By Edison Ong
Computerworld Philippines
September 20, 2011

The Cyberspace has reached a spot wherein virtual estate scarcity looms now, and where experts believed “it has come to the point of cloud computing, of virtualization and computational mobility.”

The first Filipino and Asian female to be elected to the ICANN Board of Directors Judith Duavit Vazquez stated the Internet, currently West-centric is destined to be truly global. Its drivers include a population of 4 billion, smart devices, IPv4 (Internet Protocol version 4) exhaustion, internationalized domain names and new generic Top Level Domains (gTLD).

“The Internet is now a cloud. We no longer know what it is,” she exclaimed. “As of 2011, the Internet has run out of address space….Will the Internet remain relevant? The answer is no.”

ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)) is a non-profit multi-stakeholder environment with a multi-cultural board that represents diversity. She emphasized “the Internet has grown to such a size that there are many more fingers in the pot. It has a 150 plus multi-nation system.”

The mission of ICANN is to coordinate, at the overall level, the global Internet’s systems of unique identifiers, and in particular toensure the stable and secure operation of the Internet’s unique
identifier systems.

These unique identifiers are Domain Names and IP Addresses. Without these unique identifiers, computers will not find each other.

“ICANN coordinates these unique identifiers across the world. Without that coordination we wouldn’t have one global Internet, she said. “Essentially, ICANN enables the Internet to be what it is.”

Vazquez, who began her three-year term on October 2011, expects the next five to 10 years to be “rigorous, challenging and exciting for ICANN due to paradigm and technical tectonic shifts.”

Joining her on the ICANN Board of Directors is Dr. Stephen Crocker, Internet infrastructure luminary and initiator of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Request for Comments (RFC) series. Dr.
Crocker is Chair of ICANN Board.

FORECAST AT WCIT 2008
It may be recalled that in 2008, at the 16th World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT) held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, “Father of the Internet” Dr. Vinton Cerf, who is Google chief Internet
evangelist, underscored that by 2035 when the Internet will be 52 years old, the world average of Internet penetration will be approximately 70 percent. There will be about 60 billion devices that connect to the cloud of computing for an average of 10 devices per person.

“There will be a lot of devices on each one of us,” he emphasized, adding “as businesses automate and interact with each other and with government, we will come to the point of cloud computing, of virtualization and computational mobility.”

“If you need to get information, come to the cloud and ask for the information, and it will bring it to you,” he stated. “There will be a lot of collaboration in virtual environments. The world will be populated with virtual objects.”

He saw mobile devices – and navigation systems – becoming people’s “remote controllers for everything they do.”

Cerf addressed thousands of WCIT 2008 attendees regarding the future Internet trends, their impact on societies and economies. The five-day event drew more than 3,000 delegates from 90 countries worldwide.

The WCIT is a premier global ICT forum that brings together global leaders in business, government and academia to impact economic and social development through the exchange of policies and ideas on technology.

In a special preview of the Internet in 2035 for the international press, that included this writer, Cerf had expressed concern over the impending exhaustion of internet addresses in the current IPv4, which
has room for 4,294,967,296 possible Internet addresses at 32-bit addressing.

IPv4 is a 20 years old technology that has added complexity using Network Address Translators.

At Google, Cerf is responsible for identifying new enabling technologies and applications on the Internet and other platforms for the company. He is the co-designer, with Robert Kahn, of TCP/IP protocols and the basic architecture of the Internet.

“We are running out of unique Internet addresses,” said Cerf, who together with John Postel, a significant contributor to Internet standards; and Dr. Junichiro Hagino of the IPv6 Samurai, are some of the key people in the Internet development.

The IPv6, the next-generation Internet Protocol designed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), have advance features to ensure the continuous growth and success of the Internet. It could scale up to trillions of addresses due to the larger 128-bit address.

Advanced IPv6 features will include efficient and hierarchical addressing and routing, plug and play features, built-in security, efficient multicasting and optimized mobility support.

In a resolution released at the WCIT 2008, the World Information Technology and Services Alliance, called upon all stakeholders to work together “to promote the transition from the current Internet addressing system (IPv4) to an addressing system capable of supporting continued Internet expansion and new applications for the foreseeable future (IPv6).”

ASIA’S VOICE
As ICANN Board Member, Vasquez, who is currently a director for Filipino broadcast company GMA Network, will be contributing to the decisions that will mark the future of the Global Internet.

An icon in the Philippine technology scene, she is considered one of the pioneers in Internet connectivity in the Philippines after establishing the first ICT-ready building, the 45-floor The Peak in Makati City in 1995. She is also credited for having laid the first fiber in Central Business District Makati in 1995.

It is this infrastructure that was used for the first commercial Internet Service by Mosaic Communications (MosCom), ISP-pioneer; and Unionbank, Internet banking forerunner.

She said IPv4 exhaustion in Asia, cyber security concern and a sense of doing something to contribute moved her to submit her Statement of Interest (SOI) for a leadership position in ICANN early this year.

With her appointment in ICANN, Vazquez anticipated that an “Asian Voice” will further the ICANN’s objectives of reliable access to everyone.

“The ICANN vision is telling. The challenge is Asia. And I am its Asian voice,” she remarked. “One world. One Internet. Everyone on it. How do we do it? We have taken a bold, concerted move to increase
address space. We have no choice but to embrace IPv6.”

Part of her goals is rooted on the fact that Internet access in Asia remains relatively low – only 922 million are active Internet users out of a population of 3.8 billion as of March 2011, according to Internet World Stats (www.internetworldstats.com/asia).

She said countries in this region are still facing challenges in terms of connectivity, which she attributes to geographical challenges, cost of access and technology, among others.

“One issue of great concern is the exhaustion of Asia’s Internet address space (or IPv4). Transition to the next address space protocol or IPv6 is critical and proving to be difficult. Due to the large Asia Pacific population, Internet Service Providers have no option but to adopt IPv6 to serve the billions of un-served Internet users,” Vazquez stresses.

Among ICANN’s strategic thrusts is the launch of the IDN ccTLD Fast Track Process. This will enable countries and territories that use languages based on scripts other than Latin to offer users domain
names in non-Latin characters. A country’s name and domain names may now be written in local scripts. Some of the native Asian languages that can be applied for IDN are Chinese, Hindi, Russian, Arabic, Thai,
among others. As of this writing, the current number of ICANN received Fast Track requests are 33 (representing 22 languages).

PHILIPPINE SUPPORT
William Torres, founder-president of Moscom and dubbed the father of Philippine Internet, urged, “We, Filipinos, should support her because a lot of things can happen under her watch. There are many matters she can draw attention to because she is in the position. She represents us Filipinos in so far as ICT is concerned.”

A decade ago, MosCom took the lead in establishing multi-media community tele-centers in pursuit of its shared information technology resources program in rural villages in the Philippines.

Vazquez said the local ICT sector is waiting for the Noynoy Aquino Administration to review and amend the country’s telecommunications and media related laws and regulations to drive innovation and spur the creation of a true Internet-based industry.

“Our Government has yet to embrace the Internet as its communications highway,” she said. “It can spur innovation by reviewing and amending antique laws and regulations in the realm of telecommunications and
media ownership that deter foreign investments due to severe restrictions in ownership and management control. Infrastructure and talent-development require capital.”

“We lag behind in the Internet space” she sighed as she noted that Philippines is notorious abroad for expensive international bandwidth and electricity costs. “Digital content is hosted outside our nation
resulting in huge bandwidth latency issues. Our Internet industry, if it exists, is mired in a true circumferential reference problem.”

She stated, “All these create a compounded effect, which dampens developments in information and communications technology. I remain optimistic, though. The Philippines has so much to offer.”

Despite its shortcoming, she reported that the Philippines is a major contributor to the ICT space as a leading outsource provider of call center and business processing solutions. The country is the third
largest voice market and third largest expatriate provider.

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By Edison Ong
September 15, 2011
Computerworld Philippines

Emerging new technologies such as cloud-based services are evaluated as a possible new source of security risks, reveals a Kaspersky Lab Global IT Security Risks Research.

The potential problem is associated with the reluctance in adopting new IT technologies.

About 42 % of companies are occasionally reluctant because of the risks involved. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), being part of the new “cloud” trend, is considered to be an opportunity in terms of security by 38 % of the companies.

Organizations see this as a possible way to effectively “outsource” security issues to the service vendor.

Still, some think cloud computing is mostly a threat. Others are not sure, seeing both opportunities and threats.

The number of companies that do not trust third-party suppliers of SaaS with data safety is still high at 38%. Thus implementing SaaS solutions does not mean cancelling in-house security.

“There is no difference for cyber-criminals where to steal data from – be it on local or cloud infrastructure,” the Research concluded. “Criminal techniques are mainly the same for both cases.

Released middle of this year, the Kaspersky research was performed in partnership with B2B International, a leading global research agency.

More than 1,300 IT professionals in 11 countries participated in the survey. It covered a wide range of topics relating to IT security, including wider business risks, actions taken to protect the business and incidents that have occurred.

A significant number of businesses have already become victims to cyber crime, including targeted attacks, events of corporate espionage and loss of sensitive intellectual property. This in turn leads to the conclusion that cyber threats have become much more important for business, which was confirmed by 46% of the organizations.

Almost half of the respondents have experienced an increase in the number of cyber attacks against them in the last 12 months. Businesses are worried that cyber attacks may involve organized criminal gangs and are concerned with government interference.

In the last 12 months, 91 % of the companies have experienced at least one IT security event from an external source. The most common comes in the form of viruses, spyware and other malicious programs.

The second most frequent incident is network intrusion – 44 % experienced a security issue related to the vulnerabilities in existing software.

KASPERSKY TAPS CLOUD
In another development, Kaspersky Lab has released its 2012 editions of Kaspersky Anti-Virus (KAS) and Kaspersky Internet Security (KIS).

The new products were designed to protect computers against the latest malware threats with the help of cloud-based technologies that leverage information from the Kaspersky Security Network - Kaspersky Lab’s globally-distributed threat monitoring network which gathers information regarding new threats from millions of users’ computers around the globe.

Underscoring the benefit from hybrid protection, Jimmy Fong, Channel Sales Director, Kaspersky Lab Southeast Asia, cited whenever and wherever one uses his PC and the Internet, one may “take advantage of hybrid protection that brings together the latest information about malware threats from the cloud with the security capabilities in Kaspersky Internet Security 2012,” for example.

“Our customers use cloud computing to communicate with our security center. This way, the information is received faster. As a result, (there are) less victims,” he stated during the Philippine launch of the home editions of KAS and KIS 2012 last September 14.

The Kaspersky Security Network uses information from millions of users to dramatically reduce response times to new threats and replenish reputation databases with the most up-to-date information about clean and infected files.

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By Edison Ong
September 9, 2011
Computerworld Philippines

Morphlabs Inc. has brought its mCloud Data Center Unit (mCloud DCU) solution to the Philippines and some ASEAN nations in a drive to “democratize access to IT resources.”

This early, Morphlabs’ most modern cloud infrastructure blueprint has been adopted by Globe Telecom, Pratesis and Exist Global. The company expects to form more operating partnerships with key data centers, hosting and service providers within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Winston Damarillo, founder and CEO, Morphlabs, said under the partnership, Globe Telecom Inc., Pratesis and Exist Global will expand their current product offerings to include the Morphlabs mCloud DCU.

By adopting Morphlabs’ open standard approach as basis for innovation, these companies, he said, can create custom solutions to address the specific issues faced by customers in Southeast Asia, including disaster recovery.

“We are thrilled to work with Globe Telecom, Pratesis and Exist Global to assist in driving technological development by democratizing access to IT resources, such as the mCloud DCU, to ASEAN nations,” he said.

He emphasized the need to localized cloud service deliver, “otherwise, what is the benefit of cloud?”

Referring to Globe Telecom, the exclusive distributor of mCloud DCU, he continued, “What makes the cloud works is the hosting partner.”

Damarillo noted “ASEAN is growing faster than the US and Erurope. This is Greenfield. This is the hidden opportunity of cloud. It will prosper (in the region).

At a press briefing, Damarillo observed that the ASEAN region requires an end-to-end solution for cloud infrastructure delivery that can be deployed efficiently and adapts to rapid growth requirements. He continued that after carefully evaluating the players in the cloud computing space, Morphlabs is making an impact by enabling enterprise customers, for the first time, to consume dynamic cloud infrastructure via mCloud DCU blueprint that is “fully-optimized and designed to be both fault-tolerant and scalable.”

“Implementing the mCloud DCU solution will allow us to deliver verticalized cloud access for health care providers, in a critical region of the world,” said Jerry Rapas, president and CEO, Exist Global. “Healthcare institutions need to effectively implement
top-notch technologies and systems with high levels of quality and efficiencies to gain competitive advantage over their competitors.”

Rapes underscored, “because the (cloud infrastructure) environment is assigned us…dedicated to us, it becomes more secure, more faster. It is good for us, good for our global clients.”

In a Morphlab press release, Singgih Tjahjono, president, Pratesis, stated, “MorphLabs understands that organizations must make intelligent capital investments in an emerging market, and its pay-per-use model reflects a commitment to fueling growth for ASEAN
companies. They provide an ideal combination of globally-compatible technology and Silicon Valley Enterprise standards from which Pratesis can achieve maximum scale and reliability without making costly investments in capital infrastructure.”

ADDITIONAL FUNDS RAISED

Early this September, Morphlabs announced it has raised $5 million in Series C funding. The round was led by strategic partners BBT of Japan and a private, Indonesia-based investor group.

Morphlabs will use the additional capital to fuel immediate deployments in the ASEAN region as well as select deployments in North America, likely the Alchemy Communications operating partnership.

He said “We are thrilled to use this round of funding to grow our team and to deliver highly-available cloud environments for enterprises that might not otherwise be able to benefit from the cloud because of the challenges associated with existing public and private cloud deployment options.”

Since receiving a Series B round of financing in July last year, Morphlabs has grown from 25 to 50 employees. It has also expanded throughout the United States and Asia. In May this year, the company announced partnerships with Arista Networks, BroadBand Tower, Inc.,
CoreSite Realty Corporation, and Nexenta Systems, among others, to deliver its mCloud DCU solution.

The mCloud DCU is designed to remove the complexities of implementing the most price performant cloud solution on the market, taking an infrastructure blueprint bound together by mCloud technology with best-of-breed cloud building blocks to deliver mission-critical
capabilities via on-premise or hosted private cloud.

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By Edison Ong
Computerworld Philippines
September 9, 2011

The diversity and wide geographical spread of thousands of small and medium business (SMB) make the Philippines an attractive minesite for cloud service providers.

This is the market view of Sunil Chavan, Director, Software Group and Cloud Solutions, Asia Pacific, Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) Pte Ltd.

He assessed that the “flair in the SMB (segment)” and the “very robust customer focus” is very interesting.

He observed, for instance, for telecommunications firms customer retention is very important amidst a very competitive market. “So give them (customers) value services to spend some more.”

Such value proposition is in the mass consumer experience of cloud service.

To realize this, Hitachi Data Systems Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Japan’s Hitachi, Ltd., partnered with Ayala Systems Technology to provide and support the cloud storage infrastructure and services to Globe Telecom.

Globe Telecom offers cloud computing services to enterprises customers in the Philippines. The offerings include Storage as a Service (Saas), Backup as a Service (Baas) and Compute as a Service (CaaS).

Elsewhere in Asia Pacific, companies that have embraced HDS cloud solutions are Teliti Datacentres in Malaysia, Beijing Computing Center (China) and Sify Technologies (India).

“When data has no center, your business has no limits,” HDS’s Chief Technology Officer Hubert Yoshida told attendees during the Hitachi Information Forum. “The Rise of Information Center” and reiterated this in a press briefing afterwards.”

Stressing the importance of having “the information as the end goal”, he explained that the data center evolution via the way of virtualization and the cloud diminishes the physical boundaries of IT systems today.

The notion that “data has no center” conveys that data is ubiquitous and that.the ability to turn data into valuable business information that is available anytime, anywhere is more important than where the data is physically located.

“No where is the success of Hitachi Data Systems more evident than in the success of our customers,” said Terrance Maximus Tangit, Managing Director, Asean-Emerging Markets and Indonesia, Hitachi Data Systems.

Yoshida discussed how Hitachi Data Systems solutions help business organizations transform raw data into valuable information by delivering on a vision that information technology must be virtualized, automated, cloud-ready and sustainable.

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By Phoebe Magdirila
Computerworld Philippines
July 5, 2011

Abolishing the Commission on Information and communications Technology (CICT) and moving the ICT management under the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) may cause major setbacks to the country’s ICT sector, according to various institutions as stated in a written appeal to President Benigno Aquino.

After the announcement of the executive Order (EO) No. 47 declaring the “reorganization” of the ICT commission, many organization heads became vocal about their disapproval. Undersigned in the said appeal are 15 head officials from different organizations across the country.

“My colleagues in the ICT sector are not only saddened but shocked by the sudden decision of President Benigno Simeon Aquino III to abolish the Philippine Commission on Information and Communications Technology, which have been the most effective champion of ICT development in our country for the last 10 years,” Atty. Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, National ICT Confederation of the Philippines (NICP) and Bacolod-Negros Occidental Federation for ICT, Chairman said in an emailed correspondence.

Hindrances to ICT Development

Looking forward for the ICT commission to be reestablished, the appeal laid down a number of possible hindrances to ICT development in line with the recent change of office. They call CICT as “the navigator of the plane” and the President, “the pilot” in developing ICT in the country. Correlating it with the recent Philippine Digital Strategy for 2011to 2016, it is said to be designed as “a guide that was intended to help the President, as pilot, steer this nation to greatness once again.”

“EO 47 creates a mere office under the DOST which functions are basically just tasked to recommend policies, things that have already been all performed by the CICT,” Batapa-Sigue said.

With the current global trends, it also prevents the country from ensuring “that the country‘s economy and society is prepared to compete in this digital economy and take advantage of the global opportunities,” it said.

Effect to the BPO Industry

In a separate press release by Sen. Edgardo J Angara, he emphasized how it will adversely affect the BPO Industry. “ICT is a sunshine industry with enormous potential for investment and job generation. It deserves no less than a cabinet portfolio. This is an ironic move that sends the wrong signal to the industry about how much – or little – we prioritize ICT,” he said.

During the Fourteenth Congress, the bill for the creation of a Department on Information and Communications Technology (DICT) was already passed by the House of Representatives and was nearly passed in the Senate on Third Reading. Angara has re-filed the measure this Fifteenth Congress.

He stated that the Information Technology and Business Process Outsourcing (IT-BPO) industry raised US$9 billion in revenues last year and created 530,000 jobs. “No less than the IT-BPO industry clamors for a DICT to serve as a one-stop shop for their needs and concerns,” he said. “The industry is at a crucial juncture and the DICT could help sustain its growth to bolster the economy.”

In an online petition for the said EO, up-to-date, there are now 146 signatures in favor to restore the ICT commission.

We believe in the power of both the media and the social media to help ensure transparency in government as well as in government actions,” Batapa-Sigue said.

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By Phoebe Magdirila
Computerworld Philippines
July 1, 2011

The Commission on Information and Communication Technology (CICT), tasked in promoting ICT development in the country, has now been dissolved and renamed as the Information and Communications Technology Office (ICTO).

Dated June 23, the President Benigno Aquino, III signed the Executive Order (EO) No. 47, stating the ICT commission and commissioner will be dissolved and will now be moved under the Department of Science and Technology (DOST). As stated in the EO No. 47, ICTO will be headed by an Executive Director, ranked as an Undersecretary who will directly report to the DOST Secretary.

“It’s exclusively within the power of the president,” CICT commissioner, Sec. Ivan John Uy said in a recent interview with Computerworld Philippines. “I dont think the projects will be affected,” he added.

CICT Plans Pushing Through?

The recently appointed commissioner showed eagerness with their plans of implementing the five-year strategic plan for ICT development with the launch of the Philippine Digital Strategy (PDS) 2011 -2016 a few days ago. The said plan, according to Uy, was in line with the Aquino administration’s goal for ICT development.

But earlier on before the release of EO No. 47, the appointment of Uy as ICT chair has been under evaluation by President Aquino due to the alleged anomalies while the former was with the Supreme Court.

Plans for ICTO

Raymund E. Liboro, Information Institute Director, DOST still refused to give out any plans for ICTO. “We just have to wait for the official transmission,” he said. “Once its official we’ll issue a statement.”

“It was disappointing, although we’re already expecting it,” Carlo Subido, Information Technology Association of the Philippines said.

In the recent PDS launch, he also said that, as members of the private sectors, they form part of the making of ICT plans in the country. But also, with the announcement of the movement of office under DOST, pursuing ICT will still push through for them. “I think the more we should be more active if only we get the message across PNoy,” he added.

When the head for ICTO is named, he said, “we will do a courtesy call so we can tell the Executive Director our advocacy.”

On the other hand, Vice President Jejomar Binay, showed full support for the commission’s digital strategy as he said PDS will “empower the nation.” This strategy, not only promised to bring online access to citizens, but also to provide transparent governance.

The CICT was established under Executive Order (EO) No. 269 by the previous administration.

“The bigger issue is not funding the projects, the bigger issue here is winning the mindset,” Uy said in the ICT Summit press meeting a day before news broke out that the CICT was being dissolved.

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By Edison Ong
Computerworld Philippines
June 22,2011

Business software solutions provider SAP has begun offering its cloud computing technology service in the Philippines and the rest of Southeast Asia.

Simply identified as Subscription-based Hosting (SBH) for the SAP Business All-in-One (A1) and SAP Business One (B1), the two solutions are for the medium and small enterprises, respectively.

The company also introduced the SAP Business One Starter Package.

Attendees to the SAP SME Summit 2011 held at the Edsa Shangri-la Hotel in Mandaluyong City previewed the twin-billed smart applications that can drive business integration. Furthermore, enable their enterprises to gain return on investments, foster growth, innovation and value.

“Every big company was once a small company, and we want to catch it while still at an early stage,” said Tom Kindermans, SVP for Ecosystems and Channels, SAP Asia Pacific Japan.

SBH and the Business One Starter Package are for organizations that are unable to make substantial up-front investment in their company’s IT infrastructure. SBH allows organizations access to an SAP A1 that is hosted and managed by a select SAP partner for a flat subscription fee.

Chris Knoerr, VP for Indirect Channels SME, SAP Asia Pacific Japan, explained that SBH leverages on the IT management expertise of SAP partners and in the process allows organizations to take advantage of the enterprise resource management functionality of SAP A1.

He said with an experienced channel partner managing the software and the underlying infrastructure, organizations can focus on managing their businesses.

He added that from traditional licensing to on-premise deployment to SBH, organizations can adopt the SAP A1 solution that best fits their financial needs and IT preferences.

The SBH eliminates the capital outlay traditionally required to purchase a software license.

The pay-as-you-go arrangement makes software acquisition an on-going expense instead of a one-time capital expenditure. All costs associated with using and managing the SAP software are combined into one subscription-based monthly or quarterly payment.

On the benefit of cloud computing technology, Kindermans cited flexibility as one of the business drivers. Another is cost of money or finance. Particularly in emerging markets where interests rates are high.

On another note, the B1 starter package, he said, makes it easy for small businesses to gain instant visibility and control while building a stable software foundation to support their every evolving business need.

For instance, cited Knoerr, instead of adopting a small business accounting package and, with increasing functional requirements, go through the disruption of switching software later.

“B1 starter package provides a limited-scope version of the SAP Business One application. It is the solution for companies that need more than standard accounting software, but for whom the full SAP Business One might be too powerful,” he explained.

The B1 starter package helps manage accounting and financials, sales and customers, purchasing and operations, inventory and distribution, and reporting and administration. This is ideal for companies with up to five software users.

Knoerr underscored that an upgrade to the full version of SAP Business One could be done at anytime without having to invest in completely new software.

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By Edison Ong
Computerworld Philippines
June 22, 2011

New kid on the block wi-tribe Telecoms, Inc. has taken a bold stance to remove the monthly data cap on Internet usage in an attempt to lure new household subscribers in Metropolitan Manila.

The Philippine broadband service provider, backed by San Miguel Corporation and the QTel Group, believes it has found a solution to making the lives of Internet users easier as they increasingly depend on the Web.

By providing customers with a new unlimited, more reliable and fast Internet service, said Edmund Pike, wi-tribe’s Head of Products, “We are in the best position (to do so) because we are the only pure 100 percent 4G (Fourth Generation) technology provider in Metro Manila.”

Added, Simon Burckhardt, wi-tribe Chief Commercial Advisor, “Our product is primarily for the home. We want to be the number one in the area we serve.”

The two executives estimate Metro Manila has 2.5 million households that are potential wi-tribe subscribers.

“We listen to our customers and we deliver what they want. That is why we are proud to announce we are now removing the monthly data allowances and instead offering our customers truly unlimited Internet service,” Pike reported.

With the removal of the data caps, he said wi-tribe believe “we now offer the best value broadband Internet service in the market.”

The value for money plans start at Php 598 for 512 kbps, making it the cheapest stand alone broadband service in the country.

On apprehensions regarding abuse of Internet usage by subscribers, Burckhardt assured “Internet connectivity is a finite resource. We will be introducing a fair use policy.”

Pike also announced the staging of the wi-tribe promotion aimed at new customers we are in for subscription freebies and an innovative cash back.

“These are cash customers can actually get or claim back, and not debit memos,” he said.

For the rest of June and the whole of July every new customer will get one month cash back as a reward for joining the tribe; 100 customers will win 24-months free Internet use, and an additional 200 subscribers will get three months cash back.

A few months ago, wi-tribe introduced its “MOVE MORE” add-on product feature, a bandwidth on demand that enhances a subscriber’s current post-paid plan.

The company described wi-tribe’s MOVE MORE product feature as the first in the industry, where it allows netizens to surf and download more while maintaining their subscription plan’s speeds even after their monthly usage allowance runs out.

The wi-tribe brand is a growing global presence driven by the objective of enhancing online access in emerging markets in the Middle East, Asia and Africa. It launched its broadband service in Jordan in 2008, and in Pakistan in 2009.

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By Phoebe Magdirila
Computerworld Philippines
June 22, 2011

A public Internet address is crucial in accessing the Internet. And as the Internet usage continues to grow exponentially, what used to be a fairly huge 4.3 Billion-IP-address capacity of the Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4), is now expected to run out. For businesses to continuously adapt to these issues, telecom giant Globe Telecom, Inc. urges enterprises to prepare their services for and slowly transition to IPv6.

IPv6 is “the square a size of the solar system,” Gilbert Vertucio, Globe Technical Solutions Architect said. Having a significantly larger address space reaching 340 ‘undecillion’ addresses, is considered as the next-generation IP to answer the expected space exhaustion of IPv4. It has a 128-bit address space compared to the former’s 32-bit address size.

IPv6 Readiness

“Given the growth of Internet is booming, what we need is more numbers to connect,” Vincent B. Atienza, Globe Telecoms Senior Product Manager, Internet Core Services, Enterprise Product Management said. It is “a solution to more applications.”

“Globe is IPv6 ready,” he added. The core IP network of Globe is now allowing its users to access both IPv4 and IPv6 websites. It will enable customers to have more public IP addresses to allocate with their organizations. “It’s more of new businesses going online,” Cocoy Claravall, Globe Business Product and Services Manager said.

With the transition to IPv6 the Internet will be able to support more users, devices with wired or wired access, and web services, and to sustain its growth. “We understand the issue that’s why we are the first in the Philippines,” Claravall said.

Today, users from the Windows XP operating system (OS) to the most recent Windows 7 are those which are IPv6-capable, as well as Mac OS X, most Linux operating systems and 2003 servers up to the most recent.

Going into IPv6 is more of a transition and not a movement, Atienza said. The company is expecting that with the availability of the new IP, there will be a mixture of IPv4 and IPv6.

Officials advice enterprises to assess their OS, software and hardware and to understand the implications of how to coexist to actualize these changes in their systems. “There are hidden configurations you have to locate,” Verucio said.

World IPv6 Day

According to Atienza, IPv6 is in its “infancy stage” and the company recognizes challenges of the new IP. To accelerate the IPv6 deployment, as organized by the Internet Society, Globe participates in the 24-hour global scale trial of the next-generation IP.

By participating in the World IPv6 Day, Globe as well as other ISPs, websites and OS manufacturers and equipment vendors are able to check for any problems so these can be resolved as IPv6 is enabled on a large scale.

The company has spent half-a-Billion dollars in capital investment because they wanted to get into things like this, said Claravall.

“It’s a race, but it actually takes time,” Atienza said.

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By Phoebe Magdirila
Computerworld Philippines
June 22, 2011

A phone is not just a phone, it’s a social networking hub, a Microsoft official said recently.

With the continuously growing demand of mobility devices, software giant Microsoft intends to improve the smartphone experience through an easier-to-use operating system that integrates communication, applications and the Internet with the upcoming release of a version update on Windows Phone, code named “Mango.”

The updated operating system, still with no official version name, will be available for free for all Windows 7 mobile users, including LG’s Optimus 7, one of their first partners locally, Andre Ngo, Business Development – Mobility Communications Executive for Microsoft APAC said.

Better Communications

“Seven months ago we started our mission to make smartphones smarter and easier for people to do more,” said John Bessey, managing Director, Microsoft Philippines. “With Mango, Windows Phone takes a major step forward in redefining how people communicate and use apps and the Internet, giving you better results with less effort.”

As the forms of communicating has expanded from mere text and calls to Internet-enabled messaging like social networking and e-mails, a part of the company’s idea is to provide a deeper social networking integration. Mango will now integrate Twitter and Linkedin, after the availability of Windows live and Facebook on Windows 7. On top of that, thread messaging will be available for users to smoothly switch between text, Facebook chat and Windows Live Messenger within the same conversation.

To help organize emails from various accounts, the new version will also link messages in one inbox to allowing easier access to the latest mail. Mango will also feature IE9 and Bing Vision on mobile devices to enhance the mobile web browsing experience.

“Were actually building an app that’s bigger than the size of your phone,” Ngo said. “This integrated experience is something we’re looking forward with Mango.”

Continuous Expansion

After seven months from the launch of Windows 7, now 17,000 apps are now available to its users in the Windows Phone Marketplace and the company is continuously expanding its range of partners worldwide. “The partnership is a breakthrough in mobile life for consumers given the operating system that offers people the ability to do more in a few steps,” Richard Javier, head of Communications Division, LG Electronics said. After three months in the market, now, we’re seeing a greater demand, he added.

Furthermore, Microsoft announced it will support additional languages. “Were always striving to expand geographically,” Ngo said. “We want to expand as soon as possible.”

The official version will be released during the fourth quarter of this year. The company declared it will deliver more than 500 new features to push the boundaries of the smartphone experience, giving more details closer to its availability.

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By Edison Dy Ong
Computerworld Philippines
June 7, 2011

Accenture has stepped on the pedal to help its customers in individual ASEAN countries become a powerful economic bloc collectively.

As he outlined the Accenture ASEAN Growth Agenda, Shane Ryan, managing director for Accenture in Southeast Asia, said his company will “build a regional business in ASEAN by transitioning from a collection of individual countries to a regional powerhouse with products and services” for the region’s population of over 600 million people.

Leading a media roundtable panel which talked about the company’s overall growth plans in the region, Ryan described as vast the business growth and expansion opportunities within and across the Southeast Asian region.

“Accenture is in the best position to help companies seize these opportunities and expand within their own countries or across the region,” he stressed.

On the domestic front, Ryan said Accenture continues to grow its business in the Philippines by expanding its local delivery centers, beefing up its management consulting, technology and business process outsource services and capabilities.

Manolito Tayag, Accenture Philippines country managing director reported that in early 2011, Accenture Philippines added one more facility. Occupying nine floors of the Global One building in Eastwood, Quezon City, the new center brings to 14 the Accenture sites – 12 in Metropolitan Manila and two in Cebu. Accenture Philippines, which marked its 25th anniversary last year, targets its total headcount to reach 25,000 by the end of 2011.

The Philippine Delivery Centers accounts for its being the second largest node in the Accenture Global Delivery Network (GDN) and the third largest location in terms of headcount, next to the US and India.

“We continue to be relevant,” Ryan said, adding Accenture will be assisting its domestic clients to become “high-performance clients” that will use ASEAN (as an economic and political bloc) as a stepping stone or launch platform to global business.

He said Accenture is making a conscious decision to invest in areas where the company sees growth both in the short and long-term, for example, analytics, mobility and cloud computing, virtualization, and expand its geographic footprint.

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By Phoebe Magdirila
Computerworld Philippines
June 7, 2011

IBM aims to help small- and medium-sized businesses obtain essential information in a less complicated format with its Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) Platform that is enhanced with business analytics capabilities.

With the acquisition of Cognos and OpenPages, IBM has been able to integrate GRC with business analytics to develop a solution that could help SMBs obtain an aggregate view of the business opportunities and risks associated with their expansion.

Praveen Thakur, Industry Solutions Leader, IBM ASEAN Software Group said that the GRC platform provides SMBs an holistic approach to their continuously growing information. Analytics is a brand new area of optimization, Thakur adds. “We see this as a $16-billion opportunity for us in the next five years.”

The enhanced GRC enables access across different departments and executives bridging all issues, concerns and areas for growth in a company. “What we aim to do is to bring a pencil view to key executives, and other departments to identify the key risk indicators to make sure that processes are followed appropriately,” Thakur said. Open Pages comes to play with the functional graphs, charts and other figures to provide the detailed results of various numeric information.

IBM’s GRC platform gives SMBs a bigger picture and allows them to act on the pressing issues as they come, Charles Manuel Rattankumar, Business Unit Executive, Business Analytics, IBM ASEAN Software Group said. It provides functionality with real-time monitoring and gives the opportunity to identify upcoming risks and see where the company is going. This helps SMBs drive their business and align with their strategy.

According to Rattankumar, the success of a company depends on an organization’s ability to measure the possible growth in the market, “Having a predictive modeling capability by which they can look at not just how we are doing, why we got here but also where we go from here simply optimizes capabilities,” he added. “The fundamental changes are happening with the way we act, the way we live and the way we do business,” he said. Companies have been moving to traditional advertising to web-based advertising, and as competition arises, every company must optimize its capability to follow its competitors.

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By Phoebe Magdirila
Computerworld Philippines
June 7, 2011

In this day and age when people prefer virtual transactions more than on-site business establishments, slow loading web pages and failed online transactions can cause customer dissatisfaction and continued loss of revenue. To address this concern, software company Compuware has launched its new brand of application performance management (APM) solution, the Gomez Platform.

Compuware recently made a leap with the integration of their APM solutions under the Gomez brand. It aims to provide a clearer message to their customers with their offerings. “This rebranding is a key element of Compuware’s strategic vision and aggressive growth strategy for our APM business,” said Bob Paul, President and Chief Operating Officer at Compuware Corporation. The Gomez Spring 2011 Platform is Compuware’s first release combining their formerly known Vantage products and new management solutions under the said brand.

Promoting Better End-User Performance

The Gomez platform’s main goal is to optimize the performance of enterprises’ Internet-based applications as users access them from various media - web, mobile, streaming and cloud applications. To help with the complexity of today’s delivery chain, the platform provides the overall view in terms of their “First Mile to Last Mile” approach – from data centers to the end users. “We provide customers with a unique capability to manage application performance in a single, holistic approach that spans data centers, cloud providers, Internet services and end users,” Paul said.

“A second delay can create a problem with the website,” Shabbir Baliwala, Director of Field Technical Support, Compuware South Asia said in a recent phone interview. “We are very concerned with the end-user performance,” he added.

Gomez’ offerings provide major organizational functions, including engineering, operations, product management, sales, marketing, service and support which works for enterprise applications accessed by employees, e-commerce web sites visited by customers or applications running on mobile devices. “Compuware is addressing key performance issues for Web and mobile applications users, and is helping IT organizations and service providers to monitor and optimize the end user experience in today’s multi-browser and multi-device environments.” Tim Grieser, Program VP System Management Software at IDC said.

Furthermore, with its integration with Google Page Speed, an open source project that works as a third-party application with Gomez, it gives CIOs insights and recommendations on how to speed up web application performance. Thiam Kok beng, Marketing Director, Compuware Asia Pacific, stated that Google Page Speed will help to understand the end users’ performance by monitoring all the interaction real-time, measuring the speed on the pages and providing a list of recommendations to enhance the companies’ web application performance.

Adhering to Local Challenges

Surely, even local enterprises may find this as an appealing solution and advantage at the same time. But with issues of availability of infrastructure, he admitted that bandwidth is one of the possible setbacks for their solution, it being dependent on IP bandwidth. However, he added that while “bandwidth can be an issue, it would not be a hampering factor” to the functionality of their applications.

Baliwala said that the company has been working with various industries in the Philippines for a couple of years now, including the banking and telecommunication sectors.

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By Phoebe Magdirila
Computerworld Philippines
June 7, 2011

While cloud computing has become one of enterprises’ options for data management, small and medium businesses (SMEs) across Asia Pacific are still hesitant to embrace the concept due to lack of awareness, finds a new study by Springboard Research on the attitude of the region’s IT and business decision-makers on cloud computing.

“Companies are keen to adopt cloud computing but their understanding of the cloud is not complete and they are initially leaning towards approaches that most closely map to their existing skills, experience and investments, hence the strong preference for private clouds over public clouds,” the survey’s lead analyst, Michael Barnes of Springboard Research said.

Microsoft commissioned the study to see how emerging markets in the Asia Pacific region is ready for the cloud. “Many SMBs might be surprised to know that they are probably already using some cloud technologies without knowing it,” says Tovia Va’aelua, Server and Tools Business Group Lead, Microsoft Philippines said. “About 369 million people globally use Hotmail; 310 million globally use Windows Live Messenger so as an industry we need to help people understand the benefits of cloud better to help them maximize its potential for their businesses.”

Missed Opportunity

The survey included 883 CIOs within the key Asia Pacific Markets, 111 of which are from the Philippines. According to the study, Philippine businesses’ hesitation to adopt cloud computing is brought by worries about security, cost and loss of control with data management. “Security concerns around the cloud owe a lot more to lack of knowledge,” Barnes said.

“The survey reveals that many still have not adopted a cloud approach which could give them access to enterprise-class technologies to make them more competitive, enabling them to focus on growing their businesses rather than managing their IT,” Va’aelua said. “We think this is a missed opportunity that could impact our competitiveness.”

Barnes also noticed that the trend for the entire Asia pacific region shows that “the larger the organization, the higher the understanding of cloud computing.”

“Small organizations are lagging when it comes to the understanding of cloud computing,” he added. On a scale of one to five, the study shows that Philippines ranks at 3.1 with the understanding of cloud computing.

Considering The Cloud

Cloud computing helps enterprises reduce costs and lessen purchases. However, managing cost, which has previously been identified as a key driver of cloud services, is no longer top of mind. Instead, most respondents cite the ability to support unpredictable workloads as most important in their considerations.

In fact, Philippine organizations are unique across the region in citing integration with existing systems as the primary cloud-related concern. “Eighty-one percent of Philippine respondents are focused on either leveraging public or private [cloud],” Barnes said. “People still want to have this level of control and add cloud as an added service.” Microsoft is considered as the leader in cloud computing in the country, and servers, storage & email are the top three cloud applications used today.

“It’s completely changing the economics of the IT Industry,” he added. Seventy percent of Philippine organizations expect cloud to increase the role of telecommunications providers or other hosting service providers. “Our perspective is to leverage with telcos,” Va’aelua said. “We’re a partner driven organization and that’s how we want to keep it.”

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By Phoebe Magdirila
Computerworld Philippines
June 7, 2011

With the interactive web-based application Google maps, locating unfamiliar places have become easier. Its user-friendly navigation and the detailed view of streets, shops, banks and other establishment, gave way to its wide adoption in the Philippines. But for Philippine-based software company Orange & Bronze Labs, Inc. (O&B), the technology can provide a better opportunity for enterprises to market services and operate businesses better.

“There are deeper, more in-depth uses of maps than location-based services,” Kathleen Fonacier-Garcia, Marketing and Communications Officer, O&B said.

According to the software company who is also a local enterprise partner and authorized reseller of Google Enterprise products, Google Maps API Premier can now be an advantage to Philippine businesses and organizations to improve operations, marketing, and customer service.

A Unified Approach

Compared to the free application, the premier version can allow companies to integrate Google maps into their website along with other valuable information that can guide not only their customers, but also their employees. Calen Martin D. Legaspi, O&B CEO said that with the growing use of mobile devices for Internet-related services, local businesses will find more ways to easily connect and engage with their employees and customers. Google Maps is one way for organizations to get ahead of competition.

By having a visual representation of data, people can analyze their data better, Garcia said.

Google Maps can be used as an effective marketing tool to help companies create campaigns targeted to a user base within an area. This saves time, financial resource, and manpower as marketing campaigns can already target a niche group of customers.

More Than Just Maps

The company develops and customizes applications using Google maps that match industry-specific requirements. Aside from the map itself, companies “can create more sophisticated application based on their needs,” Butch Landingin, Chief technology Officer, O&B said.

A Filipino real estate search site, Haybol.ph, developed by Senior Software Engineer Edge Dalmacio and Software Architect Lorenzo Dee, sets how integrating Google maps in their website provides better service to its online visitors. People can locate houses better and easier by targeting a selected vicinity, likewise, it helps sellers to be easily found. Citing an example for better and more sophisticated applications, the developers have also installed 3D virtual tour and “augmented reality” tools for its enhanced usage. “The Philippines deserves a better way to search,” Dee said.

“Location-based services in the Philippines is just starting and we see huge potential here. There are already quite a number of interesting approaches that we are looking at that utilizes Google Maps and we expect these to be implemented soon,” according to Legaspi.

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