Time flies, in just a blink of an eye, it’s already year 2012! However, let’s not forget a female superstar, an Exabytes Employee of The Month created in November 2011! Best known as Exabytes “tomyam queen”, our EOTM has the most discerning palate for spicy food and would spend all her time and efforts looking for the best tomyam food in town. Apart from this, if you do not know her, she is seen as a very “cool” person outside as her facial expression is super serious when she works. But after you get to know the real her, you will be overwhelmed by her genuine cheerfulness and sense of optimism. But watch out when she starts to talk, as many have said that she is completely “unstoppable”!

Without further delay, let’s give a big hand to Miss Rachel Lee, Exabytes Billing Analyst!!

At work, Rachel is a respectable employee who always puts her work above everything. She is extremely hardworking, highly patient and calm in handling customer enquiries and complaints. In last November, she impressed our ever critical judges of EOTM with her outstanding working attitude such as the following:

• Took the initiative to assist walk-in clients.
• Followed up closely with clients regarding payment issues.
• Worked overtime to get additional tasks done.
• Honest, polite and punctual

Congratulations Rachel! You remind us of the old saying “patience is a virtue”!

In this romantic season, not only Exabytes wants to wish all lonely hearts find their soulmates, we want to surprise you with our “Valentine’s Day 5+1 ‘n’ Haagen-Dazs Voucher Hosting Renewal Promo” which offers 1 YEAR FREE HOSTING applicable to all Exabytes shared hosting plans be it Ebiz Plus or Gold package when you renew for 5 years!

To add joy to your Valentine’s Day celebration, your one year FREE Hosting will be accompanied by a FREE Haagen-Dazs voucher for you to have a romantic ice cream time with your love!

So don’t wait! Act fast before promotion ends on February 29, 2012.

On this Valentine’s Day, Exabytes wishes that Cupid draw back his bow and shoot his arrow right into your lovers’ hearts!  However, before Cupid can help, a box of chocolate or some heart-shaped confectionaries and a greeting card for example would definitely help a great deal to express your love and affection to your loved or admired ones.

In this romantic season, we wish everybody a Happy and Passionate Valentine’s Day!

By the way, if you still think that Valentine’s Day is only meant for lovers, don’t! As these days, Valentine’s Day is also a special day for fun and wonderful get-togethers with your friends and family!

AIPO (Association of Intellectual Property Entrepreneurs and Organizations Malaysia and Invest Penang take great pleasure to invite the general public especially businessmen to their seminar “Creating Competitive Advantage & Wealth With Patent” at PSDC, Bayan Lepas, Penang this February 12, 2012!

Seminar highlights include “Promoting Innovation in Penang” by Yang Berhormat Tuan Koay Teng from investPenang, “Creating Competitive Advantage & Wealth with Patent” by Mr. Lok Choon Hong, Director of Pintas IP Group, “Protecting Intellectual Property in the Cyber World” by Mr. Chan Kee Siak, CEO of Exabytes Network as well as various patent success stories by Penang intellectual property entrepreneurs.

Check out the details of the seminar:

Date: 12 February 2012 (Sunday)
Time: 1.00 pm – 5.00 pm
Venue: PSDC
Adress: 1, Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah, Bandar Bayan Baru, Bayan Lepas, 11900 Penang.

Programs

1.00pm: Registration of participants
1.35pm: Welcome Speech by Jessica Tong Wai Leng (Organising Chairman)
1.40pm: Opening Speech by Yang Berhormat Tuan Wong Hon Wai (Perancangan Bandar dan Desa, Perumahan)
1.50pm: Seminar 1 “Promoting Innovation in Penang” Yang Berhormat Tuan Koay Teng (investPenang)
2.20pm: Seminar 2 “Creating Competitive Advantage & Wealth with Patent” Mr. Lok Choon Hong (Director Pintas IP Group)
2.50pm: Refreshment
3.10pm: Seminar 3 Patent Success Story by Penang IP Entrepreneurs
3.40pm: Seminar 4 Patent Success Story by Penang IP Entrepreneurs
4.10pm: Seminar 5 “Protecting IP in the Cyber World” Mr. Chan Kee Siak (Exabytes CEO)
4.40pm: Q & A Section
5.00pm: End of Programme

Admissions are FREE for the first 100 registrants!

So don’t wait! Reserve your seats NOW by sending your details as below to sales@exabytes.com.my

1) Full Name:
2) Email Address:
3) Mobile Number:
4) Company Name:
5) Nature of Business:

January 26 was the fourth day of Chinese New Year in the Chinese calendar as well as the day Exabytes resumed its business normal operation after the long and enjoyable vacation. A yellow and red lion danced their way towards the entrance of Exabytes office on 18th floor of Suntech in Penang Cybercity at 8.30am, bringing with them great luck and prosperity. Amidst cheering and clapping of hands among Exabees, the deafening ‘Tuck Tuck Dong Dong Dong Dong Chang’, ‘Dong Dong Dong Dong….. Chang’ was heard everywhere in the building.

Instead of the popular practice of ‘plucking the green’ by most of the lions, our auspicious visitors this year took a different approach by performing a different feat. However, before their luck-promising act, they decided to create suspense and danced graciously to entertain Exabees. This was followed by the throwing of tangerines to the crowd as in Chinese, the pronunciation of tangerines is similar to gold and receiving tangerines is tantamount to receiving gold and good luck.

After the much anticipated dancing and ‘fighting’ between the 2 lions, in all of a sudden, the 2 giant cats calmly squatted down over a tray which held a pomelo, a pineapple, some vegetable, a packet of peanuts and tangerines. The beating of gongs then slowed down its pace; many of us were curiously wondering what the 2 lions were doing squatting still. Twenty seconds passed and with one sharp jump the 2 lions bounced away from the tray and loud beating of gongs pursued, leaving us a pomelo with a pineapple head and tangerines arranged in the word ‘cai’ which meant wealth in Chinese.

As our spirit ran high, the 2 lions headed to each department of Exabytes to greet each and everyone of us. But first, they must ‘tour’ our meeting room before making their way to the work place of Customer Service department and then the Technical department. The lions’ movements were truly agile and upbeat and as they danced beautifully to Business Development and Creative departments for their final feat, flashes of cameras were seen to capture the important moments.

A thousand thanks for the amazing performance of Lion Dance and CEO Chan for inviting good luck, auspiciousness and prosperity brought by the lions. Finally, this motivating and mesmerizing dance event was wrapped up by group photo taking together with the lions that promised an abundance of great luck and pleasant surprises in year 2012, a brand new year filled with success and happiness.

In fact, cloud hosting also known as hosting in the cloud is the web hosting services delivered as a service rather than a product over the Internet which allows users to fully focus on their websites, eCommerce, products, profits, etc instead of hardware and its huge cost in upgrading. It is also a technology that will soon replace the old idea of renting a server or shared hosting and is often described as “unlimited computing power – bandwidth, RAM, CPU power, storage, etc on demand” whenever needed by users.

At the same time, we were delighted and proud to have CEO Chan to explain to our eager audience in Penang, which included some who drove faraway from Kedah and Ipoh. While Chan was busy talking to the reporters from Nanyang and Guangming daily in an interview on the launch as well as cloud technology, registration started at 9.00am sharp after preparation was carried out by Exabees at around 8am early in the morning. At 9.30am, the crowd began to size up and many were seen mingling freely among one another. Our arriving guests were all treated to a healthy breakfast serving egg tarts, curry puffs, coffee and tea.

As the clock struck ten, Pei Yin, emcee of the day greeted everybody via the microphone and announced the opening of the event. CEO Chan was immediately invited to the stage to speak on cloud hosting / technology / computing, a hot topic that Chan had spoken on many occasions such as in his recent interview with The Edge business magazine among others. To further enable our audience to fully grasp the concept of cloud, Chan had also prepared a live demo to show how Exabytes’ cloud control panel worked, the easiness in managing it and its flexibility for users to scale their hosting resource limit or computing power.

Next, it was the most awaited moment – our event’s Lucky Draw session featuring prizes like iPad2, limited edition Exabytes wireless mice, Starbucks member cards and many other goodies from Kaspersky as well as Exabytes. The atmosphere reached a new peak when our grand prize winner was announced!! Looking at the big smile on the faces of our winners, we were truly glad that we did something meaningful in the brand new year to light up the mood of our lucky winners

Soon the time has reached for us and our valued participants to fill up their empty stomach. Lunch was served at Suntech indoor cafe on 10th floor at around 11.30am. Many participants and Exabees were seen having a great time networking around. Some guests took the opportunity to visit Exabytes’ cloud live demo counters to clear any lingering doubt they still had on cloud hosting / computing. At the same time, Pintas IP, a partner of Exabytes that offered trademark registration services were also present at the scene with a booth set up to speak with the eager participants.

Finally, in an effort to continuously improve ourselves to serve our customers better in the future, event feedback forms were handed out before the launch officially ended at 1pm. As a token of appreciation, Exabytes’ Limited Edition Cloud T-shirts were given away to our participants.

To those of you out there who attended Exabytes’ “Hitting The Cloud” launch in Penang, a thousand thanks for your valuable time spent on traveling especially from other northern states. Your active involvement and support in this event has helped us in making it a successful one. Last but not least, pictures of “Hitting The Cloud” launch in Penang is now available on Exabytes Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150564762621928.426736.100731761927&type=1

Feel free to tag yourselves in there so that we can get to know you better!

GONG XI FAI CAI

It’s the Year of the Dragon!!

In Chinese culture, the dragon is one of the 12-year cycle of animals in the Chinese zodiac. Unanimously agreed by the Chinese as the most auspicious and important animal of all, the dragon is also a symbol of power, strength and good luck.

At the same time, the tangerine is also a fruit of symbolic significance which is often likened to gold that denotes prosperity, luck and wealth. Moreover, during Chinese New Year visits, it’s tradition to bring your friends and relatives the tangerine (pronounced ‘kam’) that has the same pronunciation with gold (also pronounced ‘kam’) in Cantonese.

As the most prosperous days in the Chinese calendar are drawing near, Exabytes wishes you an abundance of ‘Kam’, Success, Joy, Great Health and a very Happy Chinese New Year!

To celebrate this special occasion, our office will be closed from January 23 to January 25 and resumes operation on January 26. However, in case you encounter any technical issues, don’t fret! Our professional technical staff will still be working 24×7 to assist you via helpdesk day and night.

Lastly, may you spend a fantastic time with your family this Chinese New Year watching fireworks and enjoying some culinary traditions!

It’s the moment of truth! The secret has been revealed!! In August 2011, we received overwhelming response from our valued clients for Exabytes’ Merdeka-Raya Lucky Draw which was slated to give away Crazzzy Prizes like a MacBook Air with 64GB worth RM3,099, an iPad2 worth RM1,500, WD MyBook Essential 1TB external HDD worth RM249, many pen drives and other attractive prizes.

Today, we want to congratulate our LUCKY WINNERS who BRING HOME these Super Cooool prizes at the very first month of 2012!!

Congratssss Guys! The year 2012 is indeed an AUSPICIOUS YEAR for you!

Check out the winner list below:

At 6.45pm, registration and photo shooting started with arriving Exabees taking group photos before the ‘Oscar backdrop’, just like Hollywood’s Oscar Night. Many beautiful and gracious female Exabees dressed elegantly in nightgowns, male Exabees in suits and some even in tuxedos. In fact, besides snapping beautiful and memorable photographs, there was another reason that made Exabees arrive with full anticipation. An iPad2 was up for grabs in our Early Bird Lucky Draw for fellow Exabees who arrived before 7.30pm!

As everybody arrived on time by 7.30pm, without further delay, the opening ceremony which saw CEO Chan, Mrs. CEO and family, COO Andy Saw and Mr. Wilson cutting the ribbon on stage was kick-started with a big round of applause before Chan gave his uplifting welcome speech. As charismatic and friendly as usual, Chan congratulated every Exabee for their hard work in helping Exabytes to remain as the biggest web hosting provider since 2005 till today. He further revealed another major goal for the company – Exabytes is to become the biggest web hosting provider not only in Malaysia, but in the whole Southeast Asia. Chan also stressed the importance of customers to Exabytes, saying that Exabytes would have no reason to exist without the support of its customers. Chan’s speech ended amidst deafening applause, and dinner was ready to be served.

To our surprise, the food savoring moment was accompanied by a captivating video clip played on the projector presenting all the significant and sweets moments of Exabees throughout the past 10 years. After some touching and mesmerizing memory flashback, we were ready to play some games and have some good fun! Each table was to send 2 representatives to participate in the first ping pong ball game. A carton box with 3 big holes at the bottom was tied to the waist of each participant. He or she was then required to carry a ping pong ball in the carton box and make his way from one end of the stage to the other end without dropping it on the floor. When the participant reached the other end of the stage, he or she must shake his hip so that the ping pong ball drop on the ground through one of the 3 big holes in the carton box. Once the ball touched the ground, the participant must quickly move to the other end before his teammate could take over the race. The teammate would then continue to do the same and pass the baton back to his teammate until the timer reached 2 minutes. The team which managed to drop the most number of ping pong balls on the floor in 2 minutes won the game.

With extreme ‘hip work’ and ‘waist power’, Chun Howe and Zack made their tablemates proud by becoming the winners of the ping pong ball game. Next, Exabees were ready for the second game of the night, “Ang Pow Hunt”! (an ang pow is a little red packet used to give monetary gift to mostly unmarried friends and relatives during Chinese New Year). The game is simple and straight forward. Twelve ang pows with cash inside were hidden randomly all over the ballroom and whoever found it would become the owner of the ang pow and the cash. Once the pleasant announcement was made, there was an instant cheering and commotion and 12 ang pows were all ‘hunted’ in less than 5 minutes. In Chinese tradition, an ang pow is a symbol of prosperity and Exabytes was glad to give away the prosperity to our 12 lucky winners.

While the night was still young, it was time to salute the very dedicated Exabees who deserve the very special 10-Year Service and 5-Year service awards. TW Ku, Roger Lew, JY Teh, Vickson Tan and HP Beng were invited to the stage to receive the highly honored award, 5-Year service award from CEO Chan. The next prestigious award to go was Exabytes’ 10-Year Service award and there was only one recipient for this special honor. He was no other than the COO of Exabytes Andy Saw aka the very first employee of Exabytes who CEO Chan met in an elevator at Gurney Tower 10 years ago.

Subsequently, the spotlight shifted to our 12 deserving EOTMs in the entire 2011. First time EOTM recipients of Exabytes were each entitled to a RM250 voucher from Sunshine Square, a departmental store. Second time EOTM honorees would each enjoy a RM500 voucher and third time honorees a RM1,000 voucher. Congratulations to all EOTMs and keep up the good work!

At the same time, CEO Chan and his counterpart Mr. Wilson were making effort to spot the Best Dressed Male Exabee or ExaKing and the Best Dressed female Exabee or ExaQueen in the hall. It was really a tough call as every Exabee was dressed up marvelously in that special night. Finally, the verdict was reached. ExaQueen of the night went to a beautiful lady who had the most outstanding hairdo of the night, Ms Ooi aka PY Ooi, Business Development Manager of Exabytes Malaysia. Without further ado, our beloved ExaKing was also announced the very next moment. He was the tall and good looking Arren Tan our Head of Channel Development, another business division of Exabytes Malaysia. Congrats to Ms Ooi and Arren for being ExaQueen and ExaKing!

The time has reached the most awaited moment – Exabytes Annual Dinner Lucky Draw which featured prizes like 2×iPhone 4S, 2×iPad2, 2×PS 3, 1×Langkawi trip, 6×flash drives, etc. All Exabees anxiously hold their numbers in their hands, praying that their numbers would be called for huge prizes such as iPhone 4S and iPad2. Certainly not all Exabees would go home with their dream prizes, but congrats to Sau Hun, Ethan, Ms Ooi, Lim, JY Teh, Chun Howe and Rachel for their good luck in the brand new year in bringing home these fantastic prizes.

Finally, the beautiful event was nicely wrapped up by the sensational dancing session. Before anyone realized it, our emcee was quick to invite CEO Chan and his lovely missus to have the first dance of the night. Other couples soon joined in, holding hands and dancing to the romantic music. As the more upbeat music kicked in, all Exabees were down on the dance floor, dancing and rejoicing. No one was in the mood to stop the great fun until we were called upon for group photo taking.

As the annual dinner ended with prosperity and great joy, Exabees aspire to bring the company to the next level of success by offering more latest and value-added products, services and solutions to our customers. Just like what was said by CEO Chan in his welcome speech, without the support of our clients, there would be no Exabytes and Exabytes’ annual dinner.

Once again, Happy New Year to our valuable blog readers!

Every RM50 spent on renewal will entitle you to one entry of lucky draw. The MORE you RENEW the higher chances you WIN! Act NOW! Simply renew earlier to enjoy our fantastic prizes including an iPad2 as your first pleasant surprise in 2012!

Contest ends on January 31, 2012.

Happy New Year and Happy Winning!!