PC maker Acer Inc (宏碁) yesterday announced an alliance with customer service and calling center service provider Octon Inc (翱騰國際科技) to offer customized telecommunication solutions for businesses, as it broadens its product mix to include consumer cloud services.
The partnership announcement came one day before Acer was to hold its first cloud technology forum in Taipei, as it seeks cloud technology opportunities amid the growing demand for Internet of Things products.
Acer is inviting potential partners to join its “Build Your Own Cloud” (BYOC) alliance, as it aims to expand its corporate cloud business, which lets enterprises share data on their PCs, smartphones and other mobile devices using cloud technology.
“We dubbed the product ‘abPBX Plus.’ It is a server that offers BYOC’s computing and Octon’s advanced communication services to our clients,” Acer chairman Stan Shih (施振榮) told a press conference in Taipei.
PBX stands for private branch exchange, which is a private telephone network used within a company.
Acer plans to establish a subsidiary called Acer Octon Inc to introduce the new cloud-based PBX services, which include video meetings and high-security conference calls, Shih said.
Despite branching into cloud services, Acer will still focus on its hardware business, Shih said, adding that the company will “definitely” become more aggressive in PC segment.
Acer saw the highest year-on-year worldwide PC shipment growth among the top four players in the third quarter of this year at 11.4 percent, Shih said, adding that the figure proves that Acer is not losing focus on the PC market.
In response to former Acer chief executive officer Gianfranco Lanci’s recent remarks that Acer is not an international enterprise, Shih said the company still has room for improvement in terms of internationalization.
In addition, its PC segment also needs improvement, but that is not the definition of being an international company, he said.
“Nearly 70 percent of our employees are stationed overseas,” he said.
“I doubt there are many enterprises around the world that can beat us at this figure,” he added.
“Acer would not be Acer if it loses the soul of Taiwan,” Shih said.
“If Acer loses Taiwan’s soul after 100 years, it might as well change its name,” he added.
Acer plans to debut its latest cloud product late next month at the annual IT Month gala, and the product is expected to be available in the first quarter of next year, according to the firm.
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