Ingram Micro has relaunched its AI Center of Excellence in Singapore with NetApp and Cisco, pointing to a digital economy now worth S$128.1 billion, or 18.6% of GDP, as the backdrop for giving enterprises and software vendors a place to test AI deployments before they go live.
Key Takeaways
- Singapore’s digital economy is worth S$128.1 billion, 18.6% of GDP, the backdrop Ingram Micro cites for refreshing its AI Center of Excellence with NetApp and Cisco.
- The COE already runs a real-world use case analysing traffic video feeds along the Johor-Singapore Causeway to predict congestion and delays.
- Ingram Micro is offering NetApp Keystone through its Xvantage platform for the first time, giving customers a pay-as-you-grow alternative to buying infrastructure outright.
Built for testing before it’s trusted
Ingram Micro‘s AI Center of Excellence (COE) gives enterprises a secure environment to test AI solutions before deployment, and gives independent software vendors (ISVs) a shorter path to market. The refreshed facility runs on the NetApp Platform, powered by all-flash storage running NetApp ONTAP for data management, alongside Cisco‘s AI-Ready Data Center with Full-Stack Security and Observability. ISVs can test, validate and optimise their AI solutions against real-world data, workflows and customer scenarios in one integrated environment covering compute, storage, networking and software.
“To realize Singapore’s AI ambitions, enterprises need more than the latest models and compute power. They also must have robust data foundations that are secure, scalable, and operate seamlessly across on-premises and cloud,” said Kenneth Poh, Country Manager for NetApp Singapore and Philippines.
From pilot to production, with Keystone attached
Once validated in the COE, ISVs can list their solutions on Ingram Micro Xvantage™, the company’s platform for discovering, comparing and procuring AI solutions. The refresh also marks the first time Ingram Micro is offering NetApp Keystone® through Xvantage, giving customers a pay-as-you-grow consumption model instead of buying storage infrastructure outright, a way to scale spend in line with actual usage rather than committing upfront.
“Our ambition at Ingram Micro is to lead the technology journey with urgency, empowering organizations to seamlessly scale from pilots to production. Together with NetApp and Cisco, the COE is a major strategic investment that unites our expert teams to test, learn, and deploy real-world applications,” said Eunice Lau, Executive Managing Director, Ingram Micro Asia Pte Ltd.
“Singapore has set a bold national ambition for AI, and it takes an ecosystem to deliver that. This Center of Excellence puts the capability directly in our partners’ hands,” said Kartika Prihadi, Vice President, Partner Sales, APJC, Cisco.
What it actually does: reading traffic along the Causeway
One of the use cases running through the COE shows what this looks like in practice: AI models analysing traffic video feeds and other qualitative data to identify congestion patterns, estimate vehicle volumes along key transport corridors such as the Johor-Singapore Causeway, and predict delays that feed into road traffic decisions, turning unstructured footage into something planners can actually act on.
A readiness problem before a technology one
Ingram Micro has also set up a dedicated AI Services team to help customers and partners work out where they actually stand: assessing AI maturity, spotting opportunities and building adoption road maps, plus training, enablement and advisory support. The point, as the company frames it, is that a lot of organisations get stuck less on AI capability and more on knowing where to start.
