Computers/Information Technology
Internet Sufferers.com
Internet surfers suffer at the hands of ISPs and government policies
Buz From Pakistan
Despite all-out efforts by the Government and private sector
softwarehouses, exports of Pakistani software have not increased beyond $30 million in
1998
ABN AMRO to set up software house
Aviation Industry prepared to face Y2K
Internet surfers suffer at the hands of ISPs and government policies
The government's monopoly over telecommunication, the mushroom growth of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and their cut-throat competition and high rates of connection are causing problems for Internet users who have to bear with slow and disrupted connections.
Lured by ISPs who are springing up at the rate of a dime a dozen, and who offer attractive rates and packages, Internet users end up creating a vicious circle - the lower the rates of Internet usage the more the users and so, the slower the speed.
Moreover, users have to contend with purchasing Internet time as well as pay a substantial telephone bill. On an average, a consumer whose phone is also connected to the Internet is paying a phone bill that is three times higher. The recent 20 per cent increase in local telephone call charges has further aggravated the problem, even though the government has exempted Internet users from multi-metering by giving ISPs a unique code prefixed with 131.
According to unofficial estimates, about 5,000 desktop computers or personal computers (PCs) are sold in Pakistan every month. Many of them are used primarily for the Internet - roughly speaking, one out of every five computers is being used for this purpose. At present, there are less than 100,000 Internet users in Pakistan. "We expect around 500,000 customers within the next two to three years," says one ISP provider.
Worldwide, different types of business transactions worth millions of dollars are handled daily through the Internet, but e-commerce is still not officially sanctioned in Pakistan. The government, in fact, discourages e-commerce by not allowing private companies to conduct such transactions and use their own secure servers outside Pakistan. Net-2-phone and video conferencing are still legally prohibited.
(Published in monthly Newsline, September 1999)
Despite all-out efforts by the Government and private sector softwarehouses, exports of Pakistani software have not increased beyond $30 million in 1998
The software industry in Pakistan is striving hard to capture its share from the world software export cake. But it is not happening. Despite all-out efforts by the Government and private sector software houses, exports of Pakistani software have not increased beyond $30 million.
When they talk about software quality, Government
officials try to compare Pakistani software industry with Indian software houses. But when
it comes to hard facts, there is total silence. The reason is clear. As a software
exporter said, it is not a nuclear technology to match, but a brain technology which needs
skills and training. Also, deep-rooted bureaucratic snags are
hard to overcome.
The Missing Links
"Shortage of trained manpower, absence of clear-cut Government policy and lack of aggressive marketing strategies are some of the reasons for the low exports of software," says Asim Zafar, director of CresSoft, a leading software exporting company.
The Government has taken steps to increase the number of computer professionals, but the nagging shortage of teachers and professionals in the educational institutions is making the matter worse. Industry experts attribute this lacuna to inadequate investment in the realm of information technology education.
Successive Governments have provided subsidies and incentives to software houses to export more. "But there is no consistency in their policies," says a software exporter. Khuram P. Rafiq, managing director of Software Designers (Pvt) Ltd, who is also a member of Pakistan Software Houses Association (PASHA), thinks the problem has more to do with laggard response to opportunities. He cites a story to prove his point. "A United Arab Emirates (UAE) Company had approached the Pakistan Government for setting up operations in Pakistan some time ago, but it did not receive any positive response. Ultimately, the company approached the Indian Government, in desperation. You can judge the seriousness of the Indian Government to attract foreign investment from the fact that the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu province visited the UAE and offered full facilities. And the promises were implemented within a week!"
(Published byComputers Today [India])
Pakistan's burgeoning software industry is taking action against "the millennium bomb" - the threatened collapse of many computer programmes around the world at midnight on December 31, 1999.
The problem stems from an attempt by programmers in the past to save storage space on computers by representing dates with the use of two digits instead of four. Thus, 96 stands for 1996, 97 for 1997 and so on.
The crisis comes with the year 2000. Computers may not recognise 00 as a date - causing the system to 'crush', calculation to go wrong or other unpredictable results. When the alarm was first sounded in the United States, the dire warnings about chaos and catastrophe - with aircraft falling out of the sky and networks grinding to a halt - were dismissed as scare-mongering.
Computer companies and consultancies were accused of trying to generate new business – which some analysts say may be worth up to $600 billion worldwide – by exaggerating the problem and frightening computer-owners into hiring software specialists to tackle the crisis.
Gradually, however, companies have accepted that they are indeed vulnerable. In some countries, governments have set up task forces to help tackle the situation. The issue even featured on the agenda of the recent G-8 summit of industrialised countries in England.
Many developing countries believe that because they are far less reliant on computers than industrialised countries, they will be unaffected. But Anwar Rodney Rahman, Secretary General of the Pakistan Software Houses Association (PASHA), points out that "your car refuse to start as its computer chip, programmed on two digits, may show you that you have not had the care serviced for 99 years, or the elevator of your apartment building or office may refuse to run, because it has not been maintained for 99 years."
(Released by GEMINI NEWS)
ABN AMRO to set up software house
The ABN AMRO Bank from the Netherlands announced that it will set up a software house in Pakistan with an investment of US $20 million by the end of this calendar year.
The bank, which has an annual budget of US$700 million for Information Technology worldwide, already has its software houses in the USA, UK and Hong Kong.
Addressing a press conference in Karachi, Eric Steeghs, the Executive Vice President for Information Technology Solutions, ABN AMRO Amsterdam, said that the proposed software house has envisaged an export target of US $25 million by the year 2002.
"Initially we intended to invest US $20 million in harware along during the next five years. We are here for long period," he said.
He added that the bank aims at a full fledged software development and maintenance centre in Pakistan. The bank will select a location for the software house in the next few weeks.
(Published in Computerworld Pakistan)
Aviation Industry prepared to face Y2K
Pakistani travelers can rest easy as the Pakistani aviation and airline sector says it is well prepared to face any potential problem emanating from computer systems after December 31, 1999.
Staff at PIA, Bhoja Air, Shaheen Air, Aero Asia, and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) are fully aware of the 'Millennium Bug' issue and they have taken appropriate measures to avert any serious situation on the night before the new millennium.
It is encouraging that except for the national carrier, PIA, all other private airlines are new and their systems are Year 2000 date compliant. Using newer systems which are already Year 2K compliant bypasses the problem with the code which is plaguing computer systems worldwide.However, the majority of air travel in Pakistan and a large part of international travel is done on PIA, so it is vital that the national career fix its older systems, which still carry the coding bug.
PIA is one of the first corporations in Pakistan, which started using computers in Pakistan. It installed computers during the early 1980s. With a huge network of computer operations all over the country, PIA is preparing itself for problems due to the Millennium Bug. It has already completed work on computer systems that control flight.
"We have replaced our old system and have acquired new releases," PIA's System Manager told Computerworld. However, PIA is still using mainframes with over 800 terminals for its reservation and commercial operations in all over the country and booking offices, located at other part of the world. Given the current inefficiency already hampering booking and reservations, becoming Year 2K compliant is a must if PIA officials want to avert complete chaos for passengers after 1999.
(Published in Computerworld Pakistan)