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Foreign firm to present power supply options to the country

Roy — Sun, 15 May 2011 05:26:39 +0000

A United Kingdom company is offering the Philippines its power solution to help avoid power disruptions in the country.

The British Embassy in Manila said Aggreko, a developer of power solutions, will be coming in the country next week to make a presentation of its product. The embassy said the company’s expertise could help address the possible power shortage in the near future which poses a threat to businesses operating in the country.

Aggreko is bringing to the country its more than 45 years of experience in the power solution industry. The company is said to be the world leader in the supply of temporary power and temperature control services. It will present its alternative solutions to potential power disruptions when it makes its presentation to the country next week.

The target participants in its presentations include the construction industry, food and beverages, agriculture, healthcare, manufacturing, government and institutions, mining and mineral processing, ports and telecommunications, among others.

Aggreko owns the world’s largest power rental fleet which consists of diesel and natural gas generating sets. Company experts will be in Manila to present different power supply options to help businesses avoid opportunity lost and other costs that could be brought about by power disruptions.

The company will be organizing the seminar presentation in partnership with the British Embassy in Manila, through UK Trade & Investment. The aim of the seminar is to inform industries in the country of the different power supply options available in case of unavoidable future power supply shortages.

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Globe to invest $500 M to improve mobile network

Roy — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 06:57:15 +0000

Mobile service provider Globe Telecom is investing $500 million to improve the quality and capacity of its mobile network infrastructure throughout the country. Company officials said the network quality will be top priority of Globe this year.

As part of the company’s network transformation program, Globe is making one of its biggest network investments in quality and capacity to date, where the significant amount will be used for capacity buildup, network modernization and optimization. These upgrades would provide subscribers better experiences in call, text and data services in 2G, 3G and 4G.

Globe earlier announced a major expansion of its current 4G footprint with the country’s first commercial rollout of 4G mobile technology. At its initial phase, Globe utilized the global standard HSPA+ Globe allots or Evolved High-Speed Packet Access for its 4G mobile network.

HSPA+ is a 4G wireless mobile, high speed broadband technology that allows for peak theoretical download of up to 21 Mbps with upgradeability for 84 Mbps which would complement the company’s existing 4G WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) network. Under the Globe HSPA+ network, subscribers are expected to enjoy browsing at a typical speed of 4-6 Mbps with even faster peak speeds.

Globe president and CEO Ernest Cu said, “Our customers are looking for better network quality, and this is what we are giving them. We are making a substantial investment in our network to improve the quality of our services to our subscribers. Certainly, the network on which our services are delivered play a pivotal role in achieving superior customer experience.”

By continuously enhancing their network facilities and operations, Cu explained, their subscribers will enjoy better quality and greater reliability for calls, text messaging and data services. “This year, we are making significant investments in upgrading and expanding our networks. One tangible result of which is the commercial rollout of 4G for mobile, making us the first Philippine operator with a 4G mobile network in the country,” he added.

The 4G HSPA+ rollout expands the foray of Globe into new and up-to-date network technologies to provide its subscribers with high-speed broadband access with the added convenience of full mobility.

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Online Visita Iglesia went down after reaching 58,000 visitors

Roy — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 02:24:17 +0000

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has recently beefed up its Visita Iglesia Online website to accommodate more visitors and to prevent what happened last year when the site crashed because it received more than 43,000 online visitors. This year, the CBCP said they expected the number of visitors to double.

Unfortunately, in spite of the upgrading done on the website, the Visita Iglesia Online site was reported to have crashed again after reaching more than 58,000 hits. As of 7:00 a.m. on Holy Thursday, the site had already at least 58,337 visitors.

As of Holy Monday, the site had only around 21,000 visitors. The number of visits appeared to peak late on Holy Wednesday when the figure jumped from 40,187 as of 6:35 a.m. to more than 50,000 as 10:000 p.m. on the same day.

It is even expected that the website traffic would even climb further during the so-called “Easter Triduum” or Paschal Triduum. The Easter Triduum begins with the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday and ends on Easter Sunday. It celebrates the passion and death of Jesus Christ on Good Friday and His resurrection on Easter Sunday.

The Visita Iglesia Online site which was started last year by CBCP as an experiment was created for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and other Filipinos who are not capable of going out of their homes to physically the churches for the traditional Visita Iglesia during Holy Thursday.

This year, it was launched by CBCP on April 1 and features many improvements – additional churches, a YouTube introduction, catecheses on Lent, the Holy Week and Easter, and features like the Pasyon, Seven Last Words and homilies of different priests.

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Ayala’s HRMall acquires US BPO firm

Roy — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 14:21:34 +0000

HRMall Inc., a business process outsourcing (BPO) firm backed by the Ayala group, has acquired IQ BackOffice LLC. Based in Los Angeles, California, IQ BackOffice provides backroom finance and accounting services to mid-sized companies in the United State. It delivers high quality, software-enabled and real-time finance and accounting BPO services to US companies.

HRMall is one of the investing companies of the Ayala group’s BPO holding firm LiveIt Investments Ltd. it provides IT-enabled human resource services out of Manila. The firm entered into a definitive agreement to acquire IQ BackOffice. The combined value of the two companies is estimated at $15 million.

IQ BackOffice employs over 200 people in the United States and India. Its clients are US firms with annual revenues of $50 million to $1 billion. Some of its clients generate revenues up to $10 billion. The company has more than 30 public and private company clients, including restaurants, manufactures and distributors, hotels, entertainment establishments, property and financial firms.

As part of the deal between IQ BackOffice and HRMall, founder and chief executive officer David Schnitt of IQ BackOffice will get a 17.5-percent ownership interest in HRMall. Schnitt will be appointed CEO of HRMall.

The 82.5-percent interest of HRMall will be owned by LiveIt which has vowed to support a strategy to fast-track growth in existing markets in the United States and Asia. With the said, HRMall will be in a better position to help enterprises slash costs by 30 to 50 percent a year.

All stockholders of both firms, HRMall and IQ BackOffice, have already approved and signed the sale and purchase documents. The transaction though is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to be sealed by April 30.

As part of the deal, the company will operate as HRMall in Asia and IQ BackOffice in the United States. It will employ a total of over 300 workers out of centers in Manila, Chennai, Mumbai and Los Angeles.

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CBCP upgraded Visita Iglesia Online to accommodate more visitors

Roy — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 00:56:08 +0000

Last year the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) launched the Visita Iglesia Online to offer a virtual Holy Week experience, particularly to Filipinos overseas and devout Catholics who are physically incapable of leaving their homes. It was merely an experiment and not as a serious endeavor as it only featured seven churches.

This year, CBCP media director Msgr. Pedro Quitorio said they have beefed up the capacity of the website in anticipation of a large number of online visitors this Holy Week. Msgr. Quitorio affirmed that the Church hierarchy’s official news service had augmented the website to prevent it from crashing like what happened last year. An unexpected 43,000 visitors logged on to the website. This year, they are expecting the number of online visitors to double.

“It just shows that Filipinos, no matter where they go, will always be religious and the desire to celebrate the Holy Week is always there, too,” the monsignor told reporters.

Yesterday, Palm Sunday marked the start of the Holy Week. Devout Catholics went to their parish churches carrying palm leaves to commemorate the triumphant entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem.

Last year, Msgr. Quitorio recalled that the website suddenly crashed. Checking what went wrong, they discovered that the website had already reached 43,000 hits. “So I thought, ‘This is serious and we cannot just ignore the 43,000 visitors just like that,’ so this year, we prepared for it. We expanded our servers that even if the figures doubled, it would not crash,” he added.

This year, the CBCP News added new features to the website as well. It now shows 14 historical shrines and pilgrimage churches in Metro Manila and nearby provinces to correspond with the 14 Stations of the Cross with reflections given by priests.

The Visita Iglesia Online included in its multimedia presentation the Manila Cathedral and San Agustin Church in Intramuros, Manila; Quiapo Church or the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene; Our Lady of Manaoag Church in Pangasinan; and the Agoo Church in La Union.

The website also has homilies delivered by some priests during the entire Lenten season this year and catechesis on Lent, Holy Thursday, Palm Sunday and the Kissing of the Cross, among other liturgical practices observed during the Holy Week.

And for Filipinos overseas who miss the “Pabasa,” Visita Iglesia Online has an audio recording of the 21 chapters of the “Pasyon,” the poetical narration of the life and sufferings of Christ.

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BDO denies reports on compromised ATM cards

Roy — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 15:32:02 +0000

There was a buzz circulating in social media Twitter and Facebook that the 11,000 ATM accounts Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. (BDO) where compromised. However, BDO belied this report and said there is no truth to this rumor.

The buzz was several Twitter users reported on Thursday the 11,000 BDO ATM cards were compromised Wednesday evening, and the banks security features automatically disabled the cards for the protection of the account holders.

It was said to be the first hand experienced of blogger Jayvee Fernandez who tried to use his card on the automated teller machine (ATM). He tweeted that the bank told him that there was “nothing stolen” but the cards have been deactivated. They will be replaced by BDO without charge to the depositors.

Fernandez later tweeted that the bank representatives told him there was “bank fraud attempt” on MasterCard and Visa ATM cards, but the attempt was thwarted. In coordination with other Twitter users, it was found out that there was a consistent story across some BDO branches about the thwarted fraud attempt.

Fernandez also tweeted that he was even shown a bank memo on the incident. Unfortunately, he was not allowed to copy the same for public use.

But the Corporate Affairs Office of BDO said that the bank is “not aware” of any such incident, and said it might be ploy on its customers. “The bank is not aware of any incident. It may just be another scheme to victimize the public at the expense of companies doing business the right way. We hope this can be addressed the soonest time possible. Thank you,” the bank said.

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Online gaming business plans to diversify

Roy — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 13:05:17 +0000

The Premier Entertainment Philippines Inc. (PEP) just got the nod of its shareholders to diversify from its main business of online gaming and into the mining, real estate and information technology. However, the company said it remains in search of its next venture as it assesses “feelers” from potential partners in its new businesses.

Anastacio P. Diaz of PEP said they want to move into a new venture that is not as tightly regulated as gaming business, which is overseen by the state-help Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. He stressed that whatever business they will go into, with any possible business partner, should have “synergy with company’s intentions.”

He said the search for a new business remains in the scouting stage. The final decision may be reached in 18 months.

PEP operates seven online casinos in Metro Manila that provide much of its cash. Each online casino carries an average of 50 terminals, said Diaz. PEP operates the online casino through its unit Digiwave Solutions Inc.

The gaming company hopes to improve its returns from its business. As of its last financial report, it stood at P47.7 million, which should have been P318,000 higher than the previous year’s had it not been for the recognition of a one-time gain from the sale of software by PEP in 2009 that dwarfed its 2010 revenues and more than covered all its cost for that year.

The company remains in the red. As of September, it financial report showed a nine-month loss of P41.25 million compared with an income of P7.65 million in the previous year. For the quarter, PEP’s loss of P6.67 million was lower than the P15.25 million loss in the previous year.

Diaz said they expect a 10 percent growth in revenue in its existing seven sites, even as the company intends to further increase the presence of online casinos. They are eyeing expansion in Manila, Quezon City, Las Piñas and Bulacan province, among others.

“We are able to dramatically reduce our operating expenses, and our e-games have been upgraded. We have a better management group. So we expect revenues to rise and operating expenses to drop,” said Diaz.

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QC council formalizes business registry portal with an ordinance

Roy — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 16:15:55 +0000

Quezon City council formalizes online business registry with a city ordinance last week. The ordinance also allows the public to research valuable business information in the city. Both domestic and international traders would benefit from it because they can identify their prospective markets in Quezon City with just a click on their mouse.

Aside from that, Quezon City fourth district councilor Edcel “Grex” Lagman, Jr. said that the system would also allow for verifying the legitimacy of a business firms, as well as getting tips and pointers about starting a particular business in the locality. He said the project will use information and communications technology in imparting knowledge to international traders regarding the local business climate.

The online business data registry portal aims to make the Quezon City government the most business-friendly local government unit (LGU) in the country. It also protects both business sector and the consumers as it allows access information that would verify if a particular business entity is duly registered with the city’s Business Permit and Licensing Office (BPLO).

Lagman, who is also the chairman of the city council’s committee on education and science and technology, said the portal will also make it easy for the Quezon City government to monitor and update business registration. He added that the P25 million of the annual collection from business operators in Quezon City since 2002, which currently is being held in trust, will be used to develop the software and hardware to run the online business data registry portal, which is a joint endeavor of the Quezon City government through its BPLO and the Philippine Chamber of Commerce.

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Microsoft launched new products in the Philippines

Roy — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 06:54:01 +0000

Microsoft launched last week its latest product to its customers in the Philippines – the Microsoft Office 2010 and Microsoft SharePoint 2010, Microsoft Vision 2010 and Microsoft Project 2010.

The software giant expects its new products to significantly benefit Filipino business in terms of productivity and gains and to give them higher returns on their software investments.

Microsoft Asia-Pacific sales and marketing vice president Ken Wye Saw said, “Microsoft Office 2010 and the 2010 set of products offer people the flexibility to work across their PC, phone and browser. As a result, companies can save, innovate and grow. This is what we mean when we say that Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 are defining the future of productivity.” He pointed out that by giving customers choice and flexibility, Microsoft also allows them to save on costs.

Transnational E-Business Solutions, Inc. (TESI), a full ICT solutions provider, was one of the companies who participated in the testing of the Microsoft Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 beta programs. TESI president and general manager Renvi Martinez said, “With Office 2010, workflows are more efficient, Web applications make your work available anywhere, collaboration is much easier”

Another company, BDO Capital & Investment Corp., also participated in the beta testing. Company president Eduardo Francisco said, “Coming from the finance industry, Microsoft Office Excel 2010 is a reliable tool for my work. Through these new Excel features, I can not only manage huge amounts of data, but also make sense out of the figures easily and quickly, and these enhancements have a huge impact on the efficiency of an organization.”

Femee Cruz, Microsoft Philippines information worker product manager, pointed out, “Even if people are out of the office, they can still work at home, off site, or even while they are on the go or don’t have their PC with them. The new features of Microsoft Office 2010 ensure that people have access to their documents across a range of platforms.”

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SkyCable earmarked P1 billion for its capex in 2010

Roy — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 23:56:47 +0000

SkyCable has approved its budget of P1 billion for this year’s capital expenditures. The country’s leading cable television service provider will use it capex funds to expand its current subscriber base and also to develop technologies that will fight signal piracy.

ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. chief financial officer Rolando Valdueza said the network giant’s cable TV subsidiary’s capex was increased by 20 percent from last year which was just under P800 million.

SkyCable expects to expand its subscriber base of about 500,000 households. Moreover, the cable company also plans to convince its regular cable TV subscribers to switch to the company’s digital cable TV products in order to curb signal piracy. About 50 percent of SkyCable’s clients are already on digital TV subscriptions.

The company said that digital TV signals are harder to tamper with, and therefore they are nearly impossible to steal. According to the Philippine Cable TV Association (PCTA), the industry stands to lose more than P4 billion from signal theft this year.

Aside from its P1 billion capex, Vadueza said that SkyCable is earmarking another P600 million for the improvement of the company’s broadband internet services, to make it available everywhere there are SkyCable TV signals.

The company claims that its internet service, which operates under the brand name Sky Broadband, has the fastest connection speed being offered locally, with up to 12 megabytes-a-second. In 2008, its internet service subscribers were approximately 12,000. This was doubled in 2009 as they were able to expand to almost 24,000 users.

Valdueza said that SkyCable is exploring the possibilities of havings synergies with its affiliate Bayan Telecommunicatios Inc. (Bayantel) in order to improve further its broadband services.

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Redpages.ph provides business platform for businesses and consumers alike

Roy — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 12:53:01 +0000

A new web portal that caters to business and customers alike has been set up by Creative OnlineMedia Inc. which is called the redpages.ph.

Dennis Ng, chief executive officer of Creative OnlineMedia, saw the opportunity in the services sector. The redpages.ph allows business to advertise and promote their products and services, while buyers can also access the portal to look for suppliers. It is now the fastest growing online business directory in the Philippines. It provides an online marketplace for suppliers and buyers to conduct their business on the Internet.

Ng said, “Buyers need not search the telephone directory and call each business listed on its pages for quotations. All a buyer has to do is post at redpages.ph their buying leads for suppliers to see and send their quotations. Buyers can post unlimited buying leads at no cost.”

As of December 2009, there are over 17,300 Philippine businesses that are listed in the online business portal.

Business can register for a free redpages.ph account and upload up to five products at the site, for free too. There is also a premium membership account with an annual fee of P8, 888.00. Businesses who registered for this account can unlimited product postings, as well as a premium website template.

COO of Creative OnlineMedia Paul Maclang said, “The annual payment represents a very minimal investment compared to the countless benefits and opportunities offered to a premium account through redpages.ph.”

Prospective buyers who visit the site can view mini-webpages and listings in over 32 major industry categories and nearly 350 products sub-categories from agriculture to utilities, among others.

For its premium members, redpages.ph offers a professionally designed website templates to choose from to suit a particular company’s business. Companies in the premium members list are given industry-specific website template that will suit them.

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Affordable quality laptops from Suzuki

Roy — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:12:05 +0000

A new laptop line was launched formally in Cebu City by Suzuki Technology. The new laptops promise speed, price and performance to attract the fast growing entry-level market segment.

Not to be mistaken, and has no relation with the motor vehicle brand, the company said it have the international trademark for all IT products. The Singapore-based company’s name was taken from its Japanese co-founder.

Singaporean sales manager Andy Ng said, “Price-wise, we are on equal level with other entry level brands but in terms of specs, we are ahead. We have competitive price and a higher specification and we try to add value to the product.” Adding value, Ng said, they could add freebies, like bundling software, optical mouse, flash drives or speakers to get customers to notice the brand.

He said this strategy has beena working well for the company in the last 12 years. Suzuki has established presence in Southeast Asian countries especially in Indonesia and Singapore, and also had a chunk of the market in the Middle East. The company hopes to get a share of the market in the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, the Americas and Easter Europe this year.

Suzuki’s Taiwan-made netbook are priced as low as P15,000 and its full-sized Intel Core 2 Duo powered laptops are just over P20,000. This makes it a good buy for students and the price-conscious market. The company posted a 30-percent increase in its sales last year.

Avelino Dy Relucio of Gilmore Computer center said the Suzuki brand has been doing well in less than a year after it was introduced in the Philippine market. Cebu-based dealers report that they often run out stock and the company usually scrambles to deliver units just to meet the demand.

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Online mapping service launched by CREBA

Roy — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 16:26:05 +0000

Now, overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and even foreign investors outside the country can check a real estate property they are interested in, without necessarily being in the Philippines. That is because the Philippine Chamber of Real Estate and Builders Association (CREBA) have deployed in the Internet the Philippines’ first fully-automated Web GIS parcellary mapping service. Accurately locating a piece of land in the Philippines will no longer be a problem.

The program, which was painstakingly designed and built by CREBALAND, is called MapSys.Ph, and it can be checked at www.mapsys.ph. CREBALAND is the technical arm of CREBA.

CREBA founder and chairman, Atty. Manuel M. Serrano, said that the new mapping facility can accurately generate lot plan and information-packed vicinity map for any given parcel of land, anywhere n the Philippines. Users can access all these information right in front of their computer.

Since the service is available on the web, anybody, anywhere, can just log in to MapSys.Ph and get an accurate map the property they are interested in, with the comprehensive information needed.

The system provides a colorful and professionally laid-out output, displaying the parcel polygon overlaid on a vicinity map which contains multi-layers of spatial information, such as major and minor road networks, rivers and waterways networks, railroad network, LGU-approved land use, SAFDZ, land cover, Ecozones, administrative boundaries from the provincial down to barangay level, elevation and slope, fault lines, banks, schools, churches, hospitals, commercial/industrial establishments, tourist establishments, utilities and many others.

Serrano added that the map generated is immediately downloadable after the use enters the parcel’s technical descriptions from either a title or a survey plan or any other source document.

The site (MapSys.Ph), according to Serrano, is very user-friendly and does not require any orientation for its use.

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US BPO firm opens office in the Philippines

Roy — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 23:54:31 +0000

A new business process outsourcing (BPO) firm has chosen the Philippines as the location of its latest service center. US-based Cybernet-Slash Support (CSS) recently opened its 1,000-seat facility in Taguig, its first Philippine site and currently has 400 employees. CSS said the new facility will be used for the company’s outbound sales, technology and other integrated BPO services for clients in North America. It plans to increase the number of employees in Philippines to around 2,000 people by the end of 2010. The company said it is in line with the company’s aspiration to emerge as a strong player in the country’s BPO space.

CSS’s chief executive Nick Sharma said they choose the Philippines as the site of its newest facility because of the “highly conducive” business atmosphere and talent pool of experienced BPO professionals. “The Philippines has emerged as one of the key global hubs for the BPO industry,” Sharma said. And thus, they felt that now is the most opportune time to expand their capabilities in the Philippines and extend their “portfolio of superior, effective support services to customers.”

Sharma said that CSS have committed $15 million in its budget to develop their business in the Philippines, and see it as their biggest facility in three to four years time.

They would be planning to hire mostly computer-related or engineering graduates who will be expected to provide their clients with both technical and customer support. Most of their clients are in the information technology, retail and healthcare sectors.

With its based located in San Jose, California, the company employs around 4,000 people working out of its global operations centers in India, the US, Poland and now, the Philippines. American telecommunications giant Alcatel-Lucent and tech firm Sun Microsystems & Blackboard Inc. are just two of the big-ticket clients of CSS.

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BPO sector prepares for the challenge of the new decade

Roy — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 10:40:37 +0000

In the year 2010, the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector, is seen to continue growing as it marks its 10th year in the Philippines. For this year, BPO is expected to earn at least $11 billion and continue employing over one million people in the country. But while the sector is optimistic, it also needs to keep itself updated to meet fresh challenges in the onset of a new decade.

Jon Kaplan, President of TeleDevelopment Services (TDS), acknowledges the challenge and said, “This is a big year for the BPO industry as it signifies the 10th year anniversary of call centers in the country.” He added, “As we approach this milestone, it is necessary to evaluate and carefully map our plans for our continued development. We need to resolve training challenges for a more specialized workforce to addressing the increasing demand for high-value and value-added services.”

In the past, voice services helped spurred the growth of the call center industry in the country, however in the years to come, complex services like the knowledge process outsourcing (KPO), are expected to be the sector’s next revenue earners. Kaplan said that all allied sectors of BPO should be prepared and develop the talent, technology, and the infrastructure to meet the new challenges.

Kaplan noted that the upcoming Annual Call Center and BPO Training Convention will be a good venue to discuss all these challenges and help all industry players to prepare for it. His company, TDS, will be organizing this year’s convention, in cooperation with marketing communication firm TeamAsia. The convention, which is now on its 4th year, will have “The Vision of the Next Decade: Conquering Uncharted Ground” for its theme. It will be held in March 11 to 12, at the Makati Shangri-La Hotel.

The convention will be attended by players from the BPO sectors as well as those from their allied sectors.

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PBR provides computers for NERBAC Caraga

Roy — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 23:13:01 +0000

The Philippine Business Registry (PBR) recently gave a set of information technology (IT) equipment to the National Economic Business Assistance Research Assistance Center in Caraga (NERBAC Caraga). The IT equipments were the contribution of PBR to help strengthen the one-stop business assistance centers in all regions.

IT package includes five (5) workstations or desktop computers, one (1) servers with uninterrupted power supply (UPS), one (1) network switch, one (1) wireless router, one (1) colored printer and network cables.

The PBR is an initiative of the government who takes care of web-based IT system that will primarily allow the filing of applications for business registration, business permits and licenses, and business dissolutions online, by using a single data entry facility.

The facility links the systems of national government agencies and local government units which will facilitate business registration-related transactions. The system will be providing agencies and local government units (LGUs) the information they need in near real-time.

In line with this, PBR is beefing up facilities of NERBACs all over the country because these centers can serve as access stations for applicants of business registration, especially for areas where the LGUs are still having a difficulty connecting to the internet or are not yet fully computerized.

The Asian Development Bank – Japan Fund for Information and Communication Technology (ADB-JFICT) provides the funding for the procurement of the computers and other IT units.

NERBAC Caraga, for its part, has been advocating among LGUs connectivity to the PBR. At present, the LGU of Bislig City has signified already their intention to connect and is now working on the technical requirements. LGUs of Butuan City and Surigao City, meanwhile, are still evaluating their LGUs readiness as against the needed technical specifications.

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Locally developed online games pushed by game developers

Roy — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 01:57:08 +0000

Online games always a ready audience in the Filipino market. There is a big market for Filipino online gamers, although most the games were created outside the country. A group of Filipinos with entrepreneurial mindset is eyeing to cash in on this online gaming craze capturing Filipinos from all walks of like.

The Game Developers Association of the Philippines (GDAP), together with its partner the I-Café Pilipinas, is exploring the possibility of developing and marketing locally made online games.

GDAP executive director Cesar Tolentino said the organizations partnership with I-Café was expected to pave the way for a sustainable growth for both the game development and Internet café industries.

An early product of the collaboration was Bangu-Bang, the country’s first locally developed online game, was introduced to the members of I-Café Pilipinas recently. This new local online games could provide additional revenue streams to Internet cafes.

Bangu-Bang Mania was developed and published by Virtual Titania Amusement Software (ViTas). Raineir Umali, president of ViTas said the market is now looking for more diverse content than what was being offered by traditional online game bigwigs China and Korea.

The Bangu-Bang is now being studied and evaluated by member of I-Café Pilipinas and will be deployed to the local market.

Aside from the development of local online games, GDAP also supports I-Café Pilipinas’ project called the “Ligtas na Digital Batang Pinoy.” This advocacy sought to create materials that would teach local communities how to properly use Internet-based technologies and Internet access. It’s main goal is to promote the responsible use of Internet and Internet access.

I-Café aims to publish the materials for the program in the vernacular to ensure better understanding by the audience it wants to reach.

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Tracking down on software piracy in the Philippines

Roy — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 06:00:56 +0000

In the efforts to crack down software piracy in the Philippines, the Pilipinas Anti-Piracy Team (PAPT) caught two men installing counterfeit software as an “add-on service” at the Greenhills Shopping Center in San Juan City recently.

The two men, who are now facing up to nine years imprisonment and a fine of P1.5 million for violating the Optical Media Act, are working for Laptop Zone Wellcom located in Virra Mall.

The PAPT said, during the buy bust operation, they were also able to seize one CPU, one CD installer and a USB thumb drive loaded with pirated software.

Aside from the store in Virra Mall, Greenhills, the anti-piracy team also raided two other stores in Quezon City and Quiapo. The PAPT raided the Discount PC at the Gilmore IT Center in Quezon City and Gigahertz Computer System in Quiapo where they were able to seize five CPUs, eight CD installers and a hard drive containing counterfeit software valued at approximately P300,000.

The PAPT was formed to track down and stop the software piracy in the country. The team is composed of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Optical Media Board (OMB) and the Philippine National Police (PNP). The group is supported by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) and the Intellectual Property Coalition (IPC).

Atty. Dante Bonoan of the NBI-National Committee on Intellectual Property Rights said the “add-on” services from PC stores is a way of attracting customers. “The holiday shopping rush is a good opportunity for business to earn more. However, as the competition becomes tight, some stores resort to illegal promotion schemes as offering to load pirated software as add-on service to customers to gain undue advantage over their competitors,” he said.

According to the BSA, piracy-related losses in the country have increased to $202 million in 2008 from $147 million in 2008.

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Samsung to pay Kodak for patents infringement

Roy — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 13:36:26 +0000

Kodak, the name that is almost synonymous with pictures and images, has amassed more than 1,000 digital-imaging patents, being one of the pioneers in this industry. Almost all of today’s digital cameras rely on that technology.

Recently, Eastman Kodak Co., raised a patent infringement claim against Samsungs Electronics Co. Kodak had alleged that in November 2008, the camera phones made by Samsung violated various patents that Kodak obtained from 1993 to 2001.

The latest word from Kodak was that Samsung has agreed to pay them an undisclosed sum as the two sides try to settle the over the patents in question. The announcement came less than a week after the US International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled that Samsung infringed two Kodak patents.

In the announced agreement, Kodak and Samsung are working out a licensing deal to cover the patents disputed, and also others owned by the two companies. The payments that Samsung agreed to make, according to Kodak, would be credited toward future royalty obligations under the licensing deal.

Kodak’s intellectual property chief, Laura Quatela, said “We look forward to reaching a mutually beneficial arrangement that advances the interests of Kodak and Samsung while validating the strength of Kodak’s intellectual property portfolio.”

Samsung, which is based in Seoul, is the world’s biggest manufacturer of memory chips, liquid crystal displays and flat screen televisions and ranks second behind Finland’s Nokia in mobile phones.

Aside for Samsung, the Rochester-based Kodak, also had filed complaints against South Korea’s LG Electronics Inc., claiming that LG and Samsung imported phones with digital cameras and related components that infringed on Kodak’s patents.

The said dispute was settled when with Kodak agreeing to sell to LG by year’s end its technology for super-thin OLED screens. OLED stands for Organic light-emitting diodes which generate light on the screen’s surface. With the said technology, screens don’t have to be illuminated from behind and consume less power than their non-organic LED counterparts.

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“Wireless wallet service” from Smart and MoneyGram

Roy — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 11:17:32 +0000

MoneyGram International and Smart Communications, Inc. tied up to provide families of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) the convenience of wireless “wallet” service. OFWs may now send their remittances to their families in the Philippines faster through the facility which is likened to a “cross border wallet service.”

Napoleon L. Nazareno, Smart President and Chief Executive Officer said, “The collaboration between MoneyGram and Smart will enable Filipinos abroad to send remittances directly to their loved ones’ Smart mobile phones in a matter of minutes. This initiative reinforces our commitment to provide overseas Filipinos with more accessible, affordable and secure options to send cash to the Philippines.”

This tie-up between Smart and MoneyGram in providing a faster alternative to OFW remittances will be pilot-tested in some locations in San Diego, California and in Hong Kong. The procedure will use real time text notifications which will be sent to the receiver of the remittance in the Philippines.

Smart users who are subscribers to Smart Money can store the remittance sent through the MoneyGram service in their mobile phones. They can also use the money to pay bills conveniently or withdraw them at Smart Money Centers.

“The Philippines is a major global remittance market and we’re pleased to offer yet another convenient choice for Filipinos working abroad to send money to their friends and family back home,” said John Hempsey, the executive vice president of MoneyGram for Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. He added, “Mobile technology will play a critical role in the remittance market and expand product offerings and generate new revenue streams.”

Smart is a subsidiary of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., the largest telecommunications company in the Philippines.