vnetwork System Sdn Bhd: Scouting Network Infrastructure to Prevent Cyber Crime

Marcus Lai, MD & CEO

If there is anything in present decade that is triggering the economic growth in developed and developing nation, then it definitely would be ‘Technology’. Today, the Asian Tiger, Malaysia is banking heavily on its technology sector to fuel its next phase of economic growth. Consequently, for the last few years,it has been working arduously on increasing its internet penetration—from the current 67% to 95% in the next four years. And there is a good reason behind it: the country believes that a wider internet reach would help it become a high-income economy by 2020. Management of this vast network spread across the country remains a big challenge, though. Cybercrime is yet another. Rise of cyber crimes—both in scale and sophistication—combined with the effect of the diverse nature of today's corporate and government networks, presents constant challenge to the network administrators. In many cases, the chances are ripe that the network infrastructure itself can fall prey to malicious attacks. Even accidental miss-configurations by network administrators can leave the network in a vulnerable state, open for attacks from both internal and external sources. Any malicious attack on corporate or government network can result in exposure of sensitive data, impact performance or result in a complete network outage. To deter and defeat such cyber attacks is mostly not in the realms of the service providers. Understanding this critical need, one organization that has come forward to support country’s economic growth resolutions is vnetwork System Sdn Bhd. Marcus Lai, Managing Director/CEO of vnetwork reaffirms his commitment, “We strive to provide the highest levels of security in a secured network infrastructure, ensuring security and performance at the same time. Our aim is to help organizations build a world-class secure network at the lowest cost of ownership.”

Operating since 2010, vnetwork System Sdn Bhd is a value-added technology distributor of category-leading solutions in networking and security domain offering a complete range of IT solutions and technology services to a vast array of companies across all industry verticals in local as well as international markets. Over the years, vnetwork System has successfully deployed over 100 projects across government, education, finance, hospitality, manufacturing and retail sectors. Among many, few of the elite beneficiaries of vnetwork’s services include Avaya, DPtech, Uniview, Newbridge, CommScope, Xirrus, Emerson, APC by Schneider Electric, Eaton, Seagate, Western Digital, Sennheiser, Plantronics, Jabra, Symantec, OKI, Dell, HP, Lenovo and Acer. Since its inception, the company has been growing steadily, establishing itself as a one-stop shop for turnkey solutions, and along the years has received some of the most coveted awards in the industry, such as 'Avaya Best Distributor Award 2014', 'DPtech Fastest Growing Distributor the APAC region, 2015', 'New Bridge year-to-year Growth Distributor Award in APAC region, 2015', IFSEC Southeast Asia Best Show Award 2015 and 'UTHM Best Exhibitor Award 2015' to name a few.

Building Networks from the Ground Up

The growing trend of using internet-connected household appliances and other equipments puts users at a greater risk—especially from data theft. Obviously, in this diverse and networked ecosystem, consisting of multitude of devices and computing nodes, guaranteeing a 100% secure network is not an easy task. A scarier scenario emerges when an individual or a company is unaware of being tracked, monitored or spied, incidents that easily allows unscrupulous hackers to sabotage with critical data using unwarranted network back doors.

Marcus Lai, a former Hewlett-Packard networking country manager, together with a team of network consultants and engineers—all with years of experience in network and communication technologies—observed that a majority of companies use multiple networking devices and, therefore, face similar challenges while manually configuring and administering them, wherein most the devices are distributed across geographies. To alleviate this scenario, vnetwork System was incepted to offer a secure application networking platform. Marcus Lai, explicates, “It is crucial and of highest priority to prevent spying and information leakage to minimize losses.” This is where vnetwork solutions pitch in to build a multi-layer security system in customer networks.

This Malaysian headquartered enterprise specializes in network designing and building communication networks from OSI Layer 1 (physical layer) to Layer 7(application layer) with embedded east-west security platform. This approach optimizes the performance of the network to supports multiple TCP/IP protocols for data, voice and video services. Networks carry traffic for IP Telephony, IPTV, IP Surveillance, Wi-Fi, legacy LAN and IoT devices all together. Andrew Lim, Sales Director / General Manager adds, “Our prowess lies in our through understanding of the Open Systems Interconnection model (OSI model) and Transmission Control Protocol/ Internet Protocol (TCP/IP).”

Advancing the Digital Revolution

As per the recent report published by Machina Research and Bosch Software, by 2022 there will be 14 billion devices connected with data networks worldwide, a number more than twice as many as there are today. Gartner’s research also highlights that there will soon be 26 billion networked devices where cars, traffic lights, street sensors all will be hooked to the same network. Other independent research reports also suggest that in the logistics sector alone, radio frequency identification (RFID) tags will be able to provide information on product location and other data. In the consumer electronics sector, the modern kitchen installations with intelligent refrigerators and microwave ovens are already connected to the internet, creating an ecosystem what is popularly known as 'The Internet of Things (IoT)'. Once networked, it becomes a challenge to control, monitor and manage these devices by the users. The only solution to this problem is to build a SECURE APPLICATION NETWORK encompassing data centers, workplaces, and homes with devices, both wired and wireless. This presents new opportunity to participate in the IOT revolution that's underway.

vnetwork has seized this opportunity with both hands. True to its name, which stands for 'virtual networking', vnetwork System facilitates consolidation of diverse services and devices on a single hardware platform, creating a virtual network for each of the nodes to communicate securely. In doing so, it has embraced industry leading technology which empowers clients to inter-operate with existing solutions coming from different vendors. vnetwork's solutions are backed by vcare services, which ensures successful deployments and provide after-sales support. The company also provides IP-based Video Surveillance, Unified Communications, Structured Cabling, and Biometric Access Control solutions. Profound knowledge of Open Systems Interconnection model (OSI model) and Transmission Control Protocol/ Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) remain company's forte and competitive advantage over others. “Every technology has its own strengths and weaknesses. Our choice and selection of the right technology, at the right price and right usage is extremely important,” states Chen Choong Fatt, Finance Director/Group CFO of vnetwork. Solutions provided by the company confirm to The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Standard (IEEE) and International Organization for Standardization / the International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/IEC) guidelines.

vnetwork System has successfully deployed over 100 projects across government, education, finance, hospitality, manufacturing and retail sectors

Hardheaded Solution Focuses on Client Needs

These days, sales numbers and profits have become more important for companies than the benefits its products and services bring to the table. So, it eventually boils down to a situation wherein items being sold or services being provided are just there to meet the sales target, instead of solving the real need of the customer. vnetwork is different. The company has always given preference to the practical usage of technology, particularly in today’s rapidly changing environment of fast technological obsolescence. “Our competency lies in the identifying and delivering pragmatic solution to client's problems. Our engineers show commit to clients business needs and support them after sales,” notes Andrew. IP integration of ICT and ELV (extra low voltage), bring greatest value to our clients. The company holds itself responsible for every dollars invested by its clients. vnetwork System also delivers secure cloud connectivity solutions hosted on private, public or hybrid clouds which minimizes cost and day-to-day operational complexity. Right from architecture to design solutions, consultancy, technical support, and product training, the Company takes care of all.

Jeff Choo, Technical Director/CTO ensures, “Our focus is to ensure that our customers get the best value in terms of technological advantages, be able to prevent spying surveillance, get assured success in project implementation and maintain services level up-time.” The company now aims to grow in regional technology solutions provider space with its own IP for network and cloud services platform. Marcus concludes, “We target to launch our first product in 2016 and step into regional footprint in three-year time from now. Our investment includes our self developed IP and patent by our R&D teams in networking and cloud services area.” It is now very evident that vnetwork System Sdn Bhd is poised to emerge as a prominent player in the networking and communication market in the APAC region.