekom Malaysia followed with a nationwide marketing campaign in March 2001.

Methodological Approach: Architecture and Implementation
Sun consultants used the SunTone Architecture Methodology, a proven process used by Sun Professional Services to organize complex projects using controlled project phases while maintaining focus on the project objectives and maximizing team contributions. The SunTone Architecture Methodology espouses a services-driven, multitier architec-ture, which Sun consultants used to design the overall platform infra-structure, thereby allowing Telekom Malaysia to deliver multiple, disparate services to end users.

Architects from the Sun Professional Services' .Com Consulting Practice as well as Sun Java Center provided expertise in designing and develop-ing the mission-critical solution using J2EE technology. The Sun Java Center is currently working with Telekom Malaysia to tap the J2EE Patterns Catalog for ensuing application development.

Project management and application development builds on the Unified Process, a four-phased approach (also part of the SunTone Architecture Methodology): (1) inception, (2) elaboration, (3) construction, and (4) transition. It entails:

• Use-case focused. Uses functional case scenarios to help ensure end-to-end functionality of the service to be delivered.
• Architecture-centric. Architecture is defined and tested before development begins. This reduces the risk of technical issues that might arise later and require reengineering.
• Iterative and incremental. Using a phased approach to develop-ment means that testing occurs often and regularly, thus helping to ensure that issues are detected early and the final release pro-vides all the functionality originally intended.
• Integrates systemic qualities. Focuses on quality-of-service requirements of the architecture, such as availability, reliability, scalability, and security.
• Patterns-based. Identifies design patterns, including the use of the J2EE Patterns Catalog, to reduce development cycles via the reuse of segments of business logic, which helps speed time to market.

The benefits of the SunTone Architecture Methodology are numerous. The phased development approach of the Unified Process helps stream-line and boost development efficiency while concurrently reducing risks. The process manages the risk of integrating innovative technologies by focusing on the foundational architecture and taking a controlled, itera-tive developmental approach. Focus on systemic qualities such as relia-bility, availability, scalability, security, usability, and manageability in each infrastructure tier helps ensure that service-level requirements are met. In addition, the services-driven, open architecture gives Telekom Malaysia iCOMMS short- and long-term freedom of choice in system components.

Solution Architecture and Infrastructure
COINS iOffice is based on a multitier, services-driven architecture running on eight dynamically configured domains of a Sun Enterprise 10000 server running the Solaris 8 Operating Environment. Telekom Malaysia is using functions such as automatic dynamic domain reconfiguration, IP network failover and balancing, and multithreaded Web capabilities of the Solaris 8 Operating Environment to enhance site performance and manageability. The multitier infrastructure of COINS iOffice is comprised of client, presentation, application, and data tiers.

• Presentation (front-end Web) tier. This tier consists of iPlanet Web Proxy Server and Radius Authentication Server, each residing on a domain of the Sun Enterprise 10000 server. iPlanet Web Proxy Server enables rapid development and deployment of dynamic content, such as streaming media and news clips, and it powers the application framework that delivers results to standard HTML Web browsers. Radius Authentication Server supports single sign-on capabilities by verifying the user and connecting to the user's secure preferences and data in the application and back-end tiers. J2EE presentation components include JavaServer[TM] Pages (JSP[TM]) to deliver content to standard Web browsers and Java servlets to route requests and inquiries to the appropriate Enterprise JavaBeans[TM] (EJB[TM]) components in the application tier.

• Application tier. The application tier is powered by iPlanet Application Server and iPlanet Directory Server, each running on dedicated domains on the Sun Enterprise 10000 server. IPlanet Application Server provides an integration framework with back-end systems and serves as the business logic transaction engine. iPlanet Directory Server, in conjunction with Java Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI[TM]) technology, gives Telekom Malaysia greater flexibility in managing and servicing its SMEs. This enables users to access all of the services through a single point of entry with a single log-on. Running on one domain on the Sun Enterprise 10000 server, Tornado Messaging Server delivers unified messaging, serving as the engine for email as well as personalized messages. Ericsson IP Telephony Server, which will eventually run on a separate domain on the Sun Enterprise 10000 server, allows phone-to-phone, fax-to-fax, PC-to-phone, and PC-to-PC services.

  J2EE components in the application tier include Java Database Connectivity[TM] (JDBC[TM]) technology, which provides load balancing and failover by passing transactions to and from the data tier. XML permits the seamless exchange of documentation between disparate systems. COINS iOffice uses XML to store application configuration and properties. More than 10 EJB components provide various functions such as fax requests, account management services, personal address services, authenti-cation and log-in services, and more.

  J2EE technology allows customer search queries to be instantly translated into database queries through JDBC technology, enhancing system performance. The system compiles responses into customized JSP pages, such as a complete directory listing of all COINS iOffice users, which are dynamically presented back to the customer. iPlanet Directory Server and stateless EJB compo-nents facilitate the personalization and customization of COINS iOffice services, including membership log-in; security; ability to edit profiles; and customization of content via streaming media, news, ads, and more, all based on the profile of the end user. User personalization and customization is stored in iPlanet Directory Server. User preferences are also extracted from the iPlanet Directory Server when users log on to the COINS iOffice portal. Information from each session is stored in the back-end data tier, enabling users to view preferred settings regardless of which appli-cation is being used.

• Back-end data tier. Housing the SME customer data is an Oracle8i database running on mirrored domains on the Sun Enterprise 10000 server. Secure customer data is stored in a network storage system residing on eight Sun StorEdge[TM] D1000 disk arrays for backup and restore facilities, with a capacity of 1.16TB.

Results
COINS iOffice is a unique service offering for the Asia Pacific market. Through the Internet services portal, Telekom Malaysia is allowing SMEs to access the same types of services as their larger counterparts. Moreover, the COINS iOffice project is helping Telekom Malaysia achieve its overall strategic vision to transition from a telephone compa-ny to a communications service provider. Benefits include:

• Customer satisfaction, loyalty. The new n-tier infrastructure based on a services-driven architecture helps enable Telekom Malaysia to easily integrate multiple services within the portal as well as with existing applications. This type of integrated experi-ence allows Telekom Malaysia to improve customer satisfaction and generate repeat online business with SMEs. The personalization and customized features through iPlanet Directory Server and the J2EE components also contribute to enhanced customer satisfaction and loyalty.
• New revenue channel. The COINS iOffice product offering was a first for Asia Pacific, with Telekom Malaysia projecting that it will ultimately serve up to 1 million customers.
• Lower costs; enhanced productivity. The open, extensible J2EE-technology-based platform allows Telekom Malaysia to focus on enhancing existing and developing new applications rather than writing code. The ability to reuse J2EE patterns, including tap-ping the J2EE Patterns Catalog, is also a key contributing factor. Telekom Malaysia has been able to simply build on one application framework foundation, with subsequent releases and new services added in an almost plug-and-play manner. This translates into greater productivity and, ultimately, reduced costs.

• Scalability. COINS iOffice recently went into full production, with the projection that its customer base will reach 500,000 users in six to nine months. The infrastructure is currently designed to handle 2,000 concurrent users. Eventually, as additional servers and processing power are added, the infrastructure is designed to have the capacity to scale to support more than 1 million users.
• Availability; reliability. Telekom Malaysia is meeting some aggressive availability targets, part of its service level agreement with Sun, delivering 99.999% availability. Automatic domain reconfiguration and other features of the Sun Enterprise 10000 server and Solaris 8 Operating Environment have been important contributing factors. The SunSpectrum Gold support agreement and training from Sun Educational Services is also key.
• Fast time to market. The open-standards, extensible J2EE-technology platform as well as development methodology and best practices from Sun Professional Services are helping Telekom Malaysia to speed time to market, shaving as much as 50% from development cycles. The teams from Sun and Telekom Malaysia COINS met an aggressive time to market, completing the architectural assessment and implementation plan in one month and actual build in four months. Telekom Malaysia estimates that this compares to a typical time of 9 to 12 months for projects of similar scope.

Future Involvement
Phase Two of the COINS iOffice project will be rolled out in the fourth quarter of 2001. This phase will include three stages of new services that Telekom Malaysia iCOMMS, with the help of Sun Professional Services, will deploy over the next 6 to 12 months. These new services - which are currently in the conceptualization stage - are all part of Telekom Malaysia's repositioning as a communication service provider.

Stage One: Telekom Malaysia iCOMMS will integrate a calendar-ing service into the COINS iOffice portal using iPlanet Calendar Server. This solution will also synchronize calendaring with Internet messaging services and with personal digital assistants (PDAs) on iPlanet Wireless Server. Saiful Bahri Jusoh, Project Manager for Core Services, iCOMMS Division, notes, "We are very well aware of the impact of wireless technology and services and know that we cannot stand still. This is why Telekom Malaysia has major plans to introduce new features and innova-tions in the world of mobile Internet services."

Stage Two: Telekom Malaysia iCOMMS is seeking contractual agreements with application service providers (ASPs), giving Telekom Malaysia an additional channel and, moreover, ASPs the ability to offer their customers access to various fee-based services through the COINS iOffice portal.

Stage Three: Videoconferencing will provide SMEs with the ser-vices to create a virtual meeting room.

Copyright 2001, Sun Microsystems, Inc. Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun Logo, Sun Enterprise, SunSpectrum Gold, Solaris, Sun StorEdge, SunTone, Java, Java Center, Enterprise JavaBeans, J2EE, EJB, JavaServer Pages, JSP, and iPlanet are trademarks, service marks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc., in the United States and other countries.