Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Read with FlipViewer®!

Check this out! If Adobe makes documents look like paper on the computer, FlipViewer makes documents look like a magazine on the computer!


Flips like a book!

E-Book Systems' Digital Flip® solutions turn printed publications into a digital, multimedia-enhanced 3-D page-flipping format for both online and offline distributions. The company can convert any PDF, HTML, Flash and Word files into its patented online page-flipping format. The publications can remain online after they are downloaded, which allows readers to click on page links and advertisements. The Digital Flip® technology can incorporate a variety of multimedia elements, like MID, WAV and MP3 files, to enhance the publication. E-Book Systems' Digital Rights Management (DRM) solution safeguards content providers' intellectual properties.


Get Started @ www.flipviewer.com



About E-Book Systems


E-Book Systems (www.flipviewer.com) was founded in 1998 with a mission to bring the natural look and feel of the paper-based book into the domain of consumer products, computers and the Internet. E-Book Systems' products make use of its patented Digital Flip® technology to deliver multimedia content such as digital photographs, animations, text, audio and music via a 3-D Page-Flipping interface, which appears as a virtual book. These contents could be streamed or delivered online and offline through E-Book Systems' OpenFlip(TM) format. E-Book Systems also offers Digital Rights Management, FlipBook tracking ASP services and Flip Enterprise solutions for publishers and corporations. E-Book Systems, a private corporation, has offices in Santa Clara, Calif., Beijing, China and Singapore. Investors include Creative Technology Ltd and SOFTBANK Media & Marketing Corporation, a subsidiary of SOFTBANK Corp. E-Book Systems' products are distributed worldwide, including the U.S., Europe, Japan and Asia Pacific Region. For more information, contact Lauren Kinzler of Dittoe PR at (317) 202-2280 or call E-Book Systems at (408) 625-8000, e-mail at
info@ebooksys.com.




Friday, October 26, 2007

::Members News - Global Roam::

GlobalRoam Group Limited proudly announces that it is the technology provider for StarHub’s Advanced Multimedia Services’ new pfingoTALK myGlobal Number Private service which enables pfingoTALK users to manage their calls easily and cost-effectively. GlobalRoam’s patent-pending SmartMap is the revolutionary technology that powers pfingoTALK myGlobal Number Private.


Users can obtain a US, UK or Australia phone number and allow up to three contacts per country to reach them through pfingoTALK. The callers pay their respective local calling rates when they dial the myGlobal Number Private, avoiding hefty IDD charges. >>more

GlobalRoam Group Limited has also entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with China Unicom NewSpace, a fully-owned subsidiary under China Unicom, one of the largest mobile telecommunication operators in China with over 150 Million subscribers to launch cMask® service. The initial launch of cMask® will take place in 3 to 4 cities by mid 2008. Powered by GlobalRoam Group Ltd, cMask® is a 2-way anonymous mobile communication service that enables the subscribers of China Unicom to chat via voice and SMS on their mobile phones without revealing their real mobile phone numbers. >>more




About GlobalRoam Group Limited
GlobalRoam Group Limited is a group of companies which provides innovative infocomm services. The Group's objective is to connect people across diverse media, transcending barriers created by technology across different platforms. With its patent-pending technology, this includes bridging the mobile world to the online world, at convenience and cost savings to end-users. GlobalRoam collaborates with Telecommunication companies and service providers in reaching out to new markets. GlobalRoam is headquartered in Singapore with data centers in Singapore and US. GlobalRoam is the first OTC-quoted company in Singapore. For more details, visit
www.globalroam.com.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

ICT Infrastructure Projects In Hungary

Signed agreement - A win-win situation

Singapore Technologies Electronics Limited (ST Electronics) and Albacomp Computers Company (Albacomp) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to jointly pursue and implement ICT (Information Communication Technologies) -based infrastructure projects for the public and private sectors in Hungary. Albacomp is amongst the five largest IT companies in Hungary and is based in Székesfehérvár, 60km from Budapest. Witnessed by Singapore’s Prime Minister, Mr Lee Hsien Loong and Hungary’s Minister of Economy & Transport, Mr Janos Koka, the MOU was signed in Budapest during the Singapore-Hungary Business Forum, organised as part of PM Lee Hsien Loong's official visit to Hungary. ST Electronics is the electronics arm of Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd (ST Engineering).


As a start, both companies have identified and agreed to pursue two public projects in Hungary, in mass transit applications and in e-Government solutions. The companies expect potential market opportunities worth more than US$100m in the near term.
“ST Electronics has built up a solid track record in offering innovative ICT solutions in Singapore and the Asia-Pacific region, Gulf States, Kazakhstan and Africa. In the area of transportation systems, we have secured a total of about US$1b worth of contracts, and have in May this year added a US$83m (S$123m) contract in Turkey for a mass transit project. Our strategy is to work with strong partners, and hence, we are delighted to work with Albacomp to develop more business opportunities in Hungary. Through this partnership, we also aim to gain a strong foothold in Central and Eastern Europe.”

~ SEAH Moon Ming, President, ST Electronics

Friday, October 12, 2007

APICTA Singapore Send-off Party 2007

On the 10 October 2007, results for the Asia Pacific Infocomm Technology Alliance (APICTA) Singapore 2007 were announced at the NTU Alumni Clubhouse.

Held for the first time this year in Singapore, the 7th APICTA Awards, organised by the Singapore infocomm Technology Federation (SiTF), will provide a platform for innovators and entrepreneurs in the ICT sectors to benchmark their products against those from other member economies. This year, APICTA Singapore 2007 received a record 70 nominations from 15 categories. 44 shortlisted products/applications from 39 companies/institutions will stand a chance to be part of Team Singapore, representing Singapore in the Regional APICTA 2007 Awards to be held here from 26-29 November 2007. Some of the other 16 participating member economies include Australia, China, Hong Kong, India and Korea.

Welcome Speech by APICTA Chairman - Mr Goh Chin Teck

Welcome Speech

The session started with a welcome speech by APICTA Chairman, Mr Goh Chin Teck, who expressed his thanks to all participants for sending in their nominations and spoke of his high hopes for APICTA Team Singapore to scale new heights. Team Singapore achieved 3 winners and 1 merit in APICTA 2006. However, with record nominations and “home ground” advantage this year, Mr Goh hopes that Team Singapore will be able to outshine the achievements last year.


Panel of judges (from left to right) -

Mr Lee Ban Cheong, Prof Steven Miller, Prof Daniel Tan,

Dr Robert De Souza, Mr Alex Lin

Judges Feedback

Following the welcome speech, judges of APICTA Singapore were invited on stage to give their guidance and feedback on the participants. These useful feedback include clarity in message, visual representation and the mentality to win. The judges were also impressed by the students’ presentations in terms of their understanding from subject concern and their ability to break down complex ideas into simple ideas through a narration.

"Who wants to win APICTA 2007?" - Ms Deborah

Presentation skills

The participants were then given a short presentation by Ms Deborah Torres Patel, an extremely lively presenter. Ms Deborah re-emphasized the importance of the winning mentality in her presentation.

Award Winners

APICTA Singapore 07 Trophies


Masters of IT Innovation

Category Winners:
  1. Applications And Infrastructure Tools - Elixir Technology Pte Ltd
  2. Communications Applications - Innoxius Technologies
  3. Education & Training - Nanyang Technological University
  4. E-government & Services - Central Provident Fund Board
  5. E-Logistics - Transmex Systems
  6. Financial Applications - Protege Software Pte Ltd
  7. General Applications - Tagit Pte Ltd
  8. Industrial Applications - Anacle Systems Pte Ltd
  9. Media and Entertainment - Innoxius Technologies
  10. Research & Development - Clearhub Pte Ltd
  11. Secondary School Project - Hwa Chong Institution
  12. Security - Data Security Systems Solutions Pte Ltd
  13. Start-Up - Ohanae Pte Ltd
  14. Tertiary Student Project - Singapore Polytechnic
  15. Tourism and Hospitality - ST Electronics (Info-Comm Systems) Pte Ltd

For complete list of Team Singapore nominees: click here

For more photographs: click here to view gallery

http://picasaweb.google.com/sitf.sg/APICTATeamSingaporeSendOffPartyNTUAlumniClubhouse

DMC Social Dinner & Gaming with Halo 3 - 11 Oct 07

Mr Chewy Chong showing
the coolest technology

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Digital Media Chapter (DMC) had a social dinner at Microsoft Singapore on 11 Oct 07. XBO360s were also wired up for members to let their hair down with the latest gaming experience – Halo 3.

Microsoft host

The host for the evening was Mr Chewy Chong, developer evangelist of Microsoft Singapore Pte Ltd. Mr Chong played a good host, showing off the coolest gadgets and technology available in the Microsoft Innovation Centre. Meanwhile, some other members tried out Halo 3 – a first person shooting game revolving a storyline about fighting aliens. The evening ended with dinner and a little casual chat among participants.

Below are some pictures from the evening.


Let the gaming begin!


"I'm going to beat you down!"

For more pictures, be sure to check out our photo gallery!

DMC Social Dinner with Halo 3


Public Seminar - Scaling the summit for infocomm industry - Jointly organised by SiTF with SBF

Scaling the infocomm summit - SBF

This event is a partnership between SBF and SiTF to highlight new IT initiatives and innovative IT solutions for the Information Communication Technology (ICT) industry. Targeted at both IT companies as well as end users of IT solutions, the event will give the latest updates on the Infocomm Singapore Initiative as well as Singapore Infocomm Industry Portal, two initiatives under the Intelligent Nation 2015 (iN2015) Masterplan to enhance the branding of Singapore IT companies and to provide them with a marketing platform to establish a global presence.

The event will also feature the first of an ongoing series of “birds-of-a-feather” sessions highlighting innovative IT solutions from leading Singapore IT companies who took part in the Asia Pacific Information Communication Technology (ICT) Award (APICTA) in the past years across 16 different domain areas, in this case media and entertainment, security, wireless & communications and general applications. There will be plenty of opportunities for learning, networking, business matching, collaboration and technology & marketplace updates.



The morning session was kick started by Mr. Patrick Chan, Director, Industry Development, SBF who welcomes everyone to the public seminar, jointly organised by SiTF and SBF. After which, the Deputy Director, of Industry Development, IDA, Mr Low Aik Lim gave a welcome address and update on iN2015.

Following which, Mr Ng See Sing, General Manager, Portal City NCS Pte Ltd introduced the features of SIIP and adminstered by infocomm singapore branding intiative by SiTF.


After the morning tea-break and networking session, audience gathered in the room for a more exciting presentations of innovations and solutions.

Past winners of APICTA presented their innovations to the audience, including lively presentations from:
- DigiSafe (ST electronics) - infocomm security provider
Digi presented on their new product - DiskCrypt Mobile - World's first encrypting hard drive enclosure with smartcard protection

- Thio Fu Wang, presenting on product 'Radian Trust' from CrisonLogic. Radian Trust is a secured method of protecting health documents, "Your documents are your credibility".
RadianTrust is an end-to-end security service provider specialising in the government, legal, trade and logistics and healthcare sectors. Our experienced security consultants have the expertise to help you balance your business needs and security risks through proven processes and methodologies.

- Darius Cheng, from Wave Secure (Founder and CEO of tencube)


By Chai Pei Shan

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Up Close and Personal with SiTF 2nd Vice Chairman 2007/08 - Dr. Chong Yoke Sin


“I firmly believe that SiTF deserves to be the voice of the IT industry.
As such, my interests in SiTF are about helping our companies establish ourselves firmly in the Singapore and global space, by being recognized as a trusted brand.
– Dr. Chong Yoke Sin.

Hi Dr Chong, please tell us more about yourself.
I am currently the Chief Executive Officer of NCS Group and have been in the IT industry for 25 years. I started my career as a chemist before I dived into IT, starting out as a Systems Engineer. In the span of my career, I have taken on different areas including technical specialist, account management, as well as consulting in the domains of banking and government. I am a firm believer of creativity in everything we do.

During your free time, what do you enjoy doing most? What are your hobbies?
I enjoy reading, listening to music, brisk walking, and perhaps a spot of golf.



Dr Chong, what is your philosophy in life?

“It is better to put more life in your years than years in your life.”

:: On your passion and the spirit of volunteerism ::
My passion is to take NCS Group global and to do my part to help create a vibrant IT industry in Singapore, as well as to learn and grow with my fellow leaders in the industry. I believe in equality and justice for all, and availing opportunities to people who would otherwise not be able to know of them.

On volunteerism, I would like to spend more time with the elderly, and also to give more time to church and social work.

Do share with us more about your interests and involvement with SiTF.
I firmly believe that SiTF deserves to be the voice of the IT industry. As such, my interests in SiTF are about helping our companies establish ourselves firmly in the Singapore and global space, by being recognized as a trusted brand.

I am active in the e-Government chapter that promotes the Singapore quality of Government and systems to the rest of the world. The goal of the e-Government chapter is to make known our companies who have engaged in the various successes of the Singapore Government, to the rest of the world. At the same time, we hope to create business opportunities for Singapore companies overseas.

:: On leadership::

Moving forward, how do you see yourself as the role of the Vice Chaiman and areas of contributions?
I hope to work with our fellow councilors in promoting the cause of SiTF and the Singapore IT quality brand overseas. We are fortunate to have a dedicated team of councilors who readily give of their time and resources for the cause of the SiTF, and a competent Secretariat who looks after the operations of the SiTF.

We have good camaraderie among the Exco and Secretariat, which makes our work even more fun and meaningful.

As a Vice Chairman of SITF, do share with us your vision/aspirations for SiTF in the coming year/and strategic direction for SiTF.
We hope to rope in business associations into the SiTF, create more business opportunities for our members, and add more value to the activities for our members. Hopefully, more organisations will find it meaningful to join the SiTF.



::Profile::

2nd Vice Chairman
Dr Chong Yoke Sin, Chief Executive Officer, NCS Group

Yoke Sin is the chief executive officer of NCS Group. She has played an instrumental role in the rapid growth of NCS. Under her leadership, NCS has achieved seven times growth in revenues and is now the largest IT company in Singapore and No. 10 in the Asia Pacific region.

A well-respected veteran in the IT industry, Yoke Sin is a member of several government computerization project steering committees and is active in several IT and business associations. Amongst other key appointments, she sits on the Boards of the Health Sciences Authority, Women Leadership Board of The Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and the Institute of Systems Science at the National University of Singapore.


In addition, she is a regular contributor on e-Government issues in The Straits Times and The Business Times (Singapore). She also speaks frequently at regional conferences and has authored several papers on e-Government.

This is the second term that Dr Chong is serving as the esteemed 2nd Vice-Chairman for SiTF. She is also the current Chairman of the eGov Chapter and 2006/07.



Story by: Chai Pei Shan

:: Press Release :: 44 Teams Emerge Victorious in Singapore League of APICTA Awards 2007



::Press Release::
44 Teams Emerge Victorious in Singapore League of APICTA Awards 2007


SINGAPORE, October 10, 2007 — The most innovative local Infocomm Technology (ICT) companies that will represent Singapore in this year’s prestigious regional Asia Pacific ICT Alliance (APICTA) Awards, were announced at an awards ceremony today.


Held for the first time this year in Singapore, the 7th APICTA Awards, organised by the Singapore infocomm Technology Federation (SiTF), will provide a platform for innovators and entrepreneurs in the ICT sectors to benchmark their products against those from other member economies. This year’s event is also being held concurrently with the Asia-Oceanian Computing Industry Organization (ASOCIO) ICT Summit, for the first time. ASOCIO.APICTA Singapore will provide an excellent platform for networking and product benchmarking for ICT innovators and entrepreneurs in the region and will also spark off synergy in the areas of technology exchanges, ICT innovation and creativity, trade partnerships and opportunities for the ICT industry.


More than 70 local SMEs/institutions from the ICT sector competed in the Singapore League this year, more than triple the number of companies as last year. The 44 shortlisted companies will stand a chance to be part of Team Singapore, representing Singapore in the Regional APICTA 2007 Awards to be held here from 26-29 November 2007. Some of the other 16 participating member economies include Australia, China, Hong Kong, India and Korea.


The Selection Process


In order to qualify for the APICTA Awards, companies/institutions had to submit products for which the intellectual property rights are owned by a locally registered business or locally-based organization. The submission of entries for the awards closed on July 31, 2007 and teams were qualified for the shortlisting round based on product information that was submitted. Shortlisted products were judged based on a 35-minute presentation to a judging panel held between 4-6 September 2007. The products were evaluated on criteria such as the uniqueness of the product, the market potential, the functionalities and features, quality and application of technology as well as presentation.

Award Winners


Under the “Applications and Infrastructure Tools” category, Elixir Technology walked away with top honours for “Elixir Repertoire”, an application which fully embraces a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), making available Business Intelligence capabilities as well Web Services. “Elixir Repertoire” acts as the unifying business intelligence engine to power the new generation of enterprise applications. (Elixir is Red Herring 100 Asia Finalist Awards)


The winner for the “Communications Applications” category was Innoxius Technologies with its "WiFi TV" submission which is likely to be the world's first mass mobile media enabling solution. This solution converges broadcast mobile television over WiFi-networks and enables WiFi-enabled devices to receive the same broadcast mobile television content via the associated wireless access points. (Innoxius Technologies is Red Herring Asia 100 Winner, 2006)

Statutory Boards such as the Central Provident Fund Board also garnered an award in the “E-Community & E-Government” category with “my CPF - Different Strokes for Different Folks”, a proactive customised service framework which enables CPF members to transact electronically and conveniently via multiple electronic platforms such as the internet, biometric e-counters, mobile phones and islandwide kiosks. Aside from SMEs, educational institutions in Singapore were also recognized for their innovative ICT products. Crystal, an easily deployable web application framework developed by Hwa Chong Institution, which is able to support network-based applications on either a single server or geographically distributed servers without any modifications, won in the Secondary Student Project category. For the full list of companies/institutions shortlisted to be part of Team Singapore, please refer to Annex A.

Annex A – Companies/Institutions Shortlisted to Participate in Regional APICTA Awards 2007

1. Category: Applications and Infrastructure Tools

Elixir Technologies (Winner), ST Electronics (Info-Comm Systems) Pte Ltd, Genovate Pte Ltd

2. Category: Communications Applications

Innoxius Technologies (Winner), Eastcom Systems Pte Ltd, Clearhub Pte Ltd

3. Category: Education & Training

Nanyang Technology University (Winner), Temasek Polytechnic, Central Provident Fund

4. Category: E-Community & E-Government

Central Provident Fund (Winner), ST Electronics (Info-Software Systems Pte Ltd), Singapore Computer Systems Limited

5. Category: E-Logistics

Transmex Systems (Winner), Autoscan Technology Pte Ltd, GUI Solutions Pte Ltd

6. Category: Financial Applications

Protégé Software (S) Pte Ltd (Winner), ChainFusion Ltd

7. Category: General Applications

Tagit Pte Ltd (Winner), Cadi Scientific Pte Ltd, Central Provident Fund

8. Category: Industrial Applications

Anacle System Pte Ltd (Winner), Eubiq Pte Ltd, Singapore Health Services

9. Category: Media and Entertainment

Innoxius Technologies Pte Ltd (Winner), G Element Pte Ltd, DataMark Technologies Pte Ltd

10. Category: Research & Development

Clearhub Pte Ltd (Winner), Singapore Health Services, Data Security Systems Solutions Pte Ltd

11. Category: Secondary Student Project

Hwa Chong Institution (Winner), Raffles Institution, Jurong Secondary School

12. Category: Security

Data Security Systems Solutions Pte Ltd (Winner), Radian Trust, SecureAge Technology Pte Ltd

13. Category: Start-Up

Ohanae (Winner), Genometri Pte Ltd, TCM RFiD Pte Ltd

14. Category: Tertiary Student Project

Singapore Polytechnic (Winner), Singapore Institute of Management Pte, Temasek Polytechnic

15. Category: Tourism and Hospitality

ST Electronics (Winner), Hutcabb Consulting Pte Ltd, NCS Pte Ltd

For media enquiries, please contact:
Harpreet Kaur/Jenny Goo
PR Communications Pte Ltd
Tel: (65) 6227 2135
Fax: (65) 6227 3915

E-mail: harpreet@prcomm.com.sg/jenny@prcomm.com.sg


http://picasaweb.google.com/sitf.sg/APICTATeamSingaporeSendOffPartyNTUAlumniClubhouse
Click to see more!

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Gear up for Asia Pacific ICT Alliance (APICTA) Awards 2007!

"Scaling the summit for Singapore infocomm industry "- Morning
Immense in a sumptuous networking lunch and exciting presentations by leading IT companies from past years of APICTA. Download Form

Organised by: SiTF and SBF ; Supported by NCS and IDA.

APICTA 2007 Team Singapore - Send-Off Party - Afternoon
(By Invitation Only)

Celebrate and network with
APICTA 2007 Team Singapore at the Send-Off Party @ NTU Alumni Clubhouse.

On 10 Oct afternoon, the winning teams from Team Singapore will be announced.
This event will see the top 15 teams from Singapore, representing Singapore's best and top innovations, at the prestigious APICTA regional league next month on 26-29 Nov 2007.

~ Stay tuned for the latest !


Organised by: SiTF ; Supported by NTU, and ITE.


By Chai Pei Shan


Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Up Close and Personal with SiTF Councilor - Mr Foo Jong Tong

In this special issue, SiTF interviews our newly elected councilor 2007/08 and second term Chairman of Service-Oriented Chapter (SOAC) -Mr Foo Jong Tong.

"My philosophy in life is to honor my commitments with integrity...
I hope that in my little ways, I can contribute towards making

Singapore
a vibrant and internationally recognized infocomm industry."
- Jong Tong.

Jong Tong is the General Manager for ILOG Asia Pacific, based in Singapore. Under his leadership, ILOG successfully expanded its business operations into Australia, China, India, Singapore, and South Korea.
He was instrumental in developing and launching the Overseas Training Attachment Program, a joint initiative with the Economic Development Board (EDB) of
Singapore and ILOG headquarters.


Jong Tong giving the opening address at
SiTF-SOA Developer’s Day, NYP.

Jong Tong, please tell us more about yourself.

I joined ILOG in 1995 and is currently the General Manager of ILOG, Asia Pacific. I have been in the IT industry for the last 18 years. (ILOG is a Nasdaq listed company that provide software and services that empower enterprise to make better decision faster and to manage change and complexity)


In 1995
, I started the marketing arm for ILOG Asia Pacific and later years taking charge of the alliances and emerging markets and overall sales for the region. I was involved in a collaborative project with the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore to set up the first Business Rule Management System Centre of Excellence (BRMS CoE) in Asia, based in Singapore.


Philosophy in life

“To honor your commitments with integrity”.

:: Lifestyle :: Jong Tong views on a healthy family life
What are your hobbies and what you do during your free time.

I love to jog, swim and read. I also enjoy the latest electronic gadgets.
As I do travel frequently, during my free time, I would love to spend more time with my family, and my three lovely daughters.

Jong Tong with his family.

Do share with us your interests or involvement with SiTF.

It is my privilege and honor to chair SiTF SOA Chapter. Indeed, it is a fun and rewarding experience on both the personal and professional front. During my time serving as chapter chair, I have the opportunity to work with like minded individuals who have similar passion and commitment to champion the cause of SOA in the IT industry.

I also represented SiTF as Council member for the Singapore Information Technology Standards Committee (ITSC).

Moving forward, how do you see yourself as the role of the councilor, Chairman of SOAC, and working with the SiTF councilors and Secretariat?

As Chairman of SiTF SOA Chapter (SOAC), I work with fellow EXCO members, chapter members and the industry to deliver on SOAC vision and mission. Having SOAC gaining industry recognition and acknowledgement that its indeed made good impact and contributions to the Singapore IT industry, will be a great achievement for the EXCO and myself.


I am delighted to work closely with a deeply committed Secretariat – Ms Erin Wong and Mr Lawrence Lim to steer this cause. Recently, we held a successful event called SOA Developers’ Day at Nanyang Polytechnic. We have about 150 mostly industry participants listening to speakers from BEA, IBM, ILOG, Microsoft, Oracle and Sun and having hands-on lab.
(See SOA page , and blog of this recent event of SOA Developers' at NYP)


I hope that in my little ways, I can contribute towards making Singapore a vibrant and internationally recognized Infocomm Industry.


As a councilor of SITF, do share with us your vision/aspirations for SiTF in the coming year.

My aspiration for SiTF is to be the premiere Infocomm club and voice for the
Singapore infocomm industry.

...............................................................................................................

Foo Jong Tong
General Manager, Asia Pacific
ILOG (S) Pte Ltd

Jong Tong is the General Manager for ILOG Asia Pacific, based in Singapore.
He joined ILOG in 1995 and started the marketing arm for ILOG Asia Pacific and headed the sales and marketing arms, as well as the alliances and emerging markets in Asia Pacific. Under Jong Tong’s leadership, ILOG successfully expanded its business operations into Australia, China, India, Singapore, and South Korea. He was instrumental in developing and launching the Overseas Training Attachment Program, a joint initiative with the Economic Development Board (EDB) of Singapore and ILOG headquarters. He also set up the first Business Rule Management System Centre of Excellence (BRMS CoE) in Asia, based in Singapore, in collaboration with the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA).

With 18 years of experience in the Asia Pacific Information Technology industry, Jong Tong has recently been awarded Entrepreneur of the Year - Sales Year 2006 in an ILOG worldwide event held in Paris. Prior to ILOG, he was in the real-time Command, Control, Communication and Intelligence (C3I) business for commercial and defense, of which two years were spent in Sweden working as a Software Specialist and later Project Leader and Manager for one of largest defense contractors in Europe.

He is currently the elected Chairman of SiTF SOA Chapter and serves as Councilor for SiTF 2006/07 and 2007/08. He
represented SiTF as Council member for the Information Technology Standards Committee (ITSC) and is also a senior member (SMSCS) of the Singapore Computer Society.


Jong Tong
holds a double degree in Mathematics (Major in Computer Science and Statistics) and Computer Science (Honours) from the University of Newscastle, Australia.

Story by: Chai Pei Shan.



:: Member News :: GRID - First in the world, one phone, one sim card, two networks

GRID - FIRST IN THE WORLD, ONE PHONE, ONE SIM CARD, TWO NETWORKS
A first in the world – with one single handset, one Dual Profile SIM card, you could access two different networks and 3 different services; GRID’s islandwide walkie-talkie services, GRID mobile services and GSM services.

Business Continuity Planning, alternative communications services for emergency responses – the buzzwords that have been used since September 11, 2001, will finally see some viable solution- one that is developed by GRID Communications Pte Ltd (GRID) in conjuction with SingTel. The requirement is simple: have a single mobile device that is linked to 2 independent communication networks so that the user can switch to the other network when congestion happened during crisis.

The Dual Profile SIM The Dual Profile SIM is a combination of a 2G GSM SIM + iDEN SIM which works on normal GRID phone, GSM phone and the Motorola dual-mode smartphone – i930. The Dual Profile SIM card contains 2 subscriber profiles – a GRID profile on GRID’s network and a GSM profile via SingTel Mobile’s network.

First in the world
See Press Release>>
More about i930

"One of our handset models, i930, which runs on Microsoft's Windows Mobile , using a dual Profile SIM card. This means that a customer can switch between GRID (iDEN Push-to-Talk network) and Singtel (GSM network) using the same SIM card on i930.

GRID is the first iDEN operator to develop the dual Profile SIM card. We are initially, targeting government agencies who require GRID's Push-to-Talk service during their operational events especially during crisis or emergencies. At the same time, they'd like to use GSM network during normal situations." - Mohamad Taha B. Osman Manager, Wireless Data Business Development GRID Communications Pte Ltd

Find out more about GRID at http://www.grid.net.sg/

Monday, October 8, 2007

Up Close and Personal with SiTF Councilor - Mr Ng Tian Beng


This is the first of the mini-interview series where we interview our SiTF Councilors.
These exclusive interviews will also be featured on our eNews in the forthcoming weeks.

This year, in line with our 'Connect and Engage' theme, we hope YOU - our valued readers, know more about the people in SiTF - our SiTF Councilors, and the Secretariat.


.................


Up Close and Personal with SiTF Councilors

In this special edition, SiTF (Peishan) interviews our newly elected councilor 2007/08 -
Mr Ng Tian Beng, Dell Global B.V. (Singapore branch).


Hi Tian Beng, please tell us more yourself (your work or your personal life)

Tian Beng: I am currently Dell’s General Manager for ASEAN, Emerging countries (Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh) and Taiwan, with responsibility for all businesses (small, medium to large) and government customers in this region. As I need to travel frequently within this diverse group of markets, I put in extra effort to strike a balance between my family and work.

I am married to my lovely wife (Karyn), and have three young kids (Brennan 6, Kaelyn 5 and Kristen 3).

Tian Beng with family.

Enjoying sports and activities as family bonding
Tian Beng: During my free time, I enjoy watching sports such as EPL football, golf, F1 and tennis. I also work out regularly in the gym, run, swim and the enjoy the occasional golf session (for having always been on the "heavy" side when I was young).


As part of our family bonding, I also make efforts to get my family involved and spend more time together in outdoors activities.

Besides sports and exercising, part of our family bonding routine also involves reading, watching movies, going to playgrounds and cycling. We also make a point to take several family vacations a year to countries in the region.

I believe you and your family have a wonderful time together every week :)

Do share with us more your interests and involvement with SiTF.

Tian Beng: I have been a member of SiTF for the past several years and have actively attended its activities such as the regular networking sessions, SITEX, golf events and the recent SiTF’s 25th Anniversary dinner. I have found these events to be beneficial and well-organized, and have helped me expanded my circle of business network tremendously while making more friends in the process. These reasons have attracted me to contribute further as a councilor.


With our recent AGM over, we saw a new Board of Council for 2007/08.
Moving forward, how do you see yourself as the role of the councilor and

working with the SiTF councilors and Secretariat? As a (new) councilor of SITF, do share with us your vision/aspirations for SiTF in the coming year.

Tian Beng: I am very excited to join the SiTF team of councilors and look forward to working closely with them. In my new role as councilor, I hope to leverage on my experience and knowledge of the industry to bring additional insights to the organization. SiTF has played a significant role in the Singapore Infocomm industry, and my aspiration for the coming year will be for SiTF to achieve its objectives in business development, networking, alliances, market intelligence and trade missions thus further strengthening its position locally and regionally.


......................
Thank you Tian Beng, for taking the time for this interview.
We wish you have a fruitful year ahead with SiTF!
Once again, Congratulations on your election.
......................



See SiTF Board of Councilor>>


Ng Tian Beng, General Manager,
ASEAN & Taiwan Dell Global B.V. (Singapore branch)

Tian Beng is the Dell ASEAN & Taiwan General Manager with responsibility for the ASEAN group of countries, Taiwan and developing countries such as Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. In this role, he has overall responsibility for all commercial accounts (from small medium business to large corporate), global accounts and government.

He started his career at Dell in 1998 as a business analyst and rose through the ranks to his present position. He was previously the General Manager for Dell in Singapore and Brunei, where he had responsibility for sales and marketing in both these countries. He has also held the position of the Director of Enterprise for Dell South Asia, with responsibility for the sales and marketing of Dell servers, storage and switches for the ASEAN group of countries, Taiwan and India. His other notable achievement at Dell includes being the Director of Global Customer Program Asia Pacific Japan, where he was responsible for Dell's global customers in Asia Pacific & Japan.

Prior to Dell, Tian Beng was with Sony Electronics Devices where he was responsible for the sales of Sony computer peripherals to both OEMs and distribution channels in Asia Pacific and the Middle East.

Tian Beng is a native of Singapore and has an Undergraduate Degree in Marketing from Santa Clara University, USA. Tian Beng also has an MBA in Marketing from University of Western Australia.

Story by: Chai Pei Shan

Friday, October 5, 2007

"POPOUT '07' - Emerging Web Startups - organised by TDM


Yesterday, I attended POPOUT at Suntec Convention Centre, Ballroom - organised by the passionate and energetic team from - The Digital Movement (TDM).


Titled, POPOUT! '07 - 'Emerging Web Startups', the event was a big effort to engage the community, students, technopreneur, venture capitalist and startups interested in the web 2.0 sphere.

The exciting sharing session include: Bezurk (Ross), demos by Quaffs (Eric), ZopIM (Low Junliang) and BookJetty (Herry) and Recruit.net (online jobs portal vertical search engine). There were also live blogging by TDM peeps (Live blogging on POPOUT )and Bernard Leong (see SG Entrepreneurs post).

Met up with TDM peeps - friendly Suyuen, and Ryan, and saw the lively emcee Estee, Wayne bouncing around and chatting with the crowd. You can find them on Facebook - TDM group on Facebook to participate in their latest events and happenings.

Others were also there for support and spotted among the crowd were MDA - Shannon Low, IDA personnels - Lucas, and e27 - Bjorn Lee and Justin Lee, among other NUS-NOC alumni peeps, and Mr Phey Teck Moh.

This event was also graced by the presence of Gen Kenai of Mozilla (Japan), who later commented about the enterpreneurial projects and applaud the lively presentations by all the teams.

Booths were set up - iJAM (MDA intiative that award grants for digital media related projects, up to 50K) and side demos include:
Momode.com (guests were given a blue tee :) ) - develops mobile apps
Comiqs.com
Tyler Projects - Mobileweapon.net
I chatted with the team who created Singapore's first Facebook MMOG - Battle Station, based on our popular game series, Mobile Weapon (www.mobileweapon.net).

Without a doubt, the crowd stealer was the founder and web development, Mr Herry Herryanto 'lone ranger' of BookJetty.com.

Cheers and loud applauses after Herry's presentation~! Indeed, admirable and very impressive efforts by the sole web developer to create the portal. Personally, the most useful feature was the sms book details, and live status of book availability from NLB. The portal also allows search from 500 libraries worldwide.

KUDOs to the TDM for this energising and successful "un-conferenced" ala TDM style event!
TDM-POPout click to see more!

Story and photos by: Chai Pei Shan

* About The Digital Movement (TDM)
The TDM is a young organization seeking to build up a global community of young leaders in web 2.0 and social media. Since 2006, TDM have been carrying out a series of activities that has been focused on bonding the web 2.0 and social community locally, and connecting to overseas experts around the world.

Past events include: Nexus 2007, the first major Web 2.0 conference in SEA with 600 attendees; Blogout, a gathering of the best technology bloggers, and collaborated with SiTF as New Media Partners in iX Conference, the largest technology conference in SEA.

Read about SiTF- iX Conference 2007 ' Convergence, Collaboration & Creativity'>>