Software park set for Nghe An
The VTC Online Telecommunications Company (VTC) is co-operating with several foreign investors to build a US$83.8 million software park across 5.1ha in central Nghe An Province.
VTC Director Phan Sao Nam said the partners include SK Telecom, Dreamline, UniOne and Redman from the Republic of Korea.
Each company will be responsible for a separate field, such as production, distribution, training and sales and marketing, said Nam, adding that the enterprises will both provide initial investment capital and participate in the park’s operation when it is running.
In addition to software production and human resource training, the Vinh city-based software park will cover a complex serving the production and sale of digital content services such as software, graphics and telecommunications and communications services.
With an area of almost 150,000sq.m, the VTC complex will include a data centre, an office building, a training centre, an apartment building for staff and a multi-functional gymnasium.
According to Nam, the hi-tech park is expected to generate 10,000 jobs and fetch between $13-20 million in sales revenue once it becomes operational in 2011.
(Source: VNS)
First cloud computing centre established in Vietnam
 |
|
The signing ceremony between IBM and the first client of the Cloud Computing Centre, the Vietnam Technology and Communication JS Company. |
IBM on September 24 announced the establishment of a cloud computing centre in Vietnam and three others in South Korea, India and Brazil, raising the total number to 13 worldwide.
The centre will give enterprises such as universities, mid-market and government bodies in Vietnam immediate access to the resources they need to pilot cloud infrastructure and applications, and deliver new and innovative services to their customers.
IBM expects that with these new centres and other centres in the US, China, Ireland, Japan, Holland and South America, plus five New Enterprises Data Centres, it will have the largest cloud computing customer network.
“We believe that cloud computing will bring to the government a new IT investment model, improving the connection between business activities and IT infrastructure, contributing to the country’s development,” said Vo Tan Long, Deputy General Director of IBM Vietnam.
Also on September 24, IBM announced the first client of its cloud computing centre in HCM City, the Vietnam Technology and Communication JS Company.
In late 2007, a portal serving creative exchange based on cloud computing infrastructure was built in Vietnam, by IBM and the Ministry of Science and Technology.
IBM Cloud Computing Centers host computing activities for clients or provide access to expertise and infrastructures for clients to design and deploy their own cloud environments. This computing model allows businesses and consumers alike remote access to a vast computing resource that can be tapped on-demand to deliver next-generation services that consumers demand, like online medical records or mobile stock portfolio management. It is also energy efficiency because of it being shared infrastructure, and allows organisations to better track information, pay for what they use and access more computing, storage, services or applications on demand.
IBM has dedicated more than 200 full time researchers and over 100 million dollars over three years to cloud computing, and offers a number of products and services to help clients offer the types of services end users and consumers demand. Built following IBM’s expertise in leading massive-scale computing initiatives, Blue Cloud is a set of hardware, software and services that allows IBM clients to offer personal and business services from remote, centralised servers, the ‘cloud,’ that share computing resources and bandwidth.
(Source: VietNamNet, thestandard, VNE)
IT staff shortage looms as demand skyrockets
An additional 100,000 information technology workers will be needed in HCM City by 2010, according to participants at an IT seminar held in HCM City yesterday.
 |
|
HCM City has around 25,000 IT engineers in the software and hardware industry. |
More than 6,000 local and foreign IT companies are operating in HCM City, 50 per cent growth compared to last year.
The IT industry this year contributed 1.5 percent of the city’s GDP and by 2015 the amount is expected to be 3 per cent, according to city’s Department of Information and Communications.
The application of IT in tourism, entertainment, banks and securities companies has become widespread.
Pham Ngoc Tuan, general director of the Sai Gon Postel Corporation, said Viet Nam’s membership in the World Trade Organisation had opened up trade and created more opportunities in the industry.
Many of the world’s leading IT companies have set up operation in the country and introduced the latest IT technologies.
A staff shortage in the industry, however, looms.
Ha Van Liem, deputy general director of Global Cybersoft, a software producer, predicted it would need 1,000 more engineers through 2010.
HCM City has around 25,000 IT engineers in the software and hardware industry.
In 2004, there were 18 universities offering IT training, but that has risen to 24 schools, training 10,000 new graduates every year.
Companies, however, complain about the quality of the IT graduates.
According to a survey conducted by HCM City-based Quang Trung Software City, more than 46 per cent of IT engineers lack professional knowledge and most job candidates have to receive additional training from the companies that hire them.
The lack of foreign language skills is also a serious problem among IT engineers, as more and more foreign IT firms open offices in Viet Nam.
Forty per cent of IT graduates cannot speak English, and many IT programmes do not include English classes.
Lack of creativity and practical, rather than theoretical, knowledge are two other concerns.
(Source: Viet Nam News)
UK Ambassador opens blog
 |
|
The UK Ambassador to Vietnam Mark Kent. |
The UK Ambassador to Vietnam Mark Kent has opened his blog this week to better communicate with Vietnamese people.
Mark Kent, 42, has become the first foreign ambassador in Vietnam to officially have a blog about his job and his life in Vietnam as well as daily jobs of the UK Embassy.
According to the ambassador, blogs are places for hot discussions, especially among youth. He has opened this blog to connect the UK Embassy with Vietnamese bloggers and to receive feedback on burning topics.
The blog is translated into Vietnamese at chỉ http://blogs.fco.gov.uk/roller/kent/.
The first entry on this blog called “My busy days” tells about the recent busy days of the UK Embassy in Hanoi with some high-ranking visits and events celebrating the 35th anniversary of the Vietnam-UK diplomatic relations.
The Ambassador also talks about his learning of Vietnamese and a friendly football match between the UK Embassy and the Vietnam Immigration Management Agency.
He said he will update his blog often and wants to receive comments about his entries.
(VietNamNet Bridge)
Vietnam needs more software parks
Participants at a conference hosted last Friday by the HCM City’s Department of Information and Communications discussed ways to develop more software parks in HCM City and other locations around the country.
 |
|
The 10 software parks now operating in Vietnam can neither meet the Government’s target annual growth rate of 35-40 per cent, nor be expected to bring in a total annual revenue of US$1.5 billion for the IT industry in 2010. |
A Government decision in 2005 called for the development of the IT industry as a key economic strategy through 2010.
However, Nguyen Minh Hong, deputy minister of Information and Communication, worries that the national goals for IT development are not realistic given the small number of software parks that have been built since 2005.
The 10 software parks now operating in Vietnam can neither meet the Government’s target annual growth rate of 35-40 per cent, nor be expected to bring in a total annual revenue of US$1.5 billion for the IT industry in 2010.
If no significant improvement is made in workers’ skills or infrastructure in the next five years, the country’s software parks would not be able to pull in an annual revenue of US$800 million, said Dwight Paul Lam, a representative of the Vietnam-Japan Powersource Group.
With its current infrastructure, it will take Vietnam seven to eight years to become an important player in the global software industry, Lam said. It took China and India 10 and 15 years, respectively, to reach their targets.
The model of the software park was developed in powerful countries and territories like India, mainland China, Russia and Taiwan, but the term “software park” only appeared in Vietnam after Government Decision No. 7 in 2000.
However, there are signs for optimism as construction of many new parks is scheduled or underway through 2012, including the Hoa Lac Software Park in Hanoi, the FPT Software Park in Da Nang, Thu Thiem Software Park and a project to expand, the Quang Trung Software City.
Software parks are playing an increasingly important role in developing IT and attracting IT investment and enterprises into the country. In the last two years, they brought in investments of VND2 trillion (US$125 million), a four-fold increase over the 2000-2005 period.
Many investors need more space to expand their business. New parks under construction should replicate the most effective models of existing software parks, according to Chu Tien Dung, head of the HCM City Computer Association and Quang Trung Software City. Preferential policies and support from the Government are essential for further development.
(Source: Viet Nam News)
