Bangkok--26 Mar--Orion Public Relations
Appointment to Help Company’s Continued Growth ofSmart Wi-Fi Deployments throughout Southeast Asia
Ruckus Wireless, Inc. (NYSE: RKUS) announced today the appointment of Monchai Kunawattanakorn as its first country manager for Thailand. In his role, Kunawattanakorn will be responsible for driving sales, expanding channel networks, and establishing customer support capabilities for Ruckus “Smart Wi-Fi” solutions in this key Southeast Asian market.
Kunawattanakorn brings to Ruckus more than 20 years of experience in the telecommunications and networking industry, executing go-to-market strategies and driving growth across all industry segments for several global technology companies, including Orckit-Corrigent Communications Thailand, and Nortel Networks Thailand. The appointment is part of the ongoing business presence and expansion Ruckus is pursuing in Thailand, reinforcing its commitment to deepen its presence in this market, which is experiencing exponential growth in mobile data traffic, driven by surging adoption of mobile Wi-Fi-enabled devices such as smartphones and tablets.
In its February 8, 2013 announcement, “10 Trends Driving Thailand's ICT Spending and Growth In 2013”, research firm IDC forecasts mobile data services to be the key growth factor for Thailand’s telecom industry. With the growing proliferation of mobile devices, IDC estimates mobile data spending to reach $1.7B (USD) in Thailand in 2013, a growth of 14 percent from last year.
“Monchai brings a wealth of experience that our customers will benefit from,” said Louis Au, Vice President of Asia Pacific Operations for Ruckus Wireless. “With his proven expertise and knowledge of the Thai telecom sector, Kunawattanakorn will be an invaluable driving force to help Ruckus further expand its presence in the growing carrier and enterprise Wi-Fi markets.”
Ruckus recently marked a significant milestone in Thailand with the number of hospitality-related wireless LAN (WLAN) customer deployments reaching the century mark. The list of Ruckus hospitality customers now includes prestigious hotel and resort brands such as the Fairmont Raffles Hotel International, Hilton, Mariott, The Sukhothai, Le Meridien Chiang Mai, and Banyan Tree among many others.
Other notable Ruckus deployments include Wat Phra Dhammakaya, the country’s largest Buddhist temple, where a Ruckus-powered Smart Wi-Fi system supports operations and communications systems used for worship services by over 100,000 devotees.
“Ruckus Smart Wi-Fi technology continues to prove itself as best-in-class in the WLAN space, renowned for its scalability, reliability, performance, and ease of integration with existing infrastructure, “said Kunawattanakorn. “I feel very privileged to be part this dynamic and innovative company. These are exciting times for the Thai mobile Internet market and I look forward to helping both new and existing customers, and supporting our partners and growing our business here.”
Before joining Ruckus, Kunawattanakorn was Sales Director at Orckit-Corrigent Communications Thailand, a specialist in Carrier Ethernet and Transport switches serving carrier and mobile operators. He has also served Nortel Networks Thailand from 2000 to 2009, where he was the Account Director for Hutchinson, TOT, CAT Telecom & UIH. He holds a Bachelor Degree with Second Class honors in Telecommunication from King Mongkut Institute of Technology Ladkrabang.