Young Generation Must Use ICT To Promote Homestay

Youngsters in rural areas must apply their expertise in information and communication technology (ICT) to help promote the homestay industry.

Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen said with the expertise available among youngsters, they need not go elsewhere to seek employment as venturing into the homestay industry can generate economy.

"Homestay is an attractive tourism product that has been in existence in the country for a long time but we have a problem in promotion since it requires a huge amount of finance.

"But with the availability of ICT, we hope the younger generation can contribute in the aspect of promotion," she told reporters after launching go2homestay.com service for Blackberry and iphone users on Wednesday.

She said there were about 3,000 homestays in 150 villages throughout the country with occupancy rate of 20 percent.

Ng added that her ministry hoped to increase the tourism industry's homestay income from 0.7 percent in 2007 to five percent by 2020.

She added that through the go2homestay.com service, information on the 138 homestays registered with the ministry, can be obtained through blackberry and iphone.

http://cmc.msc.com.my/main_art.php?CategoryID=5&parentID=12073047448817&artID=12082577764705&p_artID=1109

HP and Microsoft Top the Charts of Malaysian ICT Superheroes, The Two Giants Retake Major Honours at the Computerworld Malaysia Readers Choice Awards 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA (PRWEB) October 13, 2011 Hewlett-Packard Malaysia and Microsoft Malaysia have topped the honour roll again and have taken almost half of the available categories in this year’s, the 10th edition, Computerworld Malaysia Readers Choice Awards (RCA), themed “Superhero”. Commonly acknowledged as the ‘Oscars of the IT industry’, the awards were presented tonight at the Mandarin Oriental Kuala Lumpur.

HP Malaysia and Microsoft Malaysia each bagged eight awards. Other star performers were: SAP Malaysia with three awards; and Cisco Systems Malaysia, Fortinet Malaysia, IBM Malaysia, Symantec Corporation and VMware, with two each.

The honour roll also included: APC by Schneider Electric, Apple Malaysia, Check Point Software Technologies, CommScope, Dell Sales Malaysia, EMC Computer Systems, F5 Networks, Hitachi Asia, Kaspersky Lab, NetApp Malaysia and Telekom Malaysia.

The Awards go to vendors, products, services or solution families that score the highest with their customers who voted in the areas of price, performance, feature sets, reliability and ease of use.

Every year, Fairfax Business Research, the research arm of Fairfax Business Media, conducts the RCA online survey on behalf of Computerworld Malaysia, following industry best practices to deliver statistically valid results from the country’s qualified information and communication executives, including Computerworld Malaysia readers.

There are altogether 40 categories divided into eight award sections: Communications, Enterprise Applications, Hardware, Platform and Tools, Security, Services, Storage and Virtualisation.

In total, there were close to 1,000 product and service contenders for the Awards this year.

HP Malaysia’s were in the following categories: Data Centre and Hosting Services Provider; Entry-Level Servers; Mid-Range Servers; High-End Enterprise Servers; SAN Switches; Storage Management Software; Support and Maintenance Services Provider; and Wireless Routers.

Microsoft Malaysia’s were in: Business Intelligence; Collaboration Platform; Database Management System; Enterprise Content Management; Performance Management; Service Oriented Architecture Services Provider; System Management Software; and Unified Communications Software Suite.

The complete winners list is available at http://www.computerworld.com.my/rca2011

Mark Hobson, Asia Regional Manager, Fairfax Business Media, lauded the efforts made by every award winner. “During the last three tough years, organisations in both the public and private sectors have had to deal with shrinking budgets and staff reductions. Though there would appear to be limits ‘doing more with even less,’ some companies have survived and even thrived to our astonishment,” he said. “The winners have proved their zest and loyalty to their customers in the past 12 months by delivering the top technologies and services: These have been deemed as the ‘Superheroes’ of 2011 by their customers.”

Adding his praise, was AvantiKumar, Editor of Computerworld Malaysia, who said, “Creativity and 'downright guts' are just two of the features that helped to drive many of outstanding achievements in the last year among the world's top technology vendors and service providers standing here tonight. They have helped their customers by pushing the notion of customer commitment to almost miraculous and heroic limits.”

http://news.yahoo.com/hp-microsoft-top-charts-malaysian-ict-superheroes-two-071121536.html

ICT Partnership serves as gateway for emerging societies

The past decades have seen a surge in the information technology and communication industry. High speed data access, mobile networks, ubiquitous connectivity and the rapid exponential growth in computing power have brought about a revolution in the digital age. The appetite for technological advancement and infrastructure performance has become more sophisticated and the challenge rises to satisfy the constant need for innovation.

Recognizing the fast changing needs of the emerging society, “ The LIGHT Waterfront Penang is tailored to meet the demands of globalization and understands the constant need for a ubiquitous connection in a networked society” said the CEO and Managing Director of IJM Land Berhad Dato’ Soam Heng Choon.

Dato’ Soam Heng Choon added that “a networked city is twofold with the right infrastructure network in place; THE LIGHT is able to connect people and be the ultimate destination for business, leisure, education and life. This seamless community opens up a whole new world of possibilities never once imagined and is a true representation of a borderless city encompassing residential, retail, hotels, convention centre and much more. This will inadvertently create an intelligent and sustainable city imperative to transform Penang into an international city”

Developing a smart and connected city over the span of 152 acres is no mean feat but with the appointment of Dimension Data as the Master Technology Consultants for The Light, the goal in transforming physical communities to connected communities to drive economic, social and environmental sustainability is now a step closer to reality.

Dimension Data Asia Pacific CEO, BILL Padfield stated “we are excited to work closely with IJM Land in this landmark project to transform Penang into iconic city with a distinctive identity and sustainable future. Through the deployment of our innovative, sustainability services and Connected Real Estate (CRE) solutions, the new development will feature intelligent buildings and infrastructure that are self-sustaining, energy sufficient and highly connected”

Padfield went on to say that “the benefits of CRE is not limited to operational and energy efficiencies such as centralised, automated building management control and cost savings. The tenant and residents will also benefit from the enhanced connectivity and quick access to information, which would result in greater mobility and productivity.”

Astro has also collaborated with IJM Land to offer a unique digital lifestyle experience to its property owners where Astro will be supplying each residential unit of The Light with 2 units of Astro B.yond IPTV boxes together with 3 months free subscription of an Astro Super Pack, HD and Recording services including access to Video-on-demand and Time Fibre Broadband which comes with a modem and router as well as installation.

http://www.iproperty.com.my/news/4360/ICT-Partnership-serves-as-gateway-for-emerging-societies

Private sector vital to ICT-literate generation by 2020, says assemblyman

KUCHING: The private sector plays an important role when it comes to training trainers in the field of information-communication technology (ICT).

Demak Laut assemblyman Dr Hazland Abang Hipni said since there were only eight years to 2020 when Malaysia becomes a developed nation, the private sector would help expedite training and enable trainers to create an ICT-proficient generation.

“We are fast approaching 2020 and it is clear that if we want an ICT literate society, we need to have teachers who are well-trained and equipped to pass on their knowledge.

ICT savvy: Dr Hazland (fourth left), Eduspec Holdings Berhad chief executive officer Lim Een Hong (left), Prof Mohd Fadzil (sixth left) and some of the winners of the 19th Dynabook National ICT Competition.

“These teachers need to have global mindsets and skilful too so that we are assured that we have a generation well-versed in ICT.

“These teachers are mostly in the private sector, which is why this sector is vital to our ICT development,” he said when closing the 19th Dynabook National ICT Competition at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) .

He was representing Welfare, Women and Family Development Minister Datuk Fatimah Abdullah.

Dr Hazland said it was not too late for Malaysia to achieve its goal towards having an ICT proficient society if the government had the support of the private sector.

As such, he said, the government always gave additional allocation for ICT education.

“We shouldn’t be easily satisfied. We need to constantly raise the bar because the world is getting more and more competitive. If we want to keep up, we need the keep on improving ourselves,” he said.

Earlier on, Unimas Deputy Vice-Chancellor Prof Mohd Fadzil Abdul Rahman said competition like this should be held frequently since not only does it promote ICT, it would even unearth talented individuals.

“Who knows, we might find the next Steve Jobs (Apple co-founder). After all the late Steve Jobs started in his backyard and so did Bill Gates (Microsoft co-founder). If these two great minds can make it, I don’t see why our children can’t do so too,” he said.

The event had 650 students from 61 primary schools nationwide participating and the competition encompasses computer drawing at the junior and senior levels, general knowledge and typing skill.

The winners are namely Lee Jia Yu from SJK (C) Yuk Kwan, Perak (general knowledge), Ching Jia Sing from Kong Min Pusat, Penang (junior drawing), Nigel Leong Zheng Hao from SJK (C) Chung Hwa, Sabah (senior drawing) and Oh Coyun from SJK (C) Chong Hwa Setapak KL (typing).

The event was held by Dynabook, a subsidiary of Eduspec Holdings Berhad, Unimas and the Federation of Kuching and the Youth Section of Samarahan Division Chinese Associations.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/12/5/sarawak/10033171&sec=sarawak

ICT To Contribute RM42 Billion To Malaysia's GDP By 2015

KUALA LUMPUR, April 20 (Bernama) -- The Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) sees further growth in the third phase (2011-2020) of MSC Malaysia with . Information Communications Technology(ICT), expected to contribute RM42 billion to gross domestic income (GDP) by 2015.

MDeC chief executive officer Datuk Badlisham Ghazali said this represents a 21 per cent growth over the RM34.57 billion recorded in the second phase (2004-2010).

ICT's revenue contribution to the GDP in the first phase was RM26 billion.

In the first four years of phase three, he said the MSC companies' revenue is expected to increase to RM142 billion from the RM103.8 billion recorded previously, while exports are projected to surge by 75 per cent to RM58 billion from RM33 billion.

A total of 160,000 jobs are also expected to be created during this period from the 111,367 in the previous phase, supporting the government's mission to enhance the ICT sector to achieve a high-income and developed nation status in line with the New Economic Model.

MSC Malaysia is also expected to attract RM1.4 billion in new investments this year, similar to what it achieved last year, with the total number of active companies reaching 2,088 as at December 2010.

A total of 1,605 companies are local with foreign companies at 424 and the rest being joint ventures (local-foreign).

"We want ICT to be more pervasive with a wider economic footprint. Our strategies in the three main clusters of creative multimedia, shared services outsourcing and infotech, have been realigned to put stronger emphasis on wealth creation and high-value investments," Badlisham said.

Other core initiatives under MSC Malaysia's third phase includes the establishment of new cybercities each year and completing the Innovative Digital Economy framework by the second half of this year.

He said between two and four cybercities will be established this year in the Klang Valley area.

Twelve fully operational cybercities and cybercentres has been established in the Klang Valley and seven in a few states.

Commenting on the 1Malaysia email project, Badlisham said the offer was a good opportunity for local ICT companies, as it would drive demand for online services and applications.

Information technology solutions provider, Tricubes Bhd, has been appointed by the government to implement the 1Malaysia email project.

The company will enter into a definitive agreement with the government, to finalise the detailed terms and conditions of the appointment in due course.

http://www.outsourcingmalaysia.org.my/news-flash/424-ict-to-contribute-rm42-billion-to-malaysia-s-gdp-by-2015.php