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Premier 100: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Digital Age

By Reynaldo R. Vicente
Computerworld Research Director

AMID the prevailing harsh business climate resulting from the global economic crunch, the country’s largest technology users – the Premier 100 – continued to spend more on technology. Although cost considerations and changing market conditions influence the group’s investment decisions, many enterprises opted to acquire new or additional hardware to meet their requirements and to stay competitive this year.

Based on the results of the IT infrastructure installation survey conducted by the Computerworld Philippines Research Group from August to October 2009, the Premier 100 reported a combined hardware installations of 216,007 nodes, consisting of 161,236 desktop personal computers (PCs); 36,661 terminals, thin clients and personal digital assistants (PDAs); and 18,110 notebooks/laptops. The group had a server installed base of 9,475 nodes, of which 42% were found in the sites of the 19 banks included in the list. Based on these figures, the Premier 100 posted a node-to-server ratio of 23:1, which meant that, as of end-October this year, they had 23 units of either PCs, terminals, thin clients and PDAs for every server installed. Five establishments reported five-digit computing nodes, four of which even surpassed the 10,000-node level. Forty-six companies on the list had hardware installations numbering in four-digit figures while 49 had less than 1,000 nodes.

The Computerworld Philippines’ Premier 100 is based on an annual survey of computing resources among the country’s top corporations. Survey forms are sent to these corporations, but only those that send back the accomplished forms and agree to be interviewed are included in the annual ranking. The rankings of these users are determined by the number of their computing devices or nodes, which represents the number of personal computers/workstations, notebooks/laptops, and terminals, personal digital assistants, and thin clients installed in the company.

BANKS: STILL MAJOR IT USERS
The banking sector, represented by 20 banks, continued to be the dominant technology user among the sectors, reporting total computing nodes of 83,912 to account for 38.85% of the Premier 100’s aggregate nodes. These devices consisted of 64,040 desktop PCs, 17,570 units of terminals, PDAs and thin clients and 2,302 notebooks/laptops. The sector also accounted for the biggest server installations at 73,983 units. Consisting of 34 companies, the manufacturing sector placed second with nodes totaling 43,919, composed of 26,657 desktop PCs, 10,165 terminals, PDAs and thin clients and 7,097 notebooks/laptops. The information technology sector, with six organizations on the list, was third with hardware count reaching 26,010 units. The wholesale and retail sector was fourth biggest IT user with IT installations base of 13,712 nodes. The Ayala-owned Bank of the Philippine Islands maintained its position as the country’s top IT user despite an unchanged in its hardware inventory level. The bank posted hardware installations totaling 17,200 nodes, broken down as follows: 5,000 desktop PCs, 200 notebooks/laptops, and 12,000 terminals and thin clients.

From fourth position last year, Banco de Oro Universal Bank, one of the country’s largest universal banks, placed second after its computing resources rose to 16,000 nodes this year, from last year’s 12,000 units.

While Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. retained its third position with 13,000 computing nodes, the government-owned Land Bank of the Philippines climbed one step higher to fourth place with hardware count reaching 10,200 nodes. Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. took the fifth slot with a PC installed base of 10,000 units. While Home Development Mutual Fund, Philippine Airlines and ICT Group retained their previous year’s ranks, the country’s top utility firm Manila Electric Co. and storage producer Fujitsu Computer Products Corp. of the Philippines (FCPCP) lowered their ranks. Meralco, with 6,030 nodes was relegated to the ninth position, from second last year, when its hardware installations were slashed by 45% from 13,400 units last year. FCPCP, which ranked ninth last year, down one notch lower to tenth slot with 6,000 nodes.

IT PENETRATION
An important indicator of IT penetration is the node-to-employee ratio which shows the extent to which IT has pervaded the organization. This, of course, depends on the number of employees or users an enterprise or a sector has. With only two firms representing it, the non-bank financial intermediary sector led in terms of IT penetration, having three computing nodes for every employee. Next in rank was the real estate industry with two nodes distributed for each employee. On the other hand, the agriculture; community, personal and social services; and the transportation and storage sectors bring up the rear with a node to employee ratio of 1:2, which means that a node is being used or shared by two personnel.

Among company users, Home Development Mutual Fund, or the so-called PagIbig Fund, has the biggest IT penetration ratio of 4:1. The company has in its possession 4,550 terminals and thin clients, 4,500 desktop PCs and 200 notebooks/laptops being operated by its 2,500 workers. Second was the Coca Cola Export Corp. with an IT penetration ratio of 3:1, justified by its computing installations totaling 1,050 nodes that are currently utilized by 300 employees.

On the other hand, Del Monte Philippines, Inc., with 7,000 personnel and 1,150 computer nodes, registered the lowest node-to-employee ratio of 1:6. It was followed by HBC, Inc. and Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. with the same node-to-employee ratio of 1:3. A total of 30 firms reported that the number of PCs (both desktop and notebooks/laptops) deployed in their organizations exceeded the size of their workforces. The group was led by the country’ telecommunication giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company which has a total PC installations of 12,800 units. In terms of PC penetration, however, it was JDH (Phils.), Inc. which reported the highest with a ratio of 2:1. JDH (Phils.), with 200 workers, deployed 400 PCs in its worksite.

ONLINE BUSINESS
Boosted by the mounting opportunities provided by the World Wide Web, Internet penetration still receive the greatest importance, with 99% of users already connected to the ‘Net. The Intranet technology was also adopted by 88 companies to have a faster sharing of information within their organizations. Through Internet connection, 72 firms disseminate data by way of virtual private network (VPN) while 81 establishments in the Premier 100 utilize the remote access technology. Twenty six companies have installed extranets to connect them to their customers, suppliers and partners. More than one-third of the Premier 100 was enticed to conduct business online, whether it is through business-to-business or business-to-consumer transactions.

Meanwhile, majority or 67% of the biggest technology investors are connected to the Internet thru leased line; digital subscriber line (DSL) was the choice of 35% while four percent uses the E1 connection. Other Internet connections being utilized by users include dial up, cable and proxy server. Both local and wide area networks were widely distributed among the Premier 100, particularly in banks and manufacturers, which connect them to their branches and other offices as well. Other IT environments deployed in the Premier 100 include the following: voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) which was installed to 57% of users; virtualization, which allows users to perform tasks with less hardware and costs, was utilized by 34%; while Web conferencing was used by 33%.

PLATFORMS & APPLICATIONS
The Premier 100 deploys a mixture of operating systems, databases and messaging platforms in their worksites. However, the survey indicated that most enterprises favor Microsoft more than any other brands. Microsoft Windows was still the most common operating system (for both workstations and servers) in use among the biggest IT users. Among client OSes, Windows XP was the most popular as 95 firms use it; Windows Vista came second with 51 establishments patronizing it while 45 users had Windows 2000 installed in their offices. Windows 98 was still the preference of 28 entities while Linux is currently in use in 17 firms. Windows NT was still present in 10 companies. Windows XP was prominent in the sites of both the banking and manufacturing sectors.

In the server OS segment, 89% of the top users preferred Windows 2003. This OS was mostly installed in banks and manufacturers. Coming in second with 53 users was Windows 2000 which continued to hold a substantial share of the market. With 30 users, Linux OS was third in terms of preference, followed by Unix with 20 firms utilizing it and Windows NT, installed in 16 organizations. Versions of Solaris, Novell Netware, OS/2, AS/400, and MacOS were being used by a smaller number of firms. In the messaging system category, it was a toss up between two Microsoft versions, with MS Exchange coming out as the most widely used. MS Exchange was utilized by 44% of the Premier 100 as against the 31 users of MS Outlook. Twenty nine companies employed IBM Lotus Notes, while 12 firms installed IBM Lotus Domino. For the database management software segment, the competition between MS SQL and Oracle in terms of user-base remained tight. Although MS SQL was adopted by 83%, Oracle was not far behind as it was used by 54 entities. IBM DB2 was reportedly installed in 21 firms while MS Access was still supported by 13 users. Other DB management platforms that are currently deployed in the Premier 100 were Sybase (7%), Informix (3%), Progress (2%), and Adabas (1%).

NETWORK INFRASTRUCTURE
Meanwhile, the most widely installed network technology among the top IT users was the gigabit Ethernet, a network infrastructure which is capable of transferring 1,000 megabits per second. As of November this year, this technology was installed in 69 establishments. Switched Ethernet, a network which runs through a high speed switch that can dispatch 10 megabits per second, was supported by 60 firms while fast Ethernet was still in use by 51 companies. Fast Ethernet is an Ethernet capable of transmitting 100 megabits per second.

Wireless LAN was currently adopted by 46 enterprises while Ethernet network technology was still gaining acceptance from 34 companies. From among the e-mail antivirus/antispam software inthe market, Trend Micro was the popular choice of 41% of respondents. Symantec came next with 27 user-companies while McAfee was preferred by 15 firms. Other antivirus software being utilized by the Premier 100 include Kaspersky (7%); Sophos (5%); Norton (4%); and Fortigate (1%).

IN THE PIPELINE
Meanwhile, survey respondents revealed that they are likely to deploy new technologies because of the pressure in businesses to drive for a new level of operational efficiency but with reduced IT spending. Represented by 25% of the Premier 100, these users will deploy virtualization technology which allows them to perform tasks with less hardware and thus, less electricity consumption. Virtualization can run multiple operating systems and multiple applications on the same computer at the same time, thus increasing the utilization and flexibility of the hardware.

Both consolidation and open source technologies got the approval of 18% of users, saying they will install it in their sites in the next 12 months. While 16% will support business intelligence in the future, data center will be deployed by 12% of users. Other technologies which are likely to be deployed by users are Service-Oriented Architecture (9%); Software-as-a-Service (7%); Green IT (5%); and Voice over IP (1%). On the other hand, 33% of respondents said they still have no plans of deploying new technologies in their worksites.

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