Technology giant edges out rival Dell and eyes more slices of the IR pie
By ONG BOON KIAT
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(SINGAPORE) It is sweet victory for Hewlett-Packard (HP) Singapore as it has bagged a key computer deal from Marina Bay Sands and edged out old rival Dell - which pipped HP to another deal awarded by Resorts World at Sentosa earlier this year.
The newest integrated resort (IR) IT deal to come to light follows a flurry of IT contracts from Resorts World. It is also believed to be the first reported large-scale IT project from Marina Bay Sands, pointing to more in the pipeline.
HP Singapore vice-president and managing director Tan Yen Yen revealed the tech giant's 'multi-million' dollar deal in an interview with BT.
She said the project will involve outfitting the new data centre in Marina Bay Sands with state-of-the-art servers, storage equipment and software.
When operational, it will become the IT nerve centre to support the wide gamut of business operations at Marina Bay Sands. It will also allow IT staff there to manage core back-end IT systems centrally.
It is expected to be one of the most important technology capabilities required at Marina Bay Sands, given the sprawling nature of the resort - which spans about 2,500 hotel rooms, casinos, convention and exhibition space, a museum, malls and other attractions.
Perennial rival IBM also took part in the Marina Bay Sands tender, Ms Tan disclosed.
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In the past months, technology vendors in Singapore have jousted with each other to claim a slice of the IT procurement pie at the IRs.
Dell and Lenovo clinched separate deals to supply servers and computers respectively to Resorts World.
The resort also gave out contracts to Cisco Systems to build a core network infrastructure; to Japan's NEC Corp to install the admission and ticketing system for its Universal Studios attraction; and to ST Electronics to build an integrated security system, IT infrastructure system, and a car park guidance and payment system.
For HP, it is the first taste of success in the IT bonanza from Singapore's IRs, which are expected to open their doors to the public next year.
'Part of the reason why we won is due to (Las Vegas Sands Corp's) positive experiences with HP outside Singapore in its other resorts,' a buoyant Ms Tan told BT. HP is also a server and networking equipment supplier to Las Vegas Sands' resorts in Las Vegas and Macau.
'More importantly, Marina Bay Sands went through a very thorough evaluation of our virtualisation technologies and we stacked up stronger than the competition,' she added, referring to one of the hottest tech buzzwords among enterprises today.
Virtualisation technologies are seen to significantly raise efficiency and lower energy consumption of IT equipment.
With the maiden deal bagged, Ms Tan is confident HP can grab more such projects in Singapore down the road. 'There should be more IT deals coming up - that's the nature of resorts, they will continue to grow.'
She said there could be further server and networking projects from Marina Bay Sands which HP is interested in.
Echoing the industry's sentiment, Ms Tan stressed that the significance of clinching Singapore's IR tech deals outweighs their dollar value.
She said: 'The integrated resorts are going to change the landscape of Singapore and will also become a new growth engine of - if I may say - the new Singapore. We felt that this win is a very strategic win for us. Of course, it will be a good reference deal for us.'
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