Mr. Nguyen Tien Dung, Director of Viettel IDC, tells VET about the development of cloud computing in Vietnam.

■ What are your thoughts on the movements in the cloud computing market since your company was established?

Viettel IDC entered the cloud computing market at the end of 2013. At that time, most Vietnamese did not know what cloud is, so our revenue was little. Customers were more familiar with buying a server and setting it up themselves. There were many challenges because this was the early stage of the market, and we had to educate people.

Our products at that time were also quite basic and didn’t satisfy customers. In 2013, our company recognized that cloud was a clear trend so invested heavily, such as building cloud infrastructure in the north and the south of Vietnam.

Since 2014, Vietnamese have gradually come to understand what cloud is and our revenue has surged. In 2016, revenue doubled 2015’s figure and we target 2017 revenue to double 2016’s figure.

■ Why is cloud computing important in Vietnam?

The fourth industrial revolution is happening and cloud computing is one of key factors in the revolution. Without cloud, there is no fourth industrial revolution.

There is an opinion that cloud is just for large enterprises, not small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). I believe this is incorrect. Cloud has three types: public, private, and hybrid cloud.

Public cloud is suitable for SMEs as they need to optimize costs and don’t have many people to run a large system. They should therefore engage cloud services and can then just pay attention to their business and the cloud infrastructure will be operated by their provider.

Large enterprises, meanwhile, need security, so the private cloud is more suitable. The private cloud is flexible and can meet their security needs.

When enterprises use private cloud, sooner or later they will use hybrid cloud, which has more added value.

■ Will hybrid cloud develop faster than public cloud?

Our customers, for example when they are of small size, use public cloud. However, when they become larger, they need more security and they will then use private cloud. Then, when public cloud and private cloud are mixed, it is hybrid cloud.

Having operated public cloud since 2013 and private and hybrid cloud since the beginning of this year, our revenue from public cloud is, of course, higher. However, the growth in private cloud is as fast as in public cloud. In 2020, I forecast that growth in private cloud will surpass growth in public cloud.

■ What is your assessment of the consumer behavior of Vietnamese enterprises when using cloud?

Most Vietnamese enterprises haven’t paid attention to security, though the security breach at Vietnam Airlines made some become more concerned. They still believe this will not be a problem.

Vietnamese enterprises previously thought that only large firms face security issues. Enterprises often think that security is not a priority. This is understandable, but we will educate the market to help them understand the role of added value products.

■ What are Viettel IDC’s future plans?

We will develop private and hybrid cloud because there are still many customers that haven’t yet understood them. In the third quarter, we will implement cloud security and management methods to help customers monitor and inspect all of their applications and devices that are running on cloud. We will be the first domestic cloud provider to do so.

In the long-term, we will build two types of service packages for two types of targeted clients. In the first package, we guarantee that the quality will be as good as international cloud providers, but it will be expensive. In the second package, we will offer a cheaper price and fine quality. By doing this we can cover the entire market.

VN Economic Times