New Year, New Start! Exabytes this year’s annual dinner named “The Tenacious Tenth” that signified the great team work which held Exabees together for 10 great years took place at Gurney Hotel Ballroom on January 7, 2012 with plenty of joy, beautiful moments and laughter. This year’s theme was Oscar night and a yellow balloon was tied to every chair to make the dinner scene look even more upbeat and celebrated.

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 from WP Webhost, another business division of Exabytes. 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!

Insight @ Exabytes! annual dinner at exabytes, exabytes 10th anniversary, Exabytes web hosting

TOYM, or better known as “Top Outstanding Young Men” presented by JCI, Malaysia (Junior Chamber International, Malaysia), is a prestigious award which acknowledges the exceptional achievements of ten individuals in Malaysia aged from 18 years to 40 years in different fields as well as their contributions to the society and the community. The top 30 finalists and 10 winners of the awards were selected from different fields and categories.

The TOYM Dinner at Sunway Convention Hall, KL

This year, CEO of Exabytes, Mr. Chan Kee Siak was short listed as the ‘Top 30 Outstanding Young Men’ at the age of only 30 at his first time participation in this awards under the category of Business, Economic and / or Entrepreneurial Accomplishment, prior to the award ceremony which was held at Sunway Convention Hall, KL. The honor of being short listed as the top 30 was indeed an astounding one, judging by the extensive competition coming from numerous exceptionally outstanding individuals in different areas throughout Malaysia.

TOYM Award Ceremony 2011 started at 7.30pm in the beautiful evening of September 22, with the presence and participation of the top 30 short listed candidates including celebrities like Malaysian singer Penny Tai and veteran Malaysian actress Lai Ming. Eight exabees reached Sunway Convention Hotel at 7.00pm in suits or night gowns, only to be stunned by the splendid attire wore by the night’s participants who richly dressed in suits, tuxedos as well as magnificent gorgeous night gowns. Former education minister Mr. Ong Tee Keat was also present, with many gorgeous looking men and classy ladies all gathered in the waiting hall. The night kick-started by a traditional Chinese dance and a special food presentation among others, followed by speeches by various highly respected individuals including the award organizer and Mr. Ong Tee Keat who took approximately 45 minutes before the grand opening ceremony of the night.

The 7 Exabees has a group the photo with Malaysian veteran actress, Lai Ming

Being the essence of the awards to provide a stage from which the 30 honorees can challenge and inspire young people from around the country, each winner’s career was highlighted in narrative form on a LCD projector with a presentation profiling of his/her accomplishments, followed by the trophy presentation, and an acceptance speech.

Being comfortably seated at the nicely decorated table with 3 boxes of moon cakes, we anxiously waited for the 10 winners to be announced from each category. When it reached the category of Business, Economic and / or Entrepreneurial Accomplishment, exabees clenched their fists and wished for the best to happen.

Chan, one of The Top 30 Outstanding Young Men in Malaysia

Although CEO Chan was not selected as the top ten this year, we at Exabytes are truly honored that Chan was short listed as the 30 finalists, in other words, the Top 30 Outstanding Young Men in Malaysia.

After the announcement of winners, Malaysian singer Penny Tai, also one of the top 10 winners of the night went on stage to give her spectacular singing performance to everyone before the meaningful night came to an end.

Insight @ Exabytes!

Ten Exabees were thrilled to be selected as the participants of “GoMeasure with Google Analytics” seminar which was held at Hotel Hilton in KL a few weeks ago on 8 September. This important event was also the LAST in a series of seminars in 2011 which had taken place in some major cities such as Sydney, Melbourne and Singapore.

Exabees departed from Exabytes HQ in Penang at 9.00am and reached Hilton Hotel, KL at 1.00pm sharp. It took us 4 hours to reach our destination but still, we were highly energetic as we were still feeling the thrill and honor to be selected to attend this grand scale and important seminar!

Insight @ Exabytes!

As a customer of Exabytes, do you like and enjoy looking at the graphics in our newsletters? When you read our company blog or browse Exabytes’ newly launched InstantIT.Asia.com, are your senses ‘livened up’ by the striking Red Dragon representing InstantIT.Asia?

While some like to write, there are quite a number of artistic people who prefer to let a picture speak a thousand words! Their pen might not be as mighty as the sword, but with their Apple laptops and Photoshop skills they are certainly able to express themselves at length and influence numerous readers.

Exabytes Creative Team

Captivating the attention of our website readers at first sight is their duty, and beautifying Exabytes’ websites, blogs, banners, etc is their enjoyment. Born to see everything in life from the artistic point of view, let’s put our hands together to welcome our Web and Graphic Designers – Vickson Tan and Alysa Lee aka The Artists of Exabytes!!!

Creative Team Leader – Vickson Tan

Vickson Tan, or more warmly known as ‘sonson’ is the leader of our creative team. At first impression, you will probably see a very tall person who speaks very loudly and appears less seriously at work. This is however, just a facade!

Vickson’s rule of thumb is always treat his work as something fun, rather than some mundane and routine tasks. He believes in order to come out with something refreshing, brand new and original, a designer will need to be exposed to other good designs and genuinely enjoys his work.

During his free time, the very versatile Vickson is also a professional photographer. He takes photos at different occasions which include wedding, company function, graduation ceremony, etc. An artist by nature, Vickson has so far showcased his photography skills at more than 35 occasions. And did I mention that he is also a tutor of Web Design? A workaholic for sure, Vickson always makes us wonder how he manages to juggle so many different tasks.

On a personal level, Vickson is someone who cherishes friendship very much. As one of his friends myself, I would say he is the type of person who is willing to sacrifice a lot of things just to lend a helping hand to his friends.

‘Compulsive laughter’ – Alysa Lee

Coming up next is Exabytes’ compulsive laughter (laughter → a person who laughs), Alysa Lee. A lot of us try not to tell jokes in front of her as when she laughs, it sounds exactly like a malfunctioned machine gun which never stops. Unfortunately, our efforts have been in vain as even the lamest joke told will send her laughing like a maniac. Not only that, sometimes her laughter can be heard even when we stand at the main entrance of our office, which is around 10 meters from her desk. Aih….

Professionally, Alysa believes that a good designer must always accept people’s comments and learn from there. Besides, she sees meeting different demands and requirements from different clients as the biggest challenge in her profession. As a proactive person, Alysa keeps herself motivated by constantly upgrading her skills and knowledge in the field of design.

Outside work, Alysa makes handcrafts like a pro. Her recent ‘production’, a Russian Doll Purse was sold immediately after it was uploaded to her personal website. Her other handcraft collections include a clay penholder, cloth teddy bear, Domo Kun, etc.

Our especially multitalented individuals in our creative team are always working at their best to enhance the visual effects our customers see, and constantly striving to improve the uniqueness of their design. Although they are the last department featured, their contribution is nothing less than other departments. Lastly, we would like to express our gratitude to our blog readers who follow us all this while, and we thank you for your interest in reading about our dedicated staff who work behind the scene.

With this final feature on the entire workforce of Exabytes, we are sure that our customers have now known us better, and sending in helpdesk tickets or calling in to communicate with us is definitely a friendlier experience now! 

Insight @ Exabytes!

To begin from where it was left . . .

16th October 2010 Post Lunch

To drive away the lethargy, we were drawn into some truly refreshing activities. ‘Big fish-small fish’ being the one where everyone was completely in, big fish was symbolized with hands together & small fish was hands apart, the rank opposite – this being done to achieve tandem between brain and body. The big fish small fish has been pronounced incorrectly as big “shit”, small “shit” when we are going fast in this game. Was fun all the more, we got some realllly big fishes and some very very tiny ones too!

In the end, it was only two people who were left to get it right till the finish.

Everyone are too excited in this game and no picture taken for this game. But … we have a video for you here.

Big Fish Small Fish

Then began what was possibly the most engaging, mentally challenging and possibly the defining activity of the entire two day event. This was called “Make Your Own Money” where the four groups which had already been formed took up individual departments too, there was the Sales & Marketing department, Customer Service, Technical support and Finance department. All the department were given charts for this. We had to call out “X” or “Y” and then would win or lose money depending on the combination of “X” or “Y” received, departments would make millions or lose millions. To begin with, the technical support team led the pack till the 4th round, in the 5th round, stakes were doubled where you lose double money or win double money, the 8th round was triple money, 10th round was five times money.

It was all going well till the 5th round where stakes multiplied, some departments were making millions, some losing millions, not very good for the company. In true team-building spirit of co-operation, the department heads and members came together and decided to flash the same cards from round 8 to ensure the company made handsome profits across all departments! There was such a lot of discussions, arguments, division and also co-operation, it symbolized and truly encapsulated the entire two day event. In the end, the company was the winner, as it should always be!

Everyone was so excited getting the graduation certificate for this fruitful team building.

Group Photo time for everyone that attended this ExaBee Langkawi Team Building.

Follow by Individual team photo.

Tarzan Team

Wonder Blue Team

9 King Coconut Team

The Cube Team

Chan & Instructor - James Leow

Dinner on Saturday was “steam-boat” and lot of spirits too (we were in Langkawi, how can we let go this opportunity! ). It was fun, merry-making, lot of healthy banter too. Thus ended Friday & Saturday.

17th October 2010

An early breakfast gathering at 08.00 took place at the hotel lobby. We all had checked out and converged for breakfast and a sort of tour around Langkawi.

Even here, true to our “Customer First” motto, we had our support personnel on duty from the hotel. They were to join us later and some of the members who had been part of the morning batch would take up duty in the noon.

Post breakfast, we departed to experience the cable-car ride, a 30 minute drive from the hotel.

It was a truly amazing, stomach-churning experience for some, but wonderfully riveted with nature. From level zero to 850 meters above sea-level in just about 15 to 20 minutes is an uplifting (pun intended) feeling! After reaching the topmost station, we walked towards the cable bridge and walk-way put up for tourists and visitors to literally walk through heavens, such was the mist and haze here. At that height, it was so breezy, we had hairs going around everywhere, some people being pushed by the wind and some of us enjoying 100Plus! Below are some pictures from there, just see the panoramic views and nature in its purest form.

We came down from there and proceeded for lunch at KFC where our morning support shift personnel joined in. Post lunch was leisure for an hour where all of us did what we wanted. Some went bowling, some played pool, some were just window shopping. At 3.30. PM we all gathered back at the bus station to leave for the duty free shopping spree everyone was waiting. We were taken to the Teow Soon Huat super-market for the poisons of our life – chocolates, spirits, alcohol and cigarettes. We all bought bagfuls.

Langkawi airport saw all of us together at 5 PM. We checked in and waited for our Firefly flight back to Penang. Some snacks water and drinks helped spend an hour. We also were upto Facebook updates, twitter updates, mail updates – the internet faithful and addicts that we are . We took off from Langkawi at precisely 06.20 PM having collected for ourselves a lifetime of memories, learning, education, spirit of co-operation and more importantly fun filled camaraderie.

We landed in Penang at 06.55 PM. Off we went to our houses and pads. Monday morning was never more refreshing at 1-18 Suntech@cybercity!

Insight @ Exabytes! Langkawi, Team Building

And so we all went to Langkawi, the land of the Eagle & Red Limestone. Every Exabee was there, along with their spouse or partner or single as the case maybe!

15th October 2010

Friday being a weekday, the office had to be open to welcome our guests and customers, so we all left in groups, four in all, scattered across the day, dividing work equally amongst all ourselves. Keeping true to our motto of customer first, we had our support team and sales team working from Langkawi too in turns Our customers would never suffer from lack of attention!

Below is some pictures of how the OneHotel Helang Langkawi where we had our team building. This hotel is just right beside Langkawi airport. It is 5 minutes walking distance from Langkawi Airport to our hotel, but the Hotel do send van to carry all of us from airport to hotel.

The entire staff assembled for dinner in the evening which was followed by a session of team-building exercise. It was the start of what was to be an eventful next couple of days. It all started in right earnest with each of us formally introducing ourself – mentioning our name, home-town and favourite animal and soon enough it was time for us to unwind and then rewind to become kids! It was the game where we were divided equally, partitioned by a curtain and then had to guess the other person’s favourite animal by memory! It was fun all the more. You could trust exabees to have some weird faves, we did not disappoint, out came from the closets of our mind favourites like cockroach, pokemon, godzilla, dinosaur! One of us had ‘human being” as favourite animal!!!

Having broken our inhibitions so to say, we got down to some work (fun work). We formed in all four teams comprising an average of 9 exabees namely – Team ’9 King Coconut’, Team ‘The Cube’, Team ‘Tarzan’, Team ‘Wonder Blue’ with respective captains, war-cry, flag and a logo too!!! Friday comprised of very sober happenings, like the proverbial lull before the storm so to say.

16th October 2010

Saturday morning was breakfast followed with stretching exercises it should always be the other way round, but then you know that at Exabytes we do things “differently”, pun intended. It was a new way of exercise, one which was intended at making us all relax and really get into fun mode and frolic. Stretching was followed by a game of follow the leader kind of thing. We discovered new terms like “whoosh‘ – a pseudo for pushing the onus on your neighbor, ‘Hantu”, which would mean we all change our places in the big circle and run to another place – we did not spare the CEO either in this, and sporting that he was, he also did not let a misbehaving spine meddle in the fun.

The first serious activity of team building in-room activity began with a game about togetherness, we were given a few ice-cream sticks and asked to make a triangle of it without using glue. Once done, next challenge was to put up a star with 15 sticks without breaking.

Time was then for jig-saw puzzle with 6 pieces being given and told to form an A-4 size perfect rectangle.

Further bonding was forged when all of us put together had to pass on a stick to each other without letting it drop even once on the ground from any person. Doing it with 2 or 4 people is a tough nut to crack, try picturizing this being done by 36 people all in co-ordination, in rapt attention and concentrating. We were all pushing each other for this, and lo and behold, we managed to pass the stick around 9 times to each other i.e. a total of 324 passes without a miss – Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United cant do it!!! The purpose of the entire team building exercise was being realised there itself.

It was 90 minutes before lunch. Time for the “Amazing Team Building Race”. It was upto the teams to visit 14 locations within the resort, click team photographs as proof of visit (sabotaging was allowed too!). Points were awarded based on who came first to the training hall after visiting all 14 places. A further twist was to resolve 5 separate puzzles – a combination of brain & brawn with subtlety.

Picture below is one of the spot given by our instructor.

and picture below is picture of “The Cube” team took at this spot.

It was time for lunch on Saturday and so do we also rest the team building update here. There is plenty still coming up in our next update, as always we promise bags full of fun, games, activity but more importantly teaming with each other. Part II follows . . .

Insight @ Exabytes! Langkawi, Team Building

Ever wonder who are the people who work behind the scene providing you with prompt response whenever you send in a technical related helpdesk ticket to Exabytes? Featuring the department with the most number of staff, and handles the most crucial duty not only to Exabytes, but to its 30,000+ customers – The technical wizards of Exabytes – Penang Team.

While our KL technical team is always occupied with the task of monitoring the servers, our technical wizards in Penang are responsible for answering all the technical questions our clients might have, and most importantly finding solutions for technical problems arise as well as carrying out Exabytes’ standard follow-ups until the problems are solved.

Not only that, our techies in the department also handle server migration, ensure and maintain reserve/network uptime, network/server security, etc.

The Technical Wizards of Exabytes

Read more…

Insight @ Exabytes!

Thinking of visiting our data center in KL and take a look at the state-of-the-art facilities anytime soon? Well, if you plan to, it can be arranged in a short time as our 3 very friendly technical staff are ever ready to show you around during your visit and furnish you with any technical details you would like to know! Introducing the 3 very friendly faces in charge of the operation of our data center in KL, Albert Lee, Khuzaini and Yazid.

Handling technical stuff at Exabytes is no easy job, in addition one need to have quick responsiveness and agility of mind besides being qualified for the job in terms of working experience. As we greatly emphasize and assure 99.9% server uptime to our clients, our system engineers in our data center must be well trained to handle any technical issues related to our physical servers.

Our Three Musketeers in our data center – Albert, Yazid and Khuzaini

Besides being alert all the time, the major duties of our 3 highly qualified system engineers in our KL data center include monitoring the servers, attending to server issues such as server downtime and irresponsiveness, setting up servers requested by the billing department, showing our visiting customers around during the data center tour and providing any necessary assistance as well as replying helpdesk tickets.

Without further ado, let’s introduce the person who oversees the entire operation and handles the manpower in our KL office, our Data Center Manager MR Albert Lee. As a detailed and meticulous person, Albert’s daily tasks consist of ensuring high standard Quality Control and meeting client service level agreement by performing frequent check on the servers as well as the tasks completed by Khuzaini and Yazid.

Albert, our Data Center Manager

Although his tasks may sound serious and demanding, on a personal level he is a guy who always brings joy and laughter in the office and is ‘notorious’ for having a wicked sense of humor. Many of us can still vividly recall a funny occasion when he was talking to a customer on the phone. When asking the customer to spell his domain name to him, Albert was unsure whether the customers had spelled ‘s’ or ‘x’ in the domain name. But instead of asking the customer: Is it ‘s’ as in Singapore or ‘x’ as in Xerox, he asked: Is it ‘s’ as in Superman or ‘x’ as in X-Man?

As the Data Center Manager, he believes in discovering the talent in every subordinate and developing their potential to help to achieve organizational goals. Besides, he also believes in putting employees first and understanding their needs and feelings.

Jai the animal lover

Albert’s invaluable assistants are Khuzaini and Yazid. Speaking of Khuzaini or more fondly known as Jai, he is the type of person who always carries a serious face at work. While one may be deterred by his serious ‘nature’ when approaching him, very few of us in the office know that he is actually a die-hard animal lover! In his free time, Jai would eat with cats, bathe with cats and play with cats.

A serious face at work is just the facade, inside this gentleman there is a loving soul. Jai’s motto is always stay positive, be proactive and always be willing to learn new things and take up new challenges.

Zid who loves new challenges

Last but not least, is the quietest person in the department, Yazid aka Zid. Despite his innate pleasant personality, Zid is known as the ‘speak only when spoken’ person at Exabytes. At work, try speak to him about something and you can be assured that he would answer you with only a few words or the shortest possible answer ever. However, according to reliable sources, he is the type of person who is inclined to ‘speak’ by actions rather than words. Indeed, to many of us, Zid is a very action oriented person.

At work, he enjoys doing in-depth research on how to solve certain technical issues and working hard to resolve them. To him, work satisfaction comes when he is able to eventually resolve the issues before sharing the new knowledge he just picked up with his colleagues. Apart from this, he also believes in taking a creative and innovative approach in tackling any technical issues.

So this wraps up the story of our 3 very dedicated system engineers who spend a large amount of their time safeguarding our physical servers and ensuring 99.9% server uptime. If you happen to be in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in future, why don’t schedule a data center tour with us and our Three Musketeers will be more than happy to show you their great hospitality!

Insight @ Exabytes!

With high spirit and elated hearts, we at Exabytes wish all Muslims in Malaysia and around the world a very Joyous Hari Raya, Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri!

To non-Muslims in Malaysia, Hari Raya is the special occasion to visit their Muslim friends/colleagues and to savor their lovely dishes such as ketupat, dodol and lemang, but to our Muslim countrymen, Hari Raya signifies a personal triumph, a victory of self-restraint and abstinence!

In conjunction with this special occasion, our office will be closed from10 Sept 2010 to12 Sept 2010 and resume operation on13 Sept 2010. However, please do not hesitate to contact us for any technical assistance as our professional technical team will still be working 24×7 to assist you day and night.

Last but not least, to everyone who is joining the Balik Kampung exodus, drive safely and have a pleasant and comfortable journey!

Insight @ Exabytes! Hari Raya Aidilfitri

There are two male species in our office who seem to be always living in their own world, engrossed in the things they do and may not utter even a word in the whole working day. Immensely focused on their work, their eyes exude the highest power of concentration you have ever seen! Talking and cracking jokes with colleagues seem less important to them, for their major daily tasks are to communicate with the computer, try to understand the computer more, and further explore what computers and IT systems can do for Exabytes and its clients.

In this brand new month we are going to feature our R&D Department, which is often likened to the brain of Exabytes! Also referred to the scientists of Exabytes at times, our two R&D software experts in our Research and Development Department are Jackie Ho and Chris Lee. In addition, both of them are joined by a very young and studious trainee from USM (Universiti Sains Malaysia), Siou Fong.

Jackie Ho, our Research and Development Manager

The main man aka the captain of this department is our R&D Manager, MR Jackie Ho. Polite and soft-spoken, Jackie is maybe the most decent-looking guy I’ve ever met. However, when it comes to work, he is well-known for his farsightedness and the ability to look at things (eg. the process of a software development project) from different perspectives.

As the Manager of our R&D Department, Jackie’s major tasks are leading the R&D Department on both research and in-house software development. In addition, he is always on the lookout for IT solutions which have the potential to be included as part of additional services to our clients. In short, he is the main person in telling the company what additional services to provide to our customers in future.

Under his leadership, numerous products and software have been developed such as the famous Penang Bridge International Marathon Online System for the Penang state government and the Deferred Report Modules which is currently used by Exabees, just to name a few.

At work, Jackie enjoys doing research in the field of IT and constantly acquiring new skills and knowledge. His rule of thumb as a successful R&D person in IT is always enjoy working independently and being able to handle stress well.

Outside work, Jackie is an avid photographer. In fact, you can see him carrying his camera around at most of the company’s functions. Because of his keen interest in photography, Jackie has been our cameraman since the inception of Exabytes in 2001.

Chris Lee, one of the infamous workaholics of Exabytes

Another dedicated Exabee in the department is also one of the infamous workaholics of Exabytes, Chris Lee. Challenging himself is his hobby, and picking up new programming skills is his favourite pastime. Chris spends most of his time ‘chatting’ with his PC and has no qualm about reading the entire programming book before starting a new project. Outside work, this chap from Sarawak is a very talented sportsman.

However, even a tough guy has his soft spot, and in the case of Chris, it is his communication skills! Burying himself in numerous software development projects at the same time doesn’t worry him; meeting tight project deadlines doesn’t make him anxious. One thing that even himself admits needing further improvement is his skills in communicating with his clients effectively.

“Many people see programmers as people who just need to work with the PC without saying a word at work. Well, this is not entirely true. A programmer’s ability to understand the wants of his clients and the ability to explain clearly to his clients regarding the vital functions and unique features of his software is extremely important.” clarified Chris, our R&D Software Engineer.

Luckily according to Jackie, Chris has managed to improve his communication skills tremendously since he joined Exabytes.

Professionally, Chris believes that having the determination and persistency in learning new skills from scratch is of utmost importance to all software engineers. He also believes in having self-confidence when exploring new skills. Last but not least, a software engineer must also be very confident in his own finished software/system.

Celeste, RnD Trainee from USM

Next, is our intern from USM (Universiti Sains Malaysia), Miss Siou Fong. Although she has been with Exabytes for only 5 months, Siou Fong’s diligent and dedicated nature towards her work has gained compliments from both Jackie and Chris. At work, Siou Fong believes that one must always be willing to ask in order to improve his/her own knowledge.

So there go our scientists in the department of R&D! Always thinking ahead for the company and pondering on ways to streamline the company’s IT system, the duo’s duties are always challenging but fulfilling.

Way to go, Jackie and Chris!

Announcement, Insight @ Exabytes!