OpenRice + Equinix + HKBN to Fuel Post-Pandemic Business

Growth and Footprint Expansion

Achieving new business heights with robust digital infrastructure and solutions to

drive seamless online-to-offline dining experiences in Asia-Pacific

Hong Kong - July 21, 2022 - OpenRice, Hong Kong's most popular dining platform, collaborates with Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX), the world's digital infrastructure company™, and HKBN Enterprise Solutions (HKBN), one of the fastest growing leading integrated telecom and technology solutions providers headquartered in Hong Kong, to further enhance infrastructure for its all-encompassing O2O foodtech services platform. Such collaboration allows OpenRice to further support the food and beverage (F&B) industry in Hong Kong as restaurants continue to realize the increasing importance of delivering a seamless online-to- offline (O2O) experience for consumers to ride the post-pandemic growth wave.

Leveraging Equinix's global footprint and robust ecosystem, along with HKBN's integrated digital solutions and connectivity services, this collaboration paves the way for OpenRice's Booking Service to further expansion into other Asia-Pacific (APAC) markets beyond Hong Kong, including Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Japan, supporting F&B companies to grow their business by offering seamless and enjoyable O2O dining experiences to their customers.

"We are pleased to have Equinix and HKBN supporting our digital transformation and business expansion journey. They provide us with a robust digital infrastructure for us to architect digital solutions that work across our extensive portfolio of services and user base in Hong Kong and the wider APAC region. In the new era of dining, it's critical for us to adopt these future-proof digital infrastructures and continuously upgrade to support our rapidly expanding services and offerings, so that we can continue raising the bar in providing dining experiences for consumers," says Joe Yau, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Technology Officer at OpenRice.

Almira Chan, Co-Ownerand Chief Strategy Officer at HKBN Group shares the value of this collaboration, "Creating business values through multiple wins is core to HKBN. We strive to work with partners and like-minded organizations such as Equinix, to drive digital innovation for customers like OpenRice. With Equinix's award-winning reputation, sweeping global presence, and rich ecosystem, we are confident that this collaboration will help OpenRice strengthen its technical capabilities and business agility, as well as enhance its customer experiences when serving the larger Asia market of collaborators, making them the ideal partner to bring next-level solutions to customers."

Larry Tam, Managing Director, Equinix Hong Kong shares, "The online behavior of consumers has been shifted due to the pandemic. Businesses of all industries need to embrace a digital-first approach that closes performance gaps, accelerates returns and supports the new way of operations. We are excited to champion far-sighted digital leaders like OpenRice to fast-track their digital transformation journey to prepare for the opportunities present ahead in the post-pandemic era. We are also proud to collaborate with Hong Kong's leading telecom and technology solutions provider HKBN, and its powerful broadband network to deliver greater value."

Highlights / Key Facts:

  • OpenRice primarily operates as an all-in-one dining platform, driving O2O foot traffic to restaurants. The company is pioneering innovative F&B services to cater to customer needs and behavioral changes. Its digital-first strategy has been critical to assist the industry in dealing with challenges brought about by changing pandemic restrictions and disruptions. To address evolving customer needs, OpenRice continuously launches new and enhanced service features, including pay-at-table with loyalty earn & burn, connects restaurant and partner memberships via APIs, voucher services, takeaway services, as well as table reservations with set menus, and more.
  • With key travel destinations gradually opening up for tourists, OpenRice also plans to introduce its all-in-one platform in new geographical locations in Asia-Pacific, including Singapore, Thailand and Japan. As they grow across the region, OpenRice also strives to bring its new platform capabilities to diners and F&B operators in new markets, introducing them to digital services that enhance dining experiences and streamline operations.
  • As a result, OpenRice sought a more robust digital infrastructure to serve its user group of 7.5 million active users across Asia-Pacific and 500,000 restaurants listing on its platform-helping to supply real-time visibility into restaurant operations and bounce back from pandemic slumps. For F&B operators, this means providing up-to-the- minute data on orders, inventory, booking timeslots and confirmations, so they can accurately and effectively manage services. For diners, this means 24/7 platform access to make advanced bookings at their convenience and the most up-to-date restaurant information.
  • In order to support evolving customer demand, OpenRice migrated its IT system to an Equinix International Business ExchangeTM (IBX®) in Hong Kong and leveraged Equinix Internet Exchange™ to privately, directly and securely connect with HKBN. The deployment allows OpenRice to build a more resilient digital infrastructure for its one-stop merchant network system.
  • Equinix Internet Exchange is the largest global peering solution available across more than 35 markets. It allows networks, including internet services providers (ISPs), content vendors and enterprises to exchange Internet traffic easily and effectively. For OpenRice, this means support to handle traffic on its platform during peak and off-peak dining periods simultaneously across the different Asia-Pacific markets they operate in. With more options to route traffic in times of network congestion, incidents, or outages, OpenRice is able to provide a consistent platform experience for diners at any time.
  • Trusted by over 10,000 global customers, 3,000+ cloud and IT providers and 2,000+ network providers, Equinix provides OpenRice with the ability to connect with partners, service providers and customers across industries and regions through its rich ecosystem on Platform Equinix®. OpenRice can select from a wide range of vendors, top-tier providers, regional specialists and innovators to deliver new or enhanced capabilities on their platform, such as expanding payment solutions to customers to ensure they can pivot and keep at pace with ever-changing forms of digital payments.

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Disclaimer

HKBN Ltd. published this content on 21 July 2022 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 21 July 2022 03:13:02 UTC.