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The island-province of Cebu, which witnessed the Philippines’ first live connection to the Internet in the mid-90s, stakes another claim to the country’s technology history as it hosts the first Philippine Open Source Summit (POSS) slated this June.

Open source stakeholders, user groups, advocates, and enthusiasts across the world are expected to converge in Cebu for the two-day conference, which will carry the theme, “Understanding the Business Value of Open Source.”

Spearheaded by the Cebu Business Month 2008 ICT Committee, the summit will be held on June 23 to 24, 2008 at the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) in Mandaue City. GMANews.TV

Microsoft Philippines, Inc., in its bid to help Cebu position itself as the preferred convention hub in the country, vowed to promote the province as the new favorite conference hub of the company’s worldwide conferences.

This year, Microsoft has brought in Cebu two international conventions for worldwide Microsoft executives with representations from 80 countries.

“Normally Microsoft will require each country to send at least two to three representatives. This is a good promotional tool for Cebu,” said Microsoft Philippines director for business marketing organization Karrie Capellan-Iligan. More…

Once again, Cebu proved its competitiveness as it ranked fourth in the list of 15 emerging outsourcing destinations for global companies.

Cebu Investment Promotions Center managing director Joel Mari Yu, who is spearheading efforts to push Cebu as a destination for investors, is elated with the result of a recent study.

“I’m so proud,” Yu told The Freeman in a telephone interview. He added that this only shows that “everything that we are doing have paid off because we worked very hard for it.”

According to him, it would be nice for Cebu because it could attract more investors to invest in the business outsourcing industry. More…

The Freeman

To take care of the growing demand in after-sales service, Ng Khai Development Corporation creates a new brand under its cap for a new range of expanded services.

The company recently came up with the brand name NGineers, which will be the company’s repair specialist arm that will take care of the after-sales or computer repair demands. NGineers will have 70 computer engineers and technicians.

Ng Khai president Wilson Ng said that the company was prompted to strengthen its technology service arm because computer nowadays have grown to become a necessity in every household.

NGineers is the newest addition to Ng Khai’s groups of companies which include NgKhai Solutions for corporate market, chain of NGenius IT Hubs for the retail market, Esprint Software, and lifestyle stores Premium Concepts.

He also added that since owning a PC today has become very affordable, the company anticipates strong demand for repairs and other after sales service just like what happened to the cellphone industry.

TO meet the annual demand of 1,500 entry-level software developers in the province, the Cebu Educational Development Foundation for Information Technology (Cedf-it) is now in the position to launch its Bridge Course Program (BCP) this September.

The BCP, considered to be the first in the Philippines, aims to meet the growing local demand for qualified software developers since it serves as a “tipping point” in bridging the gap between those who are hired and those who are deemed as second choices, said Cedf-it senior project manager Arnold Banogon.

Citing a survey by Cedf-it in 2006, he said only 600 information technology (IT) graduates are absorbed by companies. More…

With the integration of e-learning into the curriculum of the Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE), students are now all excited to learn new concepts and skills related to their technology courses.

The e-learning modules developed by CITE in 1999 have been used by different school partners.

This school year, through the funds from the German Development Service, the school was able to convert some of its facilities into e-classrooms fully equipped with all-new browsing workstations.

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A Philippine software developer has bagged a deal to develop an instant messaging and short messaging system (SMS) service for Microsoft, executives told INQUIRER.net.

Wilfredo dela Cruz, president of D3 Systems, said a visit by a Microsoft executive from Redmond, Washington has blossomed into a sweet deal for the company that has been attracting partners from the region.

“We’ve developed a system for Microsoft,” said Dela Cruz in an interview here. D3 Systems Inc. was among the local companies that joined the CommunicAsia 2007, the biggest telecommunications event in Asia Pacific.

Read more…

Sun.Star Cebu - Telco to launch newest technology in Cebu

PLDT will introduce to Cebu this January its next generation network (NGN) facility that is capable of handling video, voice and data, said PLDT Cebu business zone head Vicente Dionisio Pesayco.

“This new technology will answer the needs of people from all walks of life especially as the demand for Internet connection continues to increase every year,” he said.

Sun.Star Cebu - BPO firm opens office in Cebu, creates 1T jobs

ANOTHER US-based business process
outsourcing (BPO) company has come to Cebu, creating more than a
thousand job opportunities to qualified college graduates.

Teletech, a global BPO that provides a full range of front-to-back
office out-sourced solutions, has opened Cebu Customer Management
Center (CMC), a contact center that provides customer services to two
of Teletech’s clients — an international airline and a retail company.

Cebu was one of the three divisions in the PHilippines that won 10 million pesos from Microsoft’s Project Potensyal.  The amount will go towards helping computerize its 1,157 schools.

Cebu’s proposal was lauded for its commercial sustainability plan, and also its newer teachingt methods that were put in place to provide better education for students in its schools. More …

To accommodate and provide more convenience to its increasing number of customers, a graphic and advertising company has started using a financial software system that allows orders, sales update and inquiries online.

Graphic Star introduced the system during its 10th anniversary celebration, which was meant to show appreciation for its top 20 customers.

Jimmy Wu, chief executive officer of Graphic Star, said that the company can attribute its success in the past decade to its growing number of customers. More…

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) products will be shown next month. This is in observance of the Cebu Business Month celebration.

COMDDAP or Computer Manufacturers a, Distributors and Dealers Association of the Philippines will have a three-day exhibit at SM City Trade Hall. The biennial ICT exhibit entitled, “IT’s Happening in COMDDAP Cebu 2006,” will start on June 22-24, 2006. Here you can see the latest and high-tech products from Manila based computer firms as well as distributors and manufacturers of computer here in Cebu

“Cebu has come a long way since 1994 when COMDDAP first staged its expo in the city, which was out first roadshow outside Manila, in our effort to make ICT products and business solutions more accessible to our people,” COMDDAP President Juan Chua said.

Cebu now has a higher IT conciousness among individual consumers and companies, especially small-to-medium scale business, that continue to help the growth of ICT infrastucture.

“At present, COMDDAP will continue to bring technology closer to more Filipinos through our regional shows,” Chua added.