Cloudbrink, the hybrid access as a service (HAaaS) provider, has expanded its partnership with NEC Networks & System Integration Corporation to extend its services to the Philippines. The move comes as part of the government's economic development program, which places emphasis on flexible working.

NEC Networks & System Integration Corporation, a part of the NEC group, is already a strategic partner of Cloudbrink in Japan. The new expansion marks the partnership's first venture outside Japan. The partnership aims to offer improved connectivity and productivity to the rapidly growing hybrid workforce in the Philippines, one of the fastest-growing economies in the APAC region.

The Philippines is among the few countries worldwide to introduce specific legislation for remote working. Last year, revisions were made to the Telecommuting Act, which detailed the responsibilities of businesses in providing efficient infrastructure support for the work-from-anywhere workforce.

Cloudbrink's solution could prove pivotal in overcoming the associated challenges, as their zero-trust VPN replacement service delivers high-performance access to cloud, SaaS, and data centre applications with more reliability than conventional Wi-Fi or broadband.

Remote working is not a novel concept in the Philippines; even before the pandemic, 52% of its workforce was engaged in some form of remote work. This trend seems to be accelerating further with the advent of the hybrid working model, as supported by a 2023 survey of 5,000 students wherein more than 80% favoured hybrid working.

However, the telecommunication infrastructure is struggling to keep up with demand, with businesses heavily reliant on congested 4G and 5G mobile networks due to a scarcity of fixed broadband connections.

Cloudbrink's solution is believed to provide a breakthrough with its low-latency FAST edges housed in multiple hyper-cloud locations across the Philippines. These increase connection speeds by 30x.

A local edge presence is key to reducing latency and improving application performance, an upgrade from the industry's physical points of presence based in Hong Kong and Singapore.

Osamu Kikuchi, Senior Vice President of NEC Networks & System Integration Corporation, said: "Until now, leaving the office meant leaving a fast, secure network behind, which had inevitable consequences for productivity."

"With Cloudbrink, NEC Networks & System Integration Corporation can optimise the network without compromising security to give people the same experience of cloud and SaaS applications regardless of their location."

Expressing enthusiasm about working with NEC Networks & System Integration Corporation, Prakash Mana, Chief Executive Officer, Cloudbrink, shared, “We are delighted to be working with NEC Networks & System Integration Corporation to address the productivity challenge for hybrid workers in the Philippines."

"Filipinos are determined to build a world class economy and they can’t afford to wait for the network to catch up. Cloudbrink alleviates access and connectivity problems, enabling people to have an enterprise-grade network wherever they happen to work.”