Monthly Archives: April 2009

National ICT Council ‘within couple of years’

The Information and Communications Technology Ministry is drafting new legislation providing for the establishment of an ICT Council of Thailand.
The draft is expected to be submitted to the Cabinet for approval before the end of this year.
The director of the Ministry’s ICT Industry Promotion Bureau, Ajin Jirachiefpattana, said the proposed ICT Council would be a central organisation for the country’s ICT industry. Its functions will include promoting the industry, supporting private-sector ventures in ICT and solving business-operational problems in order to protect Thailand’s overall benefits from the industry. It will also collect opinions and make recommendations to the government on economic issues related to the ICT industry.
Moreover, the proposed council will aim to enhance and improve the competitive stature of local ICT industries by establishing international standards. It will also promote investment in ICT industries from both domestic and overseas sources, including the matching of local and overseas businesses and direct foreign investment.
The ICT Ministry completed the first draft of the ICT Council of Thailand Bill and launched public hearings several months ago. It expects that within the next couple of years the draft will be passed into law and the ICT council will be set up, bringing benefits to local ICT industries and the country as a whole.
The draft has seven sections, dealing with the ICT Council’s organisation, its membership, committees, staff, operational processes, government regulations and impositions. It has 67 articles.
The proposed Council will be based in Bangkok and will establish branches upcountry so that its services and consultations to the private sector can be delivered anywhere in the country.
The ministry is also planning to set up a national database and a geographical information system related to the private-sector ICT Industry so that Thai ICT businesses, software developers, ICT human resources and other industry organisations can be accessed via the Internet by domestic and overseas investors, suppliers, buyers and other interested parties.
Ajin said the first steps in developing the database in Bangkok will be taken this year. Details of ICT-related businesses around the country will then be gathered for listing.
"We want to promote local ICT businesses in international markets via a website and allow international suppliers and investors to search for and access information about Thai ICT businesses anywhere and anytime. In this way, small- and medium-sized Thai ICT enterprises will be able to compete on international markets," he said.
 

Innovation agency turns to healthy nutrition

The National Innovation Agency (NIA) is preparing to promote food trends in the second half of this year with a major forum, exhibition and conference entitled "InnoAsia 2009: Food in the Future."
The main theme for the event, which will be held at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre in December, is "Food is the First Medicine."
NIA project manager Sura-at Supachatturat said the event was aimed at consumers wishing to seek out more convenient, better-tasting and more effective foods and beverages, in the belief that health was going to remain a powerful influence on consumers’ food choices.
"The worldwide demand for functional food continues to be a dynamic and growing segment of the food industry, with rapid growth set to continue for several years," he said.
Sura-at said Thailand was one of Asia’s pioneering food producers, supporting the industry’s involvement in the promotion of good health through proper nutrition, and the forum would provide a window on new product development. Using innovation to find sustainable competitive advantages in functional food applications is a new challenge to this country’s food companies, he said.
Thailand also has many herbs and natural resources, together with favourable national policies and investment incentives, so it has enormous potential to serve as a regional hub for nutraceutical and functional food production.
The InnovAsia 2009 forum will include conferences and exhibitions covering four aspects of food production: functional foods and beverages, medicinal foods, organic foods and novel foods.
Functional foods and beverages are those dietary components that provide health benefits beyond basic nutrition. These allow consumers to take greater control of their health by selecting foods that are known to provide specific health benefits. They include fruit and vegetables, whole grains, fortified or enhanced foods and beverages, and some dietary supplements.
Medical foods are special dietary items intended for use solely under medical supervision to meet nutritional requirements in specific medical conditions.
Organic foods are produced according to certain standards, principally without the use of conventional pesticides and artificial fertilisers, freedom from contamination by human or industrial wastes, and processing without ionizing radiation or food additives.
Finally, novel foods are those that have not previously been used for human consumption to any significant degree, or have been subjected to processes that result in a significant change in their composition, nutritional value, or intended use.
 

Project aims to narrow digital divide

The ICT Ministry’s "Computer for Community and Citizen Project" aims to help local IT vendors as well as close the digital divide gap.
The ministry plans to offer a special tax reduction to companies which donate their used computers to local communities.
 
The ministry is in discussions with the Revenue Department to change their rules and regulations to support the new tax proposal which is expected to roll out by the end of this year, according to Director of Information and Communication Technology Industry promotion, Bureau Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Ministry, Ajin Jirachiefpattana.
 
This will be an incentive for firms to implement Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by setting up IT community centres and donating computers to temples, municipalities and Tambon administration offices.
 
Another project will offer special computer sets bundled with broadband services from the CAT and the TOT and local software applications.
Moreover, the ICT is in negotiations with Government banks, such as the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives, Krung Thai Bank and SME Bank, to offer special loans to users who participate in this programme.
 
If this project kicks off, it will help to lift Thailand’s Networked Readiness Rankings to at least 15th rank and it is expected that at least 200,000 people or more than 10,000 communities will access ICT more efficiently and more cheaply.
This will also help to expand ICT community centres more widely with 200 ICT community centres planned for this fiscal year.
 
Panuwat Khantamoleekul, Managing Director, Supreme Distribution (Thailand), said this move will help to acce-lerate the sales of local computers.
However, the privilege for tax reduction may not gain a big momentum because under the economic situation fewer corporations will have enough money to donate.
 
In comparison to 6 years ago, at the time of the first ICT minister, this project may be more attractive because desktops are priced under 10,000 baht.
 

HP, IBM could lose out due to Oracle-Sun acquisition

Local industry experts foresee tough times ahead for IBM and HP in Java platform after the acquisition of Sun Microsystems by Oracle last week.
Partners of both Oracle and Sun in Thailand believed that the deal would not affect their businesses as both Oracle and Sun had already been allied for some time, and both vendors’ hardware and software were complementary to each other.
 
According to Mfec president Siriwat Vongjarukorn, a local partner of Sun and Oracle, the deal did not come as a surprise because both companies were already co-operating with each other and both served the enterprise customers.
The acquisition would be especially advantageous for Oracle as they would be able to provide a broader portfolio.
 
In the project bidding, Oracle would be able to bundle solutions, hardware and software, the same model as IBM had done. But HP could lose competitiveness in the data centre business because HP hardware has been relying on Oracle products, said Mr Siriwat.
 
IRCP Plc Chief Executive Officer Jumrud Sawangsamud said it was an interesting that a software company bought a hardware company as they might have to adjust their business process to serve a new market.
Oracle might face a challenge in remaining neutral in dealing with other suppliers, especially IBM and HP.
 
Former president of the Asian-Oceania Computing Industry Organisation (Asocio) and chairman of the ICT Policy at Sripatum University Manoo Ordeedolchest said it was a significant step for Oracle to getting close to IBM because Oracle was also interested in Java platforms.
 
When Oracle bought BEA Systems, the company grew close to IBM in terms of middleware offering, and now Oracle can control Java technology, which is the platform that both software of IBM and Oracle are running on.
 
Manoo viewed that Oracle would move towards Cloud computing, which requires data storage and computer power. With this deal, Oracle could utilise Sun’s assets.
 
Cloud computing was an interesting area attracting big vendors such as Microsoft, Google and Amazon, while Oracle might also join.
He said Oracle might provide MySQL to small and mid-size customers, so it might be a strategic product for Oracle to expand its customer base.
 
The chairman of The Value Systems, Narong Intanate said the deal reflects the survival of vendors and this will change competition in bundling, allowing customers to make decision, and it may also create new market opportunities such as appliance which bundle both hardware and software.
 
According to Trairatt Chaisamran, executive director of G-Able Group, the acquisition of Sun would not affect to his company because it already used Sun and Oracle products.
 
"Sun and Oracle have worked together for a long time and they have joint-developed some areas," he said, noting that even though Sun had certain exclusive software, those products were not marketed in Thailand.
Trairatt noted that Sun bought some software programs over the past few years which might overlap with those which Oracle took over, it would not be problem for G-Able as the company support both vendors.
 
SAP Thailand Managing Director Patara Yongvanich said both Oracle and Sun were SAP partners – Oracle in database programs – and that many SAP applications run on Java.
 
The company supported both of them, he said, noting that Java was an open platform and the acquisition should not affect to the Java developer community, but it should boost the community strength.
 
Patara added that SAP was the database agnostic that supported all of Oracle, IBM DB2, Microsoft SQL and MaxDB.He added that such an acquisition was normal in IT industry.Meanwhile, HP Regional Corporate Communication has sent a statement to Database that in a market consolidation climate, co-operation is a natural market condition. HP will partner with or compete with vendors when it is in the best interests of the customer and HP have had strong partners for many years. HP will continue to provide Oracle software customers with the best HP storage, servers, outsourcing and service solutions in the marketplace.
 

Demand for IT workers falls in 2009

Thailand’s total demand for IT-skilled human resources is expected to drop by about 3 per cent this year to about 100,000 positions, compared with 109,000 positions last year, according to the large online recruitment firm JobsDB Recruitment (Thailand).
However, two other large IT recruitment companies believe the fall in recruitment demand could be as steep as 40 per cent in some industry categories.
JobsDB Recruitment (Thailand) managing director Sathinee Mokaves said that although the economic crisis had affected demand for IT workers, it was perhaps the least-affected area when compared to overall recruitment through its online channel, www.jobsdb.co.th. The website has more than 576,000 members and about 350,000 viewers per day.
Overall recruitment has fallen by about 40 per cent, mostly in the manufacturing, marketing and financial industries. In the IT industry, IT outsourcing is the main area with a clear reduction in recruitment due to there being fewer IT projects, because end-users are delaying IT investment during the economic downturn, she said.
However, there is still demand for IT workers in some industry categories, including software designers, application specialists, system and network support specialists and specialised programmers. The 3-per-cent shrinkage has occurred in demand for general programmers, technical-support specialists and sales engineers.
"Usually, the IT departments of companies are not large-scale operations with a lot of IT resources, so we are not recognising the huge reduction in this segment. Most of them are postponing recruitment," Sathinee said.
Meanwhile, Peter Fischbach, the president of ISM Technology Recruitment, a large IT-recruitment company, said he expected IT recruitment demand to fall by about 20 per cent in Thailand this year because of economic crisis.
The main industries with reduced demand for IT resources are manufacturing, retailing and consumer-product businesses, producing a lower demand for IT workers skilled in enterprise resource planning – both SAP and Oracle, he said.
However, demand for skills in Web-based programming technologies – both .NET and Java – remain stable because many companies still need to maintain their Internet presence in order to help reduce their overall operational costs.
There is also increasing demand in special areas, including software testing and software quality assurance. Skilled workers in these areas test and assure the development of new software and applications as well as testing interoperability and integration with existing systems.
"The types of IT resources that are affected [by the slowdown] include IT managers, IT directors and programmers. Recruitment demand in these areas is expected to fall by about 50 per cent," Fischbach said.
He said that while – in a global context – the financial industry was the main business sector cutting back on IT resources, in Thailand this situation was reversed. The local financial sector had huge demand for IT resources to serve their business expansion.
"Another area of potentially increased demand for IT human resources is the telecommunications industry. If 3G or WiMAX licences go ahead, that will draw higher demand for IT human resources this year," he said.
E IT Computing Recruitment’s director Edward Holland said total IT recruitment in Thailand this year would fall by about 40 per cent.
However, three main skill types remain in hot demand: Java, .NET and enterprise resource planning. People with these skills are still in demand in the midst of an overall reduction in IT recruitment. There is also high demand for workers skilled in quality testing, software testing and quality assurance, although this is something of a niche industry.
Holland said the main industries with high demand for IT human resources this year were banking, telecommunication, offshore software development and electronic commerce businesses.
 

Thailand launch for Microsoft cloud computing

Pilot project involves 2,000 schools
Microsoft is planning to launch its cloud computing service in Thailand in the second half of this year, according to the company’s locally-based national technology director, Prasopchoke Pramongkit.
Cloud computing, in simple terms, can be seen as offering computing as a utility service, like electricity, where instead of purchasing expensive capacity and software, clients pay only for what they use by connecting with a cloud platform via the Internet.
In an initial stage, the company will begin a pilot project in collaboration with Sripratum University in which students at 2,000 schools around the country will be able to sign-on to Live ID, allowing them to experience Microsoft’s Live service on a cloud platform.
As well, the company will help the Revenue Department by deploying a cloud computing platform to facilitate an extended phase of the department’s existing Web-based taxation services.
"There is a plan for some cloud services with the Revenue Department in the near future," Prasopchoke confirmed.
The cloud-service launch is part of Microsoft’s business strategy of moving beyond being "a software company" to become "a software-plus-service company", offering customers more buy-and-build choices in technology investment.
In order to take its place in the trendy cloud computing arena, Microsoft has already introduced Windows Azure, a cloud services operating system that serves as the development, service hosting and service management environment for the Azure Services Platform.
It provides developers with on-demand computing and storage to host, scale and Web-application management via the Internet through Microsoft data centres. Windows Azure is an open platform that will support both Microsoft and non-Microsoft languages and environments.
Windows Azure is currently undergoing community technology preview. It is expected to be commercially available around the end of this year.
 

Sermpisit to manufacture its own products

Local dietary and herbal supplement packaging firm Sermpisit is planning to begin producing its own dietary supplements for sale in Thailand and overseas.
The move will be a major step for the company, which has risen from producing just five brands of dietary supplements as an original equipment manufacturer to its current production of more than 380 brands, covering healthcare, skincare and beauty.
Its products are sold on the Thai market as well as in export markets such as Dubai, China, Cambodia, Singapore and Vietnam.
Sermpisit’s president Boonserm Jaideechoel was inspired to create his own company when he was just 25, and a mechanical technician for a private company. He set up the company nine years ago with an investment of Bt10,000, to produce herbal products under the Suthipohn Samunpai brand. It later entered the mainstream health supplement business by providing outsourced retail packaging for international brands.
In 2001, Sermpisit began its own research and development programme. At the same time, it was certified both as an original equipment manufacturer of supplemental products and for its good manufacturing practices by the Food and Drug Administration. 
"We now not only have research and development into the production of supplementary products, but the firm also has innovations to produce high quality supplements for consumers," Boonserm said.
The company is negotiating with an international firm to purchase know-how and for licensing of supplementary products to supply the Thai market. The negotiations are expected to be complete in the near future.
Moreover, Sermpisit is working with the National Innovation Agency (NIA) and Ramathibodi Hospital to develop a medical food for diabetes patients. It is currently in technical trials and is expected to be fully developed by the end of this year.
The firm is also working with the NIA and Kasetsart University’s Department of Microbiology to research and development a DHA food supplement, or algal extracts to benefit the brain. It believes the DHA food supplement will replace imported products that are worth around Bt1 billion per year. Sermpisit plans to release the food supplement to the local market by the end of this year, with prices about 30 per cent lower than international competitors.
Boonserm said his company currently formulated and packaged dietary supplements in capsule form or in punched and coated tablets. It was also able to produce blister packs.
"We would like to produce standard and quality dietary supplement products for export to international markets," he said. "However, I also want to support local people who have a low income, so that they will have able to afford quality healthcare products at lower cost and enjoy a better quality of life.
"The company also plans to develop dietary supplements from local agricultural products, to add value to Thailand’s farm products," Boonserm said.
 

Sermpisit to manufacture its own products

Local dietary and herbal supplement packaging firm Sermpisit is planning to begin producing its own dietary supplements for sale in Thailand and overseas.
The move will be a major step for the company, which has risen from producing just five brands of dietary supplements as an original equipment manufacturer to its current production of more than 380 brands, covering healthcare, skincare and beauty.
Its products are sold on the Thai market as well as in export markets such as Dubai, China, Cambodia, Singapore and Vietnam.
Sermpisit’s president Boonserm Jaideechoel was inspired to create his own company when he was just 25, and a mechanical technician for a private company. He set up the company nine years ago with an investment of Bt10,000, to produce herbal products under the Suthipohn Samunpai brand. It later entered the mainstream health supplement business by providing outsourced retail packaging for international brands.
In 2001, Sermpisit began its own research and development programme. At the same time, it was certified both as an original equipment manufacturer of supplemental products and for its good manufacturing practices by the Food and Drug Administration. 
"We now not only have research and development into the production of supplementary products, but the firm also has innovations to produce high quality supplements for consumers," Boonserm said.
The company is negotiating with an international firm to purchase know-how and for licensing of supplementary products to supply the Thai market. The negotiations are expected to be complete in the near future.
Moreover, Sermpisit is working with the National Innovation Agency (NIA) and Ramathibodi Hospital to develop a medical food for diabetes patients. It is currently in technical trials and is expected to be fully developed by the end of this year.
The firm is also working with the NIA and Kasetsart University’s Department of Microbiology to research and development a DHA food supplement, or algal extracts to benefit the brain. It believes the DHA food supplement will replace imported products that are worth around Bt1 billion per year. Sermpisit plans to release the food supplement to the local market by the end of this year, with prices about 30 per cent lower than international competitors.
Boonserm said his company currently formulated and packaged dietary supplements in capsule form or in punched and coated tablets. It was also able to produce blister packs.
"We would like to produce standard and quality dietary supplement products for export to international markets," he said. "However, I also want to support local people who have a low income, so that they will have able to afford quality healthcare products at lower cost and enjoy a better quality of life.
"The company also plans to develop dietary supplements from local agricultural products, to add value to Thailand’s farm products," Boonserm said.
 

Five-year e-government road map

The Information and Communications Technology Ministry plans to launch an E-Government Road Map, as a framework for e-government developments over the five years from 2010 to 2014.
 Deputy Permanent Secretary Angsumal Sumalai said a draft of the road map would be submitted to the Cabinet early next month for approval before being sent to all government agencies.
"All e-government services are designed to serve the needs of the citizens, including government-to-consumer (G2C), government-to-business (G2B), and government-to-enterprise (G2E). Moreover, it will also provide for government-to-government (G2G) services, to the government itself," he said.
The roadmap consists of four stages including Connected Government (c-Government), Mobile and Multi-Channel Government (m-Government), Ubiquitous Government (u-Government) and Transformed Government (t-Government). 
"All of these stages are designed in keeping with a concept of ‘citizen-centric development’," Angsumal said.
The first stage – c-Government – which will begin this year, aims to establish collaboration among all government agencies to provide public e-services.
In this stage, the road map envisages the establishment of at least one interchanged e-service between government agencies and one integrated e-service between Ministries, as well as the pilot phase of government e-services via mobile phones.     
The second stage – m-Government – is scheduled for 2010 and 2011, during which the e-government concept will be expanded and made accessible via mobile devices.
The aim is to reach a half-way point in the provision of interchanged e-services between government agencies by next year, and to reach 70 per cent by 2011. The number of e-government services accessible via mobile devices will be expanded and these services will also be made available through a variety of other channels.
The u-Government stage, which is scheduled to start in 2012, aims to provide government e-services to the public around the clock through various channels, including Internet websites, mobile devices and future devices. It is hoped that during this stage, all interchanged e-services between government agencies will be completed.
The final stage aims for a complete transformation of government services to an electronic basis, providing e-services 24 hours a day, seven days a week, via a variety of channels, along with interchanged e-services among government agencies.
"At the end of this stage, we aim to have totally transformed government services to become a completely electronic government," Angsumal said.
He said many "missions" were envisaged in the achievement of the goals outlined in the road map. For example, an ICT infrastructure was required, including a high-speed broadband secured government-intranet network, or government information network (GIN). A secured payment gateway also had to be established and integration and exchange standardised, including the creation of a Thailand e-Government Interoperability Framework.
Other essential ingredients foreseen in the road map include ICT security, a single window system and government "back office" integration.
New ICT Laws are also foreseen, along with enhancement of public ICT literacy and the creation of a public-sector career path in information and communications technology with formation of a chief information officer council. The capabilities of Thailand’s ICT industry will also need to be enhanced and ICT research and development enabled.
The draft e-government road map projects a total cost of Bt200 million over five years for its deployment.
"The development of an e-Government is a never-ending task that needs to be maintained, with a citizen-centric ideal in mind. E-government services must be created to cater for the needs of every citizen, from birth until death," Angsumal said.
The draft of the E-Government Road Map was prepared by National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA)’s Consulting Centre, with ICT Ministry approval.
 

Traffy for the better move

Wasan Pattara-atikom, senior researcher of National Electronics and Computer Technology Center (Nectec) said that the researcher team under developing the prototype of Intelligent Transport System (ITS) version II named Traffy version II.
The Traffy new version will allow commuters and people to easier to access, input traffic condition and archive traffic information and condition real-time via http://traffy.nectec.or.th. from Web, iPhone, as well as smart phones, which run on Windows Mobile, Java and Symbian environment.
The Traffy development and services based on highlighted lines and markers on the road map provided by Google Maps API as well as Dynamic Web application technology. It will allow commuters or people access traffic condition real-time from the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA)’s intelligent traffic signboards in 850 road- sections, CCTV and from the Expressway Authority of Thailand (EAT). Moreover, commuters will able to search traffic road information, point of interest, traffic congestion, and access driving direction.
"The driving direction will provide route suggestions and route tools to commuter from the start point to their destination which they will easier driving to their destination. The program can also provide tool boxes that enable commuters to receive predictions of traffic condition 24 hours and archive traffic condition one year with accuracy rat over 90 per cent in order to create transport routes," said Wasan.
Meanwhile, the system invite commuters and people input and report traffic condition at their location such as office, on the road and home real-time via web site in order to share information real-time.
For commuters and people who want to participate the Traffy new version, the system ask member to register member in order to identification member and security.
He added that for member after registration member, they can create personalized traffic routes from the start point to destination via the system.
The system will allow member to create favorite locations such as home, office, and shopping center from web site or their mobile phone. Whenever, commuters go out. They can access their personalized routes conditions and have alternative choice to chose routes to go out from their home to destination, which to help them reduce time to transportation.
Moreover, the researcher team will also develop social network at http://traffyteam.hi5.com to create Traffy community, activities update and share information among members.

"We want to provide intelligent transport system to commuters and businesses who delivery their product by using transportation so that the system will help them reduce transport cost, save time and utilize traffic information to create advantage of their business," said he said.
He said that in Bangkok, there are 2 million people have transportation by cars and public transportation a day and 8 million commuters transport by motorcycle a day. They totally have around 4 million transportation trips a day. If the system can help their reduce congestion time of their transport or trip only 1 minute. It would help people and commuters to save time 4 million minutes. As result, the Traffy will help save energy cost of people, businesses, commuters and environment as a whole.