New IT accessories

vika — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 16:42:04 +0800

Thailand has been selected as the first country in Southeast Asia where Buffalo is introducing its IT accessories after its success in the mouse category in Japan, said Kazuhiro Tabuchi, Assistant General Manager, Business Promotion Department at Buffalo Kokuyo Supply Inc, a leading name in PC, AV and gaming accessories from Japan.

By designing specifically for Asian consumers and with fashionable products catering to woman, the brand has gained a market share of 30 percent in the mouse category, ahead of its competitors such as Microsoft and Logitech.

Seeing the popularity of Japanese style among Thai people, Buffalo aims to fill the medium market between high end products from Microsoft and Logitech and low end products from Chinese brands.

At the moment, the company has introduced computer mouse, card readers, USB hubs, earphones, speakers and iPhone 4 cases through The Value Systems with the potential to set up display corners in modern trade and digital lifestyle stores such as PowerBuy and Loft as well as stationery shops in shopping malls.

Akihito Kondo, Group Manager Southeast Asia & Oceania Group, Asia-Pacific Sales Department of Buffalo Inc, said that the brand was gaining success in external storage and wireless network devices through its exclusive partner, The Value System. With the expansion of new product lines, Buffalo would gain sales revenue in the Thai market of $28 million each year.

Source:http://www.bangkokpost.com/tech/technews/188217/new-it-accessories

More Thai firms get CMMI appraisal

vika — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 16:06:35 +0800

Thailand has stepped up to second place in Southeast Asia in terms of the number of Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) companies which have generated over 190 million baht in revenue for the Thai economy.

Twenty three CMMI companies in Thailand celebrated their success after passing the CMMI standard appraisal.

CMMI is a process improvement approach that helps organisations improve their performance, the standard endorsed by the Software Engineering Institute of Carnegie Mellon, US.

Those 23 companies are supported by Software Park Thailand and the National Science and Technology Development Agency (Nstda) through the SPI@ease program, the initiative to support software entrepreneurs running process improvement.

According to Nstda director Thaweesak Koanantakool, the market share of Thailand has been declining because the software industry is globalised and the business process is similar globally. The process of CMMI will help Thai software companies to focus on areas they excel in. Meanwhile the SPI@ease program will also help the production process to gain international recognition.

Citing a survey of software spending according to the economic sectors in 2009, Thaweesak said the banking sector spent more than 10 billion baht, telecom sector over 8 billion baht, education some 7 billion baht, logistics of over 3 billion baht, insurance firms over five billion baht, healthcare over 2.5 billion baht, and the public sector spent more than 13 billion baht.

The SPI@ease program is thus another significant way for software entrepreneurs to improve their processes to meet the global standard and have them to be competitive with overseas software.

"Those companies who passed the CMMI standard become more capable to expand their business and some of them can do the consulting jobs overseas, especially in China and this region including Vietnam and the Philippines," Thaweesak said, noting that the first phase of SPI@ease program has spurred more than 190 baht of revenue for the country.

With the success of the three-year SPI@ease program that strengthens the ecosystem of the Thai software industry, the director said Nstda and Software Park have conducted the second phase program consecutively, with support from the Software Industry Promotion Agency (Sipa). "We expect that there will be more than 190 million baht income created by the second phase of the program," he said.

Somchai Chatratana, Nstda's Technology Management Centre (TMC) deputy executive director, said that the 23 companies have passed the CMMI level 2, 3, and 5, and nine of them were also qualified as CMMI consulting companies.

The software production process improvement helps the companies to reduce their costs and enables them to intensify the business. More than half of the companies have increased their capital up to 10 times.

Currently, there are some 38 CMMI companies here and Thailand is ranked the seventh in Asia and second in Southeast Asia, while Malaysia is top with 71 CMMI companies.

Source:http://www.bangkokpost.com/tech/technews/188211/more-thai-firms-get-cmmi-appraisal