UNOS is a total communication and service delivery solution designed to provide a comprehensive communication experience for mobile device users. Developed under the Multimedia and Communications arm of public listed FSBM Holdings Berhad of Malaysia, the company has chosen to locate its biggest network hub in Hong Kong, since Hong Kong is the hub of Asia Pacific and the natural springboard to China.

Strategically Hong Kong is fantastic for our business
“In terms of location and service levels Hong Kong is the best place to base our data centre. Hong Kong is the international hub for telecommunications and it is strategically located to support all our markets in Asia Pacific. The Hong Kong data centre is monitored 24x7, so we have zero down time and I can sleep easy,” explains Michael Ta, Chief Executive Officer of UNOS. The company considered expanding their data centre in other countries such as Australia and Singapore but decided to focus on Hong Kong instead. “Hong Kong being close to China with all its other advantages was a natural decision,” says Mr Ta.

The company has also set up its Asia Pacific holding company - Asialink Technology Development Ltd in Hong Kong, mainly because of the low tax rate and greater investment opportunities in comparison to other countries. Hong Kong is also a good learning ground in terms of international business and innovation. It also acts as the natural entry point into China. The people in Hong Kong are fast and efficient with working experience abroad, and have a close business affinity with China. It is also cheaper and quicker to fly from Hong Kong to other markets in Asia Pacific.

Nature of business – virtual in terms of location
UNOS is a total communication and service delivery platform designed to provide a comprehensive communication experience for mobile device users. Its latest software UNOS PRO contains an array of features for mobile phone users such as free push email, free SMS and allowing users to roam free. UNOS PRO is operator independent. Its S-MailS supports 800 characters per message, 640 more characters than conventional SMS, and the S-MailS sent is free. UNOS PRO also offers a push messaging system, enabling a regular mobile phone to have push email on it. UNOS is currently establishing alliances with mobile advertisers, community groups and enterprises (corporate and government) to offer them a means of communication and to deliver advertising and promotional messages, and to enable URequest™ service deliveries on mobile devices. URequest™ is an innovative push technology where user requests, and UNOS pushes service deliveries (mobile application) to the user. UNOS works on a virtual system that requires only one network hub to serve the world. To minimise potential business risks, UNOS has chosen to set-up four outsourced data centres located in: Malaysia, London, Beijing and Hong Kong with Hong Kong being the biggest in terms of volume of transactions.

Hong Kong hub growing to meet high customer demand
“The uptake of UNOS PRO has been far better than we expected, in terms of number of subscribers signing up and the building of strategic alliances. For example a bank in Malaysia wants to use UNOS PRO to support the roll-out of mobile banking solutions, introducing our technology to more than 5 million users,” says Mr Ta. There are currently 30,000 UNOS PRO subscribers and the company’s target is 1.5 million subscribers by the end of the year. “Although we haven’t started our marketing efforts in China, we will be turning on the service very soon. Our target of 1.5 million subscribers could all come from China that has over 500 million mobile phone users,” says Mr Ta. Recognising this potential, UNOS is therefore investing an additional HK$10 million over the next 2 years to expand their Hong Kong data centre and recruit an additional 15 staff to service their growing client base in Asia Pacific.

Innovative award winning technology
UNOS is barely a year old and already its innovative technology has won a number of awards. In 2007, UNOS won the Audience Choice Award by Mobile Monday, and was honoured as one of the Top 50 Innovators at the GSMA’s Asia Mobile Innovation Awards. So far in 2008, UNOS has won the Frost & Sullivan Malaysia Telecoms Award for Most Innovative Application/Product of the Year. UNOS’s bespoke architecture and services have so far attracted subscribers from over 70 countries. “As we grow our presence in other countries and become bigger our footprint in Hong Kong as a support centre will need to become bigger,” Mr Ta concludes.