tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post4664883203081529438..comments2024-03-18T16:01:13.871-07:00Comments on Haq's Musings: Pakistan's $2.8 billion IT IndustryRiaz Haqhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comBlogger91125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-47450760143463683062018-12-26T07:53:21.199-08:002018-12-26T07:53:21.199-08:00To make Pakistan a hub of open source technologies...To make Pakistan a hub of open source technologies in Asia by 2020, Open Source Foundation of Pakistan (OSFP) was launched by a team of dedicated professionals from academia, IT industry and services sector. Speaking at a ceremony here, Founder of OSFP Babar Zahoor said the founding principles of the foundation has been set as “using and developing the local human resources for introducing IT based solutions for local markets, home users and industry”. It is believed that both public and private sector organizations are using billions of rupees to use imported close-ended software programs and technologies. <br />Many of them have to develop their activities around the imported softwares to save further billions because customization costs are used as traps by these foreign firms to lynch local firms of their valuable resources, he added. <br />Hence local industries lose the competitive edge not only in production but even in cyber security and data pilferage. <br />He said the OSFP will provide a platform to the private and public sector organizations and universities, it can help them save billions of rupees. <br /><br />source: https://decoratefuture.com/2018/12/26/oxford-university-weidenfeld-trust-scholarships/bilzxxhttps://decoratefuture.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-58848154706572275452018-12-11T20:47:10.478-08:002018-12-11T20:47:10.478-08:00#Pakistan graduates about 22,000 #computer-#scienc...#Pakistan graduates about 22,000 #computer-#science majors each year. Significant numbers of these graduates can be groomed into a small army of highly-skilled professionals to develop #AI products and earn billions of dollars in #tech #exports. https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/404748-gateway-to-knowledge<br /><br />By Dr. Ata ur Rahman<br /><br />The advantage of investing in areas such as artificial intelligence is that no major investments are needed in terms of infrastructure or heavy machinery and the results can become visible within a few years. There is now a huge international demand for well-trained professionals in this field. Most advanced countries are searching for young trained professionals so that they can benefit from development taking place across the globe. Visa restrictions have been relaxed for these professionals. Artificial intelligence will find applications in almost every sphere of activity, ranging from industrial automation to defence, from surgical robots to stock-market assessment, and from driverless cars to agricultural sensors controlling fertilisers and pesticide inputs.<br /><br />Pakistan churns out about 22,000 computer-science graduates each year. With additional high-quality training, a significant portion of these graduates could be transformed into a small army of highly-skilled professionals who could develop a range of AI products and earn billions of dollars in exports.<br /><br />Another important step in developing a knowledge economy is to uplift our technical and vocational training centres while being mindful of the needs of industrial hubs that are to be set up under CPEC. There are over a thousand such centres, but they are in a bad state. If some of these centres are converted into high-quality technical training institutes for teachers in collaboration with Germany, China or other advanced countries, well-trained teachers can then be absorbed in the thousand or so technical training centres. This could contribute to industrial development. The Fourth Industrial Revolution is upon us with all of its challenges. We live in a world where truth has become far stranger than fiction. Each day brings thousands of new discoveries. Many of these discoveries are transforming our lives in numerous ways. The blind can now see using their tongue. Molecular scissors have been developed that allow genes to be cut from one species and transferred to another, resulting in new plant and animal species. Genes have been transferred from deep-sea jelly fishes to orchids to make flowers that glow in the dark.<br /><br />Nanotechnology is being employed to commercially purify water. Superfast gene-sequencing will allow the entire human genome to be sequenced in minutes. Objects can now be moved by thought control and driverless cars are being developed. We now have anti-ageing compounds that have been known to reduce the signs of ageing among mice. Children being born today are expected to live up to the age of 120 or more.<br /><br />3D-printing is being used to produce parts of human livers and kidneys. Stem cells promise to cure damaged organs and may change the manner in which medicine will be practised in the future. Our own work on the molecular basis of thought processes has provided exciting insights into the functioning of the human brain – arguably the most complex object in our universe, with 100 billion neurons in a brain, each neuron communicating with some 10,000 other neurons. This work has led to new approaches to treat Parkinson’s disease. A knowledge economy requires a different approach to socioeconomic development than that adopted by Pakistan so far. It needs to rely on carefully crafted policies and the development of knowledge and skills in selected fields for inclusive sustainable socioeconomic development.<br /><br />The formation of a taskforce to strengthen knowledge economy represents one of the most important developments in the history of Pakistan. The PMmust be congratulated for focusing on this critical area. The challenge now lies in the efficient implementation of the taskforce’s recommendations.<br /><br />Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-68203764958443683092017-10-10T16:21:04.868-07:002017-10-10T16:21:04.868-07:00IT Industry has contributed 98% to Pakistan’s econ...IT Industry has contributed 98% to Pakistan’s economy by foreign exchange earnings, Anusha Rehman<br /><br />https://www.techjuice.pk/it-industry-has-contributed-98-to-pakistans-economy-by-foreign-exchange-earnings-anusha-rehman/<br /><br />Minister of State for Information Technology and Telecom Anusha Rehman on Monday lead the 36th meeting of the Boards of Directors of Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) to assess the work being done on various IT initiatives taken by PSEB including Prime Minister’s Internship Programme and Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI).<br /><br />PSEB Acting Managing Director Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah updated the board with achievemts of PSB over the last four years. The board was briefed that PSEB has showcased their work at 11 international trade fairs alongside over 65 IT companies, which are making above two thousand leads. This exhibition enhanced the perception of Pakistan as an important destination in terms of outsourcing and investment. According to him, exhibiting at the trade fairs also helped improve the image of Pakistan as a viable destination for outsourcing and investment, because PSEB’s participation in the exhibitions have increased Pakistan’s exports in all the countries that hosted the exhibitions.<br /><br />According to him, because of the active PSEB technical and financial assistance throughout the past four years, over 30 selected IT professionals and 28 IT companies have been given certificates in Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMi) platform. Apart from this, 134 companies have gotten certifications in ISO 9001, ISO27001 and ISO 20001 as PSEB empowered them to acquire exports from the developed markets.<br /><br />The minister agreed and added that the great work done by Pakistan’s IT sector is evident from the fact that IT Industry exports have contributed 98% to Pakistan’s economy by foreign exchange earnings and job creation through growth in the past 4 years. She also said, “Due recognition must be extended to our freelancers who have catapulted Pakistan on the 4th spot on the largest freelancing website in the world.”<br /><br />Anusha felt pride in the fact that Pakistan has a huge number of extremely talented youth, and the government is striving to provide them with the best resources and opportunities.<br /><br />Anusha said that PSEB in partnership with National ICT R&D Fund (IGNITE) has recruited over 1,700 IT graduates as interns this year for having hands on experience with IT companies, as well as IT departments at Telcos/CMOs, banks, and also educational institutes. Among these interns, more than 60 percent received job offers after the completion of their training tenure.<br /><br />According to her, the government is going to announce a national level digital skills training program to empower 1 million freelancers of the country who have an experience of over 5 years with the skills that are needed to increase their productivity.<br /><br />Later, the minister also lead one more meeting and gave her approval for “DigiSkills”— an initiative to mentor 1 million youth with a focus to use technology in the best way by bringing excellence in technology, introducing innovation and respecting work ethics, alongside the vision of building a workforce for a future of the 4th Industrial Revolution.<br /><br />She commented, “Our educational institutes are producing huge number of graduates every year. More than 20,000 IT graduates and engineers are being produced annually and it’s time that we prepare our workforce for new technologies in line with fast growing trends of freelancing and entrepreneurship.”<br /><br />Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-9822245582900384972017-05-12T13:06:16.803-07:002017-05-12T13:06:16.803-07:00The total undergraduate colleges in India are 3289...The total undergraduate colleges in India are 3289 and and 4 year degree cource BE or B-TECH in these colleges ha 1553000 seats.krishnahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07898988333136849371noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-90306329038059497532016-04-02T09:33:37.703-07:002016-04-02T09:33:37.703-07:00#India is pissed about the #US now charging more m...#India is pissed about the #US now charging more money for #H1B temp worker visas: https://news.vice.com/article/india-is-pissed-about-the-us-now-charging-more-money-for-guest-worker-visas … via @vicenews<br /><br />The annual gold rush in Silicon Valley to fill out applications for guest worker visas began Friday, as the federal government began distributing some of the 85,000 H1B visas it is authorized to issue this year.<br /><br />But the dash to grab visas is set against the backdrop of a political debate both within the United States and abroad about the regulations surrounding H1B visas, the government designation for visas designed for highly-skilled employees in "specialty occupations."<br /><br />Just weeks ago, India filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization over an increase in fees on H1B visasthat the US imposed on companies with workforces comprised of more than 50 percent foreign workers. A provision included in last year's federal spending bill tacked on a new $4,000 fee the H1B visas, which India argues is discriminatory to the country under its trade agreement with the US.<br /><br />India's complaint comes as Congress has been mulling other reforms to the H1B program to address allegations that companies are using the visas to hire cheaper foreign workers to replace American workers. The Senate Judiciary Committee held hearings earlier this year in which senators, including Ted Cruz and chairman Jeff Sessions, probed experts on whether US tech firms really needed more H1B visas to fill open positions, as they claim, and what protections might be put in place to ensure that American workers are being given preference for positions over foreign workers.<br /><br />Related: The Los Angeles Unified School District Has Banned Immigration Raids on Its Campuses<br /><br />"The intent of the program is to fill skills gaps in the US when American workers aren't available, but the reality is that the program has become a way for firms to create a business model that's about bringing workers who are cheaper into the US and to either substitute or directly replace Americans," said Ron Hira, a political science professor at Howard University, who testified at the hearing on February 25.<br /><br />Hira said that foreign workers make anywhere from 20 percent to 40 percent less than their American counterparts within the program.<br /><br />Two recent lawsuits accused companies, including Disney, HCL, and Cognizant, of firing Americans in order to hire H1B workers for less money. Leo Perrera, a former Disney employee who brought one of the suits, testified at the Judiciary hearing in February that "20 years of hard work, a bachelor's degree in information technology and an IT job for Disney were all over when my team along with hundreds of others were displaced by a less-skilled foreign workforce imported into our country using the H1B visa program."<br /><br />The debate over whether the H1B program is hurting American workers rose to public consciousness amid the Republican primary debates earlier this year. Donald Trump said in one debate he supported expanding the H1B visas in one instance, but later said the system was "rampant with abuse." Ted Cruz has introduced a bill in the Senate that proposes some reforms to the programs, including minimum salary requirements for foreign workers, while Bernie Sanders has called for changes to the program. Hillary Clinton has, in the past, called for an expansion of the H1B program.<br /><br />Cruz's bill is one of three bills proposing reforms to the H1B program currently in Congress. A bill proposed by Senator Chuck Grassley and Senator Dick Durbin would put in place a requirement that companies first seek American workers to fill open roles before applying to have them filled with foreign workers and would limit how many H1B workers a company could hire, while a proposal by Sessions and Senator Bill Nelson seeks to cut the number of H1B visas allocated each year.<br />Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-57002090590713949762016-02-17T21:31:12.633-08:002016-02-17T21:31:12.633-08:00#Korea to establish biggest advanced #IT Park in #...#Korea to establish biggest advanced #IT Park in #Pakistan to promote SMEs: South Korean envoy http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/?p=490831 via @ePakistanToday<br /><br />Ambassador of South Korea Dr Song Jong-Hwan said that Korea would establish one of the biggest and most advanced IT Parks in Islamabad at an area of about 1 million square feet to promote small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as the facility would provide SMEs and start-ups in IT industry with office spaces equipped with advanced IT infrastructure and security facilities.<br />During an interaction with business community at Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry, he said the IT Park would be set up in collaboration with the Ministry of IT of Pakistan and it would provide the most advanced business facilities to IT companies in Pakistan. He was accompanied by Embassy of South Korea Commercial Counsellor Park Bongsu and Economic Officer Jo Eunsang.<br />The Korean Ambassador said that bilateral trade between Pakistan and Korea had declined by almost 34 per cent during the last three years which should be a cause of serious concern for both sides. He termed non-availability of trade related information and lack of understanding about promising areas of cooperation as major reasons of low trade volume. However, he said that Pakistan and Korea have started the process of free trade agreement feasibility study which would be completed by the end of June this year and added that both sides were expecting big jump in bilateral trade once the FTA was signed.<br />He said Korea was cooperating with Pakistan in the energy sector and added that Korean Importers Association (KOIMA) was looking for partners to import thousands of tonnes of good quality copper ore per month from Pakistan. He said that tremendous untapped possibilities of mutual cooperation existed between Pakistan and Korea and assured that his Embassy would provide all possible cooperation to exploit such opportunities.<br />In his welcome address, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Atif Ikram Sheikh said that Korea had placed some stringent Sanitary and Phyto Sanitary (SPS) measures due to which many Pakistani agricultural products were facing difficulties in getting better access to the Korean market and stressed that such measures should be revised.<br />He said that being an advanced economy, Korea should help Pakistan in modernising its economy through technology transfer, knowledge sharing, capacity building, enhanced trade, investment and joint ventures. He said China-Pakistan Economic Corridor would create plenty of opportunities for investment and joint ventures in Pakistan and that time was ripe for Korean investors to take more interest in Pakistan for investment. He said that both countries should encourage frequent exchange of trade delegations and organize single country exhibitions on reciprocal basis in order to explore new avenues of mutual cooperation. He said ICCI would work closely with the Korean Embassy to improve bilateral and economic relations between the two countries.Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-4165081946742224222016-02-13T15:49:44.977-08:002016-02-13T15:49:44.977-08:00t’s No #SiliconValley, but #Pakistan is Building I...t’s No #SiliconValley, but #Pakistan is Building Its Own Startup Scene. #Technology http://www.newsweek.com/pakistan-building-silicon-valley-scene-426408 …<br /><br />In the past five years, Pakistan’s startup ecosystem has grown from a nascent colony to a self-sustaining environment. Zameen, an online real estate startup based in Lahore, has ridden that startup wave in developing a Zillow-like app and website that allows users to search and buy real estate listings in Pakistan’s largest cities.<br /><br />Like many famous U.S. internet companies, Zameen started with a gamble. In 2006, Zeeshan Ali Khan and his brother left their e-commerce business in the United Kingdom to move to Pakistan and started Zameen in their bedrooms. Back then, online-only services in Pakistan were rare, but Ali Khan followed the money coming into Pakistani real estate from expats living abroad—a million of whom lived in the United Kingdom. Now Zameen employees 500 people and has offices in nearly all major cities in Pakistan.<br /><br />“Zameen.com came into being when we realised there was a desperate need for a trustworthy online real estate enterprise in Pakistan, especially given the importance the average Pakistani attaches to property,” Ali Khan tells Newsweek in an email. “Back then the state of internet infrastructure in Pakistan was extremely poor but the offline property market was exploding. Facilitated by large investments from the Pakistani diaspora, people found that investing in real estate would earn them significant returns.”<br /><br />Pakistan’s fast-growing economy and, perhaps more importantly, large English-speaking population has provided a backbone to encourage startups to form and work with foreign companies.<br /><br />The country has seen startup hubs form around elite universities in cities like Lahore and Karachi—similar to Boston and San Francisco—in the last few years. The Punjab province, where Lahore is located, has been the major hotspot for startups in Pakistan. Plan9, the Punjab provincial government-run technology incubator, hosts over 80 startups. Ali Khan believes there are 140 startups in Lahore, a city of 5 million people.<br /><br />But Pakistani startups are still minnows compared to those in Silicon Valley. Cultural and economic norms, like being predominantly reliant on cash for transactions, are big obstacles for startups. Despite leading the South Asian region in consumers using mobile payments, only 9 percent of Pakistani men and 2 percent of women have used mobile phones for money transfers. Around 39 percent of Americans have used mobile banking in 2015, according to a report from the Federal Reserve.<br /><br />To accommodate its cash-based users, Zameen employs motorcycle riders to collect payments from Zameen agents across 30 Pakistani cities in person. “The situation is improving, and a lot of people are beginning to feel more comfortable with online payments and even mobile transactions,” says Ali Khan.<br /><br />Earning public trust for a little-known startup—a concept now just becoming understood in Pakistan—was a big challenge as well. When Zameen began, it discovered most of the Pakistani property market undocumented, and reliable data was nearly non-existent.<br /><br />Pakistani consumers, including Ali Khan’s family, had a hard time becoming comfortable with Zameen and its Silicon Valley-inspired ideas. “My family was a little apprehensive when I told them I wanted to start a business of my own,” Ali Khan says. “Today however, the attitudes have greatly changed, thanks to the startup ecosystem that is supporting the startup culture in Pakistan.”<br /><br />The two biggest hurdles Zameen and fellow startups face are the low penetration rates of 3G/4G mobile Internet and the lack of support from its government. In 2015, only 22 million out of 182 million Pakistanis had 3G/4G technology, leaving little room for startups to continue growing and scale upwards with their online services.<br /><br />Infrastructural issues like 3G/4G technology need the government’s help, but such support has been lacking, according to Ali Khan.Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-28413734288433107422016-02-12T16:09:43.504-08:002016-02-12T16:09:43.504-08:00#Pakistan IT industry climbing up to no 3 to grab ...#Pakistan IT industry climbing up to no 3 to grab world attention with its freelancers http://www.thecitizen.in/index.php/OldNewsPage/?Id=6771&Pakistan%2FClimbs%2FUp%2FIT%2FLadder%2C%2FCatches%2FGlobal%2FAttention …<br /><br />Pakistan’s tiny IT sector is carving out a niche for itself -- so much so that it has been the subject of several stories in international publications such as the New York Times, the Global Post, Al Jazeera, to name a few. Perhaps the interest is because of the obvious potential of the industry: There are now 1,500 registered IT companies in Pakistan, and 10,000 IT grads enter the market every year. <br /><br />Perhaps even more significantly, the democratisation of demand as facilitated by the internet-era, has enabled Pakistan to climb up market ranks to become the No. 3 country for supplying freelance programmers, behind only the United States and India, and up from No. 5 just two years ago. This is because programmers in Pakistan can easily sign up to platforms such as Upwork or Fiverr, where the person hiring them is less interested in their location and more concerned with their skill. Because the programmer in Pakistan is using a third party platform, logistical, bureaucratic and other constraints that are typically associated with Pakistan, including corruption, do not apply. <br /><br />As reported by The New York Times, Pakistan ranks in the upper 10 to 25 percent on Upwork’s listing of growth rates for top-earning countries, alongside India, Canada and Ukraine. Pakistan’s freelance programmers already account for $850 million of the country’s software exports; that number could go up to $1 billion in the next several months, says Umar Saif, who heads the Punjab IT Board and previously taught and did research work at M.I.T. <br /><br />As reported by the Global Post, Pakistan’s software export industry employs some 24,000 people, according to government figures. Most companies in Pakistan’s IT sector — including mobile game studios — are growing at more than 30 percent a year, says Pakistan’s software industry trade body, P@SHA. <br /><br />With success come challenges, and Pakistan’s nascent IT industry faced its first such challenge last May, when news broke that Axact, one of Pakistan’s largest IT companies, was operating as a fake degree mill. Authorities acted fast, arrested Axact’s chief within days, though the controversy did lead many to comment on whether the country’s IT industry stood a chance in the long-term. <br /><br />That question was answered almost immediately, when just three days after the Axact controversy, Naseeb Networks International, a Lahore-based company that runs the online job marketplace Rozee.pk, announced that it had won a third round of investments worth $6.5 million, from the European investment firms Vostok Nafta and Piton Capital. The latest round of funding brought the company’s total venture capital funding to $8.5 million. <br /><br />Or take the example of Caramel Tech Studios, a Pakistan-based mobile game startup that created the sensation “Fruit Ninja” for an Australian developer. Another such startup in Pakistan is Mindstorm Studios, maker of “Whacksy Taxi,” a racing game that topped Apple’s App Store in more than 25 countries. <br /><br />And while constraints such as bureaucracy, shortage of land/space for offices, power shortages, et cetera remain a challenge, they are offset by positives, most importantly cost. “If we have a million dollars in the bank ... in the US we might only be able to make one and a half games, whereas here we might be able to make 10 games,” Saad Zaeem of Caramel Tech Studios told The Global Post, adding that graduates here are as qualified as Western ones and cost a lot less to employ, giving software startups a competitive advantage over high-wage Western countries. <br /><br />Further, the rise of the mobile software market has been a huge gamechanger. “Prior to the iPhone …Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-33764953454722434182015-05-28T08:38:17.550-07:002015-05-28T08:38:17.550-07:00Riaz sahab...salaam walikum...
I read your articl...Riaz sahab...salaam walikum...<br /><br />I read your article as I was trying to find the position of Pakistan in the International IT Industry. I found the whole conversation between you and the anonymous Indian IT professional. The information both of you provided was quite exciting, intriguing and compelled me to write a comment on your post.<br /><br />I am an Indian and as such I don't hold any grudge against our Pakistani brothers. After reading your article I have only one query... Why did you make a comparison with Indian IT industry and tried to show that it is inferior? We don't compare the Indian IT industry with the Pakistani IT Industry and show them inferior. It is true that there is poverty in India, but we are working hard to bring down the numbers of below poverty line people. Can you deny the fact that Pakistan suffers from the same problem?<br /><br />Riaz sahab, Pakistan has much deeper problems to look into rather than to compare everything with India. Please look into the bigger picture and try to fit your Industries in accordance to the International standards.<br /><br />Please accept the fact that be it 2-3 years of diploma or grads or 4 years bachelor grads, whoever be it, the Indian IT industry is nearly astronomical in comparison to the Pakistan counterparts. By saying this I don't mean to humiliate or demean the Pakistan IT Industry's potential.<br /><br />Apart from all these debates I would like to say another thing... I have seen glimpses of Pakistan in internet and since a very young age I wish to visit Pakistan someday as what I got from those glimpses is that, Pakistan is a very beautiful place. I love travelling and I wish if I could have kept Pakistan in my travel list!<br /><br />Wish you and your countrymen a healthy and safe life!<br />With love from India!<br /><br />Regards,<br />A.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-56558436345861701692015-05-25T01:29:39.948-07:002015-05-25T01:29:39.948-07:00You dismiss India's 2nd and 3rd tier engineeri...You dismiss India's 2nd and 3rd tier engineering schools. But you are off the mark. I am a graduate of one of India's IITs, an academic researcher in the US for many years. I have known Indian students from 1st tier schools other than IITs (e.g., IISc, engineering schools from Delhi and Mumbai Universities, etc.) and students from 2nd tier schools like the NITs. The students from 2nd tier schools are outstanding scholastically, and they make outstanding researchers. <br /><br />The CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella is from a 2nd tier engineering school in India. He is smarter and sharper than most people from IIT or IISc.<br /><br />Mr. Riaz, you really need to know more about Indian techies. I will agree with you about the 3rd and 4th tier schools. They are not too great, but then, neither are the students from America's 3rd and 4th tier schools (who I have taught in the past). What you do not understand is that India makes up for it in sheer numbers. There are a lot of very smart and bright engineers coming out of India. I wouldn't knock them if I were you.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-25468008517835447352015-05-19T07:53:45.657-07:002015-05-19T07:53:45.657-07:00The Axact Scandal and Pakistan’s Growing Tech Sect...The Axact Scandal and Pakistan’s Growing Tech Sector<br /><br />Axact has posted a response on its Web site that accuses the Times of defamation and promises “strict legal action.” Others will undoubtedly push back as well. The author of the Times story, Declan Walsh, was the paper’s Islamabad correspondent before he was expelled from Pakistan in 2013 for reasons that remain unclear. Some conspiracy-minded Pakistanis believe the article is a fabrication meant to malign their country.<br /><br />Still, many Pakistanis have long suspected that Axact was involved in unsavory activities. When Axact was accused of improprieties in the past, the company’s response on at least one occasion was a precursor to how it has replied to the Times: The company filed a defamation suit.<br /><br />One big unknown is the potential impact on Pakistan’s information technology sector. India may be more widely recognized for its IT successes, but Pakistan has enjoyed its fair share of achievements. In recent years, Technology Review recognized an IT expert at Lahore University of Management Sciences as one of the world’s top young innovators, and several Pakistani software applications earned international awards. Although Pakistan is a relatively small player in global IT, its ranks are growing, with about 1,500 registered firms and 10,000 IT grads entering the market annually.<br /><br />http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2015/05/18/the-axact-scandal-and-pakistans-growing-tech-sector/<br /><br />In spite of all the challenges, including the energy crisis, political instability and lack of promotion, the IT industry has shown great character and grit in winning global recognition. There have been many success stories in the various IT domains, such as finance, healthcare, telecom and mobile applications. As per Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB), Pakistan’s share of global IT sales is $2.8 billion, out of which $1.6 billion accounts for the country’s exports of software and IT enabled services. There are 1,500 registered IT firms in the country and over 10,000 IT graduates enter the market every year. Pakistan has mainly focused on higher end software products and solutions, whereas India and Philippines have grown in more basic IT enabled services, such as software and services outsourcing.<br /><br />http://www.pakistanpressfoundation.org/2013/06/role-of-it-industry-in-pakistans-economy/Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-21886355969203742162015-04-29T20:59:45.591-07:002015-04-29T20:59:45.591-07:00Mariam Adil, a young entrepreneur, is making waves...Mariam Adil, a young entrepreneur, is making waves in the Pakistani gaming industry.<br /><br />According to recent data, Pakistan's software industry employs more than 24,000 people, including many startups like Mindstorm Studios by Ahmed, We R Play by Mohsin Ali Afzal and Waqar Azim, and the now famous Caramel Tech Studios in Lahore. Pakistan's developers have achieved new renown thanks to games like “Whacksy Taxi”, which has become one of the most downloaded App Store games in 25 different countries, and other projects like “Stick Cricket”. Firms hold regular “game jams” in Lahore to attract innovators with competitions between young would-be game developers. Jobs at these companies are highly coveted by young people: the workday ends around 4pm, and employees often hang out together afterwards, literally playing games!<br /><br />Mariam Adil is one of the dynamic women leading this new era of entrepreneurialism in Pakistan, perhaps the country's best-kept secret. While most of the world probably thinks of all Pakistani women as oppressed and chained down by society, there are dozens of bright women entrepreneurs managing incubators and programs in Pakistan today.<br /><br />Adil is the founder of the Gaming Revolution for International Development (“GRID”), a game development startup that designs low-cost video games to simulate common issues in development fieldwork and teach development skills. Its game “Randomania” serves up scenarios that any development-sector professional can relate to and encourages policy decisions, showing the results of those decisions. Stereowiped, on the other hand, is a boundary-breaker when it comes to race and barriers of prejudice and is a great example of what social impact games can achieve.<br /><br />Faisal Kapadia recently spoke to Adil about her work and much more.<br /><br />Faisal Kapadia (FK): Why did you think of forming a company like the grid to solve issues when there is plenty of opportunity available for game developers commercially?<br /><br />Mariam Adil (MA): Born out of pure inspiration, GRID hits at a niche market and gives me the flexibility to think creatively about pushing the boundaries of technology innovations for creating development solutions. It was less driven by a need to earn money and more by my passion for the idea.<br />FK: While developing Randomania did you do a lot of research on different situations faced by professionals in the development sector?<br /><br />MA: My day job at the World Bank allows me to have my hand on the pulse. Having designed and implemented several Impact Evaluations, I am familiar with the challenges that practitioners face while designing randomized control trials. This perspective, put together with feedback from some very supportive colleagues at the World Bank allowed us to make sure Randomania could do justice to the challenges of rigorously evaluating development projects.<br />FK: What kind of impact do you think a game like Randomania can have? Does it lead to as a test case more cohesive thought or efficiency?<br /><br />MA: In my opinion, there is a gap between the science of International Development taught to students and development practitioners, and the art of development practiced by professionals in the field. Until now, there have been few tools to bridge that gap – to provide the experiential learning required to practice complex decision-making, at a scale well beyond one to one interaction.<br /><br />Games like Randomania offer a safe environment to simulate the effects of policies and understand the trade-offs involved in the decision-making process. With a push towards innovative use of technology in international development, and the effectiveness of games as learning tools, the stage is set for development games to be introduced as learning tools for development practitioners and students.<br /><br />http://globalvoicesonline.org/2015/04/28/meet-the-woman-whos-revolutionizing-pakistans-gaming-industry/Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-70874571445237026592014-11-30T12:06:55.944-08:002014-11-30T12:06:55.944-08:00JAKARTA: The Pakistan Software Houses Association ...JAKARTA: The Pakistan Software Houses Association for IT & ITES (P@SHA) announced on Sunday that Team Pakistan won 2 Gold Awards and 3 Silver Awards at the Asia Pacific ICT Awards (APICTA) 2014 ceremony held in Jakarta, Indonesia.<br /><br />The teams won Gold Awards in the Media & Entertainment Technologies and Tertiary Student Categories and Silver Awards in the Startup, Tourism & Hospitality and Tertiary Student Categories.<br /><br />Leading the way with the Gold were the teams from Eyedeus Labs for their new product “Ingrain” and Syed Osama Maruf of NUST for his product “Smart Steth”.<br /><br />The Silver Awards were taken by RemoteInterview.io in the Startup Category, EatOye in the Tourism & Hospitality Category and Fawad Ejaz Bhatti of NUST for TRex Tremor Reader in the Tertiary Student Category.<br /><br />The Awards ceremony was attended by Indonesia's Communications and Information Technology Minister, Rudiantara.<br /><br />This year’s P@SHA delegation comprised of 30 members with19 technology products competing for the prestigious Awards.<br /><br />National teams from each economy are selected after a rigorous ICT Awards competition in 17 economies.<br /><br />The best of the best then compete against each other at a three-day regional event judged by industry professionals, technology veterans and thought leaders from the Asia-Pacific region.<br /><br />The Pakistani delegation was finalised after the announcement of winners at the P@SHA ICT Awards earlier in November.<br /><br />International APICTA Judges from 17 economies who evaluated the categories, in which Pakistan participated, spoke about the consistently high standard of technology products presented by Pakistan year after year.<br /><br />This year Team Pakistan benchmarked its products against 183 products from the region.<br /><br /><br />http://www.dawn.com/news/1147925/pakistan-picks-up-2-golds-and-3-silvers-in-technology-awardsRiaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-90029271560201439112014-07-14T22:08:21.478-07:002014-07-14T22:08:21.478-07:00The story of history's first PC virus, The Bra...The story of history's first PC virus, The Brain, that originated in Pakistan as told by Mikko Hypponen on NPR Radio "So when you took a Brain-infected floppy and you looked at the very beginning of the floppy, at the boot sector area of the floppy disk, inside the code of the boot sector was the short text which said, Welcome to the Dungeon, 1986, Brain and Amjad. And then it has an address, an address in Pakistan - 730 Nizam Block Allama Iqbal Town, Lahore. Then it ends with the text, Beware of this virus. Contact us for vaccination." http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=209176171Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-42136330888542883672014-03-06T22:35:35.985-08:002014-03-06T22:35:35.985-08:00Here's an AFP report on growth of computer gam...Here's an <a href="http://www.dawn.com/news/1091602/gaming-industry-breaks-culture-barriers" rel="nofollow">AFP report</a> on growth of computer games development in Pakistan:<br /><br /><i>LAHORE: It's a city better known for its history and culture, but a new generation of mobile game developers is bringing a slice of Silicon Valley to Pakistan's Lahore.<br /><br />With open plan offices, mixed gender teams, gourmet catering and an emphasis on a fun atmosphere, the small but growing IT industry worth an estimated $2.8 billion is being led by young entrepreneurs like Babar Ahmed.<br /><br />Ahmed, 33, left a career as a circuit engineer in Austin, Texas to found Mindstorm Studios in the eastern Pakistani city in 2006 with his brother Faraz.<br /><br />Today their studio employs 47 people thanks to hits like 2010's “Whacksy Taxi”, which shot to number one on Apple's AppStore in over 25 countries; “Mafia Farm” in 2012 and “Cricket Power”, the official game of the 2011 World Cup.<br /><br />“The idea was to put Pakistan on the gaming world,” said Ahmed, explaining he was tired of “drawing room talk” among expatriates in the US about how something should be done for their homeland.<br /><br />Smartphone revolution<br /><br />Mindstorm is one of several games development studios in Pakistan — mainly based in Lahore but also in the capital Islamabad and Karachi — to have prospered with the spread of the smartphone.<br /><br />“After the iPhone was launched, the definition of what a game is changed overnight. The definition of what a gamer is changed overnight,” said Ahmed.<br /><br />While traditional “hardcore” games — typically played on home console systems or PCs — need multi-million dollar budgets and teams of dozens of developers, games designed for smartphones need far less start-up capital.<br /><br />That has allowed countries in eastern Europe, Pakistan, and the Philippines to become prime destinations for software outsourcing, said Jazib Zahir, chief operations officer at Tintash, another Lahore-based studio that provided the back-office for “Fishing Frenzy”, another top-ten hit.<br /><br />According to the government, some 24,000 people are now employed in software exports — though the figure also includes more traditional areas like financial software and healthcare.<br /><br />“One of the advantages that Pakistan brings is we do have a critical mass of people with training and aptitude, an interest in developing software and art and combining them,” adds Zahir, who is also a part-time tech journalist.<br /><br />Breaking boundaries<br /><br />At We R Play, an Islamabad-based studio based in a converted warehouse on the outskirts of the city, rows of twentysomethings busy themselves on their computers surrounded by colourful posters, plush toys and action figures.<br /><br />The company was founded in 2010 by Mohsin Ali Afzal and Waqar Azim, with a major emphasis placed on a modern office space.<br /><br />“We were sure from when we started that we didn't want cubicles and I wouldn't have a big office,” said Afzal, who returned from UC Berkeley in 2010.<br /><br />“We wanted to make sure we're sitting with everyone. We encouraged everyone to take ownership of their spaces and gave them (money) to get stuff for their tables.”<br /><br />Workspace and play is also seen as key at CaramelTech, a Lahore studio founded in 2011 by brothers Saad and Ammar Zaeem which is responsible for coding global 2011 mega-hit Fruit Ninja (which had over 500 million downloads) for an Australian studio.<br /><br />The office has a designated play room complete with pool table, table football, and X-box.<br /><br />“Every day at 4 pm they're forced to leave their work and go play upstairs.<br /><br />We want that culture where people aren't only working but also enjoy themselves,” he said.<br /><br />Also notable in the games studios is near gender-parity, a striking fact in a country where female participation in the workforce has lagged behind for decades.<br /><br />People are dressed in everything from Western jeans and t-shirts to hijabs.<br /><br />For some, convincing their family they are working in a “real job” wasn't easy....</i><br /><br />http://www.dawn.com/news/1091602/gaming-industry-breaks-culture-barriersRiaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-4823369635862475292013-11-19T16:43:12.933-08:002013-11-19T16:43:12.933-08:00India even violates the BPM6. BPM6 allows the sala...India even violates the BPM6. BPM6 allows the salaries of first year of migrant workers to be included in a country's BOP. India continuously and cumulatively adds all the earnings of its migrants to US in its software exports. So if 50,000 Indians migrate on H1B visas each year, and they each earn $50,000 a year, thats a $2.5 billion addition to their exports each year. Cumulatively over 10 years, this would be $25 billion in exports year after year and growing...This is a clear violation of BPM rules. A 2005 US GAO study noted that US Imports of software from India were around $400 million in 2004 or so. While India at that time was reporting exports of $8 billion to US. That's a 20 times difference. I don't think following India is the way to go. India's software exports are extremely inflated. We should collect quality and factual data and consistently report what is right. The problem with us is that we don't even do that. <br /><br />http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d06116.pdfAtharnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-35425259532877060312013-08-06T16:24:24.675-07:002013-08-06T16:24:24.675-07:00Pakistan to launch Science TV channel, reports Dai...Pakistan to launch <a href="http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2013%5C08%5C07%5Cstory_7-8-2013_pg11_4" rel="nofollow">Science TV channel</a>, reports Daily Times:<br /><br /><i>ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Science Club (PSC) has launched beta version of Pakistan’s first science, technology, innovation and educational television, Techtv.pk, which will be fully functional by August 14.<br />Pakistan PSC President Abdul Rauf told APP that with the launch of this channel, people would be able to access significant amounts of information with reference to any topic in a short time through different programmes.<br />He said today television has become an important part of people’s life as a source of information, entertainment, a great tool for learning and education, and communications.<br />Many different programme genres have been used to address diverse audiences for a variety of formal and non-formal learning purposes with scientifically measured results, he said.<br />Abdul Rauf said the channel would air educational programmes in all subjects, including physics, chemistry, mathematics, biology and zoology, offering an excellent opportunity for young people to learn.<br />“In remote villages, it will help spread education to willing students through distance learning. Educational television will educate masses on hygiene, literacy, childcare and farming methods or on any topic related to day to day happenings,” he said.<br />PSC President said Techtv.pk would cover all events from Pakistan related to science and technology and educational activities.<br />It will also offer free online courses of web application development, DIY (do it yourself) projects, project management and other science and technology topics.<br />He said Techtv.pk also has an entertainment category with science fiction movies, cartoons and science entertainment programmes.<br />The channel will cover science and technology educational activities in addition to popularising the subjects through disseminating the relevant information and latest progress to students and common people.<br />Rauf said this television channel can prove to be very useful, easy to access at anytime from anywhere and users can access a significant amount of information with reference to any topic in a short time regardless of geographic barriers, allowing them to consult different points of view as well as hands-on experience through different DIY (do it yourself) projects.<br />The channel will use interactive and innovative programmes for this purpose that cover topics of science, chemistry, physics, education, technology, DIY projects, e-learning, documentaries, news, interviews, events, experiments and entertainment.<br />“The main objective of this web TV is to promote scientific culture and the youth’s interest in science, technology and innovations. The channel would also popularise science for laymen and students, seeking to cultivate the spirit of scientific inquiry and the love of learning in its audience,” said Abdul Rauf. </i><br /><br />http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2013%5C08%5C07%5Cstory_7-8-2013_pg11_4Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-998149606830779442013-03-06T14:05:05.789-08:002013-03-06T14:05:05.789-08:00Top four online outsourcing sites Elance.com, oDes...Top four online outsourcing sites Elance.com, oDesk.com, reelancer.com, and Guru.com <a href="http://swproposal.com/Blog/Topic/How_to_work_with_Elance_oDesk_Freelancer_and_Guru" rel="nofollow">report that Pakistan ranks number 3</a>, after US (#1)and India (#2), in terms of freelancers doing outsourced IT work on contract. Bangladesh ranks fourth. <br /><br />It also shows US, Australia and the UK as the top hiring countries. <br /><br />All of the above-mentioned websites work in a similar fashion: companies post job requirements on these sites. Next, freelancers or IT-companies offer their skills and price for the project listed on the website. Finally, the company chooses the best type of bid for its job requirements.<br /><br />http://swproposal.com/Blog/Topic/How_to_work_with_Elance_oDesk_Freelancer_and_GuruRiaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-18703425020208527072013-03-05T18:43:02.493-08:002013-03-05T18:43:02.493-08:00Here's ET on Freelancer.com launch in Pakistan...Here's <a href="http://tribune.com.pk/story/516239/pakistan-3rd-highest-user-of-freelancer-as-self-employment-rises/" rel="nofollow">ET</a> on <a href="http://www.freelancer.com/work/paid-freelance-projects-pakistan/" rel="nofollow">Freelancer.com</a> launch in Pakistan:<br /><br /><i>KARACHI: With a self-employment boom and double-digit growth in internet subscriptions, Pakistan has become the third highest user of freelancer.com, the world’s biggest online marketplace in terms of user base, it was revealed at the launch of the website’s local version on Tuesday.<br /><br />“Pakistan is the third largest country using the website [freelancer.com], closely following India and the United States,” said Adam Byrnes, International Director at freelancer who joined the ceremony through a video call from the company’s headquarters in Sydney, Australia.<br /><br />“Pakistani freelancers have already earned more than $13 million from the platform,” he said.<br /><br />Freelancer’s decision to launch the local website comes on the back of strong growth in subscriptions by Pakistani freelancers. The website presently has 240,000 Pakistani users.<br /><br />According to a report prepared by freelancer, self-employed Pakistanis surged from 33.3% to 39.9% between 2009 and 2012. The report attributes this surge in subscriptions to the rise in internet use in Pakistan, which saw double-digit growth in the past five years. In terms of internet growth, Pakistan stands second in the Saarc region, the report said.<br /><br />“I am excited about the launch of freelancer.pk because of the potential Pakistan represents for the platform,” said Byrnes who is responsible for expanding freelancer across the world. “This [Pakistan] is a high value market for employers abroad.”<br /><br />With more than 30 million internet users, five million plus broadband users and a population approaching 200 million, according to Byrnes, it makes sense to have a presence in Pakistan.<br /><br />“Going forward, we want to provide self-employment for a billion people, a significant portion of that is going to come from Pakistan,” he said.<br /><br />Freelancer just hit seven million users globally and 4.2 million projects were facilitated by the website, Muhammad Umer Farooq, company director responsible for managing the freelancer website told The Express Tribune on the sidelines of the event.<br /><br />“An amount of $150 million has been spent so far by users of freelancer.com,” he said, adding they make money by charging commission from both the employers and the freelancers who get projects.<br /><br />Interestingly, Farooq pointed out, it is not only foreigners hiring Pakistani freelancers, but Pakistani companies are also giving contracts to Pakistani freelancers registered on the website. United States is the top country awarding 38% of total projects on freelancer while Pakistan stands fifth for it awards 4% of the projects.<br /><br />The idea is to enable rupee transactions for Pakistani members for which the company is in talks with local banks, both Farooq and Byrnes said. “Secondly, we are soon going to have an Urdu version of the website,” Farooq said.<br /><br />IT and graphic designing (logo design) are the top two categories at freelancer. Freelancers can bid for the projects posted by employers through a simple method, he said. Given that it is one of the top countries on the website, Pakistani freelancers can benefit from exposure to the international job markets – the UK, North America, Australia and Canada.</i><br /><br />http://tribune.com.pk/story/516239/pakistan-3rd-highest-user-of-freelancer-as-self-employment-rises/<br /><br />http://www.freelancer.com/work/paid-freelance-projects-pakistan/Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-32563119623644594862013-02-12T17:44:15.099-08:002013-02-12T17:44:15.099-08:00Here's PakObserver on Dell business in Pakista...Here's <a href="http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=195707" rel="nofollow">PakObserver</a> on Dell business in Pakistan:<br /><br /><i>Wednesday, February 13, 2013 - Peshawar—Dell is proud to be doing its part in developing literacy and promoting education in Pakistan. Dell was recently selected to provide the provincial government of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) 25,000 Inspiron3420 computers, the first round of distribution was conducted on Feb 10 at Peshawar University. <br /><br />Speaking about the initiative, Project Director KPK, Adeel Khan, said “This project is a great leap in terms of equipping our youth to meet the challenges of the modern world and to keep Pakistan a competitor in the global knowledge economy. Dell’s involvement goes a long way in guaranteeing the success of this initiative.”<br /><br />The initiative is the largest of its kind ever in the province and is designed to help enable students and people of KPK to become productive and contributing members of society and to give back to the province.<br /><br />Shahzad Aslam Khan, Country Manager Dell Pakistan & Afghanistan, said “We look forward to working with KPK as they increase technology access and the learning potential for students. Mobile computing devices have become essential to daily life — at work, at home and increasingly, in academic institutions. Students are leveraging devices of all kinds to access information, collaborate with their peers and teachers, and produce dynamic content inside and outside of the classroom. <br /><br />At Dell, we believe these devices can help support teaching and learning – and have the potential to personalize the learning experience for each student.Dell is delighted to work with KPK in this important program and is committed to providing these devices by meeting aggressive time lines and ensuring highest product quality”.</i><br /><br />http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=195707Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-26045865271324233982013-02-12T17:20:28.995-08:002013-02-12T17:20:28.995-08:00Here's ET on Acer beefing up presence in Pakis...Here's <a href="http://tribune.com.pk/story/506411/acer-re-launches-brand-in-pakistan/" rel="nofollow">ET</a> on Acer beefing up presence in Pakistan:<br /><br /><i>LAHORE: Acer, a Taiwanese multinational hardware and electronics corporation have re-launched their presence in Pakistan, with a special focus on youth and government functionaries to capture the emerging information technology market.<br /> <br />In September 2012, The Express Tribune reported that the government planned to spend Rs4.6 billion on IT projects during the fiscal year 2012-13 with an emphasis on strengthening e-government, human resources and infrastructure development. Keeping the investment in mind, Acer is thinking of capitalising on it.<br /> <br />“After relocating our operations from the Middle East to Pakistan, Acer has formally started sales and marketing operations in the country with an initial office in Islamabad since January 2013,” said Amin Mortazavi, Vice President of Acer Middle East and Africa, at the re-launch ceremony. “We are here for a purpose, which we lacked previously.”<br /> <br />The emerging IT sector of Pakistan, especially in Punjab, has forced Acer to shift its operations to here. “We are revamping our setup and landscape with our distributors and channel partners. This, of course, will need investments, which we have planned for future expansions.”<br /> <br />Moreover, this will also aid masses in acquisition of Acer products, besides generating employment opportunities, Mortazavi said.<br />---------<br />“We will launch more tablets in 2013, at affordable prices, catering the needs of the region,” Mortazavi said.<br /> <br />50% of Pakistan’s population is under 30 years of age and their appetite for information is big, therefore Acer seeks to tap this market segment.<br /> <br />Acer is also eager to work closely with the provincial government, especially after the launch of youth programmes particularly in the shape of laptop distributions. Acer was hopeful to score the contract for the scheme, which they previously failed to secure. “We are eager for this, we want to deliver, but with due process, and we are working on this also.”<br /> <br />The business model, which Acer is adopting for Pakistan is quite interesting. The representatives failed to answer the initial investment figures Acer made for the re-launch.<br /> <br />The tech firm wanted to be transparent, growing step-by-step and proceeding to the next goal only after the first one matures. The company’s Islamabad office will, firstly, focus on commercial business and work for importing latest technology. Later, Acer will revamp its entire channel programme and then run a campaign to build a brand image.<br /> <br />“We are not in a position to tell the exact figures of the initial investment,” said Ali Nemati, General Manager of Acer for the Middle East, the person previously supervising Acer’s Pakistani operations from Dubai. “Once we achieve the first step of the business plan, in three months, then I will be able to tell the figures,” he said.<br /> <br />Acer claims that they still have a 30% market share in Pakistan, despite of their absence, but the officials said that the share is not the goal for them; it is just an indicator of growth for the brand. Acer’s partners and distributors look forward to increased support from the global firm, particularly in terms of customised training, certification, and sales lead generation.<br /> <br />“Our partners will be able to see immediate benefits as we focus on making the channel more profitable. The Pakistani IT market is constantly evolving and is of significant importance to Acer. We have made great progress in the last few years, and empowering our channel is instrumental for our continued success,” Nemati added.</i><br /><br />http://tribune.com.pk/story/506411/acer-re-launches-brand-in-pakistan/<br />Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-87511354804451728312013-02-09T18:55:18.993-08:002013-02-09T18:55:18.993-08:00Here's a Daily Times report on AI and Robotics...Here's a <a href="http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2013%5C02%5C10%5Cstory_10-2-2013_pg5_12" rel="nofollow">Daily Times</a> report on AI and Robotics education in Pakistan:<br /><br /><i>ISLAMABAD: Robotics as a discipline of science and technology is being taught at the graduate and post-graduate levels by more than 60 universities of Engineering Science and Technology in Pakistan, official sources told Daily Times here on Saturday.<br /><br />The research and development (R&D) in advanced fields of Robotics and Artificial Intelligence has also been undertaken by some of laboratories established in the R&D institutes and universities in Pakistan. The official in the Ministry of Science and Technology claimed that there is a technical group engaged in development of automation of industrial processes at the National Institute of Electronics (NIE), Islamabad. The group has developed Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs), which are used in automatic industrial controls.<br /><br />The Centre for Intelligent Machines and Robotics (IMR) at the COMSATS Institute of Information Technology has a Research Group, which is undertaking research related to robotics, computer vision and machine learning. The IMR Research Group is conducting basic and applied research in robotics technologies relevant to industrial and societal tasks; the robotics technology in Pakistan has the potential role in boosting the productivity and competitiveness. The researchers at CIIT are working for projects on visual guided robotic systems for use in surgery, navigation control, mapping and geometric representation of environmental parameters.<br /><br />National Engineering Robotics Contest (NERC) is an inter universities robotics competition held annually since 2005 at the NUST. The contest is organised by HEC, the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Careers Project with more than 60 Pakistani universities participating in the event, and aims to train individuals for engineering services in Pakistan, and cash prizes are awarded to the winners.<br /><br />NERC 2011 held at the College of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering (EME), Rawalpindi from June 28 to July 2. Many universities like FAST, GIKI, LUMS, CASE and UET Lahore participated in the event, where students were encouraged to design, develop and programme their respective robots.<br /><br />R&D projects on Tele-Surgical Training Robot and Simulators and Development of Intelligent Robotic Wheelchairs are being undertaken by NUST funded by ICT R&D Fund.<br /><br />International workshops and seminars for knowledge sharing and events at national level for talent hunt among youth in the fields of robotics have been organised regularly at NUST. Specialisation in robotics is a popular choice for students going abroad to study under various scholarships schemes for research and PhD. This field offers job opportunities, and robotics engineers can apply their mastery in diverse fields like modern warfare, surgery, nano-technology and space-exploration.<br /><br />The official claimed that developing a robot comes with the goal of finding a solution to the problem. Along with the technical know-how, interest in research is essential. This field has promising opportunities, with no boundaries and will continue to grow with the advancement of science and technology in the near future.</i><br /><br />http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2013\02\10\story_10-2-2013_pg5_12Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-60030368419710388812012-12-30T09:32:17.960-08:002012-12-30T09:32:17.960-08:00Here's a News report on Teradata business oper...Here's a <a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-3-151306-Teradata-to-keep-regional-operational-base-in-Pakistan" rel="nofollow">News report</a> on Teradata business operations in Pakistan:<br /><br /><i>KARACHI: Stephen Brobst, Chief Technology Officer of Teradata, is impressed with talent base in Pakistan. In his recent visit to Pakistan, he said this was the only reason prompting the company to keep its operational base in Pakistan while extending its data warehousing services across Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Gulf Cooperation Council. These services are essential for organisations that keep interacting with a number of customers and their queries on daily basis.<br /><br /> <br /><br />Data warehousing provides an enormous repository to not only store but also compare present and historical records to facilitate corporate decision making. A PhD from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a member of Barack Obama’s ‘President’s Innovation and Technology Advisory Committee’, he looked quite eager to educate organisations—the targets are financial and telecom sectors—in Pakistan about the benefits of utilising data warehousing (a next step to enterprise resource planning) prior to devise pricing plan, marketing strategies, or funding decisions during an interview with The News. Following are the excerpts.<br /><br /> <br /><br />Why enterprise data warehousing is important?<br /><br /> <br /><br />All the sectors can take advantage of data warehousing. Health sector can utilise the technology to upgrade quality of services by decreasing costs. The Obama administration has asked the committee to formulate solutions to keep track on a number of patients, their diseases, health history, etc. On the basis of these data analytics, hospitals can reduce discrepancies existing in the data. Data warehousing enables, for example, hospitals to maintain health records and patients to keep away from frequent visitations to doctors<br /><br /> <br /><br />Given the low fund allocation to health sector in Pakistan, is data warehousing practical?<br /><br /> <br /><br />I can’t comment on the government’s funding. However, if the government of Pakistan asks us to work on the data, we are ready to extend our services.<br /><br /> <br /><br />Which organisations are Teradata catering to in Pakistan?<br /><br /> <br /><br />Pakistan International Airlines, Telenor Pakistan, and Nadra are few names that our company has served. Every organisation that deals with tonnes of data to perform its day-to-day jobs can benefit from our data warehousing (which transforms data into relevant information to formulate best pricing plan for instance). All top- and mid-tier companies and institutes can use our integrated data warehousing, data analytics, and business applications. ..</i><br /><br />http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-3-151306-Teradata-to-keep-regional-operational-base-in-PakistanRiaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-79636221136493003082012-11-21T22:33:39.401-08:002012-11-21T22:33:39.401-08:00Here's an ET report on tech market growth in P...Here's an <a href="http://tribune.com.pk/story/469356/oracle-sees-growth-in-pakistani-tech-industry/" rel="nofollow">ET report</a> on tech market growth in Pakistan:<br /><br /><i>“Broadband penetration and mobile telidensity is creating a bandwidth shortage in Pakistan, which will widen manifold as third generation mobile technology rolls out. That’s where we see the opportunity, as businesses will need to optimise their hardware, storage and software,” says Oracle Corporation’s Vice President of ASEAN Systems Sales Ron Goh.<br /><br />Goh, in an interview with journalists, said that current data centre operations are unsustainable and often fail to meet the needs of growing businesses. “By optimising existing data centres,” he said, “organisations can significantly increase IT efficiency along with system performance, availability and security. By doing this, they can reduce their spending on systems operations and integration that eat up around 80% of the IT budget,” he added.<br /><br />Through Data Centre Optimisation (DCO), businesses can lower operation costs by 75%, according to Goh. “DCO is not a machine or software, but a combination of storage, servers, operating systems, engineered systems and software to simplify the IT infrastructure,” he explained.<br /><br />“Pakistan is a fast growing country where demand for technology is increasing,” Goh observed, “even businesses that have Data Centre Optimisation technology want to upgrade the same to global standards.”<br /><br />Explaining the need for upgrading database storage infrastructure, “These new challenges can’t be met with application silos [storage towers] running on aging hardware technologies,” he said.<br /><br />Giving an example, Goh said organisations which have implemented more efficient technologies were not only able to lower operating costs, but also drove better productivity, which ultimately gives the organisation a quantifiable return on investment and a real competitive advantage within the industry.<br /><br />Operating in Pakistan since 1997, Oracle’s clientele has grown to 1,100 customers.Through its local partners, the database giant helps businesses adopt integrated information technology infrastructures for higher work efficiency.</i><br /><br />http://tribune.com.pk/story/469356/oracle-sees-growth-in-pakistani-tech-industry/Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-11472313430625942402012-11-15T16:34:15.942-08:002012-11-15T16:34:15.942-08:00Okay, so 3 years have now passed since you publish...Okay, so 3 years have now passed since you published this article.<br /><br />1) How much has our IT industry grown in the last three years? What is its current size? At the 40% CAGR number you mention, it must be at least 7-9 Billion$ by now. Is this correct?<br /><br />2) Have we moved to BPM6 or whatever the latest fudge factor is? How much are our IT exports now? Are they still 50% of our IT output? So are our IT exports now at 3-4 billion $? Is this correct?<br /><br />Would you please update your loyal readers?Hopewinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07885301987622998733noreply@blogger.com