Aim to reduce costs by 20bn per year

Plans are under way for the creation of a national framework aimed at improving the performance of Thailand's logistics industry.

 

The National Science Technology and Innovation Policy Office (STI) plans to set up a Logistics Excellence Centre by the end of this year and create a Thailand Logistics Framework over the next three years to enable the local logistics industry to increase its productivity.

 

 

National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre (Nectec) researcher Chayakrit Charoensiriwath said the Logistics Excellence Centre would aim to promote and facilitate the local logistics industry and reduce operational costs of logistics management for businesses and for the country as a whole.

 

Creation of the Thailand Logistics Framework in the three years from 2010 to 2012 will cost Bt950 million and it will be applied to three areas: human resources, knowledge management and research and development and technology.

 

 

STI plans to develop human resources on three levels: operational management, middle management and top executives, Chayakrit said. The government will retain and develop around 10,000 logistics workers in the fields of technology and knowledge management over the next three years.

 

 

"I think that new technology will be adopted by both top executives and logistics businesses. The top executives will adopt traditional business models or transform existing businesses into new business models using e-logistics to develop warehouse, inventory and vendor management programs in order to boost their competitiveness both domestically and internationally," he said.

 

The STI office is also working with partners including Value Chain Management and Logistics, a cluster of 15 universities that run courseware and conduct activities related to the logistics industry, producing bachelor's and master's degree students to support the industry.

 

 

To support knowledge management and research and development needs, the STI office plans to facilitate the training of researchers and developers to support the logistics industry so that it has a base in knowledge and innovation.

 

For its part, Nectec is developing enterprise resource planning (ERP) software related to the business processes of the logistics industry. It will also transfer technology to local software developers and provide services to support their customers so that these logistics firms will be able to integrate ERP software into their existing systems to lift their productivity and efficiency.

 

 

"Thailand now has a logistics industry worth Bt200 billion a year, divided equally between local and international logistics business. The STI expects that its framework will help Thailand to reduce the cost of logistics by 1 per cent, or Bt20 billion, per year. It also expects that local logistic businesses will able to generate 50 to 55 per cent more revenue from the market within three years," Chayakrit said.

 

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/worldhotnews/30106007/Push-to-improve-logistics

E-Saan Software Park is collaborating with the Software Industry Promotion Agency (Sipa) to set up a Northeastern Digital Content Centre to help local software developers in the creation of digital content.

The park's director Panupong Wanjantuk said the centre would be located at Khon Kaen University and would comprise a studio that would double as a knowledge and training centre. Software developers will be able to access technology and infrastructure related to digital content, such as animation, which will help them to develop high quality standards.

 

 

He said that to promote the creation of digital content in the region, the park would collaborate with 10 universities in the Northeast to set up a Digital Content Consortium. This group will design courseware for studies in digital content that will lead to graduate degrees for students equipped to support the local industry.

 

E-Saan Software Park is also cooperating with the India Institute of Animation and Gaming to provide training related to digital content and animation for students in the Northeast. 

 

 

Moreover, the park plans to set up a "mini-factory" to work in embedded systems technology before the end of this year. The project involves cooperation with a private company in Austria that has government support to establish an embedded-systems factory working to assist business enterprises. The mini-factory will be a research and development centre as well as a prototype production line for embedded systems technology and will also train human resources for the industry.

 

 

"The Mini-factory will prove that Thailand has the infrastructure and human resources capable of developing embedded systems, embedded technology and related products to supply the global market" Panupong said.

 

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2009/06/25/technology/technology_30106008.php

TOT joins innovator to launch new service
 

In the near future, Internet users around Thailand will be able to purchase Internet access time by means of a device called an Intelligent Wi-Fi Box, or TOT Public Wi-Fi and Vending Machine.

 

 

The machines will be installed at sites around the country in a cooperative venture between TOT's Innovation Institute and a company called Mind Innovation.

 

 

Mind Innovation's research and development manager Krit Kiattanongsak said the machines would provide prepaid Internet access time. They would also be bundled with a Wi-Fi network providing wireless Internet access for users located within 150 metres.

 

 

Internet users will be able to put money into the machine, which will send information to a server and print out a ticket for the customer. For Bt1, customers will get 5 minutes' Internet access time. Each hour will cost Bt12. Tickets printed by the machines will show the user's name, password, expiry date, time, and the serial ID number of the machine.

 

 

After receiving the ticket, users will be able input their user name, password and ID-card number to verify their identity before logging on to the Internet. Customers with mobile computers equipped for Wi-Fi technology will able to access the Internet anytime within 150 metres of the box, at an affordable price.

 

 Krit said his company began development of the Intelligent Wi-Fi Box one year ago, based on open-source software.

 

 

An executive of TOT's Innovation Institute said the joint venturers planned to provide Voice over Internet Protocol via vending machines as a next step. Development of an intelligent machine to provide Web-phone services, delivering multimedia, is also in the pipeline.

 

 

 He said a pilot study using an Intelligent Wi-Fi Box at Thammasat University's student dormitory in Bangkok resulted in one machine creating revenue of about Bt12,000 a month.

 

 

The joint venture will test 100 sites around the country and will submit plans for the TOT Public Wi-Fi and Vending Machine service to TOT's board for approval in the next few months. 

 

 

 "The Box is not only easy to use, but it also allows users to purchase Internet access time at a lower cost and allows travellers to easily purchase Internet access time," the executive said.

 

 

The Intelligent Wi-Fi Box won a gold award at last month's Invention, Innovation and Technology Exhibition at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre in Malaysia.

 

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/worldhotnews/30105453/Intelligent-Wi-Fi-Boxes-for-nationwide-installation

For someone thinking of buying a mini notebook, or netbook, as a first or second machine for business or private use, Intel's manager Mooly Eden has offered a definition of the device and its uses.

US-based technology giant Dell has a mission laid out for next year: it will move its line-up of liquid crystal display technology for notebooks to light-emitting diode (LED) displays.

The move aims to save 25 per cent of the energy spent in powering its computers.

The firm is also moving its position from that of a hardware vendor to a solution provider; from selling computers, servers and data storage devices to also provide software and business support.

This has the company's Thailand unit, Dell Corporation (Thailand), preparing to operate 15 Dell shops around the country by the end of this year.

Managing director Anothai Wettayakorn said Dell had a commitment to reduce the energy consumption of its laptop and desktop computers by 25 per cent before the end of 2010. Its new laptop displays will all be changed to mercury-free LED displays within the coming 12 months.

"We take this issue seriously," Anothai said. "Dell is committed to becoming the greenest technology company on the planet."

The company began using LED technology in display screens built into its Latitude 6400 commercial notebooks last year. The technology will soon become a company standard, supporting the principles of green IT and helping the fight against global warming.

Anothai said that in its change from a hardware vendor to a solution provider, Dell aimed to cooperate with partners to provide turnkey solutions to support business customers.

The partners will include global organisations such as Oracle and companies in Thailand like Metro Systems, to provide business intelligence solutions and others. Dell will provide hardware and infrastructure while its partners will contribute software solutions and business practice support for companies.

This year the company is focusing on providing solutions to support the healthcare, education, insurance and banking industries, Anothai said. 

Moreover, Dell Corporation (Thailand) will concentrate on three areas of business: its Consumer Business Unit, creating awareness and new product development.

In its focus on its Consumer Business Unit, the company plans to expand the number of Dell Shops from five in Bangkok to other parts of the country, and aims to have 15 shops operating before the end of the year. The first new shop will be opened in Chiang Mai this month.

"Dell Shops are very successful business in Thailand because we can receive feedback from our customers and we can configure our products to suit their needs and demands. The Dell Shops can generate up to double the revenue from consumers, because they feel confident about purchasing our products for their business and private use," said Anothai.

The firm offers configuration-to-order for notebook and desktop computers. Custom configurations can be ordered from Dell Shops and the products are delivered within seven days. The company also provides on-site service around the country.

Anothai said that to create awareness, Dell would launch both indoor and outdoor promotional activities. These would range from billboards to roadshows introducing its products both in Bangkok and upcountry.

In its new product development strategy, Dell plans to introduce new products ranging from mini notebooks to notebook and desktop computers every quarter.

One of the first will be a notebook computer with total video-conferencing technology, designed to help users and businesses to control their travel budgets.

Anothai said the IT market in Thailand was recovering; the industry had begun to pick up, compared with the corresponding period last year. Businesses and individual customers were spending more money to order and purchase new technologies to enhance their business capacity.

 

Maintaining data center storage capacity has become a top priority for IT managers and CIO's alike. The amount of energy and resources required to keep a data center's ballooning storage systems running are growing exponentially. IDC analysts have estimated that in 2006, $29 billion was spent on powering and cooling IT systems in the US alone, and those numbers are going to continue to rise.

Today, many organizations strive to achieve environmental leadership while regulating costs across their business activities. Reducing storage hardware costs, cutting energy consumption and meeting IT demands, is a battle that is raging in almost every data center in the world. The EPA recently found that US commercial electrical costs increased by 10 percent from 2005 to 2006. In order to cut storage costs, maximize energy efficiency and create a greener data center environment, organizations need to employ a green storage strategy. They need to invest in initiatives that diagnose their storage infrastructure, help build or update existing storage hardware, provide Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) software, monitor their storage environment and utilize liquid and air cooling systems.

Step #1: Diagnose your energy efficiency

Many organizations struggle to obtain accurate and detailed information on the energy efficiency of their data centers and to identify what major opportunities exist for improvement. Add to this the fact that IDC says storage requirements are growing 50% per year and are among the largest consumers of energy in the data center, in most cases consuming 13 times more power than processors. If a data center is poorly designed from flawed layout of devices, unsound floor designs or the undesired intermixing of hot and cold air, energy consumption can be compounded by hotspots - regions of high power density that result. The first step in reducing storage costs is diagnosing what kind of data is being stored and what uses or requirements are necessary for the data. Once storage needs are diagnosed an IT manager can implement 3-D power management, thermal analytics and high efficiently cooling systems to dramatically reduce data center power use and overall energy consumption for the entire building.

Step #2: Build the right infrastructure

Once the requirements of the data are understood, companies can determine what components, software and ILM technologies will be needed. Building a more efficient storage infrastructure requires investment in new technologies and significant costs upfront, but the return on investment can be tenfold once the technology is in place. Determining the actual need of data, including size, characteristics, capacity and response time can dramatically cut costs. For example, a datacenter that is primarily using tape storage will almost always consume less power than a data center using more disk storage. The benefits of implementing energy friendly hardware can save the entire organization thousands of dollars in electricity bills. In some cases power companies even offer reduced electricity rates for organizations that have implemented green energy friendly technology into their data center.

Step #3: Manage and Virtualize Your Data

Another key component of a green storage infrastructure is understanding information lifecycle management (ILM) and implementing virtualization technologies that increase utilization of disk and tape is. In fact, virtualization can increase storage utilization by 20%, dramatically reducing total energy requirements. To virtualize a storage environment, an IT manager must first address the power requirements and efficiencies for all the different pieces of the storage system. Then storage virtualization software must be added to help move data from storage device to device, without interrupting availability. According to IDC, storage virtualization can actually drive up use rates from 25% to 60% or more, increasing efficiency and requiring fewer storage devices to run as frequently. Increasing usage density to increase disk density and implementing server virtualization, thin provisioning and data de-duplication technologies can also help consolidate and reduce costs.

Step #4: Monitor your utilization rates

Even with the right diagnosis, hardware and ILM solutions in place, a data center can only be as efficient at its management, and a well managed storage infrastructure will maintain energy efficiency. Data center resources are typically assigned to manage peak workload conditions, but most data centers run well below peak capacity the majority of the time, with hardware consuming power even when not being utilized. By implementing automated storage management software organizations realize dramatic cost savings. Additionally, utilizing real-time software tools to monitor actual power draw can help modify power consumption. Capacity planning and implementing storage management software to move infrequently used data from high performance disk to low performance tape storage should also be taken into account.

Step #5: Cool things down

With the amount of hardware residing in a typical data center, cooling becomes one of the most critical systems necessary to maintain a data center, and it has been estimated that each year organizations pay a significant part of the purchase price of a data center on powering, cooling, and housing the systems. Without proper cooling, a data center running on backup generators during a power outage will shut down in minutes. Conducting regular thermal assessments and exploiting liquid cooling solutions when feasible -- inside and out of the data center, will dramatically reduce and maintain data center costs.

Diagnosing, building, managing data, monitoring and cooling are integral to a business' goal of maintaining storage costs while simultaneously reducing energy consumption in the data center.

By following these five simple guidelines, IT managers can dramatically reduce data center consumption and begin creating a greener storage environment for their organization.

Tanapong Ittisakulchai is country manager, Systems & Technology Group, IBM Thailand