Friday, December 14, 2007

Exclusive Photographs from Asocio Apicta 07

Check out all the photographs from Asocio Apicta 07! Take a look at the top picks below or grab your own photos at the website! Photos are sorted according to date taken.





View Gallery: Day 1 – 26 Nov 07


View Gallery: Day 2 – 27 Nov 07


View Gallery: Day 3 – 28 Nov 07


View Gallery: Day 4 – 29 Nov 07

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Asocio Apicta 2007 Site Visits – 27 Nov 07

In conjunction to Asocio Apicta 2007, a site visitation is organized by SiTF to allow fellow delegates to look at some of the IT companies in Singapore, at the same time achieve a better understanding about the IT role in Singapore.


Group photo at NCS Pte Ltd
The group left Swissotel Hotel at 0830 hours on 27 Nov 07 and took a chartered bus to NCS Pte Ltd. They were given a short introduction of what NCS does.


Mr Ng Chong Khim giving a presentation at ST Electronics Ltd

Next, the group of delegates proceeded to ST Electronics Ltd. ST Electronics does not only play an IT role in Singapore, they are an important player too in Hong Kong. The delegates were shown a video of how ST Electronics Ltd’s technology has helped the Hong Kong Fire Services simplify their processes.

HP presents its grand seminar room

After visiting ST Electronics, the delegates headed to HP Cooltown. They were greeted with an address by Mr P Ramakrishna, Director, Industry Development, IDA. After a short presentation by Mr Des Yee, Director, Technology Cooltown Innovation, the delegates proceeded to the Cooltown. Over there, cool gadgets and innovative technologies made in Singapore were showcased. The delegates took a group photograph, which was in turn put onto their handouts and given as souvenirs.

A casual presentation with cocktail

Then, the delegates went to NUS - eGL where they were given an overview of the Singapore e-Government Leadership Centre. Finally, the delegates attended a more casual presentation at Ascendas. Cocktails were served and the delegates must have felt that the trip was enriching and enjoyable.

For more pictures, view our photo gallery

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

APICTA Award 2007

Congratulations to all winners and merits at the APICTA 2007! Team Singapore have a total of 3 winners and 7 merits. Special mention goes to Eubiq Pte Ltd, Transmex Systems International and RadianTrust Pte Ltd for doing Team Singapore proud by winning in their respective categories.

Below are the full list of winners:

e-Community and e-Government
Winner - Immigration Department, HKSAR Government (Hong Kong)

Education and Training
Winner - ReadOn Pty Ltd (Australia)
Merit - Pelangi Multimedia Technologies Sdn Bhd (Malaysia)

Secondary Student Project
Winner - Sarasit Phithayalai School (Thailand)
Merit - Hwa Chong Institution (Singapore)
Merit - Raffles Institution (Singapore)
Merit - Foon Yew High School Kulai (Malaysia)

Tertiary Student Project
Winner - Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (Sri Lanka)
Merit - University of Tasmania (Australia)
Merit - Institute of Technology Surabaya (Indonesia)
Merit - Chulalongkorn University (Thailand)

Tourism and Hospitality
Winner - AISOFT Co Ltd (Thailand)

Media and Entertainment
Winner - PCCW-HKT Telephone Limited (Hong Kong)
Merit - Cyberplant Interactive Co Ltd & True Corporation Public Co Ltd (Thailand)

Communications
Merit - Eastcom Systems Pte Ltd (Singapore)
Merit - PixSense (Pvt) Ltd (Pakistan)

Financial Industry Applications
Winner - NetSol Technologies Limited (Pakistan)
Merit - TrustDefender Pty Ltd (Australia)

Industrial Applications
Winner - Eubiq Pte Ltd (Singapore)
Merit - MSL Software (Thailand) Co Ltd and Thailand Textile Institute (Thailand)

e-Logistics
Winner - Transmex Systems International (Singapore)
Merit - Autoscan Techonology Pte Ltd (Singapore)

Tools and Infrastructure Application
Winner - Outblaze (Hong Kong)
Merit - Team and Concepts Limited (Hong Kong)

Research and Development
Winner - Largner Technology Co Ltd (Thailand)
Merit - Clearhub Pte Ltd (Singapore)

General Applications
Winner - CargoWise edi Pty Ltd (Australia)
Merit - Mobigator (H.K) Limited (Hong Kong)

Start-Up Company
Winner - Les' Copaque (Malaysia)
Merit - Ohanae (Singapore)

Security
Winner - RadianTrust Pte Ltd (Singapore)
Merit - Data Security Systems Solutions Pte Ltd (Singapore)

Special Recognition Awards
Chung Hwa Middle School (Brunei)
Guandong Vtron Yutsun Electronic Co Ltd (China)
University of Macau (Macau)
K&H Midi Music School (Vietnam)

NCS takes technology to Sri Lankan jungles

Singapore’s IT solutions provider introduces mobile teller services for Seylan Bank, enabling customers to conduct basic transactions

Armed with a personal digital assistant, mini printer and cash, Seylan Bank’s motorcycle-bound business development officers (BDOs) are bringing banking services to the heart of the Sri Lankan jungle. BDOs can open accounts, take deposits of up to Sri Lankan Rupees (SLRs)250,000 ($2,265), dispense cash of up to SLRs5,000 and provide services such as insurance and consumer finance.

In the past, BDOs could conduct most of the same activities in remote areas, although it would require time-consuming trips back and forth between the branch and the customers.

The bank’s $3.5 million “palm top banking” programme from Singapore’s NCS is part of a rapid shift to mobile banking services on the island. Seylan Bank already had SMS banking since 2004 and offers 11 services via mobile phone, including balance inquiry, funds transfer between accounts and utility bill payments.

Inspired by Bill Gates’ “banks are dinosaurs” accusation, Seylan Bank’s chairman Dr Deshamanya Lalith Kotelawala, the head of Ceylinco Consolidated that owns Seylan Bank, wanted to find a way to empower bankers with technology before they lost touch with their clients.

The 20 people NCS assigned to the 10-month project were involved in developing the IT infrastructure, as well as the user interface, which included designing the form factor of the small screen, which is based on Microsoft’s .net platform. The project used some existing NCS platform components to hasten the development cycle.

Eventually the company will be involved in the third stage of the project, which will be to put the capabilities into a mobile phone.

“Our input was the technology and the user interface. It is quite unlike the PC or the laptop where the form factor is huge, the screen available to do the transactions,” says Chong Yoke Sin, NCS’s CEO. “And the key thing is that we have to ensure the security and the encryption of all the transactions.” NCS claims that Seylan’s palm banking system is the first of its kind in Sri Lanka.

Seylan’s Kotelawala is also using the technology to circumvent a combative regulator who will not approve new branches or ATMs. “I can’t help it if the regulatory people have myopic vision,” he says.

Considered a maverick, partly due its chairman’s strong sense of corporate social responsibility, Seylan Bank has seen high NPLs due to a willingness to work with delinquent borrowers on restructuring bad loans rather than foreclosing. But the resulting NPLs, 10.9 percent in the first half of 2007, are one reason why the bank hasn’t received approvals for new branches. So it is using “palm top banking” to find a way around the barrier.

The “palm top banking” project will also complement the remittance system the bank put in place with NCS in late 2006 for overseas Sri Lankan workers. “This is the second project that we’ve done with Ceylinco. The first one was a full-fledged remittance system, Fast Cash, done in only three months as a cash-to-cash and cash-to-account systems,” says Chong.

The new project means that after the remittance system has delivered money to the unbanked, the bank now has a way to provide value-added services such as savings, mortgages, or business loans.

Distribution is a natural challenge for all of Sri Lanka’s banks, but not everyone is hopping on motorbikes to address the issue. Many other banks currently rely on agreements with other banks to offer counter services, but the arrangement can be unreliable. - Peter Hoflich

Source: The Asian Banker

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

ICT Summit (IDA)

Asocio Apicta ICT Summit 2007

Check out the slides from our distinguished speakers, available for download and viewing right here at the SiTF blog! See and download IDA's iN2015 masterplan here too.